R E V I E W S
评论
New York Concert Review,
Xi You, piano
Merkin Concert Hall
Artists International presented Chinese-born pianist Xi You as Alumni Winner of their Piano Award. Ms. You’s debut at Weill Recital Hall took place during the 2003 season.
Born in Kunming, Xi You completed music studies in China through the baccalaureate degree. Next stop was the Zurich Conservatory; then, under full scholarship, she earned the MM and Performance Diploma from the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers there were Solomon Mikowsky and Nina Svetlanova.
In lieu of more grandiose intentions, I shall content myself with describing the magic let loose by Ms.You at Merkin Hall under the blanket of heavy snowfall which will be remembered as the night of NYC’s first blizzard of the 2005 season. I will remember the evening only because, for me, Xi You’s unforgettable recital eclipsed the blizzard.
Beginning with two Scarlatti Sonatas, Ms. You played the first in f minor K. 466 with sense for its 18th century Italo-Iberian provenance yet never holding back a full melodic singing tone which is peculiar to our modern instrument. Her second Scarlatti Sonata K. 525, the devilishly difficult F Major which sprints along with that innervated fizz unique to this composer, is rightly or wrongly feared by most keyboardists. Fear is not part of Ms. You’s set-up; she is absolute master of her craft who presents a gloriously finished product, keeping the sweat of preparation thoughtfully to a handkerchief, out of public consciousness. A supremely gifted pianist, overwhelmingly generous with her musicianship, Xi You is a purveyor of delights who clearly respects her audience with whom she communes in total sincerity.
Next was Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17. Pianists and seasoned concertgoers are well familiar with this magnificent essay of three parts. Like a familiar road trip, we await the expected deliria, mists, bumps in the roads, potential wash-outs, sudden stops, and thrillingly sensuous curves to the highway. What set You apart from the general was a bard-like recitation throughout, the profile of her lengthening poem constantly growing, stepping back, venturing forth again in description of new character or reminiscences. One was cajoled by this uncanny storyteller to follow moment by moment all the contours of her personal delivery, forgetting what we thought we knew like the back of our hands.
You began with a less than glorious announcement of the first movement – it sounded too square - but which quickly fell into the general sweep described. Even a Rolls-Royce is known to initially sputter into gear under blizzard conditions. You did not miss one note in the second movement’s Coda, nor did she prepare a more forgiving bed for the outrageously difficult jumps and brilliant fortes which this section demands. Being accustomed to hearing this played like a three-legged race in a potato sack, the full thrall with which You pulled it off was a jolt of something for which we haven’t sufficient words to describe.
Following intermission, we heard Chopin’s Scherzo in b-flat minor Op. 31 No. 2. There is little new to say with this old warhorse, but a sense of infinite possibility as to how one can say it was made plain in You’s performance. I was especially taken with the ingenious and sensitive transitions she effected throughout.
Once You began her group of three Debussy works, Scarlatti and Schumann and Chopin were but distant memories, intimate lovers from the past who naturally faded in the presence of new passion. The seventh Etude (Pour les degrees chromatiques) was as the golden filigree perfected by jewelers of the ancient Near East. Skeins of tightly curled ribbon twisted relentlessly up and down the keys while You remained the calmly confident conjurer. Respect for the composer and his score while making the performance of it her very own is the highlight of her manner.
Next up was the Prelude – What the West Wind Saw. You underlined and celebrated Debussy’s genius as few pianists are able. Ondine caressed us with the eternal feminine in utter sensuousness.
The program ended with a gripping U.S. premiere of Sonata in e-flat minor (Quasi una Toccata) by the Colombian Arturo Cuellar (b. 1960). This is a gallop, wild and extreme and exciting; it works up sonorities previously unheard from a piano, and this is meant decidedly as a compliment both to the composer and to You. It seems to have a tonal center of e-flat (minor), a manner inherited down the line from Bartok, rather than a truly inhabited diatonic e-flat minor key. The opening Allegro contrasted roiling, spasmodic textures with delicate innuendo, slyly beguiling; the attaca second movement, perhaps the weakest in invention as compared with the outer two, still stood well and was true to its Cantabile heading; the final attaca Rondo: Tumultuoso was so compelling in its energy that its yet more furious Coda blew the roof off the house. Bravo! But before the snow had chance to drift through splintered rafters, You gave us an encore, something sumptuous from the pen of Ginastera.
