AUSPICIOUS CD DEBUT BY SEAN CHEN

SEAN CHEN, PIANO; “La Valse” (Steinway & Sons) ****

Sean Chen is a young American pianist with a promising career ahead of him. The winner of several recent competitions, including third place at last year’s Van Cliburn competition, Chen has been making waves wherever he has played.

The 25-year-old has just released his first album, and it’s spectacular. Focusing on some of the earlier works of Scriabin and Ravel, Chen displays his versatility, technical mastery, musicality and interpretative skills to the fullest. It’s an auspicious recorded debut and one can only hope there will be many more CDs from this talented young artist.

There are three works by Scriabin in this album: the Valse in A flat major, op. 38; and the Fourth and Fifth Piano Sonatas. It’s an absolute delight hearing him move from the lush romanticism of the Valse and Fourth Sonata to the more expansive and vigorous harmonic vocabulary of the Fifth. His playing is assertive and he shows that he has a solid grasp of the music.

As good as the Scriabin selections are, the real payoff is the Ravel. Chen offers a nice sampling of the composer’s works, including the Menuet antique, Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn and the brief Prélude.

The real showstoppers, though, are the Valses nobles et sentimentales and Chen’s own arrangement of La valse. In each of these pieces, Chen captures the sweeping lines and pungent harmonies with his sensitive and perceptive playing.

His account of the Valse nobles et sentimentales is particularly noteworthy for his meticulously crafted phrasings and clean lyricism. This is one of the best performances of this piece on CD.

And La valse is memorable for Chen’s virtuosic playing which he deftly modulates with finely molded expressiveness.

This album makes a perfect addition to one’s CD collection.

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(Sean Chen will be in recital on March 20 at Utah State University’s Wassermann Festival. He will also hold a master class on March 21. For information and tickets log on to the festival website at www.arts.usu.edu/wassermann/.

To find out more about this year’s Wassermann Festival click here to read Edward Reichel’s interview with festival director Dennis Hirst.)  

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About Edward Reichel

Edward Reichel, author, writer and composer, has been covering the classical music scene in Utah since 1997. For many years he served as the primary music critic for the Deseret News. He has also written for a number of publications, including Chamber Music Magazine, OPERA Magazine, 15 Bytes, Park City Magazine and Salt Lake Magazine. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He can be reached at ed.reichel@gmail.com. Reichel Recommends is also on Twitter @ReichelArts.

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