Unlike many young keyboard practitioners who treat Chopin’s Etudes as athletic stunts, the 23-year-old Lithuanian/Russian pianist Lukas Geniusas channels his considerable technique toward mindful musical ends. He executes Op. 10 No. 1’s extended arpeggios up and down the keyboard with tonal fullness and a sense of direction, abetted by a strong bass-line presence. A supple and melodic touch ignites gentle sparks in No. 2’s feathery chromatic 16th-note runs, while the pianist eschews hard-hitting brilliance in No. 4 for deft motivic interplay between the hands.
Geniusas plays the “Black Key” etude with such sparkling assurance and rock-solid evenness that the performance sounds faster than it actually is. Nor does Geniusas forget about hidden left-hand melodic beauties that elude others who focus upon right-hand virtuosity alone in Op. 10 Nos. 7 and 8, and Op. 25 Nos. 6, 8, and 11. If Geniusas’ ritards at cadences and phrase endings become increasingly predictable, one must acknowledge how thoughtfully he illuminates the composer’s subtle textural shifts while reiterating themes in Op. 10 No. 10 and Op. 25 No. 5. Strangely, each opus number’s concluding C minor etude comes off sounding careful and studio-bound.
Geniusas’ musicianly readings are likely to wear well on repeated hearings, although you’ll find comparable poetry and more palpable bravura from Murray Perahia, Juana Zayas, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Yuki Matsuzawa, among my favorite modern-day Chopin Etude cycles.
