https://www.ilcorrieremusicale.it/2023/02/leccellenza-di-seong-jin-cho/

The excellence of Seong-Jin Cho

he presence of Seong-Jin Cho, the South Korean pianist who won the first prize at the 2015 Warsaw Chopin Competition, had already been reported in more than positive terms in 2017, for the Milan Concert Society.

Expectations and scrutiny, meanwhile, of his record output led to no second thoughts. On the contrary, with the recital of the other evening the young thirty-year-old demonstrated a further growth which specified the contours of even more interesting stylistic choices, made particularly happy through an evening of grace of those which, when necessary, transform the trend of a recital in a particularly important event.

A summation of Cho's characteristics had already been underlined (complete technique, beauty of sound, phrasing perfectly in line with the results of a tradition of the highest level, total control of the piano medium, truly exemplary concert performance) which left no doubt about the qualities extraordinary by this artist. What was perhaps missing in recent years was the definition of a state of research that would lead the pianist to lead his own experience of the Competition in a personal journey made up of repertoire choices and combinations that can indicate new interpretations.

In this sense, if the layout of the recital the other night was more than obviously dedicated to the genre of the variation, what most struck the attentive listener was the perfect interpenetration between the stylistic and purely piano choices due in part to the summary of a tradition of the highest level and the personal emotional involvement of the soloist, completely immersed in the maze of a program of great commitment. We do not want here to minimize the personal components of the approach to classical literature, but it should be specified that a result of excellence similar to that achieved by Cho could only take place through a meticulous knowledge of the work of many pianists who have preceded in the long and tiring interpretative journey. In particular, the reading of the immense Variations on a Theme by Handel by Brahms and even more that of the Symphonic Studies op. 13 by Schumann (obviously including the "posthumous variations") showed a wonderful understanding of these magnificent texts, and enlivened a difficult path of repetition of each ritornello differentiating the character of each variation, i.e. showing different aspects even in the symmetrical exposition desired by the score . In this, Cho gave free rein to his imagination, avoiding any shadow of sterile academicism, intelligently bringing to light new details while respecting the traditional architectural design of the whole.

The two fundamental works that made up the program were preceded by Handel's fifth Suite (the one which in turn contains a short series of variations on the theme of the "harmonious blacksmith", a very popular element in the tastes of the past), by a selection from the Klavierstücke op.76 by Brahms, coincidentally the same performed by Walter Gieseking in one of his recitals in the early 1950s in Seattle and by the difficult and imposing symmetries of the Chaconne, a work by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, a little dated (1962) in its writing massive. And to another great pianist of the past, Wilhelm Kempff, Cho addressed in the only encore, the transcription of a Minuet by Handel himself that had opened the evening.

coincidentally the same performed by Walter Gieseking in one of his recitals in the early 1950s in Seattle and by the difficult and imposing symmetries of the Chaconne, a work by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, a little dated (1962) in its massive writing. And to another great pianist of the past, Wilhelm Kempff, Cho addressed in the only encore, the transcription of a Minuet by Handel himself that had opened the evening.