Deutsche Grammophon announced on Tuesday, World Piano Day, the signing of an exclusive recording agreement with Bruce Liu, 24, winner of the Chopin Competition in October 2021.
The victory in Warsaw of Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu — trained between 2011 and 2018, first by Richard Raymond at the Conservatoire de Montréal, then by Dang Thai Son, professor at the Université de Montréal — gave him access to the publication of a CD of the highlights of the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Three months after its release, this occasional musical business card turns into an exclusive contract.
The news is all the more remarkable as Deutsche Grammophon has not only the previous winner of the Chopin Competition, the Korean Seong-Jin Cho, under contract, but also another young Canadian pianist, Jan Lisiecki, 27, whose Polish ancestry also positions on this directory.
Imaginative and spontaneous
The president of the renowned record company, Clemens Trautmann, plays the Canadian card thoroughly: “ [Bruce Liu] joins Canadian colleagues Emily D’Angelo, Jan Lisiecki and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the DG — proof, if need be, that today’s Canada is clearly a hotbed of musical talent. »
But it is not on the side of national convergences that we must look for the reasons for this signature, on the contrary. The thing could play if Canada were a major market, like Japan, Korea, China, Great Britain, the Germanic sphere or France: this is absolutely not the case.
With Bruce Liu, it was the personality of the artist, well perceived by Deutsche Grammophon, which was decisive. “The Chopin Competition and all the concerts he has given since have shown the world an intelligent and dynamic young artist whose pianism, imagination and spontaneity are electrifying,” says Mr. Trautmann.
The press release from DG also underlines his “incredibly easy virtuosity from which constantly ooze charisma and carelessness”.
Rameau and Tchaikovsky
Bruce Liu described himself in the Homework “It’s not so much that I’m happy all the time, but I’m a pretty optimistic guy who is easily content. So, in my approach to Chopin, we end up forgetting the sadness, we dance and we celebrate: it comes with my naturalness. »
The arrival of Bruce Liu in the musical landscape is therefore a breath of fresh air, a return of surprise and spontaneity after so many years in which an often artificial quest for “musical depth” has largely dominated.
One of Deutsche Grammophon’s first tasks will be to place this young lover of swimming, chess, karting, cinema, jazz and history in his artistic orbit full of joyful verve and to “de-chopinise” him. . “I was never really a Chopinist,” he said to the Homework after his victory in Warsaw.
A French-themed recital (Bruce was born in Paris) will pair Rameau with Chopin and his first disc with orchestra will feature him in the Concerto No. 2 by Tchaikovsky, with whom Bruce Liu has just made his London debut on March 10 with the Philharmonia under the direction of Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
It remains to be seen when we will see a CD associating him with Yannick Nézet-Séguin…