TECHNICALLY DEMANDING HEAVYWEIGHTS – ALL DOMINATED
Achim Stricker

A broad spectrum from baroque to modern repertoire. Leo de María – born in 1995, first prize winner in over 40 national and international competitions – teaches at the Madrid Academy of Music and gives master classes all over the world. Bach’s Toccata in E minor BWV 914 (harpsichord) initially seemed rather discreet. Leo de María adapted the timbre of his playing: rougher, harder, more crystalline. The introductory sections of the toccata could have been even freer, more improvisatory, a greater contrast in relation to the subsequent fugue, which purred along at a virtuoso pace. “Love and Death” from Enrique Granados’s “Goyescas” cycle, inspired by Goya’s paintings and engravings, had atmosphere and colour, but also length. A mystically dark dream state with magically shimmering tones.

The programme included three heavyweight pieces that demanded the utmost in interpretive technique. Liszt’s “Dante Sonata” (“After a lecture by Dante”) unleashed a thunderous hell: thunderous falls of rocks into the pit of hell and chromatic whirlwinds that rose again at full speed. Powerful and skillful in sound, although somewhat breathless and without pause in dramaturgy.

Ravel Grandiose
Ravel’s “La Valse”, originally composed for choreography by the Ballets Russes, was simply magnificent: the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy like a demonic dance of death. Shots of sound crack like splinters of ice rain. For more than a quarter of an hour the line of tension is masterfully maintained in permanent escalation. Finally, a surfeit of “glissandi” tears in all directions, amazingly modeled with finesse in terms of color and dynamics. Thunderous applause with cries of bravo.

Prokofiev’s War Sonata No. 8 from 1939 was also outstanding, alternating between the grotesque, nostalgia and panic alarm in a disturbingly surreal way. Sensational sound colours. At the end of an hour-long programme the pianist was exuberant with energy, his tonal control was still absolutely precise. And he still had enough energy for a quarter of an hour of encores. One of the best performances in 20 years of the Pianists’ Festival.