Alexander Gavrylyuk shines in Gilmore Rising Stars recital
Monday, February 05, 2007
By C. J. Gianakaris
Sunday evening's Gilmore Rising Stars recital featured Alexander Gavrylyuk, an exceptional pianist in every respect. His performance at Wellspring Theater exhibited strong musical intelligence, commanding technical prowess and an individual approach marking each selection as distinctly his own.
Born in 1984 in the Ukraine, Gavrylyuk now holds Australian citizenship, but he lives in Moscow.
Gavrylyuk began with Brahms' Three Intermezzi (Op. 117), No. 1 in E-flat major, No. 2 in B-flat minor and No. 3 in C-sharp minor. This portion of the program he played with a caressing gentleness, as though wearing a velvet glove.
An intimate tone was struck in No. 2, where folklike melodies surfaced. No. 3 reflected another dimension in Gavrylyuk's arsenal, as he kept the melodic line clear and audible, even in heavy finger traffic.
A controlled quality characterized the Intermezzi, but the Brahms' Rhapsodies (Op. 79) that followed received different treatment. Rhapsody No. 1 in B minor commenced with Presto. A series of swift unison chromatic scales emerged clear and dazzling.
Where gorgeous melodies were involved, Gavrylyuk softened his approach to allow the audience to enjoy the beauty -- as with the Meno Agitato section midway in. This same respect for melodies was evident in No. 2.
Four Etudes by Chopin were eloquently performed, displaying Gavrylyuk's total command of the score. An aura of the salon permeated these individual jewels. Op. 25, No. 4 in A minor emerged serene in its lyricism. Op. 10, No. 12 in C minor flashed like lightning, while Op. 25, No. 5 in E minor presented singing melody even in heavy-traffic passages. Op. 10, No. 8 in F major evoked smiles through its musical games.
Closing the concert was a rousing rendition of Mussorgsky's ``Pictures at an Exhibition.'' Here, Gavrylyuk entered into the spirit of the work with zeal, coloring the sounds of each section to match the picture concerned. He musically painted each section with different colors, tempos and technical effects, becoming a wizard of musical imaging and delighting the audience throughout.
Favorite ``Pictures'' are hard to choose, because all were uniformly splendid. ``Gnomus'' resembled a cat-and-mouse game with the pianist hunched over the keyboard, glee on his face. ``The Market Place at Limoges'' depicted a bustling gathering of shoppers. ``Catacombs'' echoed with eerie sound.
Gavrylyuk surprised listeners with a calm start to ``The Great Gate of Kiev.'' Of course, by the conclusion, fortissimos dominated, but the pianist forced his audience to think again about the work.
Two encores followed. An adaptation of Rachmaninoff's meltingly lovely ``Vocalise'' whetted the audience's appetite for even more. Gavrylyuk obliged with a second encore -- a humorous, bravura version by Vladimir Horowitz of the ``Wedding March.''
A near zero temperature outside could not cool the enthusiasm of Gavrylyuk's new converts. |
