The competition in memory of Vladimir Horowitz has ended

competition / classic

On Monday, the VIII International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz ended at the National Philharmonic with a solemn presentation of prizes and a small symphony concert of the laureates, accompanied by a philharmonic orchestra conducted by Nikolai Dyadiura. This year there were no undisputed stars among its participants, but LYUBOV MOROZOVA still noticed several promising talents.

Performing competitions have always been considered a musical sport: to complete three rounds, each of which takes from 35 minutes at the start to 90 at the finish, you need muscles of steel, nerves of iron and Spartan endurance. However, nowadays pianistic equipment is not necessarily associated with strength and power (among the competitors there are many fragile young men and sophisticated young ladies), but it inevitably comes down to purely technical characteristics - stability, coherence and evenness of performance are valued above all else. Indeed, in essence, even the stylistic interpretation of a work depends not on the naturalness of the pianist following the author’s thoughts, but on the accuracy of compliance with the canon of performance of this or that masterpiece, of which there are a great many standard recordings. That is why the decision of the jury and the opinion of the public, always thirsty for innovation and revelation, so often do not coincide, and the results of the current Horowitz competition are proof of this. The audience's favorites were pushed to the lower places by more balanced and savvy performers.

Representative of Georgia Luka Okrostsvaridze, studying at the Moscow Conservatory with Sergei Dorensky (Denis Matsuev, Nikolai Lugansky and member of the jury of this competition Vadim Rudenko graduated from his class), was the main favorite of the public. Rejecting the win-win motto of all competitions “play fast and loud”, he selected unhurried and intimate works for himself: the seemingly endless “Fantasy” by Robert Schumann, the melodious “Impromptu” by Nikolai Lysenko and even the title piece of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” - Prelude and Fugue in C major , which, after the trick of Charles Gounod, who added the vocal line of Ave Maria on top, serious musicians bypass the long way. Okrostsvaridze read it almost like a religious parable, touching the instrument in a way that was contrary to tradition: not by swinging over the keys, but intertwining his fingers with them and as if pulling sounds to the surface from the depths - this produced an almost magical impression. At the same time, his playing, which received the longest standing ovation, was not always impeccable, and therefore the pianist took only fourth place in the senior group.

The first place in the group was awarded to 26-year-old Korean Kim Go Woon, a student at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Lev Naumov and Maxim Filippov. This slender girl is weightless proof that developed muscles are no longer necessary for competitive victories. Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2, in which the composer imitates the sound of bronze bells and forces the pianist to be an enduring bell-ringer, was played by Kim Go-woon, bouncing on her chair, achieving sounds of crushing expression by the height of her hands falling on the keys.

A similar situation took place in the middle competition group: here the charming Frenchman Zhenier Remy received the most applause, although Roman Lopatinsky’s victory was foreseen even before the start of the competition. This 16-year-old pianist is studying in parallel with us and in Italy, plays the drums, conducts, and for several years now has completed the reporting concerts of his native Kyiv Specialized Music School named after him with an honorary performance with the orchestra. Lysenko. He performed Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 far from perfectly (in the first movement the pianist was quite unsteady in tempo - perhaps that is why at the closing ceremony he was asked to perform only the second and third movements), although he played excellently in the first two rounds, but presented especially well transcendental study "Blizzard" by Franz Liszt.

The rest of the prizes were divided almost equally between Ukrainians and foreigners. Silver and bronze in the senior group were taken by the Ukrainians Vasily Kotis and Alexey Kovalenko, respectively, and the 5th and 6th places went to the Russian Alexander Koryakin and the Ukrainian Anna Ulaeva, who excellently performed two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. In the middle group, II place was won by Sun Yutong from China, third prize was shared by Zhenier Remy and Ukrainian Polina Sasko, and IV and V were given to Romanian Andrei Gologan and Ukrainian Antoinette Mishchenko. In addition to cash prizes ($500-4000 in the middle group and $1000-10,000 in the senior group), the laureates were awarded many special prizes, and most importantly, they were provided with tours in France, Poland, Ukraine and Morocco: the founders of the Horowitz Memorial Competition deservedly consider the organization of these concerts as their main gift to young musicians.

Pianists mastered technique