For the Love of Music
VERA BELL
The White Rock was full to capacity and the occasion was, if not exactly glittering, excited and expectant. The Gala Concert that heralds the start of another Hastings Piano Concerto Competition was back in style this year. The soloists were the young pianists who won the concerto competition in 2024, Harmony Zhu and Curtis Phill Hsu.
Harmony Zhu and Curtis Phill Hsu enjoy a Hungarian Dance
The quality of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is internationally recognised. Conducted by guest conductor, American-born Scott Dunn, they were on magnificent form. They responded well to Dunn’s control of the overall shape of each piece, the dynamics, the infinitesimal pauses that heighten the drama, the variety of rhythm, the immediacy of the phrasing.
The No 1 piano concerto was written in 1830 when Chopin was just 20. It demands a great deal of the soloist in terms of complexity, while the orchestration acts as a backdrop to the scintillating and virtuosic piano part. Zhu’s playing is lyrical and assured, and she displayed, through the many solo passages and changes in tempo, an expressive rhythmic freedom. Still only 19, Canadian Harmony, a world chess champion at 7, is studying for a dual degree – maths at Harvard and piano performance at the New England Conservatory.
Curtis Phill played Rachmaninov 2 – probably the most well-known concerto in the world. After the ground swell of the introduction, the piano and orchestra continue an extended dramatic conversation and dance, via the profound lyricism which has made Rachmaninov’s music so favoured by audiences, film makers, and figure skaters. At the age of 21, Hsu is already a maestro, albeit a modest and engaging one. Having won this competition last year, he has won another first prize (and nine others!) in a Barcelona competition and will play four concertos across Spain and the Canary Islands, and record on the prestigious Naxos label.
THE REWARDS OF THE FEW
These young people have gifts granted only to the very few. They are prized and nurtured and hothoused, and they may appear as super-privileged. But they have undergone the most exacting and constant training from before they went to school: at least fifteen years of discipline and practice, leading to years more of dedication, world travel, study, and continued honing of their art. It must be a heavy responsibility to know that you are destined to transmit the power of great music to the world, to transcend political and social barriers, and to make this your life’s mission.
Great footballers are similarly privileged. But while people like Messi and Ronaldo earn hundreds of millions each year, concert pianists of similar genius earn little more, often less, than the average plumber. To me, this has somehow never seemed quite right.
For more details of the Hastings Piano Concerto Competition visit hastingsinternationalpiano.org
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