REUBEN TSANG Piano+ Queensland Symphony Orchestra Studio, South Brisbane Sunday April 7, 2024 Reuben Tsang This young (20-year-old) pianist comes from Cairns and so has a special connection to Queensland audiences. He is currently … Read on blog or Reader O'Connell the Music Read on blog or Reader Fine effort from a new talent cliveoconnell April 11 REUBEN TSANG Piano+ Queensland Symphony Orchestra Studio, South Brisbane Sunday April 7, 2024 Reuben Tsang This young (20-year-old) pianist comes from Cairns and so has a special connection to Queensland audiences. He is currently finishing a small tour taking in the three eastern mainland states, sponsored by Piano+. This organization runs the Sydney International Piano Competition, in which Tsang participated last year; to some effect as he was the second-youngest entrant to reach semi-final status, and he won the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist Prize. His success rate with the 2023 jurors seems to have been with his Romantic era repertoire interpretations, but he showed laudable facility with the Baroque and Classical pieces presented on Sunday afternoon's program. Mind you, the most ringing applause from his audience came after his account of Liszt's Rhapsodie espagnole: a virtuoso's warhorse that I haven't heard for many years and, after this encounter, I'm not surprised. The piece offers variants on La Folia and a jota aragonesa but encases both mild tunes in a dazzling carapace of virtuosity that, in these moderate days, tends to generate chortles rather than admiration. Tsang made a brave sound in the opening nine bars, including a measured account of the cadenza, and he gave the Folia a grave statement, keeping fine control right through the splendid polonaise breaks in bars 66, 68, 70 and 73, then later from bar 118 to bar 131 - to my mind, the most inspired moments in these early stages. The arrival of the jota lightens the atmosphere most effectively and Tsang gave a graceful realization of the third-laden early dissertations on the theme. He might have retained some dynamic force before the sempre animando explosions of bar 446 onward before the armageddon at bar 506. But the rush to a Folia restatement at bar 633 enjoyed brisk handling, even if the climactic arrival proved rather underwhelming; which is to say, I've heard it done better. But then, as noted above, you rarely hear it live and, for many of us, the recorded performances (Cziffra!) can be astonishing. The wonder is that Tsang got through it pretty unscathed with only a few palpable hits. The recital's other 'big' work was Brahms' Sonata No. 1, which I encountered in student days as a favourite work in the repertoire of Ronald Farren-Price. Unlike the Liszt, this work asks for an imparting of weight or power. I'm not convinced that Tsang has the measure of the work's first movement and its stentorian declamation, especially on its first page, in the guts of the development, and the harmonically altered recapitulation of the principal theme. You could not fault Tsang's skill in outlining the composer's changes in texture and his dynamic subtlety, but the movement failed to capture the composer's from-the-shoulder heft. Yes, you walk a fine line between majesty and ponderousness but Tsang could improve his treatment of these pages if he took his time over them. Nevertheless, the executant gave us an exemplary reading of the second movement variations, informed by a light attack in that striking passage of textural contrasts where the time signature moves between 4/16 and 3/16 in the lied's last lines. Further, his dynamic actualizations preserved the subdued emotional range of the score where the language is sparsely coloured, rarely rising above a quiet monologue. As Tsang communicated it, the change-ringing on this folksong moved around harmonically but its contours shone through to admirable effect. This sonata's scherzo-plus-trio would probably be better orchestrated, I think. As it stands, its pages are active but exhaustingly repetitive, the executant producing wide leaps and clattering groups of six descending quaver double octave chords in a row, to the point where the stepwise ascending Trio melody is warmly welcome. Tsang made a well-controlled creature of this awkwardly imbalanced opposition; his phrase initial leaps proved accurate and his broadly rolling C Major middle section made for some excellent Brahms. Added to which, it seemed to me that, in this movement more than the first, he was exerting more physical strength, infusing these pages with welcome bounce. As with the scherzo and trio, Brahms' finale