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The 2025 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition Four-CD set · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:08
  This is Jed Dissler and welcome to the Piano
• 0:11
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:14
  Consider taking out a paid subscription to the
• 0:17
  Piano Maven and you can find the link to do so
• 0:20
  in my sub stack page link that I've included
• 0:24
  in our episode description. Paid subscribers
• 0:27
  get a free download at the start of each month
• 0:30
  and your support helps keep this podcast alive
• 0:34
  and kicking. So one of you listeners complained
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  that I pop my P's when I'm speaking into my microphone
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  and that I should get something that covers the
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  microphone. Actually I do have something that
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  covers my microphone but I'm so sorry that I
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  pop my P's and I better stop doing that. Okay,
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  now we got that out of my system. I've been listening
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  to a recent four -disc compilation consisting
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  of performances from the 2025 Queen Elizabeth
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  Pah piano competition in Brussels. And should
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  we be surprised that the level of talent in 2025
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  was pretty extraordinary? But I was so busy covering
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  the Van Clyburn and the Chopin competitions last
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  year that I honestly didn't pay attention to
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  what was happening in Brussels, although one
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  of our listeners sent me some video links, which
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  I dipped into, but I didn't watch them completely
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  and with full absorption because I was busy elsewhere,
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  obviously. But now I'm making up for lost time
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  one year later. But this is a recent release
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  that came out a few months ago, and finally I've
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  gotten around to listening to it. The first of
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  the four discs starts with the first prize winner.
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  His name is Nikola Myusen. He was born in 2002,
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  and he became the first Dutch pianist to win
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  first prize at the Queen Elizabeth. On the recording
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  they feature here, he plays the living daylights
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  out of the Pro Coffee of Second Concerto. He
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  storms through that crazy first movement cadenza,
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  sounding as if he has an extra pianist helping
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  him out. and he takes the scherzo vivace at quite
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  a clip, and he tosses off those rapid unison
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  lines in both hands with such supple aplomb.
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  Somehow the Brussels Philharmonic, under the
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  direction of Kazushi Ono, managed to all keep
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  up. Also on this first disc is the third prize
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  winner, the Belgian pianist Valère Bernon. And
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  I have not heard his two CDs that were commercially
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  released before, but I have to say that he plays
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  the Rachmaninoff third. From the outset, he really
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  shows up as a team player, and he molds his phrases
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  in natural response to his fellow musicians in
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  a real chamber -like kind of aesthetic. Sometimes
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  he's a little careful. For example, he tends
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  to pull back before launching into very difficult
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  stretches of music, and I think it was the pressure
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  of the jury probably. But he gathers strength
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  and real rhythmic verve as the first movement
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  unfolds. Also, He approaches that big and often
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  ungainly chordal cadenza, you know, the first
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  of the two cadenzas. The second cadenza is a
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  lot lighter, and that's the cadenza I prefer.
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  But I said he shapes this big cadenza with a
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  lot of flexibility and purpose, and he never
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  sounds as if he's banging the music out. He finds
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  more dynamic peaks and valleys and places to
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  stretch a phrase or linger on a note than anyone
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  else in this cadenza. I don't mean to harp so
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  much on this cadenza, but I've rarely heard this
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  bulky piece of music so intelligently shaped.
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  It's both technically excellent and deeply musical
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  at the same time. Now in the last movement, the
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  pianist gets a little tired toward the end, but
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  You know, the pointed musicality of his playing
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  throughout the concerto performance consistently
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  held my attention. And the orchestra is really
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  playing great here, with Kazushi Ono, of course,
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  conducting. The second disc has two concertos
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  as well. It features the second prize winner,
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  Wataro Hisasu, in the Brahms Piano Concerto No.
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  2. He's a very solid and serious -minded interpreter.
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  He's got a full -bodied sonority, and sometimes
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  his phrasing falls into a four -square comfort
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  zone, but he's totally on top of and inside of
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  this work. I don't quite get the streamlined
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  and gaunt and intensely linear point of view
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  that impressed me when I heard Aristo Schaam
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  play the Brahms second in Fort Worth during the
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  Clyburn competition, but I do sense that Watoru
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  Hisasu's performance of the Brahms second must
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  have figured into the jury's decision to give
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  him second prize. However, the fourth prize winner
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  the American pianist Arthur Hinewinkle makes
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  even more of an impression in the Schumann concerto.
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  He's quite an individual. Just listen to those
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  introductory measures alone and you hear that
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  he's not just playing the notes. There's a real
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  ebb and flow to his phrasing and he has a great
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  sense of transition and creating character and
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  how he balances all of that. gnarly, imitative
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  writing between the hands in the first and third
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  movements really impressed me. And what an imaginatively
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  shaped cadenza he gives us in the first movement.
