Quite extraordinary playing of two masterworks for piano by Beethoven and Schubert. Not only superb playing but a very moving introduction from a young lady whose whole philosophy of life is in her music making. It was nice to be reminded of Alfred Brendel’s ‘bon mot’ of Beethoven being the architect and Schubert the sleep walker. In the entire recital there was not a single note that was out of place. It reminded me of Rosalyn Tureck saying she did not play wrong notes, meaning that every note had a place in a musical equation of a deeply thought out interpretation.

Here was an artist who had a whole orchestra in her hands, where even the simple bare notes of the Eroica theme were played with an extraordinary depth of sound. A beautiful fluidity to ‘a due’ and ‘a tre’ until springing to life in the ‘a quattro’ and finally the theme appearing in all its charm and simplicity.There was the beguiling charm of the first variation and the cascades of notes of the second which were more in effect moving harmonies as notes just disappeared in the hands of such a poetic artist. The rugged edges of the turbulent Beethoven of the third were answered by the meanderings of the fourth with the left hand played with gentle persuasion as the bare outlines of the theme were etched above. She brought a glowing beauty to the fifth with a beautiful mellifluous outpouring of refined sensibility.There was the dramatic entry of the sixth with it’s sinister bass notes and the spiky brilliance of the seventh.The elegance of the eighth bathed in pedal and played with simple beauty. The chiselled ragged brilliance of the ninth with its obstinate left hand eruptions was followed by the quixotic playfulness of the tenth before the exquisite charm of the eleventh. Each hand chasing each other in the twelfth with gymnastic precision and then the tongue in cheek insistence she brought to the acciaccaturas in the thirteenth.The searching contemplation of the fourteenth in the minor key before the extraordinarily poignant final variation in the major. An ornamentation of fervour and improvised freedom with a coda of great uncertainty searching for a way out, and finally drifting on a cloud to a final cadence, and the decisive entry of the fugue. Knotty twine played with remarkable clarity and architectural shape. And here the remarkable genius of Beethoven ( in some way similar to Bach’s Goldberg Variations) with the return of the theme played with disarming simplicity but that Beethoven decides to bring to a glorious conclusion of great exhilaration just as Busoni had mistakenly done with Bach’s genial creation!

There was a wonderful sense of legato and weight which gave nobility and poignancy to this outpouring of song that was to be Schubert’s last. I imagine she did not play the repeat in the first movement because of the time restriction with the live stream, because a musician of her stature would realise what a wonder are those few extra bars that take us back to the beginning. There was beauty of great solidity and intelligence with an extraordinary sense of balance with a glorious outpouring of deeply felt playing. The ‘Andante sostenuto’ with a melodic line played with disarming simplicity and searing intensity, an extraordinary legato where the embellishments were merely fragments adorning such poignant outpourings.There was great intensity and sublime beauty to the central chorale of almost Brahmsian richness, before dissolving into the disarming whispered simplicity of the ending played with extraordinary poise. She brought a pastoral simplicity to the ‘Scherzo’ and even the troublesome’Trio’ was played with a clarity of line that is rare indeed. The last movement revealed the whole of Schubert’s world, from the disarming simplicity of the ländler to the mellifluous outpouring of song and also a rare dynamic turbulence of urgency and demonstrative vigour.

As Dr Mather said we had been treated this afternoon to playing of extraordinary beauty and shown the real meaning of technical perfection. It is when the composer’s wishes can be turned into sounds without any circus tricks or gymnastics, just allowing the music to speak with humility, intelligence and poetic sensibility. This is what Elisabeth Tsai share with us today.

American pianist Elisabeth Tsai was born into a musical family and began playing the cello at the age of four, switching to the piano at age seven. Throughout her adolescent years, she garnered top awards in local and international competitions and received opportunities to perform throughout the United States, including appearances at Carnegie Hall and From the Top’s radio show. Her recent endeavours have been largely repertoire-based, with recitals programming the last three Beethoven sonatas and the last four Brahms opuses for solo piano. She was recently awarded the first prize ex aequo at the 2024 Brahms Piano Competition Detmold. 

Elisabeth received a bachelor’s from the Schwob School of Music and two master’s degrees from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Boris Berman and Boris Slutsky. She is currently studying with Ronan O’Hora as an artist diploma candidate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In addition to solo and concerto performances around the US, Germany, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands, she has played in masterclasses for artists such as Peter Serkin, Robert Levin, Christopher Elton, Paul Lewis, and Roberto Prosseda. An avid chamber musician, Elisabeth was a Fellow at the 2024 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and was invited to the Smithsonian Chamber Society in 2023 to perform Beethoven piano trios on historical instruments. 

Elisabeth is passionate about music education as well as performance. She previously held a Teaching Artist position at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven and taught at Through the Staff’s online music education program.