The quality of this playing is exceptional. Pianist Zhenni Li-Cohen takes nothing for granted in music. Nor should we in listening to her. If you know how Romantic music of the 20th century ‘goes’, if you know how Chopin, or Liszt ‘goes’, or how anyone else ‘goes’, then this almost certainly isn’t for you. Not that Ms Li-Cohen does anything wildly idiosyncratic, let alone provocatively iconoclastic, à la early Scriabin. At the same time, mercifully, the young Canadian pianist shows no sign of being a budding ‘Romantic’ prophet. Rather she plainly understands that every interpretation is just one possibility, and she offers us a very enticing opportunity to open our minds, especially in those familiar composers [and works] most burdened with tradition in this case Sergei Bortkeiwicz’s [1877-1952] great idolater Chopin.
Some like me, may be disconcerted by Ms Li-Cohen’s omission of the grand and spacious Fantasiestrüke Op. 61: No. 2. Ein Traum, enhancing, if that’s quite the right word, an underlying feeling of rush, but elsewhere revelations abound. In the immense sadness and rolling lyricality of Lamentations and Consolations Op. 17. No. 2, Consolation, where many pianists – even some as great as Ms Li-Cohen – can be repetitious to a fault, Ms Li-Cohen unexpectedly takes us into a different world. It is full of glinting lights, mysterious depths, expectations, frustrations, hopes and doubts, like the shattered shadows of a ominous quasi-Mendelssohnian scherzo, glimpsed by moonlight in a forest.
In sheer colour and variety, in the depth of its characterisation and the exceptional range and refinement of its pianism Ms Li-Cohen here imparts a power and tragic stature to both the Lyrcia Nova Op. 59 No. 4. Con slancio and the surrounding Six Pensées Lyriques Op. 11. No. 5, Ms Li-Cohen brings a ‘deportment’ that few pianist of her stature can achieve.
And the variety and stylishness of the rest of this enterprising and brilliantly chosen programme is matched by the pianist’s insight into the hidden meaning and beautiful intricacies throughout the programme. Ms Li-Cohen brings effortless Chopinesque urbanity and lyricism to all the mighty Romanticism of the Bortkeiwicz pieces which are ass seductive as they are persuasive and an object lesson in the very essence of style. The Ten Preludes. Op. 33. No. 8. Andante sostenuto e cantabile are played with buoyant, aristocratic grace and psychological ambiguity, and Ms Li-Cohen is [rightly] almost insolently effortless, bringing graceful virtuosity and swagger when it comes to the Six Preludes Op. 13. No. 4 in C. Appassionato and the sassy swing of the Four Pieces Op. 3. No. 3 Gavotte-Caprice.
Judging by the richness of this performance, its genius and evocative production values, one can only hope that any forthcoming release from this team of Zhenni Li-Cohen and Jon Feidner will certainly outdo what the two have offered us here.
Deo Gratis…
Music – 1. Lyrcia Nova Op. 59 No. 4. Con slancio; 2. Trois Morceaux Op. 24: No. 1 Nocturne “Diana”; 3. Lamentations and Consolations Op. 17. No. 2, Consolation 4. Ten Preludes. Op. 33. No. 8. Andante sostenuto e cantabile; 5. Four Pieces Op. 3. No. 3 Gavotte-Caprice; 6. Ten Preludes Op. 33 No. 7 Andantino; 7. Six Preludes Op. 13. No. 4 in C. Appassionato; 8. Ein Roman Op. 35: No. 7. Ein Brief; 9. Six Pensées Lyriques Op. 11. No. 5; 10. Ein Roman. Op. 35: No. 3. Erwachende Liebe; 11. Lycra Nova. Op. 59: No. 3. Andantino; 12. Lycra Nova. Op. 59: No. 1 Con Moto affettuoso; 13. Fantasiestrüke Op. 61: No. 2. Ein Traum
Musician – Zhenni Li- Cohen: piano; Jon Feidner: producer.
Released: 2023
Label: Steinway & Sons 30129
Runtime 48:33