Review | Chinese-American pianist Eric Lu revels in Chopin on Hong Kong recital debut
Lu, 2018 Leeds International winner, shows enough Baroque feel for Handel, is on surer ground in Schubert and comes into his own in Chopin
Those who have delved into the world of historically informed performance in music sometimes scoff at modern concert pianists performing Baroque music.
Given that the keyboard instrument of George Frideric Handel’s day was the harpsichord, the Steinway grand piano can come across as a rather crude encroachment on “authentic” territory.
Fortunately, Chinese-American pianist Eric Lu retained enough Baroque sensibility in the Grand Hall of the University of Hong Kong on October 4, where he opened his Hong Kong debut recital with Handel’s Suite No. 5 in E major.
At times the piece did not sound much like Handel, but the 26-year-old, winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2018, did manage to lend his modern interpretation airiness and ornament the music thoughtfully in the opening Prelude and the Allemande that followed.
His gentle, harpsichord-like rolling of chords was appreciated and also appropriate in the Courante movement; the swallowed semiquavers in the frenetic conclusion to the final movement, Air and Variations, popularly known as the “Harmonious Blacksmith”, were blemishes in an otherwise impressive display of dexterity and poise.
For his second set of the evening, Lu jumped forward just over a century to Schubert’s Four Impromptus, D 935, from the composer’s highly prolific late period.
