Search - Dang Thai Son :: Dang Thai Soni- Venetianisches Gondellied

Supreme piano poetry!

04/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This piano recital is an example of a genuine piano poet at his best. Each musical selection is made into a gem, executed to perfection with great sensitivity and authority. The Mendelssohn 'Song Without Words' are played lovingly, and Dang Thai Son succeeds in bringing out all the refined beauty and charm of these miniatures. The Rondo Capriccioso is pulled off with the utmost digital facility, panache, and wit. Following these are a number of Liszt transcriptions of famous Schubert 'lieder', performed here with great sophistication and poise, and a most impressive rendition of Liszt's magnificent 'Legends' couplet. Everywhere, one marvels at the polish of such transcendental pianism, and one is awestruck by the beauty and poetry of this wonderfully varied recital. A 'must buy' for any lover of fine piano playing!"

I'll buy it "sight unseen"

Sharon Lee | Falls Church, va United States | 06/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been listening to one album,and I mean the LP, the record, the vinyl that goes on a turntable, the Deutsche Grammophon Chopin of 1981 on which he plays Andante Spianato and various nocturnes and mazurkas and I have to say, for nearly 25 years now, this has been the standard by which I relax and watch the curtains fluff on a summer's evening. Can there be a gentler interpretation of Chopin? Other passages make me wish I could hear him play Russian Romantics, if he would! But his technique is superb, delicate, tingling the flesh, as I believe Chopin intended. He is a superb artist who has not even begun, unfortunately after all these years, to receive his due. I'll buy almost any recording of his, "sight unseen." I know there will be plenty of "sight" on listening."

Most probably the best Asian pianist of his generation.

Abel | Hong Kong | 07/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Which 'generation' does Dang Thai Son belong? According to biographic information, he was born on the same year as Yefim Bronfmann, Ivo Pogorelich, and Angela Hewitt (and what a year for 'pianist productions').

Well, he won the Chopin International Competition in 1980, the year when one of the jurists Martha Argerich stormed out in protest of Ivo Pogorelich's being ousted. And who said that 'looks' do not count in instrumentalists? Ivo got a big fat contract from Deutsche Grammophon, while Dang was being reluctantly taken for only a single album after his spectacular win in the Competition.

Why spectacular win? Because, against all its former norms, the Competition's winner was awarded to an Asian pianist for the very first time. Had Dang got slightly more flair in terms of looks, he would have made it there and then, instead of leaving the limelight to his Conservatory colleague (and roommate) Pogorelich, who lost to him in the Competition.

I have heard other renditions of these 'Songs without Words' by Mendelssohn - Barenboim, and Perahia. My preference is without a single doubt Dang's. He has the ability to play real bel canto (not just a lip-service), and the choice in this album showcased his ability considerably. And his ego never stands between the music and his playing, as do many other top pianists.

I also had the chance to hear a number of his Chopin pieces - Polonaisie, Waltz, Mazurka, the two concerti, and saw on Youtube his live performance in the opening of Warsaw's 2005 Competition on Mendelssohn's No. 1 Piano Concerto. His Chopin No. 2 Concerto stands as the all-round best among others'.

It does appear that he has great affinity with the early romantic composers (Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, of whom I have heard him play), and the French impressionists (Debussy and Ravel, whom I have not yet the chance to hear, but according to sources are his biggest calling cards).

Dang's style boosts of incredible tonal shadings and a wonderful sense of rhythm, dual aspects of which most top-flight pianists would probably got only one, and of which only one would suffice for a reasonably successful pianistic career. Ivo Pogorelich only got one (the tonal aspect), and so do many other top pianists who are flooding the market these days.

While Dang may not be as powerful in his touching as do Pogorelich or Bronfmann, his dynamic range is more than adequate for the composers mentioned above, and in whose works he mainly specialises. And that he has tons more interpretive ability than his former colleague has become increasingly evident with the passage of time since his win in 1980. I have been watching his performance of Mendelssohn's No. 1 Concerto utterly awe-stricken, as it strikes me as being the 'best ever' performance of the piece I've ever heard, with Perahia's and Hough's included. And that his Chopin 'dances' possess one of the most nuanced and rhythmically enlivened reading is some thing that I have 'never' heard from any other pianist."