Dasol Kim – an audience perspective

Pianist Dasol Kim

Our first set of recitals for the new decade and year 2020 featured Korean pianist Dasol Kim. He gave two very moving programs that included notable terminal works for a couple of composers. It seemed like there was a lot of calm energy in the room as people filed in to get their seats, but that didn’t last for long, as we were presented with a number of opportunities to cheer and applaud Dasol’s beautiful playing.

SATURDAY’S RECITAL, ALL BEETHOVEN

Saturday’s recital was very simple: the final three piano sonatas by Beethoven, Op. 109-111. Sunday’s recital was more varied, with Robert Schumann’s Geistervariationen, WoO 24;     Nikolai Medtner’s Chetyre Skazki Op. 26, Nos. 1 & 2 and Dve Skazki, Op. 20, No. 1; Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 3, Op 23; and Frederic Chopin’s four Scherzi, Op. 20, 31, 29, and 54. See the full program details on the Portland Piano website

It is always a treat and an honor to hear a program of the final piano sonatas by Beethoven, and Dasol did not disappoint. It looks on paper like a pretty basic program but there was so much variety in this music. As an aside, Portland Piano International is celebrating the anniversary of Beethoven’s 250th birthday, so this was very apt programming.

Dasol played the sonatas in order, and to tell you the truth, it’s pretty much impossible to say one was better than the other compositionally, though some have tried. There was a lot of dramatic playing, but I felt Dasol excelled in the gentle, lyrical parts. The third movement of Sonata 30 – a theme and variations – was particularly wonderful. I just wanted to melt into it. But then there’s the ethereal lightness Dasol achieved at the start of the first movement of Sonata 31! Sonata 32 is often considered one of Beethoven’s best, and we definitely got the feeling that we were at the end of something important. Plus, there were Dasol’s incredible trills. One of my favorite phrases, “I’m sad because it’s awesome” was completely appropriate here; it all ended too soon.

There was plenty of cheering and a standing ovation. He did not play an encore.

SUNDAY’S RECITAL, A BIT OF A MIX

Sunday’s recital started with Robert Schumann’s Geistervariationen, AKA “Ghost Variations” in English, and people were getting settled back into their seats, I guess, since there was an awful lot of rustling around during the first couple minutes of the piece. It could not take away how gorgeous it was, however, and I felt pangs of sadness knowing this was Schumann’s last work before he died. Program notes for this piece indicate context: a suicide attempt on Schumann’s part and mention of his mental health challenges, and it made it all seem so tender. The piece is a theme and variations structure filled with beautiful harmonies and gestures. Dasol was a skilled guide, leading us along the part of variations that kept getting more and more comforting as they went on. Even in active passagework, he retained a sense of calm that was very reassuring.

Three of Nikolai Medtner’s Skazkis followed; I don’t know about you but his name is not a household word in my musical world. He is a Russian composer, and after hearing these works I noted, “makes me want to look further at his music.” These Skazki, AKA “Fairy Tales” in English, had everything from atmospheric (almost Impressionistic) to cheery, energetic to passionate, and the third piece, Dve Skazki, had a real theatrical element to it; I could imagine it as the soundtrack to a silent movie. These pieces were virtuosic, and I am grateful Dasol brought these pieces to the stage here in Portland.

The final piece of the first half was Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 3, Op 23, composed at a high point in his life, just as he had married and had great success in Europe. In my mind, it’s fairly short for a piano sonata: just under 20 minutes long. In its four movements it starts kind of moody and eventually settles down, and it brings a big Russian sound, deftly expressed by Dasol. I also can’t deny that those dissonant chords at the start of the second movement did not entice me into the movement, either. Dasol brought out the sweetness in the third movement, enough to make you swoon. He brings us the waves of sound so often present in Russian piano works… this piece really has it all: power and poignancy.

The final set of pieces of the recital, comprising the entire second half, was the four Scherzos by Chopin. Each piece requires deep understanding and connection with the music’s virtuosic spirit, and the audience was certainly in tune with it – after each piece there was great applause and loud praise, as if they could not contain themselves. It was unexpected and awesome. I really felt like, of all the pieces that weekend, this was Dasol’s natural musical language; his facility with the music and the instrument was unreal. The audience basically erupted after the final scherzo, cheering and clapping and hungry for more

On Sunday he chose not to play an encore.

Big thanks to Dasol Kim for bringing us an incredible weekend of music.