Piano synergy unleashed in Perth Concert Hall
I have often marvelled at the synergy between the Steinway piano and Perth Concert Hall. Alexander Gavrylyuk in his Perth Piano Sunday recital on October 8 provided the most amazing, convincing truth of this yet.
Gavrylyuk’s playing showed total musicality and supreme pianistic ability.
From a time when virtuosi were rampant he started with the BachBusoni version of the well-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor. In sonic impact this outdid the largest organ in the hugest Gothic cathedral. The start roared the fugue was tremendous.
Smilingly delicate articulation came in with the quirky Sonata in B minor by Haydn, at times quite Scarlatti-like. Ian Stuart Hunter
The Finale was a Haydn chase with maximum speed and maximum detail.
His playing of six Études from Chopin’s Op10 highlighted the range from the lyric No3, through the bounce of No8, a darkly romantic surge in 9, his evenness of touch with the tune in an intricate mesh in 10, the arpeggios of 11 and finally the drama and excitement of No12 the famous Revolutionary Study.
After the Interval came an amazing performance of Scriabin’s Sonata No5.
A furious start followed by calm. Fantastic fingerwork and footwork from Alexander Gavrylyuk, volatile as the piece demands, from stillness to hyper ecstatic, yet overall optimistic and life affirming.
Alexander Gavrylyuk finished with Rachmaninov. First three Preludes: from Op23 the melancholy No1, and the pulverizing excitement of No5, finally the icy Op32 No12. He then plunged stormily into the revised version of the Sonata No2, pausing only for the sunlight of the second theme given with delicate innocence and serenity.
The slow movement had its own grand theme, but relaxed and lyrical. Then it was on to the Finale: grand cascades of notes. The sheer virtuosity of Alexander Gavrylyuk’s playing was breathtaking especially in the final pages.
Brought back repeatedly by tumultuous applause Alexander Gavrylyuk played an encore of simple grace and poignancy: Of Foreign Lands and Peoples, the opening piece of Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood. Pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk