I will never forget the first time I heard Kevin Chen at the Liszt Competition in Budapest in 2021.Peter Frankl and I were flabbergasted by this young boy who could play with such mastery and breathtaking virtuosity.He swept the board at the competition and even Giovanni Bertolazzi,one of the finest pianists of his generation,had to bow to such a phenomenal genius.We discovered afterwards that he had studied with Marilyn Engle in Canada who had been one of the most remarkable Canadian pianists of her generation. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marilyn-engle-emc

Kevin Chen in Warsaw – at only 18 a star of genius shines brightly in our midst.

Kevin Chen went on to win the International Competition in Geneva in 2022 and the Rubinstein Competition in 2023 . It is Marios Papadopoulos who has invited Marilyn Engle to give masterclasses at his annual Oxford Piano Festival and of course her star pupil to give a recital.( Since October 2023, Kevin currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover mentored by Professor Arie Vardi.)

Kevin Chen A gentle giant of humility and genius

The concert in Oxford had begun with four Scarlatti Sonatas played not only with scintillating clarity and brilliance but also with delicacy and elegance where ornaments were like tightly wound springs that just sparkled under his well oiled fingers.

There was a chiselled beauty to K.266 of great delicacy and charm with absolute precision and a non legato touch of beguiling elegance.

K 124 glistened with brilliance and ‘joie de vivre’ with a kaleidoscope of sounds of jewels shining so brilliantly and also bringing a heartwarming beauty of a mellifluous contrast of colours bathed in pedal.

K 87 where the languid beauty was allowed to emerge from all the accompanying counterpoints with a clarity and luminosity where every strand had a poignant meaning.

Kevin’s Chopin again reminded me so much of Solomon where Chopin is restored to it’s rightful place ,as Kevin followed scrupulously Chopin’s very precise indications.Gone were the rhetoric and tradition but a door was opened to a Chopin of nobility ,intelligence and poetic musicianship.I have never heard the Polonaise- Fantasie played with such a clarity of line from the very first opening chords played with aristocratic authority and an extraordinary sensitivity without ever forgetting the throbbing insistence that was to take us from the etherial fantasy of the opening reverberations to the blazing brilliance of the Polonaise.In Kevin’s hands it was all done with a subtlety and extraordinary sense of balance.There was a richness to the central chordal episode played with sumptuous sounds and rare sensibility. A nostalgic beguiling beauty of the gradual return to the opening polonaise as it built almost imperceptibly to the glorious outpouring of triumphant beauty.Dying away to a gentle ending in a performance that showed the rare humility of a musician who puts the composer before himself.

The first Ballade is one of the best known works of Chopin but rarely have we heard it restored to such greatness as today.The rare chiselled beauty of the opening was of simplicity and desolation.A maturity of measured beauty as Chopin’s bel canto was unfolded with rare simplicity.It was Kevin’s absolute clarity of thought that was so apparent as the music was allowed to unfold without any rhetoric or exaggeration.A sumptuous climax brought us to the brilliance of the coda that was given a musical shape of startling originality and excitement.The final scales were mere washes of sound as the recitativi became ever more insistent.

A beautiful Study by Moscheles where the beauty of the melodic line was allowed to float above a flowing bass in a Mendelssohnian mode of Neapolitan fantasy.There was great flexibility and poetic sensibility with scintillating embellishments of beauty and refined delicacy.

Schumann’s ‘Concert without orchestra’ was put on the map in my day when Horowitz played it in the recitals of his Indian summer.It was since taken up by Pollini and many other pianists.A work in four movements that in lesser hands can sound disjointed and rhapsodic.Kevin managed to link all four movements into one architectural whole where even the famous Clara Wieck Variations had a crucial part to play in a whole.It is interesting to note that the Sonata is dedicated to Moscheles with whom Kevin had prefaced it with his ‘Etude caractéristique’ . A passionate outpouring of sumptuous sounds of rare delicacy.Even Schumann’s dotted rhythms were give a shape and meaning of driving fluidity.A Scherzo of lightness and rhythmic drive with mellifluous outpourings never losing this fleeting forward movement.The Andantino was played very slowly with deeply felt meaning as the variations unfolded with subtle beauty gradually increasing in pace with a quixotic scherzando variation giving way to a noble outpouring of an almost too seriously poignant farewell. There followed a scintillating Prestissimo of constantly moving harmonies on which the genius of Schumann shines through with magical mellifluousness.This was one of the most satisfying performances I have ever heard of a work that is rarely given the architectural shape and understanding that we heard today.

Liszt’s beautiful transcription of Schumann’s Widmung was played as an encore and just showed even more the poetic sensibility and intelligence of this young genius.

Marilyn Engle’s colleague Linn Hendry /Rothstein writes :”Canada is a very big country and we all knew each other from the radio…..Marilyn’s teacher in Calgary was very well known for producing solid piano skills…Gladys Egbert…I met Marilyn in Switzerland,by chance, we were having dinner with Tibor Varga and she was in the same restaurant with Peter Feuchtwanger !!! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2016/07/02/peter-feuchtwanger/

She won CBC talent festival in 1966 and I think Janina (Fialkowska) did it in 1968 or 69.I came 2nd to William Tritt in 70 (he played Prokofiev 2 and I played Brahms 1) then the next year I played Rach 3 and got the top prize….I think in between Jane Coop was a winner and after me was Angela Hewitt as I remember. In those days there were quite a few CBC radio orchestras;one in each province so you could be pretty busy. I was always in awe of Marilyn’s bravery in travelling away from home to study. She did go back to Calgary though quite early which may have been for family reasons…and a career in music for a woman was not an easy ride.Janina was taken under the wing of Rubinstein when she was at a crossroads in her life.Angela Hewitt was offered a recording contract for all the works of Bach with the then almost unknown Hyperion label.Marilyn has obviously become a magnificent teacher which the world has discovered via Kevin Chen.

The only real contact between all of us was the CBC…We all knew each other from the radio though…personally I was given a ridiculous number of recital and concerto recording opportunities because of the CBC competition.

I just hope he can make a happy life..he has certainly brought cheer to my life with those 2 recitals…absolutely renews hope in the future if piano playing …the boy has integrity and true and deep respect for the composer…for once a young player who does not put himself forward as the most important part of the equation……he does not need a teacher now just support”  Linn Hendry/Rothstein

The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 14, called “Concerto for piano without orchestra” by Tobias Haslinger , was composed in 1836 and dedicated to Ignaz Moscheles , to whom in a letter he comments “what crazy inspirations one can have”. Liszt believed that the work was rich and powerful. In 1853 Schumann revised the work and added a Scherzo as a second movement, which the performer could choose to play, or not play.

Movements

1. Allegro brillante
2. Scherzo . Molto commodo
3. Quasi variazioni. Andantino de Clara Wieck  
4. Prestissimo  possibile

We offer all our livestreams free of charge. Please consider making a gift to support the Oxford Piano Festival, so we can continue to do so in future years: https://oxfordphil.com/support-us/ This stream will be available to watch on-demand for two years after initial broadcast. Filmed by Apple and Biscuit at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford.