A small but appreciative audience attended the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall to hear 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition winner, Russian pianist Andrey Gugnin, deliver a much-anticipated recital. This followed on from the successful Melbourne Recital Centre debut of the 2023 “Sydney” winner, Jeonghwan Kim in July.
It is somewhat anachronistic that while Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor is one of the most easily recognisable works from the “Classical” repertoire, even to the general public, his other major essays in solo piano writing – the early Sonata in E minor and the Ballade Op 24 – are so rarely heard. The many volumes of Lyric Pieces, shorter works beloved especially of amateur pianists, are occasionally heard in small groupings by concert pianists. So it was a welcome opening to the recital to hear Grieg’s neglected Ballade, a work dating from 1875, and comprising a set of variations on a popular Norwegian air. In many ways Gugnin’s performance here set the tone for the recital to come. The Ballade opened delicately, revealing a finely nuanced tonal palette that perfectly captured the elegiac, dream-like state of much of the Ballade. Gugnin wisely eschewed melodrama in the more excited variations, preferring a more intimate understated reading, right up until the closing reprise of the opening theme.
Mikhail Pletnev’s arrangement of seven excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (only four were listed in the program) is now a staple of many touring virtuoso pianists’ repertoire. The numerous pianistic challenges of this work were tossed aside by Gugnin, as his deft technique brought to life the many characters and dances of the Christmas-themed ballet with a brilliance and imagination that recalled Daniil Trifonov’s arresting evocation of Petrushka at the same venue in 2017. Gugnin’s tonal variety and control of texture was deliciously orchestral, incorporating three-handed effects, subtle half-pedalling, super-crisp staccato, and an unerring sense of melodic line, finally culminating in the overwhelming tumult of cascading scales and arpeggios that dominate the concluding Pas de Deux.
After interval came two works less familiar to concert audiences. Carl Vine’s two-movement Piano Sonata No. 2 (1997) found as persuasive an advocate as could be hoped for in Gugnin. While the work is infused with many of the textural, melodic and rhythmic tropes that characterise the widely popular Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990) there is perhaps less fecundity of ideas here than in its older sibling sonata. Nevertheless, a visibly energetic Gugnin, now playing from a score, explored Vine’s imaginative use of the extreme keyboard registers in the opening movement with aplomb. Similarly, the infectious rhythmic momentum of the jazz-infused second movement unfolded compellingly in the hands (and upper body) of Gugnin, who certainly made a case for hearing this work more often.
Then followed Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Bagatelles Op. 1 (2005). These three miniatures have a cinematic ambient quality, and although written to have a certain improvised air, they are notated with very calculated micro-dynamic and agogic score indications that the composer has said are essential to their correct performance. Hence, perhaps, why Gugnin also used a score for these readings tonight. Although it was easy to feel that there is a certain sameness about the individual bagatelles, Gugnin conveyed their textural transparency and fragility engagingly in what were fluent, aptly laid-back readings.
As with the conclusion of the first half, the recital ended with a Russian ballet transcription that revealed the kaleidoscopic virtuosity of Andrey Gugnin at its most compelling. Guido Agosti’s arrangement of three movements from Stravinsky’s wildly evocative Firebird ballet has been a staple of the repertoire since its appearance in 1934. Yet it is not a work for the faint-hearted, and its dazzling virtuosity requires much more than solid practice, fleet fingers, and a steely octave technique. Its spectacular exploration of colour, texture and rhythm, can only reveal itself fully in the hands and mind of a pianist whose musical imagination transcends mere technical minutiae. In the opening Danse Infernale, Gugnin confidently captured the work’s elemental ferocity, while the ensuing Berceuse’s lyricism unfolded with an assured sense of line, all amid the score’s complex textures. The majestic, expansive canvas of the vividly colourful Finale, replete with breathtaking glissandi and richly sonorous chordal textures that surveyed the full expanse of the keyboard, brought the work and indeed the recital to a powerful, and enthralling ending.
Two welcome encores followed: an intensely lyrical, yet profoundly intimate Prelude in D major by Rachmaninoff, and then by contrast, a riveting reading of the moto perpetuo finale from Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata.
As a post-script, it may have been of interest for the audience to have either written program notes on the works presented – most of which would have been very unfamiliar to the standard concert-goer – or verbal introductions from the artist himself. Ironically, such verbal introductions, which go so far in engaging the contemporary audience, are now a requirement for all competitors in “The Sydney”.
Photo supplied
____________________________________________________________________
Glenn Riddle reviewed the piano recital given by Andrey Gugnin at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on November 1, 2023.
