Here are more live performances from the 2009 International Van Cliburn Competition featuring the young Gold Medalist Nobuyuki Tsujii. The Chopin E minor concerto focuses upon sensitivity and nuance over finger gymnastics, particularly in the Rondo’s coda, where real melodic shaping characterizes the unison octave runs, and also in the first movement’s development. However, more incisive rhythmic pointing and tighter expressive economy in lyrical passages would lend greater cohesion and forward drive to Tsujii’s interpretation, to say nothing of stronger orchestral support than what the lackluster Fort Worth Symphony members deliver. Similarly, the cadential ritards throughout Tsujii’s lyrical, introspective Berceuse are a shade generic and predictable.
However, his finest playing occurs in the Op. 10 Etudes. No. 1’s extended arpeggios and cantus-firmus bass line interweave with fluid flexibility, as do No. 2’s left-hand chords and cruelly difficult chromatic right-hand passages. No. 3 only comes into focus at the volatile middle section, while No. 4 is crisp and intelligently voiced, if not quite so intense and febrile as Richter, Horowitz, or the young Argerich (unfair comparisons, I know!). Etudes 5 and 7 are slightly overpedaled, with the left-hand accompaniments dominating to a fault. But Tsujii’s best qualities coalesce in Nos. 8, 11, and the “Revolutionary” No. 12, and entirely justify the enthusiastic audience response.
