Young Concert Artists (YCA) presents Yun-Chin Zhou in Review
Yun-Chin Zhou, piano Winner of the 2013 Young Concert Artists International Auditions The Peter Marino Concert Susan Wadsworth, Director Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY November 18, 2014On a terribly cold and windy night, Pianist Yun- Chin Zhou made an promising debut under the auspices of the indefatigable Susan Wadsworth, celebrating her 54th year as founder of Young Concert Artists (YCA). The bone-chilling weather, however, didn’t diminish the size of the audience, who seemed quite happy to be there and entertained.
It was apparent that Mr. Zhou really was enjoying himself and the feedback of the audience which was at times very demonstrative with several standing ovations.
Mr. Zhou, born in China, began his piano studies at the age of seven. He came to the United States at the age of nineteen to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Gary Graffman. He is currently working on a master’s degree on scholarship at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald. He has won several awards both in China and internationally.
The program took awhile to catch on as there wasn’t much contrast to start. He opened with a deceptively simple sonata of Haydn, the E-flat major. Hob. XVI: 49. The performance could have benefited with a little more dramatic significance, and the polyphonic development could have been clearer. It lasted approximately thirteen minutes. This was followed by Liszt’s Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, which lasts eighteen minutes, and while having many beautiful moments, overstays its welcome. The closer before intermission was the famously difficult transcription for piano of La Valse by Ravel. Here was something with which Mr. Zhou showed what he could do technically with the instrument. Mr. Zhou made this piece, a favorite of Ruth Laredo’s, his own. It was a pleasant coincidence that he won the Ruth Laredo Memorial Prize. I had the overall feeling that Mr. Zhou was very much influenced by the French School.
After intermission, Mr. Zhou performed Six Chansons by the French popular singer Charles Trenet (1913-2001), as transcribed for piano solo by pianist Alexis Weissenberg. They are full of charm, and quite jazzy, and I doubt Weissenberg played them any better. Mr. Zhou caught all the charm, cuteness, and jazz these songs had to offer. Mr. Zhou’s style was perfect, and for me the best performance of the concert. It was a little surprising to hear this music on a classical concert at Carnegie Hall, but the audience loved it.
There is no question but that Mr. Zhou has amazing fingers. Scales, trills and octaves in either hand were simply child’s play for him. I missed though a large sound, especially in the bass, which could be attributed to the instrument- it is hard to say. Mr. Zhou does not use his shoulders or even much arm weight, which could also account for this certain thinness of tone and occasionally harsh sound in an attempt to force the instrument to play loud. This was apparent to me particularly in the 1931 revised version of the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2, which closed the recital. As if the Rachmaninoff Sonata wasn’t enough, Mr. Zhou gave a stunning account of the Soirée de Vienne, Op. 56, a paraphrase of themes from Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, as arranged by Alfred Grünfeld. The audience rightfully cheered yelling “Bravo!” at the close. There was to be another encore, a beautifully performed arrangement of “My Joys” from Polish Songs, Op. 74 by Chopin-Liszt.