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  He does push that central intermezzo movement
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  a little bit, but maybe that's adrenaline or
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  nerves. Anyway, the whole performance of this
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  Schumann concerto is just so alive. I really
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  enjoyed it. Now, we have a lot of variety on
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  the third and fourth discs. There's a very evocative
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  and atmospheric piece for orchestra and piano
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  by Chris de Voort, F -O -R -R -T, where you've
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  got these billowy chords and flourishes that
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  float around a slow -moving two -note ostinato
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  in the left hand. These two pieces are called
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  Music for the Heart. I guess that left -hand
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  ostinato is a heartbeat. And it's beautifully
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  played by Yuki Yoshimi, who was one of the 2025
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  laureates. There are these two solo studies by
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  Anna Sokolovic. and they really have a lot of
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  contrast. Both feature percussive textural gestures
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  and phrases that seem to be folk -like. These
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  pieces really appeal to me. And the pianist Shiori
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  Kuwahara plays them with such joy and authority.
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  She, by the way, was the fourth prize winner
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  in the Warsaw competition, which is actually
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  where I first heard her play. And you know, Of
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  all the pianists in Warsaw, she was the only
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  one for whom I didn't take any notes when I was
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  listening because it was so easy just to sit
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  back and enjoy her because her Chopin playing
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  was so open -hearted and generous. I mean her
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  A -flat Polonaise just raised the roof and filled
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  the room with a big yet warm sound and she was
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  never banging at all. I remember right after
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  her performance I was sitting next to a Polish
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  critic and we looked at each other and spontaneously
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  we said the best Polonaise, meaning the best
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  Polonaise performance. We also get a performance
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  of the Prokofiev 8th Sonata with Valer Bernon,
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  who we heard before in the Rachmaninoff 3rd.
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  It's a very musical and really well -prepared
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  interpretation. Sometimes I wish for more bite
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  and transparency in the third movement, and maybe
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  a little bit less pedal. On the other hand, there
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  is wonderful transparency and rhythmic elan in
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  Bartok's three burlesques, as played by Wataru
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  Hisasui, and there's a lot of character. These
• 9:18
  are fantastic performances. We have a recording
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  of the List Norma fantasy with Masaya Kamai.
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  He was the fifth prize winner in Brussels, and
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  I actually heard him back in the 2022 Clyburn,
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  and I remember back then thinking that he was
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  just out to impress the jury with showpieces,
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  and he was only 20 years old back then. But I
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  will always remember that during the 2022 Clyburn,
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  he gave a very diabolical and playful rendition
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  of Ravel's Gaspard Lanoui. And judging from the
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  Queen Elizabeth competition Liszt -Norma fantasy,
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  this pianist is clearly matured. I mean, his
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  terrific technique and his flamboyance are still
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  there, but it seems that the playing is less
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  goal -oriented and much more about creating character
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  and drama. So that's Masaya Kamai in the Norma
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  fantasy. We also have the Mendelssohn Variations
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  series with the first prize winner Nicola Miusen.
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  I think it's all there technically, but I would
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  like more textural variety and lightness. There
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  seems to be a sameness to his playing from variation
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  to variation. At least that's how I hear it.
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  Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you'll like it more than
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  I do. The pianist Sergei Tanyan was a 2025 laureate,
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  and he's a veteran of the competition circuit.
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  He had recorded the first Brahms piano sonata,
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  the one in C major. on a commercial disc. I had
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  not heard that disc, but my colleague at Gramophone,
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  Jeremy Nicholas, did not like it at all. He said
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  that Tonian has bags of technique, but little
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  imagination, and his glassy fortissimos do not
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  help. I think his live performance from the Queen
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  Elizabeth is quite good, although the piano doesn't
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  really hold its tuning. And you do get a sense
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  of that glassiness in his sound. And lastly,
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  Jiaxin Min, who was a Laureate finalist, not
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  among the top winners, but she was an audience
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  favorite. And we have her performance of the
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  Mozart Concerto No. 27, Kershaw 595. Sometimes
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  she falls into interpretive clichés, like when
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  she has repeated chords, she will place the last
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  chord with a slight delay. But at least she has
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  a good sensible tempo for the finale, where it
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  really moves. A lot of pianists just treat this
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  finale with kid gloves. So this is a good collection
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  to sample whether or not you would want to own
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  all four discs. Maybe you will, I think. You
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  know, most of this I really enjoyed listening
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  to. And there are videos of these live performances
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  on YouTube, and in fact I've provided a link
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  to the videos in our episode description. But
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  what's clear from the 2025 Queen Elizabeth competition
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  for piano is that we certainly are not lacking
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  for piano talent in the world with young pianists.
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  There just seem to be more and more turning up
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  all the time and I think that's good. This is
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  Jed Disler and you've been listening to the Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to being
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  with you for our next episode.