Yves Henry at the Lithuanian Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius

. Foto: Hennng Hoholt

VILNIUS: The French pianist Yves Henry guested the 2nd Vilnius Piano Music Festival with a program with piano music dedicated to other composers
.  Demanding highlights from the piano repertoire of  Chopin, Schumann and Liszt was performed. It became a great concert evening in the Lithuanian Philharmonic hall.

The program:

Robert Schumann (1810-1849) Kreisleriana, opus 16, dedicated to Frederic Chopin.

F. Chopin (1810-1849): Balade Nr. 2, F-major, dedicated to Robert Schumann.

Robert Schumann: Fantasy C-major,  opus 17, dedicated to Franz Liszt.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Sonate h-minor, S. 178, dedicated to Robert Schumann.

Kreisleriana is composed in a way like Schumanns song syclus, where he is presenting a theme, like a basic model, which he then is developing more and more, but also going back to the basic simplicity. The folcloristic second part gave me thr feeling like I am getting when I am listening to Edvard Griegs tunes based on folk themes, but to be more correct  Grieg could have been inspired by Schumann. This part has a virtuose ending. And it continued like that with variations around themes and models of tunes together
. I do understand why Schumann dedicated Kreisleriana to his colleague, Chopin, both of them born in 1810, still they are very different in style and feeling, and that Schumann also moved in to the Romanze sung repertoire

. He is in this piece showing his Chopin inspiration. While Chopins ‘Romanze’ repertoire was keept only for the piano.

In Chopins Balade we enjoyed beautiful harmonies, splendid virtuocity was going through all but not without forgetting to take care of the wonderful musicality in the piece.

After the break Yves Henry lifted it all up to an even higher level. His interpretation of the Schumann Fantasy was outstanding, this was played with a big admiration to the music.  Sometimes formed like a dream part.  The third parts Fanfare like march theme, brilliant.  WHch was followed by the dreamlike part, from where Debussy could have got the inspiration to his Clair de Lune. In some parts i see it like Schumann is a forerunner for the impressionisme, and with more melodies going on at the same time like in some Brahms pieces.

The Liszt h-minor Sonate, which some weeks ago was being performed  by Ivo Pogorelich (and to my oppinnion spoiled) in Vilnius, was the last piece on the programme

.  This Sonate has many great parts, spending in moods from pianissimo to fortissimo, it was amazing how wonderful Yves Henry was building up the passages from nearly zero sound to maximum that the piano could give, without loosing the intensitivity and rhytmic lines or the musicality and evencould underline the details.

As encore Yves Henry gave Ciurlionis Prelude, and he was then drawing a line from that to Chopins Lullaby prelude 9in Ciss minor) , that he means is build on the sam theme.

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Please visit our review from the concert in Vilnius where Ivo Pogorelich played Liszt h-minor Sonate at: http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2011/11/ivo-pogorelich-in-vilnius/