Prize-winning pianist Ron Maxim Huang’s deep takes on Chopin and Brahms betray an old soul

Ron Maxim Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall
May 29, 8pm

By presenting young German pianist Ron Maxim Huang in recital, Bechstein Music World cast its C.Bechstein concert grands in the best possible light.

Huang, of Chinese and Russian parentage, is a prize winner of multiple international piano competitions – including the Ettlingen and Xiamen competitions – and possesses a casual charisma and disarming stage presence that is hard to dislike.

Opening with music by Fryderyk Chopin, his view of the Third Ballade In A Flat Major (Op. 47) was distinguished by a clarity of articulation and judicious pacing. There was never a cause for extreme rubato or stretching of tempos for its own sake, and the music’s narrative unfolded as naturally as breathing.

It got even better in the Third Sonata In B Minor (Op. 58), a highly personal account so darkly shaded, one might expect from an artist much older than Huang’s 25 years.

For him, the music represented tragedy, its martial opening bars starkly differentiated from the lyrical second subject. The development was thrilling as he was leading the listener into some kind of personal nightmare.

While the Scherzo flew like one of Chopin’s early Etudes, the slow movement mirrored the first movement’s high drama. Instead of the nocturnal serenity of most other readings, this became a well of sorrows, the depth of which would be realised only by the triumphant finale. Here was a redemption arc the listener was looking for, and Huang delivered with a devastating finality.

Johannes Brahms’ Six Pieces (Op. 118) come from his autumnal years. Huang’s response was one of a younger person getting to grips with ageing. The opening C major Intermezzo yielded a rich and beefy tone contrasted with the serenity of the second A major Intermezzo. While the stormy Ballade in G minor had a few dropped notes, the agitato element in the F minor Intermezzo was perfectly captured.

The calming effect of the Romance in F major was brought into sharp focus by the final Intermezzo in E flat minor, a portrait of doom and despair, where a last glimmering ray of hope was extinguished before the descent into a deep abyss. Huang is indeed an old soul in the young body.

Without allowing the audience to applaud, he continued directly into Franz Liszt’s Totentanz (Dance Of Death), virtuoso variations on the Dies Irae theme, where the gloves came off for a final onslaught.

Better known in the version for piano and orchestra, Huang’s very busy role combined both parts in a no-holds-barred battle which lifted the roof of the hall – absolutely gripping stuff.

With the formal part of the recital over, young German pianist-composer Levi Schechtmann’s Intermezzo For The Moon was a laid-back bluesy prelude to two of Nikolai Kapustin’s more frenetic Etudes from his Op. 40 set. The Pastoral and Prelude exulted in jazzy high jinks which brought out the cheers.

Huang’s encore saw him going back to his Chinese roots with Wang Jianzhong’s idiomatic transcription of Ren Guang’s Cai Yun Zhui Yue (Colourful Clouds Chasing The Moon). Just lovely, and cue the longest line for a meet and greet since Lang Lang’s concert in 2010.