Hao Zi Yoh, a Magic Malaysian a long way off from the empty virtuosi of the keyboard.
Thanks to the Bosendorfer concert grand with its marvellous sound, the pianist was able to show off her great class and bravura.
Eva Purelli
Il Giornale di Vicenza
She started to play at the age of 3 and already at 12 played at the Carnegie Hall as Gold Prize Winner of the Bradshaw International Competition.
Hao Zi Yoh, born of Malaysian parents, continued her training at the Royal Academy of Music but was also noticed by the Keyboard Charitable Trust,that sustains,internationally, young keyboard talents.
Already noticed by Noretta Conci, Italian concert pianist, assistant of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, who with her husband John Leech created the Keyboard Trust, which is a saving anchor in the great music business sea of classical pianists.
Amongst the young particularly talented brought to light and in need of sustaining, over the years many have also come to Vicenza,thanks to the collaboration with the ‘Incontro’. Alexander Romanovsky was one amongst many of those chosen.
Tuesday in the small hall of the Teatro Comunale another young pianists played thanks to this partnership..
There are many young pianists technically prepared but often their technique becomes a obstacle with only prodigious finger gymnastics, the triumph of virtuosity with the flexing of muscles.
The pianist Hao Zi Yoh showed in her recital that she had not fallen into this trap. On the contrary,thanks to the marvellous natural sound of a Bosendorfer Concert Grand ,the 28 year old Yoh was able to play with subtle phrasing and a jewel like touch of great intensity. Her interpretation of Robert Schumann’s op 15 ‘Kinderszenen’, from which we all know the famous ‘Traumerei’ (Dreaming)but that includes other pearls of absolute beauty that the pianist demonstrated with her unique musicality. This absolute beauty of sound does not belong to all pianists but is worth much more than any cold virtuosity.
Chopin’s Fourth Ballade (played in place of the Fourth Scherzo as the Schumann ‘Scenes from childhood’ replaced the Rachmaninov Corelli Variations) demonstrated her expressively eloquent and profound singing touch from a pianist who had won third prize in the Rome International Piano Competition.
In Vicenza she opened with Mozart’s 15th Sonata in F K.533 of intricate harmonic structure that she played with freshness and loving lyricism.
Equally expressive and luminous was her interpretation of the 8th Novelette op.21 by Robert Schumann,a composer particularly close to her heart.She had closed her recital with a sparkling performance of a selection from Ravel’s ‘Miroirs’:’Noctuelles’,’Une barque sur l’océan ‘ and the explosion of Spanish colour in ‘Alborada del Gracioso’.
Great applause from the audience of 200 was well deserved and was thanked with an encore of Chopin’s brilliant ‘Minute’ Waltz.
Eva Purelli
(with grateful thanks to Christopher Axworthy for translating from Italian into English)
