KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Haochen Zhang, the 2009 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist, performed Tuesday, February 16, at the Lied Center in Lawrence to a large and enthusiastic audience.  In a varied program that revealed multiple emotional and technical levels, the nineteen-year-old Zhang displayed the composure, skill and artistry of a performer twice his age.

The program opened with Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K. 330.  Zhang approached this familiar sonata's opening movement-"Allegro moderato"-with a little more "moderato" than is often the case. While the tempo seemed a bit deliberate, his delicate, almost wistful touch on the keys created an astonishingly seamless sound. That delicacy also served him well in the exquisite pianissimos of the Andante cantabile second movement.  Unfortunately, Zhang did not seem to come alive in this measured Mozart piece until the Allegretto third movement.  Its dancing rhythms gave him a chance to hint at his nimble athleticism at the keyboard.

Zhang's program choice seemed designed to display the range of his abilities. Following the Mozart with the Brahms Klavierstücke Op. 119, Zhang revealed a clear sensitivity to their emotional content. The first "Intermezzo in B Minor" is a melancholy Romantic piece that sounds as if the pianist were coaxing the tone from a reluctant and mercurial keyboard.  One can almost feel the ennui pulling the listener into involuntary introspection.   Zhang deftly captured the individuality of each Intermezzo movement and the final Rhapsodie character pieces that moved from melancholy to coquettishness to pomposity.

Zhang ended the first half of the program with the emotionally intense and technically challenging Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52.

The evening's second half featured Schumann's lush Romantic Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 and the quirky and impressive Trois movement de Petrouchka, Stravinsky's piano arrangements of his orchestral work based on the ballet. (This work was also performed by Stephen Prutsman on February 12 on The Friends of Chamber Music's Master Pianists Series). These were followed in encore by a Chinese folk tune. 

The Lied Center also used the evening's performance to unveil its new Steinway grand piano purchased with funding by an individual donor and corporate contributions.  It is a striking instrument with a clear, unadulterated sound easily pinging through the auditorium even in the softest passages.  A somewhat more astonishing element of the evening was the huge projection screen centered behind and above the piano, projecting a camera feed from directly over the keyboard.  Thus the audience was given the incongruous view over his head of the pianist's hands at the keyboard. There were some audience grumblings about the screen projection, but it did provide a strikingly different experience of the concert, offering the audience a rare chance to see how a skilled musician like Zhang interacts with his instrument.

During the opening moments of the Mozart piano sonata, one could see as well as hear the delicacy of Zhang's touch at the keys, his hands gliding in a mesmerizing display of dexterity and skill.  During the furiously agitated arpeggios of the Petrouchka, Zhang's hands were a blur across the keyboard, emphasizing the piece's rollicking humor.

Haochen Zhang seems impossibly too young to convey the emotional intensity of this ambitious program.  He is clearly an artist in progress as all artists must ultimately be; however, this concert demonstrated an intelligent, skilled and lithe pianist, fully committed to the artistry of his work.

REVIEW:
Lied Center at KC
Haochen Zhang, 13^th Van Cliburn Gold Medalist
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Lied Center
1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS
www.lied.ku.edu

By Sarah Young

Classical and Musical Theatre Contributor

Sarah Young is a freelance writer and performer in opera, theatre, choral and musical theatre. She has been seen locally with Wichita Grand Opera, Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Kansas City Civic Opera, Lawrence Community Theatre, Chestnut Fine Arts Center and in other local venues.  She studied voice at the University of Kansas, and has been trained in artist programs at Indiana University, Aspen Opera Theatre and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.