Review of the 19th International Chopin Competition performance CD of Tianyao Lyu from China, the prodigious, musical phenomenon of the 2025 Competition
Born in China in 2008, Tianyao Lyu began her musical education at the Middle School affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied in the class of Hua Chang. She now continues her studies at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań under Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń.
Despite her young age, she is a laureate of numerous prestigious piano competitions. In 2024, she won the Grand Prix at the 31st International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Szafarnia and the Ettlingen International Piano Competition.
The following year brought a remarkable triumph, namely the Fourth Prize as well as the Warsaw Philharmonic Award for the best performance of a Concerto at the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. (NOSPR note)
I attended all her competition performances and the notes below are presented as my unapologetic reflections written at the time. In this rare case, they are not the 'emotions recollected in tranquility' defining Poetry by William Wordsworth in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads of 1800. All were my immediate feelings at the time.
Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1 (1845–1846)
A profoundly expressive, emotional opening to this work. She cultivated a beautiful tone from the magnificent Fazioli she chose to play. Her sensibility suited the delicacy and sensitivity of this Nocturne displaying a great range of colour and dynamic phrasing. This was a highly refined and tender evocation of night. Her trills were superb and integrated seamlessly into the melodic line as this echo of the French baroque clavecin tradition demands.
Here is that rare creature, a pianist who possesses the quality of closely listening to herself. She is highly sensitive to the textural beauty of the sound she produces. The great pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus famously asserted that "music is a tonal art". His legacy lives on through his renowned book The Art of Piano Playing (published in English in 1973), which remains a foundational pedagogical treatise on interpretation and tone production. Neuhaus (and Chopin also) prioritized tone production as the first and foremost task of any pianist.
Etude in G-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 6, Allegro
(before 1837)
She displayed an extraordinary technique that gave one a shiver along the spine. Such remarkable glitter and formation of each note as a string of pearls at such a young age! Her refinement of sound is quite extraordinary.
Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18 (1833)
This also glistened as it should with style brillante delicacy, possessing a superbly captured sensibility of the period - one of joy and gaiety. Her dance rhythm was infectious with a definite instinctive grasp of the waltz as a dance. The not altogether complete descent into reflective, almost melancholic thoughts in the minor, was perfectly 'classically' restrained and graded without a tempting darker indulgence.
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 (1846)
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| Turner watercolour of a Venetian lagoon |
Her
creation of the atmosphere on, shall we say, a Venetian lagoon was peerlessly
romantic restrained yet with an underlying meditation of yearning feeling. The
beginning of a journey of the heart and its progress of intimacy and rising
love. Not without moments of stress, this music was a portrait of the clasping
and attempted symbiosis with the spirit
of another. Such extraordinary variation of watercolours and balance of dynamic
which in this work so often is exaggerated to a storm on the open ocean rather
than within a contained lagoon. Shadows pass, clouds and deeper thoughts embrace us. A most
remarkable performance of this masterpiece. A glorious narrative of the passing febrile nature of the emotions of love ....
Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E flat major
Op. 22
The original title of this
work was Grande Polonaise Brillante, précédée d’un Andante spianato.
Chopin dedicated it to one of his aristocratic pupils, the Baroness d’Est. He
first performed it, with immense success in April 1835, at the Paris
Conservatory, in a benefit concert for the then famous Parisian conductor
François-Antoine Habeneck.
The most notable aspect of
the Andante with Lyu was unusually the texture and timbre
brought to the movement. Chopin often used to perform it on its own. However
the indication spianato means 'smooth' or 'even' in Italian so
clearly this was being followed. Her phrasing of this, in essence a 'Nocturne', was
superbly natural. The musical cantilena sang in
perfect bel canto simplicity as an operatic aria in Chopin should. My imagination
painted a lake with calm and romantic moonlit reflections interrupted by soulful emotional disturbances.
The polonaise emerged with
the fanfare or 'call to the floor' of the ballroom (a characteristic of
dance at the time). It rather came upon us like a surprise kiss of natural joy
- incandescent in its luminous tone and variegated colours. The principal theme
of the Polonaise combines soaring flight with spirit and verve, bravura with
elegance. The arabesques expressed by the fiorituras and the
vision of her fluid movement of arms and fingers organically produced a quite
staggering glitter and pin sharp articulation of the true stile
brillante. This unique experience became in time really
quite hypnotic.
