Brian Lin: Duo Recital

It's time for a confession, ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere: I have never played a lick of piano in my life. I'm a cellist by upbringing, and although I do have some general musical knowledge, I know as much about the subtleties of piano playing as a fish knows about firebreathing. So when I say that a piece sounds particularly difficult or particularly easy, you know you're getting a relative layman's opinion on the matter. So take me at my word when I say, dear readers, that Brian Lin's first piece on Monday--Mily Balavirev's Islamey Fantasie Orientale--looked and sounded really difficult to play. And yet he nailed it.

The first line in my notes from Brian's performance is, plus or minus a cuss word or two, "He makes this stunningly complicated blankety-blank look so easy". He was totally comfortable with playing an absolute ton of crossovers. The piece demanded that he play offbeat with one hand and on-beat with the other, a task guaranteed to make one's brain hemispheres beat against each other like cymbals, and yet he did it. The piece demanded fire and brimstone on minute and almost total quiet the next, and he did that, too. Lin let his passion for the piece and the instrument take control in the piece's big climaxes, resulting in what became a great mix of passion and control.

After the fireworks had subsided, Lin stood from his chair (to raucous applause) and said "I wish that was the last piece!" His remark was greeted by laughter, but followed up by the appearance on-stage of violinist Tim Klabunde, so I guess that wish wasn't in the cards. Klabunde and Lin proceeded to stage Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano (first movement), and Lin appeared to need a minute to get his wind back at the beginning of the piece. Lin was able to maintain his deliberate touch on the keyboard, though. Another snippet from my notes: "For much of the first [part of the movement], he's setting the table for the violin. Later, they eat together."

Supper having concluded, Lin provided the dessert with the first movement of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, with fellow pianist Jeannie Yu standing in for the symphony (when introducing her, Lin wisecracked "Please welcome my orchestra"). It seemed like he knew the movement inside and out; after taking the beginning of the movement as fast as I've ever heard it, Lin could be seen actually mouthing the notes to not only his own part, but to the orchestra's part as well. Foot keeping time on the pedals, Lin appeared to be totally into the music, and he had the chops to play it. He kept a very good-humored sound throughout the piece, one that could be appreciated even by a humble layman like myself.