A dazzling debut at a snowbound Wigmore Hall
NewsOn the coldest UK night for 12 years, the Wigmore Hall was four-fifths full for Leeds winner Alim Beisembayev’s London debut. That fact alone gives some indication of the buzz surrounding this Kazakh pianist, the more so since the room was packed with hardened music pros, curious to have live experience of this new kid on the block.
Alim, 24, is still a student at the Royal College of Music.
His opening assault on a Bach French suite was understandably nervous, wooden at times, on an unresponsive Steinway that yielded little to his touch. But the Schubert sonata in C minor D958, written in the composer’s dying months, was nothing short of sensational.
At speeds that would have left Brendel on the starting block and Barenboim gasping for air, the unflashy Beisembayev drew out a gamut of emotional subtleties and elegant glosses on a titanic score. There was no hint of mortality in this interpretation, no grimness of winter, just an eyes-wide-open voyage of discovery by a major talent who will light up London’s music scene for decades hence.
No hall on earth does better for pianist debuts than the Wigmore. On January 18, we will be queuing up to hear the Van Cliburn winner Yunchan Lim. We are witnessing the birth of a phenomenal new generation.
Any news on which pros were there? Interesting point about Wigmore Hall and debuts…….I was there 20+ years ago when Simon Trpescki made his debut there and it was electric. Never to be forgotten.
I’m sorry but if you belong to a “phenomenal generation”, you should be able to play a Bach suite more than half decent. In many ways, playing a French suite is the benchmark of a pianist. (Not strange the many of todays “big” names never plays this kind of music.)
So the Steinway got more responsive once the Bach was over.
Unsurprising, since the Steinway knew it was a totally inappropriate instrument for Bach.
Well, Colin Clarke didn’t like his Schubert.
https://seenandheard-international.com/2022/12/virtuosity-aplenty-from-alim-beisembayevs-leeds-piano-competition-2021-prizewinner-recital/
And shame you didn’t seem to stay for the second half, Norman – not a word from you about it.
I was there. To say that “Colin Clarke didn’t like his Schubert” is a misrepresentation. The review includes this statement: “The first half was …. of a very, very high standard indeed”.
I agree with NL that the Bach was not wonderful, but the Schubert was superb: the best D958 I’ve heard since Brendel in the late 1970s. Actually, I don’t think Beisembayev was all that much faster than that?
The Liszt was also magnificently played, above all Mazeppa.
Yes a pity. The Liszt was sensational.
Surely his Wigmore Hall debut (which I well remember) came years ago as winner of the London Intercollegiate competition
I somehow doubt that Brendel would consider D. 958 to be a speed contest. That’s not to deny the likely thrill of the latest A.B.’s debut — just the terms used to describe it.
Wish I could spend a lot more time in London, just for the concerts at Wigmore!
Quite so! Brendel’s phenomenal technique was always at the service of the music, he was justifiably described by one writer as the thinking man’s pianist! Choose comparisons and metaphors with care!