There was tremendous
aristocratic restraint and elegance in this playing of a work much
underestimated in difficulty by so many pianists. I did not hear one misplaced
note or uncomfortable dynamic exaggeration, simply stylish, youthful
exuberance. Played as it was here by Lyu with the utmost fluency, subtlety and
sensitivity to the beauty of the sound, it confirmed the delight of the Polish
pianist, pedagogue, editor and publicist Jan Kleczyński (1837 – 1895):
‘There is no composition stamped with greater elegance, freedom and freshness’.
Rondo in E flat major, Op. 16 (1829–1834)
This Rondo was possibly composed during a beautiful summer spent at Côteau, and it was published in the autumn of 1833 with the long dedication: ‘dedié à son élève Mademoiselle Caroline Hartmann par…’ (‘dedicated to his pupil Miss Caroline Hartmann by…’). There are reminders of the krakowiak in the ballroom once again, rather than a rural country tavern. The young pianist from Warsaw was trying to find his place in Paris – 'a city that has bewildered and partly also enslaved him'. ‘For a while’, as he confessed to his teacher Elsner, he wanted to put aside ‘loftier artistic vistas.'
‘I am forced’, he wrote, ‘to think about forging a path for
myself as a pianist’.
This glistening Rondo,
played by Lyu, dazzled us with virtuosity and Parisian bon goût. Her
phrasing had a miraculous natural musicality like fluent speech, a variety of
the miracle of humanity. Such expressively aristocratic élan,
elegance and style. She brought just the right amount of period affectation to
the work in glorious tone.
Prelude in E flat major Op. 28 No. 19
I was reminded in her performance of the line 'Hail to thee blithe spirit' from 'To a Skylark', a poem completed by Percy Bysshe Shelley in late June 1820 and published to accompany his lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound.
[MS Eng 258.2, Houghton Library, Harvard University]
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| Autograph manuscript of 'To A Skylark' (1820) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) |
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
[And the final two stanzas which for me describe so well the music of Chopin]
Better than all measures
Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
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Posthumous Portrait of Shelley Writing Prometheus Unbound Joseph Severn (1793-1879) [Keats-Shelley Memorial House, Rome, Italy] A beautifully, lyrical interpretation of life in this Prelude but with dark clouds of fatal destiny, the echo of human mortality hovering inevitably over all of us .... |
Prelude in C minor Op. 28 No. 20
Bewitching variety of colors with dynamic expressiveness that
transformed any imaginative metaphors one might create
Prelude in B flat major Op. 28 No. 21
A heartfelt song that carried itself with natural musicality and
phrase
Prelude in G minor Op. 28 No. 22
Quite extraordinary penetration of the nature of violence at her
age
Prelude in F major Op. 28 No. 23
Her glorious tone and touch contributed to the 'celestial
floating' above a pastoral summer landscape
Prelude in D minor Op. 28 No. 24
Her ability to express the formidable power of destiny, its irresistible destructive weight and nature at her age (just 17) was nothing short of amazing
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| Tianyao Lyu (NOSPR) |
Variations in B flat major on "La ci darem
la mano" from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, Op. 2 (1827–1828)
Chopin composed the ‘Là ci darem’ Variations in 1827. As a student of the Main School of Music, he had received from his teacher Elsner a task to write variations for piano with orchestral accompaniment. As his theme, he chose the famous duet between Zerlina and Don Giovanni from the first act of Mozart’s opera – the one in which overwhelming seductive power and meets some degree of maidenly naivety and fascination.
Chopin’s ‘Là ci
darem’ Variations has a somewhat gloomy or at the least ambiguous
introduction, theme, five variations and finale. They are pianistically
expressed through the stile brillante, it being one of the greatest
works in this style influenced by Hummel and Moscheles. The Polish
musicologist, musical critic and composer Jachimecki Zdzisław Jan
(1882-1953) felt Chopin wanted to express 'a collision between the two
poles of Mozart’s opera: the cheerful and romantic with the demonic'.
Lyu at 17 years of age,
much the same age as Chopin when he composed the work, managed this work
brilliantly pianistically as we might expect but also, up to a point,
psychologically. Certainly the introduction had a feeling of duplicity and
mendacious seductive gestures. I felt here that Lyu could have introduced more
expressive variety into each variation. However, to manage this one must have
an intimate knowledge of the sensual machinations, lyricism and devilish
cunning that lies like a juggler's batons within the opera. Life experience ?
On the musical and
pianistic level Lyu's grasp of stile brillante, polyphony and
varied articulation was coated with mesmeric magic dust, quite extraordinary.
