Pianist
Eric Lu
has been the talk of Britain, with a win at the Leeds International Piano Competition and a highly praised Wigmore Hall debut, not to mention a concert with the 91-year-old
Alfred Brendel
(who read poetry). With this
Warner Classics
release, his sophomore album, he delivers on his promise.
Lu
faces a great deal of competition in the two
Schubert
piano sonatas featured here, but he delivers absolutely distinctive interpretations. His
Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959
, is one of the most deliberate on recordings, clocking in at close to 48 minutes as compared with an average of just over 39. It is a risky strategy for a young pianist, but
fills the spaces convincingly, drawing a remarkable variety of textures and timbres from his keyboard. The slow movement is absolutely haunting, with the smallest details unpacked by
into meditative mini-discourses. After the little-heard
Allegretto in C minor, D. 915
, as an entr'acte,
offers the
Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 784
, cut from the same cloth, and by the time the program is over, the listener has the feeling of having been on quite a journey. This release suggests once again that listeners are in the presence of a major artist. ~ James Manheim