Some remarkable playing from this nineteen year old pianist winner of this years’ Hastings International Piano Competition.Playing of Serkin intensity with impeccable musicianship and technical mastery. Fingers like limpets that were drawn into the keys allied to an intellect and passion that could delve deep into the scores and not only show the architectural shape but also the jewels that are hidden within

A Waldstein Sonata that was played with a driving rhythmic urgency but that could melt so easily into a mellifluous second subject where beauty and strength were combined.The introduction to the rondo was played with an intensity where every note had a poignant meaning .A simplicity where even the final top G suddenly was reborn as the undulating accompaniment of the rondo appeared as if from afar.The three contrasting episodes ever more explosive and technically challenging were played with remarkable mastery.But it was the poetic beauty of the Rondo that made the most effect as suddenly a gun shot of a luminous C signalled the opening of a music box.’Prestissimo’ as the pace quickened, which Curtis maintained until the end with the famous glissandi played with one and two hands never allowing this energetic force to diminish in any way.

Delius dismissed Beethoven as being all scales and arpeggios and in a way he is right nowhere more than here or in the Emperor Concerto,both written in the same period . But scales and arpeggios at the service of the genius of Beethoven when played with the mastery we heard today is breathtaking and exhilarating.

We are so used to listening to Liszt’s transcription of Wagner’s Liebestod that this transcription by Zoltan Kocis of the Prelude took me by surprise. As Hugh Mather said there is five hours of music that separates them and it was the tranquil beauty of these intense counterpoints that lead so beautifully into the Liszt Sonata in B minor.

This was truly a masterly performance the like of which I have only ever heard from Gilels. Not only was it played with passion and ravishing beauty but the intensity and overall architectural shape was maintained from the first to the last note.I have never heard the last three chords played with such luminosity and delicacy each one with it’s own voice.The final B played by the left hand but with the right hand and the whole of Curtis’s body as bystanders.This was a young man who had seen this entire monumental work as a great story that was unfolding.The clarity and precision he brought to the most transcendentally challenging passages was mirrored by the beauty and simplicity that he brought to the many lyrical passages. I had heard Curtis play the ‘Hammerklavier’ just a few months ago with the same intelligence and mastery with which he played the Liszt Sonata today.A musician who questions and ponders the scores before devouring them whole at any age would be a considerable achievement but at 19 one is left without words except perhaps one :Genius!

Born in Alabama, USA, in 2004, Curtis Phill Hsu took up the piano at the age of four. Following his initial participation in the 2014 International Summer Academy, he became fascinated with the city and the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Soon after, he was admitted into the Mozarteum Pre-College in 2016 and has been studying with Prof. Andreas Weber ever since. Within the first semester, Curtis was already nominated for the Leopold Mozart Institute’s High Talent Program (Hochbegabungsförderung). After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in 2023, Curtis is continuing his Master’s studies at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media under Prof. Arie Vardi. In 2024, Curtis won the coveted Sophia Guo First Prize with a performance of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Rory Macdonald at the 17th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, including the Sussex Prize, awarded for the best performance in the semi-finals, and the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise Prize, offered by Juror Pascal Escande. In addition, Curtis was honoured with The Hastings Fellowship supported by Arts Council England, an artist development and professional coaching package that helps young artists develop and sustain professional careers.

Curtis Phill Hsu mastery and artistry of the 19 year old winner of Hastings International Piano 2024

Yisha Xue hosting Curtis in her home on his special trip to mLondon from Hannover where he is studying with Arie Vardi with Dr Mather,Curtis and Ian Brignall,general manager of Hastings International