Two pianists, one name, one compelling combo
Lukas Geniusas and Lucas Debargue K (out of 4) Lukas Geniusas and Lucas Debargue (pianos) at Koerner Hall. Saturday, April 30.
The idea of pairing two pianists with the same name (different spellings), same age and similar career trajectories proved to be a compelling combination at Koerner Hall on Saturday night.
At 25, Lukas Geniusas and Lucas Debargue traverse parallel career trajectories, but are two very different pianists. French-born Debargue scandalously only made a fourthplace showing at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, but everyone took notice. Like a young Rimbaud, his touch is poetic and full of dazzling musical imagery — slightly dangerous even.
Making his Canadian debut, Debargue’s musicality explored the minutiae of sound in the emotions of wellsuited repertoire, which included two Scarlatti sonatas. In particular, his “K. 24 Presto” was a fireball of youthful energy; the opening staccato popped with colours that made the Spanish baroque ditty holler with a quintessential joie de vivre.
Debargue’s “Scriabin Sonata No. 4” was equally impressive, and rather than wander aimlessly through a forest of mystic chords, he established a point of view that was grounded and comprehensible.
Hunched over the keys, and looking down at his fingers, Debargue closed with Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit” and showed a pianist in charge of his royal talent. His fingers skirted up-anddown the keys, pausing in a blur with an effortless tremolo that hung like a french perfume. The technical challenges, especially in the third movement, were each easily surpassed.
Russian pianist Lukas Geniusas — who acquired a silver medal at the XV Tchaikovsky Competition — offered an altogether different scene. His sound was not as large as Debargue’s, but his pedalling was much more imaginative.
The phrasing was pinned to the overall arch of each piece and was heard most legibly with Chopin’s seven “Mazurkas.” While Geniusas offered an intellectual reading that sounded impersonal at times, he was, nevertheless, swift and brilliant. The subsequent “Prokofiev Sonata No. 7” carried a momentum matched with the unstoppable wartime march theme, resting on the rock-roll Precipitato finale.
The night closed as it opened, withboth pianists playing together. First was Grieg’s “2 Norwegian Dances” (piano for four hands) then was Ravel’s “La valse” (2 pianos), a series of waltzes that alternate between loud and soft. The two seemed to enjoy performing together.
In many ways, casting two pianists in parallel places a microscope on what makes similar piano competitions so engaging. The point is not the competition itself (musicians are not racehorses, after all), but to compare and contrast the different approaches that make each pianist’s artistry unique.