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The 2005 Van Cliburn Competition Revisited · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:00
  This is Jed Dissler, and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:19
  Ever since it began in 1962, the Van Clyburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas,
• 0:28
  has been documenting nearly all of the events' performances,
• 0:33
  and there have been quite a few commercial releases that have stemmed from all of the rounds of the Clyburn Competition.
• 0:41
  In fact, there really should be a serious and systematic discography of commercial CD and download releases stemming from Clyburn Competition performances.
• 0:54
  The Clyburn Foundation released just about every performance from their 2001, 2005, and 2009 competitions in download format.
• 1:07
  On the other hand, in 1997, 2001, and 2005, 2009, and 2013,
• 1:15
  the Harmonia Mundi label brought out CDs of live Clyburn Competition performances only featuring those years' top gold, silver, and crystal metal winners.
• 1:29
  I reviewed almost all of these discs, except I didn't review the ones from the 2001 series because I wrote their booklet notes,
• 1:39
  and I can't review discs that I annotate, although I can speak about them and broadcast them, of course.
• 1:46
  For today's podcast episode, I'm going to focus on the 2005 competition and the three Harmonia Mundi discs representing that year's top three winners.
• 1:59
  Although you can't find these discs anymore in physical form except from second-hand dealers,
• 2:07
  you can still download or stream the performances.
• 2:12
  And I've provided some pertinent links to these performances in the episode description.
• 2:18
  I recently re-listened to the three 2005 Clyburn Harmonia Mundi discs,
• 2:25
  and I think the performances have held up pretty well.
• 2:28
  You have to remember that these are live, unedited performances, as far as I know,
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  so what you hear is what you get, so to speak.
• 2:38
  Sa Chen was the Crystal Award winner, which is the third prize,
• 2:44
  and she's made a very successful career since then.
• 2:48
  But in 2005, she was already a world-class artist, as you can hear.
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  I think Harmonia Mundi chose very well for her disc.
• 2:58
  The selections include a really assured and well-paced Chopin B Minor sonata,
• 3:04
  a performance of Ravel's Gaspartalanoui that goes like the wind, especially in the finale Scarbo.
• 3:12
  I don't know how Sa Chen survived her insanely fast tempo without derailing,
• 3:18
  but she certainly did, that's for sure.
• 3:21
  She also gives live and totally committed performances of Sebastian Currier's
• 3:28
  Scarlautti Cadences and Brainstorm,
• 3:31
  and there's a rip-roaring performance of Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody on the Sa Chen disc.
• 3:37
  This is really, really great playing.
• 3:39
  Joyce Yang was the second place winner,
• 3:43
  and her disc in this series is no less memorable, I think.
• 3:47
  She really shines in the Liszt Don Juan fantasy,
• 3:51
  and in spite of a few mannered phrasing,
• 3:55
  she does very well in the Bach overture in the French style.
• 3:59
  Now, because this was a competition, you don't get all the repeats.
• 4:03
  Many competitions don't encourage competitors to play repeats, and that's okay.
• 4:08
  Sometimes you just want to hear a Bach suite or a partita without the repeats.
• 4:13
  And Joyce Yang throws her virtuosity head-on into the two movements,
• 4:20
  Sonata No. 1 by the Australian composer Carl Vain.
• 4:24
  This is music in the tonal tradition of something like the Samuel Barber Sonata.
• 4:31
  You might want to call it the Barber Sonata on steroids.
• 4:34
  It's very inventive, pianistically ingenuous music.
• 4:38
  It's extremely challenging to play.
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  And if you hear this music, you can understand why it's really popular
• 4:44
  with conservatory students and competition competitors.
• 4:49
  The 2005 gold medal Clyburn winner was Alexander Cobren.
• 4:56
  And while not all Clyburn gold medalists live up to their promise or their initial hype,
• 5:03
  I think that Cobren definitely deserved the gold in 2005.
• 5:08
  In Rachmaninoff's Etudes Tableau, Op. 33, he moves from one piece to another,
• 5:15
  creating a distinct sound world and dramatic trajectory for each piece.
• 5:21
  His keen ear for harmonic motion and narrative sweep justifies a rather loosely knit approach to Rachmaninoff's second sonata.
• 5:33
  It's very different than, let's say, the very watertight, intense Alexis Weissenberg recording.
• 5:40
  Cobren's Chopin B major nocturne Op. 9 No. 3 is a little droopy and generic
• 5:47
  when you hear it next to people like Arthur Rubinstein and Ivan Morovets.
• 5:52
  But it is refreshing to hear him approach Brahms' Paganini variations
• 5:58
  more as a musical composition rather than as an Olympic stunt.
• 6:03
  It's a really, really distinctive performance.
• 6:06
  You'll notice subtle color changes on the repeats, and the fluctuations of tempo are really well proportioned.
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  And there's a sense of fantasy that comes off that just goes beyond merely playing the notes.
• 6:21
  And of course, Cobren plays the notes with absolutely no effort and the utmost ease.
• 6:28
  Judging from these three discs, I would say that the 2005 Van Klyburn Competition Jury did their job pretty well.
• 6:37
  As I said earlier, you can find these performances via digital download or from various streaming services.
• 6:46
  This is Jed Dissler, and you've been listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 6:56
  Thanks for joining me, and please spread the good word about this podcast to all your piano-loving friends.
• 7:04
  Take care, and I look forward to being with you for the next episode.