-- Darrell Rosenbluth
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
Lancaster PA
“She made the earnest effort to remain true to Beethoven while bringing her original voice to the music.”
Sunday News, Lancaster SYMPHONY REVIEW
Xi You wasn’t just fast and flashy, though. She played the lyrical parts tenderly at a strolling pace.
Courier, Zurich
GRATIFYING AND FANTASTIC
The refined pianist Xi You amazed the entire audience who attended her concert on the 21st of March. With her sensational performance she attracted and easily inspired us with her great technique. “The Courier” wrote for that concert: “ She has offered us a gratifying and fantastic performance not only as a result of her talent, but primarily thanks for her intensively performence.”
Zurich’s Lowlander
District Buelach
Wangen-Bruettisellen: Superlative Piano Concert with the Chinese Pianist
Xi You
The Perfect Emotion from Music Notes
She is a rising sun among the concert pianists in the world
Martin Schauer
To enjoy a top-level concert it is not necessary for people to go to the Metropolitan concert halls only: the piano recital of Xi You, organized by the Wangen-Bruettisellen culture Association strongly proved this point.
As the applause greeting the young pianist subsided, silence reigned for a few seconds in the concert hall. Ms. You immersed herself in Debussy’s atmosphere, when he turned the “Images” into musical notes about one hundred years ago. Then she began to draw all the pictures with the sound of the piano which the composer wrote full of fantasy and feeling.
Floating Hands
While Xi You is performing on the piano, she seems barely to touch the keys. Her hands look like they are floating over the piano keys. Even the most difficult and complicated passages, she could handle perfectly with ease and grace. The musical style and period of the piece included all the technical traps and obstacles. The following piece was lovely and dreamy, and was inspired by an old Chinese melody, composed by Chinese romanticist Chen Pei-Yun, called “ the Moon Shines over the West Lake.” She caught the hearts of the young audience, who were surprisingly present in abundance at the concert.
Audience attracted
As the last piece, the pianist played the G-minor sonata from the tone-poet Schumann before the intermission. Through this four movement composition, she showed how well she understood to lead the audience into the period and the atmosphere of the music from the very first note.
News of Kunming
“Great combination of passion, intensity and intelligence.”
The Dispatch of Uster
Official publishing Organ
Annemarie Vit-Meister
“Won the first competition at age of 11”
The Chinese pianist Xi You gave a concert in the Gsellhof in Brüttisellen on Saturday.
Pianist Xi You, a native Chinese, played in Brüntisellen for the third time. The evening was dedicated to the romanticists of the last century. Shortly after her appearance, it already became clear that the charming pianist is not only the “former child prodigy”, but also has a strong personality, who improves her great talent with throw herself into music immediately with unbelievable power, exciting and gladdening the audience with her performance.
“From China to Switzerland”
At the tender age of 11, Xi You had already won her first children’s competition in Kunming. Together with only nine other children, she was selected to study at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, the Chinese capital. During her studies in China she already assured her success: winner of the Etudes Competition in Peking, the National Ashima Competition in Kunming and then in Hongkong.
After she earned her bachelor degree in China, Xi You has studied in the master class at the Zürich Conservatory of Music with professor Homero Francesch. She experienced her latest success by having been awarded the Kiwanis Prize for Music.
“Pianist with heart and soul” Xi You did not only let her hands glide over the keys in a perfectly accurate and yet expressive way, her entire person was communing with the instrument, a Bechstein grand piano. She listened to her own interpretations and her facial expression changed with them. The passages with lustrously clear runs seemed to delight her as much as the audience. Slower passages highlighted the great concentration of her performance. The way that she performed the “Images” by Claude Debussy, and the Sonata Nr. 2 in G-minor by Robert Schumann, displayed her extremely special understanding of the music. The interpretation of the Tempo in the last composition, the “rondo presto – prestissimo quasi cadenza” made everyone in the audience listen with close attention and to enjoy the energy of rhythm from the pianist greatly.”