might be better off orchestrated, although then the sforzandi at certain points in the main theme would be diluted in impact. I thought that Tsang took this Allegro con fuoco too rapidly for comfortable delivery so that the abrupt accents that pepper the score came over as something of a smash-and-grab affair, the executant dazzling us with his rapidity rather than making each chord count. Still, what was lost in unbuttoned humour/well-being was compensated for by a nervous energy - which is another way of portraying these pages, if an unexpected one. As well as this sonata, Tsang also gave us an early Mozart: No 3 in B flat Major. It's one of this pianist's favourites - ditto for me. - and he worked through it with an appropriate infusion of elegance. The opening Allegro's juxtaposition of elements became one fabric, thanks to a restrained dynamic palette and a clever weaving of separated phrases by an appealing, easy articulation that looked for similarities rather than opposites. As well, both hands enjoyed their moments in the sun but rarely at the expense of each other, e.g. the development opening at bar 41 where the left-hand Alberti demi-semiquavers remained audible rather than reduced to a mushy susurrus. I'm pretty sure that the repeats in the Andante amoroso were omitted, but then this has always struck me as the weakest of the sonata's three movements; a touch over-studied, perhaps, and definitely predictable in its later stages. Still, you could say much the same about the concluding Rondo, even if the jaunty prime melody shows us Mozart relishing his own creativity, as in bars 22 to 25 where the bridge work triplets show us simple high spirits; and the following F Major tune starting at bar 28 has its first phrase repeated but minimally altered as the composer delights in his own frivolity. The score is loaded with happy, unaffected wit and Tsang sailed through with few errors. Still, you could point to a few digital misplacements, as you could in the pianist's opening bracket of Scarlatti sonatas: D Major K. 119, C Major K 132, and G Major K 427. The first of these, yet another hunting-horn exploiter, did not enjoy any repeats, although such an absence was understandable given the piece's unusual internal structure. Tsang handled its opening leap-bounds and the later clashing syncopated right-hand chords (bars 61 to 65) with a fresh recitalist's enthusiasm. I think he secured accurately the cross-hand action near the end of each half. With the C Major (the only one of the three that I knew well), the inward-collapsing arpeggios came off deftly and also the quaver tremolo bars (29, 31, 69, 71) sounded well-calibrated in this nearly symmetrical composition. Once again, I don't believe Tsang repeated either half. But he did for the presto G Major; just as well because there's not much to it. In fact, the attack was probably too brisk for this instrument, even if the mordents in bars 22 to 24 travelled well. Tsang's speed was reminiscent of Puyana, even if the Colombian harpsichordist hit the notes with much more ferocity in similar sonatas. Here, I believe for the first time, you heard some miscalculations in note delivery. These might have been ignored in much other music, but not with these transparent pieces where the sine qua non is responsible articulation. Tsang followed his Scarlatti bracket with the large-framed Brahms. After interval, between the Mozart and Liszt, he gave informed accounts of three of Faure's five Impromptus: No 1 in E flat Major, No 3 in A flat Major, and No 5 in F sharp minor. Here was the recital's most fluent playing, which showed once again how the composer's accidental-rich scores sound so equable in confident hands. These interpretations kept to a refined emotional level with no excess evident even in the climactic moments of each. Mind you, the impromptus are rarely performed, compared to Faure's nocturnes or barcarolles; yet they hold an attraction and facility under the fingers that argue against their neglect, even though the only one I've heard live is the A flat Major gem. It's not immediately apparent, but Tsang appears to have an empathy with the French composer. Indeed, I would have welcomed a run-through of all the Faure impromptus from him, if the three presented are any indication of his interpretative skill in this regard. And I found it significant that his choice for an encore after the flashy Liszt finale was yet another Faure: the Romance sans paroles No. 3 - a reminder at the end of Tsang's musicianship, exercised in just the right quarter. Like

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