Last night in Davies Symphony Hall the San Francisco Symphony presented the first program in the third season of its Shenson Spotlight Series. Many readers probably know by now that this is a series of four programs conceived to provide a platform for rising artists. These were originally planned as debut performances; but, this year, one of the performers made her San Francisco debut about a year ago in Herbst Theatre. Nevertheless, last night’s recital was, indeed, a debut performance, a solo piano recital given by Eric Liu.
He prepared a program that he performed without intermission. He began with Franz Schubert’s D. 935 set of four impromptus, composed near the end of the composer’s life and not published until after his death. After a five-minute pause, Liu then launched into the last of Frédéric Chopin’s three piano sonatas, Opus 58 in B minor, which was also written late in the composer’s life.
In taking on the Chopin sonata, Liu was clearly in his element. His interpretation was one of bold strokes, but he also brought clarity to the dense web of notes that the composer had woven. This was an intensely dramatic account, but Liu’s respect for detail restrained him for going “over the top” with expressive excess. He also established a sense of balance by providing an encore “response” to the “call” of Chopin’s intensity. He remained in the Chopin repertoire with the fifteenth of the 24 Opus 28 preludes in the key of D-flat major, popularly known as the “Raindrop” prelude. (Many more raindrops were waiting for the audience as they left Davies.)
Liu’s approach to Schubert was not quite as convincing. He had a solid command of the complexity of each of the impromptus. However, he tended to approach them with the same dynamic intensity that served Chopin so well. However, given the limitations of his instrument, it is unlikely that Schubert had such intensity in mind. Yes, he knew how to express a broad range of dynamics; but those dynamics were not as extreme as those we associate with Chopin. Through my many years of enjoying Schubert’s piano music, I have come to relish how he managed the delicate balance between subtlety and intensity; and Liu never really seemed to capture that balance.
The fact is that there is a significant personality difference between a “Schubert pianist” and a “Chopin pianist.” Not many can accommodate both personalities. Liu seems to be preparing himself to be a “Chopin pianist,” which is a pity, since “Schubert pianists” are so few and far between!
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