Hao Zi Yoh – music making at its finest at St James’s Piccadilly
I can do no more that repeat my impressions just a month ago in the mecca of pianists in Perivale. A message of simplicity and beauty from the magic hands of this young pianist .
Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 15 in F major K. 533/494 (finished 3 January 1788)is in three movements :Allegro – Andante – Rondo: Allegretto. The Rondo was originally a stand-alone piece composed by Mozart in 1786 (Rondo No. 2, K. 494 ).In 1788, Mozart wrote the first two movements of K. 533 and incorporated a revised version of K. 494 as the finale, having lengthened it in order to provide a more substantial counterpart to the other two movements. There was clarity and a disarming simplicity to Hao Zi’s playing with crystal clear articulation and a rhythmic drive that was spellbinding from the first notes. Great elegance in the beautifully shaped Andante was played with an aristocratic sense of style. There was drama too but always within the confines of the overall shape of the movement that unlike Beethoven was just a passing cloud until returning to the serenity of the opening melodic line. The cascading arpeggios replying one to the other at the end were played with a refined delicacy that was absolutely ravishing. The purity of sound and child like simplicity gave such charm to her playing of the rondo. The ever more vivacious ornamentation just added to the rhythmic impetus with her sparkling jewel box full of kaleidoscopic colours. A coda deep in the bass in such reflective mood as the rondo theme just dissolved before our eyes with the magic that Hao Zi had recreated.
