FORT WORTH — Vadym Kholodenko “sealed his triumph with a stunning performance of the Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto and an elegantly detailed Mozart Concerto No. 21, and he had been a rock-solid performer all the way through.” So wrote a certain critic of the then 26-year-old Ukrainian’s first-prize win in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
It was as a very mature sounding artist that Kholodenko returned to Fort Worth on June 15, 2024, for a solo recital at this summer’s PianoTexas International Festival and Academy at Texas Christian University. Founded and still directed by TCU piano prof Tamás Ungár and now in its 44th year, the annual festival presents recitals by important pianists, many of whom double as faculty for educational programs for young pianists up to age 28, piano teachers and amateur players. In addition to private and class sessions, participants compete for chances to perform with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Formerly held in TCU’s PepsiCo Recital Hall, this year’s recitals have moved to the more spacious — sonically as well as physically — Van Cliburn Concert Hall. TCU’s newer 700-seat hall proved ideal for Kholodenko’s compact but substantial program of Beethoven and Prokofiev sonatas.
A great performance of Beethoven’s last piano sonata, in C minor, Op. 111, should leave the listener marveling at what a strange work it is — strange and wonderful. That’s what Kholodenko delivered, from an opening that sonically grabbed one’s shoulders and shook.
Beethoven’s restless spirit was evident, even when the music withdrew into miniature gardens of delight. Kholodenko managed to sound spontaneous even when you knew structures and proportions had been carefully plotted.
The second movement’s theme, quietly noble, opened up variations exploratory, sometimes seemingly improvisatory, including treble tinklings heard as if from a distance. After the final restatement of the theme, over pulsings and oscillations, Kholodenko hovered motionless over the keyboard, sustaining silence that must have lasted 30 seconds before applause broke out. It was magical.
Prokofiev’s Eighth Sonata, the last of three composed more or less simultaneously during World War II, seemed almost to awake from the dream in which Beethoven had left us. Thunder and lightning were worked up, to be dismissed in a hushed ending. The second movement seemed to retreat into at least imagined innocence.
The finale mixed turbulence and playfulness, with quiet allusions to the first movement’s opening. The music dissolved into a dreamy episode, only to be roused by more thunder and brilliant chatters.
Kholodenko played both sonatas as if he owned them, with interpretive depth as well as technical power and brilliance. Three encores after the Prokofiev afforded charming contrast: Poulenc’s L’embarquement pour Cythère and two Beethoven Bagatelles: Op. 33 No. 3 and the tiny Op. 119, No. 10.
Opening the recital, Handel’s G major Chaconne for harpsichord (HWV 435) got quite a romanticized performance, with big crescendos and decrescendos and some arbitrary left-hand detachments. I could think of lots of actual piano pieces I would have preferred.
Details
Running through June 30, PianoTexas presents recitalists Sa Chen (June 18), Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (June 22), Enrico Elisi (June 25) and Eric Lu (June 29), all at 7:30 p.m. in TCU’s Van Cliburn Concert Hall, 2900 W. Lowden St., Fort Worth. $35 each; $25 for students, seniors. 817-257-7456, pianotexas@tcu.edu.