The infectious dance rhythm within some variations was superb.
The work was originally
written on Elsner's instructions for piano and orchestra. We heard the piano
part so often performed alone these days. Here is a finely detailed
introduction to the work by the great Polish musicologist Mieczysław
Tomaszewski:
https://chopin.nifc.pl/en/chopin/kompozycja/15
Mazurka in A minor Op. 59 No. 1
Here in this miniature masterpiece lay charming, lyrical nostalgia. Tianyao Lyu presented it very much as an emotive reminiscence. She produced the most glorious tone and seductive sound from the first moment she touched the instrument. I have already written about the dance passion that gripped Europe in Chopin's day - 'Mazurka Fever'. Here in the Op.59 set (1845) Lyu drew us into the world of Chopin's nostalgic and poetic dreams in an affecting rendition of these ‘most beautiful sounds that it is possible to produce from the piano’ (Ludwig Bronarski).
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| The Mazurka at Mabille's the famous Parisian Dance Hall 1844 Eugène Charles François Guérard (1821-1866) |
Mazurka in F sharp minor Op. 59 No. 3
Lyu certainly created the exuberant moods of the dance in the Mazovian countryside with many affecting changes of piano tension, tone, colour and sound texture. She maintained a fine dynamic balance between her hands.
Let me allow the great Polish musicologist Mieczysław Tomaszewski describe the third of these Mazurkas in F sharp minor which 'drags one into the whirl of a Mazurian dance from the very first bars, with its sweeping, unconstrained gestures, its verve, élan, exuberance, and also, more importantly, the occasional suppressing of that vigour and momentum, in order to yield up music that is tender, subtle, delicate...'
Mazurka in A flat major Op. 59 No. 2
A certain
‘romantic’ story is linked to this mazurka. Towards the end of 1844, Chopin
received a short letter from Felix Mendelssohn. During their first years in
Paris, those two composers, together with Liszt, Hiller, Berlioz and Bellini,
created a musical ‘Romantic movement’. Mendelssohn later left Paris, and
thereafter he and Chopin met only sporadically. Mendelssohn wrote: ‘My
dear Chopin, This letter comes to you to ask a favour. Would you out of
friendship write a few bars of music, sign your name at the bottom to show you
wrote them for my wife and send them to me? It was at Frankfort
that we last met you and I was then engaged: since that time, whenever I wish
to give my wife a great pleasure I have to play to her, and her favourite works
are those you have written.’
Lyu gave great attention to details, so vital in mazurka performances. I felt some could have been slightly more rural and robust in rhythm but then again this young lady is soon to be only 17.
Mazurka in F-sharp minor, Op. 59, No. 3
Lyu certainly created the
exuberant moods of the dance in the Mazovian countryside with many affecting
changes of piano tension, tone, colour and sound texture. She maintained a fine
dynamic balance between her hands
Let me allow the great
Polish musicologist Mieczysław Tomaszewski describe the third of these Mazurkas
in F sharp minor which 'drags one into the whirl of a Mazurian dance
from the very first bars, with its sweeping, unconstrained gestures, its verve,
élan, exuberance, and also, more importantly, the occasional suppressing of
that vigour and momentum, in order to yield up music that is tender, subtle,
delicate...'
Prelude in D flat major, Op. 28 No. 15
I found her view was
sensitive and expressive of picturesque 'raindrops' but this is an innocent
outlook and not sufficiently haunting or threatening. As the repeated A flats
become the enharmonic G sharp, dark thoughts develop but not terrifying
ones with Lyu. Few pianists come to fearsome atmospheric terms with this
settlement of the phantoms of evil, that sublimation of a gloomy night of cold
rain at the monastery at Valldemossa. Penetrating the heart of this profound
work provides the challenges to the expression of personal maturity and
experience. In her Histoire de ma Vie George Sand wrote a
well-known account of its possible genesis:
He [Chopin] saw himself drowned in a lake. Heavy drops of icy water fell in a regular rhythm on his breast, and when I made him listen to the sound of the drops of water indeed falling in rhythm on the roof, he denied having heard it. He was even angry that I should interpret this in terms of imitative sounds. He protested with all his might – and he was right to – against the childishness of such aural imitations. His genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought, and not through slavish imitation of the actual external sounds.
Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35
Grave. Doppio movimento
Scherzo
Marche funèbre. Lento
Finale. Presto
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| Cztery struny skrzypiec [Four Strings of a Violin] 1914 |
| Death of a Polish Musician |
| Polish artist Edward Okun (1872-1945) |
The all important setting
of what is to follow opened with an expressive Grave of
appropriate duration. The Doppio movimento was at a
tempo of anxiety rather than hysteria, which is so tempting to many young
pianists. The movement was attractively fragmented which added to the feeling
of uncertainty and fear during the attempt to escape the great reaper on
horseback. Lyu utilized much dynamic variation and colour, varied articulation,
tone and touch in a graphic illustration of human panic.
She began the Scherzo
attacca (immediately after) which I have never heard before but which
was most effective in carrying the drama forward. Not as light in dynamic as
some I have experienced, it was nevertheless premonitory and ominous, a prelude
to the Marche funèbre. The cantabile carried
a sense of loss but not quite deeply yearning enough for me. Dark shadows and
intimations of grief need to fall more clearly across the lyricism. One must
remember that the more extended music of this composer is never simply a
pianistic excursion.
Lyu took the Marche
funèbre at an ultra slow and deliberate tempo. This was to be a rare
experience of immanence. I was metaphysically moved in a grief- stricken state
as if taking part in a funeral. Have you ever watched the slow heavy tread of
pallbearers as they walk slowly, lurching in step towards the graveside on a
damp autumn evening, the coffin on their shoulders ? I have...
The tempo was measured, grieving
and slow, as the Marche funebre should be. The constant pulse
was cumulative in effect. The lyrical cantabile was childlike
in its innocence, inhabiting another dimension of reality with Lyu. We were
taken by her into gradations of reality, taken far beyond mere
recollections of former lyric experiences with a loved one. Playing in the
mind, this music with its sensitive and poignant sound channeled by Lyu,
possessed the lyric feeling of the desperate unreality of memory. A quite
unique and extraordinary experience.
Lyu gave the polyphonic Presto a many-voiced expression of unearthly feelings. The dislocation of reality created by the Marche funèbre was consummated by the mind chaotic in thought and in grief.
Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57
The Berceuse, composed
and completed at romantic Nohant in 1844, appears to constitute a distant echo
of a song that Chopin’s mother sang to him: the romance of Laura and
Philo, ‘Już miesiąc zeszedł, psy się uśpiły’ [The moon
now has risen, the dogs are asleep]. (Tomaszewski). In view of this tender
genesis of infancy, it is well known Chopin loved children and they loved him
This work can surely be
considered ‘music of the evening and the night’. The
Chopin Berceuse is possibly the most beautiful lullaby in
absolute music ever written. The manuscript of this cradle-song masterpiece
belonged to Chopin's close friend Pauline Viardot, the French mezzo-soprano and
composer. The work was inspired by his concern with her infant daughter
Louisette. George Sand wrote in a letter ‘Chopin adores her and
spends his time kissing her on the hands’
Perhaps the baby caused
Chopin to become nostalgic for his own family or even reflect on a child of his
own that could only ever remain an occupant of his imagination. The work does
speak of a haunted yearning for his own child, a lullaby performed in his sublimely
imaginative mind, isolated and alone. No, not a common feeling about the
work and possibly over-interpreted on my part, but what of that ....
Lyu created an innocent,
delicate and tender music. Her LH was constant in its rocking motion whilst the
RH ranged freely above in decorative arabesques of delicate melodic feeling.
She engaged us with extreme delicacy of touch, colour and dynamic variation in
maintaining a glorious balance between her hands. Her enhancing fiorituras were
perfect in their sense of spontaneous improvisation. A fading away to infant
sleep in scarcely perceptible sound was the consummate conclusion.
A most remarkable recital by the precocious young lady that must take her into the final round of the competition.
Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major Op. 61
Instantly
this prodigious talent (she will be 17 on 21 October) announced itself with a
gloriously refined sound, tone and touch. The trait of 'seeking a refuge'
for Chopin had begun. Her tensions and relaxations throughout the creation of
the fantasies were remarkable for their grace and refinement. There was
infinite expressiveness here and artful embroidery of the melodic line. Inner
voices were clear and the polyphony full of restrained emphasis. She appeared
to be painting landscapes of a full emotional life which expanded into a
glorious apotheosis. A superbly artistic mezzo-forte conclusion,
not triumphant at all, as it is not. An extraordinarily precocious
performance by such a young artist.
* * * * * * * * * *
To obtain this remarkable CD, superbly recorded:
https://sklep.nifc.pl/pl/produkt/77670-tianyao-lyu-chopin-piano-competition-2025
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