2023-09-02 13:40:46
– In Vevey, the fiery keyboard of Magdalene Ho
The 30th Clara Haskil competition crowned the young Malaysian in the final on Friday, September 1.
Posted today at 3:40 p.m.
At the Clara Haskil competition, finalist Magdalene Ho’s crazy dog side made a strong impression in Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4.
CELINE MICHEL
For the jury of 30e concours Clara Haskil, there was no hesitation. Each of the members noted Magdalene Ho’s name on their ballot after the final, which took place on Friday 1 September in a theater in Vevey full as an egg. Finghin Collins, president of the jury and former winner in 1999, praised the extremely high level of the competition. The latter was also reflected this year in the masterful performance of the Orchester du festival in Zermattinspired by Gábor Takács-Nagy.
The prize list smiles on the young Malaysian pianist, the youngest of Friday’s confrontation. Magdalene Ho was also awarded the Children’s Corner prize, awarded by a jury of children, the Coup de coeur prize for young critics, awarded by musicology students from the University of Geneva, and finally the Audience Prize. The Modern Times prize, which rewards the best interpretation of the compulsory piece, commissioned Camille Pepin for the quarter-finals, returned to Arthur Hinewinkel.
A designer, a watercolourist and a sculptor
Had they taken Fine Arts instead of piano, the finalists would have chosen very different techniques. Perhaps the Russian Elizaveta Ukrainskaïa would shine in drawing, with a hand that is both sure and gentle, finesse in the lines, a superbly polished rendering, although a little demure. His interpretation of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 allowed him to highlight his pearly playing, with admirable fading effects in the slow movement. Hypersensitive and weakened by emotion, Arthur Hinewinkel is certainly a piano watercolourist. In Mozart’s Concerto No. 20, the 23-year-old Frenchman bet on transparency, the fusion of hues, the impalpability of an infinite but not very dazzling color chart.
Despite very small hands, Magdalene Ho sculpts the material with prodigious energy and infallible precision of attack. With her, each sentence imposes its relief, its sharp angles and its roughness: it crackles, it fuses, it slams! After the sketch delivered by its competitor at the start of the evening, its breathless crossing of Beethoven’s concerto No. 4, closer to the conquering spirit of the concerto “The Emperor”, aroused the enthusiasm of the room.
Matthew Chenal has been a journalist in the cultural section since 1996. He chronicles in particular the abundant news of classical music in the canton of Vaud and in French-speaking Switzerland.More info
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