WINDSOR AND ETON CHORAL SOCIETY WITH RYAN WANG
7.30PM Saturday, 21st September 2024
St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle
Windsor and Eton Choral Society
Brandenburg Sinfonia
Ryan Wang Piano
Tim Johnson Conductor
Accompanied by the excellent Brandenburg Sinfonia and with professional soloists, Windsor and Eton Choral Society bring Brahms’ moving and dramatic German Requiem to Windsor Festival this September.
This special concert in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle will open with exceptional young pianist Ryan Wang performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The 16 year old Etonian began learning the piano at the age of four, playing at Carnegie Hall by the time he was five, and is the recipient of numerous distinguished international awards and prizes, recently becoming the youngest ever winner of the Prix Cortot from the École Normale de Musique de Paris.
Programme:
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2
Brahms German Requiem
A masterly performance from the 16 year old Ryan Wang today in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. Another Canadian pianist taking the world by storm just as Jaeden Dzurko did today in Leeds and Bruce Xiao Liu did in Warsaw a year ago.Lets not forget Kevin Chen ,mentored by Marilyn Engle ,running off with Budapest at 16,Geneva at 17 and Rubinstein at 18 in a carousel that not even Martha Argerich has equalled!
From the very first notes Ryan showed an authority and breathtaking command of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
In his last year as a scholar at Eton,Ryan gave a performance of passionate abandon but with a mature musical intelligence way above his 16 years.
After the passionate excitement of the first movement it was the way he could dialogue with the orchestra in the slow movement that was so astonishing as he could blend in and out with the orchestra allowing his glowing tone to emerge as he duetted first with the clarinet and finally with the strings with heart rending beauty.The last movement just shot from his fingers with astonishing ease and scintillating bravura.Watching the conductor like a hawk as he brought such animal passion to the hollywoodian climax .A spontaneous standing ovation from a very distinguished audience brought an encore of Jesu joy of man’s desiring played with quite extraordinary poignancy and aristocratic timeless beauty.
Ryan will be performing the concerto in Bristol next week which I believe will be broadcast and televised as the final round of the BBC Young Musician of the Year.
The very first whispered chords Ryan played with extraordinary chameleonic colouring as they grew so naturally in size and weight before the final explosion with the four final bass notes played with overwhelming authority and power.The orchestra entering with their wonderfully romantic effusions of sumptuous golden string sound. It was this power from the bass that was to pervade the piano accompaniment with the same searing intensity that Tim Johnson distilled from his excellent players of the Brandenburg Sinfonia.
Ryan playing with the weight of a veteran where every note was given its place and meaning.Listening ,as he was to do even more noticeably in the Adagio sostenuto ,here in this famous opening he played as Rachmaninov himself exhorts ‘con passione’ but also with intelligence ,sensibility and masterly control.The ‘poco piu mosso’ that follows was of an enviable clarity where his crystalline fingers dug deep into every one of the keys on this magnificent Steinway Concert Grand that lay before him.The beautiful second subject was played with controlled freedom with a feeling of improvised discovery as his rubato was enticing but so natural and never sentimental.
This was the mature aristocratic cantabile that Rubinstein was such a master of and whom I had heard in the nearby Eton college many years ago.Rubinstein appearing on stage in Eton Chapel as part of this same Windsor Festival when it was directed by Yehudi Menuhin . Appearing in tails dressed as all the boys were in the audience who had flocked to hear this legendary figure.There were such piercing sounds that shone above the swirling passionate cauldron first with two repeated notes and then with three before Ryan too was caught up in this passionate build up before bursting into unashamed passionate repeated chords like a rock star in full flight! But it was the control of the ‘Alla marcia Maestoso’ after such passionate effusions that was so remarkable and breathtaking .
The clarity he brought to the gentle beating heart of the ending was just as remarkable as it floated above the orchestra with magical arabesques bringing a glow to such heavenly sounds as it shot on its way unimpeded to the final three imperious chords that Ryan played with a finality of no nonsense mastery.
Rachmaninov’s ‘Moonlight ‘ opening for the piano of his Adagio sostenuto was played where every note was not just an accompaniment, as it should be in Beethoven, but Rachmaninov weaves a magical web that every so often comes to the surface in a duo with the orchestra.It takes a great musician to be able to listen and weave in and out in real chamber music style whilst sitting in the limelight. Poignant beauty as with single notes the piano intones this magical melody inviting the left hand to double to make it twice as bewitching. Ryan played like a consummate artist who could improvise such beauty in the moment adding hesitations or inflections as a singer might do.The gradual build up with trails of undulating scaling passage work was played with a clarity that shone above the orchestra but never obscuring the architectural line that was being shared .
Exploding into a passionate climax of intensity and an aristocratic ‘allargando ‘ as the music worked itself up into a whirl of notes culminating in another passionate outburst of even more vehemence before the filigree notes that lead to the eventual cadenza.Notes that remarkably were of a crystalline clarity penetrating the orchestral sounds with a refined projected leggiero of considerable mastery. Culminating in a rhetorical cadenza starting deep in the bass and reaching into the heights with exhilaration.It was here that Ryan’s great artistry shone through with a silence that seemed eternal until he completely changed gear with four voluptuous arabesques that were eventually to lead back to the opening motif.Beautiful undulating chords accompanying the melodic line from the orchestra in the coda were played like a breath of fresh air in such a torrid atmosphere and again the magisterially placed final cadence on the piano was of a true master.
Tim Johnson like a cat about to pounce as soon as the final E major chord had died away and we were off into the ‘Allegro scherzando’ where Ryan was now ready to shoot off a pyrotechnic rocket from one end of the keyboard to the other where dynamic drive and scintillating virtuosity were rampant.But suddenly there was calm and the ravishing beauty of the ‘Moderato’ where the orchestra are given one of those sumptuous Rachmaninovian melodies that in turn is passed over to the piano. Ryan in his turn playing with a controlled freedom of ravishing subtle beauty .Suddenly interrupted by a ‘Meno Mosso’ where the piano just muses on C flat meanderings of complete opaque calm before the fireworks really begin.Astonishing virtuosity and passionate conviction from this young artist inspiring the orchestra into a breathtaking climax of sumptuous romantic fervour.
Covered in flowers from friends and family he played ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’ as a thank you for the standing ovation he together with the conductor and orchestra had truly earned.I doubt Myra Hess herself could have played her transcription more beautifully and Ryan even allowed himself some old style split hands and sumptuous inner colourings more in line with Nelson Freire than the great Dame herself https://youtu.be/2GoEx9_dUko?feature=shared
It was wonderful to hear the glorious voices in Brahms Requiem from the Windsor and Eton Choral Society that had made it’s first appearance in Windsor in 1837. A glorious performance with the voices resounding throughout this Historic Chapel superbly directed by Tim Johnson with beautiful solo voices of Susanna Fairbairn and Andrew Mayor resounding above the glorious singing of this dedicated choir and orchestra.
Montecatini International Piano Competition Final in the historic Teatro Niccolini in Florence.
Ryan Wang ‘A star is born on the Wings of the Dragon’ at the National Liberal Club
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 