Concert Review: Konstantin Shamray

Konstantin Shamray (piano)

Perth Concert Hall

It takes a courageous pianist to begin a recital with Liszt's Sposalizio. Starting and ending very quietly, its contemplative ideas can so easily lapse into tedium. But in the hands of Konstantin Shamray, multiple award-winner in the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition, these measures became a gentle consecration of the evening.

In Liszt's titanic Sonata in B minor, this young Russian musician was a master guide as he took the listener through this phantasmagorical musical landscape. I marvelled at the maturity of expression Shamray brought to this most demanding of works. It augurs well for a career of substance.

But the peak of the evening was Shamray's account of Chopin's 12 Etudes Op. 25, a catalogue of marvels, each a near-perfect assessment of the music.

Fantastically assured left hand leaps at top speed in Etude 4 brought this listener to the edge of his seat. Rapid, feather light traceries and wondrous buoyancy of momentum in Etude 9 called intricate Brussels lace to mind. And in the "Winter Wind" Etude, where the slightest miscalculation can result in pianistic havoc, Shamray's superbly educated hands were in faultless fettle.

An achingly beautiful melody in the left hand, with diamond-bright grace notes in the episodes that flank it, made the Etude in E minor a wondrous listening experience. But shining most brilliantly in this chaplet of musical gems was the Etude of the thirds - a breathtakingly prodigious offering, the more so for overcoming its excruciating difficulty with the nonchalance of mastery. Bravissimo!

Rippling semiquavers and golden tone made Chopin's Ballade No. 3 memorable; it was a gratifyingly insightful reading. But in the Ballade No. 4, for all the many felicities that fell on the ear, one sensed moments when concentration fleetingly weakened. But this was a minor lapse in a recital that more often than not scaled Olympus.

Gales of applause elicited encores in which Shamray's hands moved up and down the keyboard as casually as if dusting the furniture.