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SCRUTINY | Two Pianists With The Same Name Make A Compelling Combination

By Michael Vincent on May 2, 2016

Lucas Debargue (Photo: Evgeny Evtukhov)
Lucas Debargue (Photo: Evgeny Evtukhov)

[Originally published in the Toronto Star]

★★★ 1/2 (out of four)

Lukas Geniušas and Lucas Debargue (pianos) at Koerner Hall. Saturday, April 30.

The idea of pairing two pianists with the same name (different spellings), same age, and similar career trajectories proved to be a compelling combination at Koerner Hall last night.

At 25, Lukas Geniušas and Lucas Debargue traverse parallel career trajectories but are two very different pianists. French-born Lucas Debargue scandalously only made a 4th place showing at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, but everyone took notice. Like a young Rimbaud, his touch is poetic and full of dazzling musical imagery — slightly dangerous even.

Making his Canadian debut, Debargue’s musicality explored the minutiae of sound in the emotions of well-suited repertoire, which included two Scarlatti Sonatas. In particular, his K. 24 Presto was a fireball of youthful energy; the opening staccato popped with colours that made the Spanish baroque ditty holler with a quintessential *joie de vivre*.

Debargue’s Scriabin Sonata No. 4 was equally impressive, and rather than wander aimlessly through a forest of mystic chords, he established a point of view that was grounded and comprehensible.

Hunched over the keys, and looking down at his fingers, Debargue closed with Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit” and showed a pianist in charge of his royal talent. His fingers skirted up-and-down the keys, pausing in a blur with an effortless tremolo that hung like a french perfume. The technical challenges, especially in the third movement, where each easily surpassed.

Lukas Geniuses (Photo: Dominik Skurzak)
Lukas Geniuses (Photo: Dominik Skurzak)

Russian pianist Lukas Geniušas — who acquired a silver medal at the XV Tchaikovsky Competition — offered an altogether different scene. His sound was not as large as Debargue’s, but his pedalling was much more imaginative. The phrasing was pinned to the overall arch of each piece and was heard most legibly with Chopin’s seven “Mazurkas”. While Geniušas offered an intellectual reading that sounded impersonal at times, he was, nevertheless, swift and brilliant. The subsequent Prokofiev Sonata No. 7 carried a momentum matched with the unstoppable wartime march theme, resting on the rock-roll Precipitato finale.

The night closed as it opened, with a performance by both pianists playing together. First was Grieg’s “2 Norwegian Dances” (piano for four hands) then was Ravel’s “La valse” (2 pianos), a series of waltzes that alternate between loud and soft. The two seemed to enjoy performing together.

In many ways, casting two pianists in parallel places a microscope on what makes similar piano competitions so engaging. The point is not the competition itself, (musicians are not racehorses, after all) but to compare and contrast the different approaches that make each pianist’s artistry unique.

#LUDWIGVAN

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Michael Vincent
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