The jury of the Montreal International Music Competition crowned the Ukrainian Dmytro Udovychenko late Thursday evening, a tough choice as the level of this Violin 2023 edition was out of the ordinary, the highest level in the history of this competition, all disciplines confused.
After a rather exceptional first evening in terms of instrumental and musical outfit, with the Ukrainian Dmytro Udovychenko in a moving 1st Concerto by Shostakovich, the Israeli Michael Shaham in a high quality Sibelius and Nathan Melzer, a violinist with mellow sounds and a very controlled intonation, we had some fears of seeing the level fall somewhat during the second session.
Nothing came of it, on the contrary, and the evening began with a huge shock: the performance of the Korean SongHa Choi in the 2nd Concerto by Prokofiev. We found in this candidate the fiery temperament she had shown in previous events. Added to this is a sound of great fullness and a string of floor particularly nourished. SongHa Choi did justice to the intimacy of the 2nd movement, but it was with the aggressiveness of her 3rd movement that she literally stunned us.
Better than DG violinists
As such, we have a prestigious and very clear point of reference: the 2nd Concerto of Prokofiev given by the rising star of Deutsche Grammophon Daniel Lozakovich, with Nathalie Stutzmann at OM in June 2022. SongHa Choi played the same work with much more personality and power. Rafael Payare could himself testify to this, because he had attended the placid concert of OM as a spectator and accompanied this bright torch on Thursday.
As we make cross-sectional comparisons between editions, SongHa Choi is a cut above Bomsori Kim, Ayana Tsuji’s 2016 runner-up. rewarded with a 2nd Prize, the Audience Prize, the Prize for the best sonata and the Prize for the best execution of the compulsory work – should interest the artistic teams of Warner or Sony.
While we thought the trio of winners were installed, with Udovychenko, Choi and Shaham, arrived SooBeen Lee, another Korean in Tchaikovsky’s Concerto. And, there again, a great performance, more perfect in terms of finish, than that of Shaham, with a sound that is undoubtedly less nourished, but of an impeccable musicality and with beautiful risk-taking in the 3rd movement.
SooBeen Lee took full advantage of the fascinating orchestral direction of Rafael Payare, also decidedly determined to give a historic patina to this edition (ah, its acceleration before the cadence of the 1st movement!). SooBeen Lee let herself be carried away by the conductor when conventional direction would probably have resulted in a fairly passive reading that wouldn’t have had the same effect.
To situate the performance and the level, it was more exciting, with a more perfect finish, with just a little less sound saturation than Kerson Leong last week at OM. More immaculate than Shaham, Lee was logically placed third.
Sandals
Ruslan Talas remained in the 1st by Paganini. The instrumentalist is formidable, mastering the pitfalls of intonation and violinistic tightrope walking. He experienced an isolated bow hitch in the 1st movement which distracted him, but the pitfalls overcome elsewhere are impressive. The sound lacks harmonics in the treble (chanterelle): it may be the instrument.
However, Ruslan Talas has a crippling flaw and it’s not for nothing that we were talking yesterday about the impeccable performance of the first three candidates on stage. Because unlike them, the unbearable Talas punctuates his good shots (bow!) by tapping with his left foot. This tic becomes very embarrassing and besides, this kind of thing easily starts to degenerate, as with the tap dancing shows of the clown Nemanja Radulovic, which Montreal thought it had got rid of for life after its disaster. show 2007, but that OM, decidedly in luck these days, have taken it into their heads to bring us back here next season.
It is hard to imagine that the candidate Ruslan Talas did not make his noise in the quarter or semi-finals. Who, then, the jury, whose mission is to award someone who is ready to represent the competition by being hired by institutions all over the world, deprived this Thursday of this sixth place in the final? We have our own idea about it, but it probably wouldn’t have disturbed the order of a supreme and fair podium: Udovychenko-Choi-Lee.
Even if she was perfect during this contest, we don’t know what will become of Lee, but we can’t wait to see Udovychenko and Choi again. Their concertos will remain in our memories like the appearances here of Beatrice Rana, Nareh Arghamanyan, Emily d’Angelo, David Fray, Benjamin Beilman, Philippe Sly and a few others.