EIF: Yeol Eum Son

Queen’s Hall - 15/08/23

Korean virtuosa pianist Yeol Eum Son delivered an eclectic, imaginatively-constructed programme to a well-filled Queen’s Hall on the lunchtime of Tuesday 15th August.  Beethoven’s monumental B-flat Sonata Op.106 ‘Hammerklavier’ after the interval was preceded by a varied first half of shorter less well-known Romantic era pieces by composers who were all influenced by Beethoven’s genius, comprising Bizet, Czerny, Liszt and Alkan. 

Bizet’s ‘Variations Chromatiques’ opened the programme with a brief melodramatic minor-key chromatic theme, 14 characterful variations, and a coda.  A first hearing for me, the piece is an excellent choice of concert-opener and received commensurately characterful playing with flawless articulation and mood-moulding, setting out a stall that promised committed advocacy of the goodies to come. 

Beethoven pupil Carl Czerny’s Variations on a Theme by Rode ‘La Ricordanza’ takes a theme by the violin virtuoso Pierre Rode in a Schumannesque presentation and transforms it through 5 variations, mostly equally Schumannesque, though the third is very suggestive of Chopin and the fifth blends Paganini fireworks with Czerny’s own pianistic pyrotechnics, before a simple elegant coda.  Another first hearing for me, and I have to say it delivered admirably and convincingly on the promise of the Bizet.  Superb. 

The ninth of Liszt’s Transcendental Studies, also called ‘Ricordanza’, begins with a quasi-improvisatory recitative with a free meditative sense of dissolved bar lines, deliciously delivered with characterful rubato and the same flawless articulation that characterised the whole recital.  A very Hungarian, rhapsodic ornamented ballad-like rondo theme ensues and the 6/4 metre emerges.  The episodes are long and complex, with fiendishly difficult technical demands.  All were delivered with consummate skill and artistry, the romantic expressiveness never subserviated to the technical display. 

Charles-Valentin Alkan’s 1828 ‘Variations on a Theme of Steibelt’, his Op.1 at the age of 14, is a set of 6 increasingly brilliant (and, considering the date and his age, remarkably Lisztian) variations on a naïve theme that had me thinking of ‘Half a Pound of Tuppeny Rice’, with cheekily calm innocent coda.  Utterly charming. 

The reader may recall my review of Yeol Eum Son in the East Neuk Festival 6 weeks ago, where I noted that an extrovert performance style that excelled in 20th-century repertoire fell short with Mozart.  I did wonder whether these issues, absent from the Romantic first half of the programme, might resurface with Classical Beethoven.  I reasoned that the Hammerklavier is mostly full of quasi-Romantic manic energy, so that this would be unlikely.  For the most part, I was right. 

The first movement was as stormy and passionate as you like.  The pauses could have been longer for more drama, but it was still characterful and utterly convincing.  The exposition repeat was observed and the fugal start of the development was beautifully articulated.  The modified recapitulation was full of character, if somewhat relentlessly driven.  A wee bit more contrast in the phrasing would have enhanced the drama; the dynamic contrasts, though, were superb. The dancelike 3/4 Scherzo was a bit heavy-handed for my personal taste, robbing it of some of the Beethovenian cheek and mischief that it deserves, but it was not unsatisfying. 

The slow movement of the Hammerklavier represents a huge artistic challenge.  It is long and quasi-improvisatory.  A full appreciation of its structure and inner logic eludes many performers. I feel that Yeol Eum Son (almost) totally ‘gets it’ and guided us through its rambling meditative rhetoric with persuasive skill.  She held my attention throughout.  Is there a ‘but’?  Well, more of an observation.  With the tiniest bit more ‘hesitancy’ in the phrasing (not rubato, the dilation and contraction of time; this is subtle use of delay), the listener is drawn into the illusion that we are meditatively exploring, in the company of Beethoven himself, the deepest recesses of his troubled mind and coming to a measure of self-knowledge.  Barenboim can do it.  Now, I’m not going to criticise anybody for not being Barenboim, but just sharing my view that, with that one subtle element of interpretative performing technique, Yeol Eum Son would, in my opinion, surpass the master (and also help her Mozart). His DVD box set of the Beethoven sonatas includes his masterclasses in the performance of them, if that’s not too pointed a hint.  

The finale was almost perfect. The Largo introduction was flawless, while the sudden launch into the Allegro was as dramatic as I’ve heard.  The fugue was infused with all the nervous energy of the Grosse Fuge Op.133, a wee bit headlong at the expense of the inner logic in places, but still thoroughly marvellous. 

In conclusion, a recital that was, on the whole, intellectually and emotionally satisfying and further confirmation that the Queen’s Hall is a very good place to be in August.