Aristo Sham thoughtfully programmed ballades and etudes for the Foundation of Chinese Performing Arts on Wednesday. Hailed by the Washington Post as “ …a young artist with boundless potential who can already hold his own with the best,” he has dazzled audiences on five continents.*
The first half comprised six ballades, bookended by the popular Chopin No. 1 in G Minor and Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F Minor. From the first seven measures of the G-minor ballade, we recognized Sham’s great musicality and maturity beyond his years. He played the fast sections of the ballade at breakneck speed, especially the coda. In contrast, the slow sections sounded tranquil and unhurried, and he found some beautiful inner harmonies and made wonderful use of rubatos. The climax came across with great power, and he perfectly synchronized the two ascending sets of octaves at the finale.
The Englishman John Ireland composed his unfinished Ballade of London Nights in 1930; after his death, Alan Rowlands completed it and debuted it in 1965. Sham called it a stream of consciousness. Fiona Richards described it as “…mingling songs of Chelsea and in Soho nights which move from tranquility into chaos.” Sham took an imaginative approach to the distinctively 20th-century tonalities, dissonances, and constantly changing compositional ideas.
Brahms’s early Ballades Opus 10 Nos. 3 and No. 4 (B minor and B Major) already display the master’s unique style. Dated 1854, when Brahms was 21 years old, they coincided with the beginning of his lifelong affection for Clara Schumann. Chopin had published his Ballade No. 4 just 12 years earlier, but Sham informed us that Brahms approached the genre differently from Chopin, staying truer to the ballade as narrative poem, thus narrowing the range of their compositional material. Both employ repetitive musical motifs, a dilemma Sham solves by employing various pianistic tricks that render their repetitive nature different and interesting. The four-minute-long No. 3 Allegro begins with repeated staccato notes in the left hand, then moves into a vaguely pastoral middle section. No. 4 (Andante con moto) lasts nine minutes with a lovely melody line and descending arpeggios. It is quiet and subdued throughout, even the chordal middle section.
Kaija Saariaho, a Finn who died in 2023 year at age 70, is known for her opera L’Amour de loin and works that use electronics alongside traditional instruments. She wrote the ballade for Emanuel Ax, who premiered it at Wigmore Hall (London) in November 2005. Very atmospheric, its notes veer into unexpected directions, the effect vaguely disembodied and floating, at times chaotic and strident. She labeled the score misterioso, and Sham unearthed the different embedded textures and colors. He finished with a downward glissando held by a very long dramatic pedal.
Chopin’s 4th ballade, which Sham considers the composer’s best, benefited from his infusing the repetitive beginning patterns with direction and increasing urgency, until that magic moment, when the joyous destination gleamed in a slowly building climax that gained speed and complexity, interrupted by occasional contemplative moments. Sham drew sparks in as the arpeggios shone brightly with life and exuberance and occasional whimsey. The bright acoustics of Williams Hall could not fully absorb the intense, tonal thunderstorm at the close. A masterpiece played by a master.
The second half, devoted to etudes, began with Philip Glass’s Etude No. 2. Glass stands out in the field of modern composers, his works often instantly recognizable, due to their unique minimalistic repetitive patterns and shifting harmonies. Sham colors the different textures beautifully, the pedal points and melody notes didn’t sound cantabile, but rather carefully placed without much fanfare. A hypnotic section with alternating 4/4 and 7/8 measures bookends the more robust 4/4 middle section. Sham did a beautiful job balancing the dynamics of both hands and gave us just enough variety to keep the composition from sliding into mechanical monotony. Born in Baltimore in 1937 to a Russian-Latvian-Jewish family, Glass studied with Nadia Boulanger; his countless works include 15 operas, 14 symphonies and 12 concertos.
Sham’s command of the three Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux from Opus 33 certainly impressed us. Rachmaninoff composed them at his Ivanovka estate in 1911. No. 2 in C major is marked molto espressivo, with a beautiful melody line that travels across the keyboard amid echoing treble figures, accompanied by constant arpeggios. Sham produced an urgent and pleading feeling and delicate ending. In the No. 3 in C minor, marked Grave, Sham infused the slow lush beginning chords with melancholy, whilst he filled the tranquil, melodic, arpeggiated middle with longing, building to a dramatic climax and eventual resignation. Sham rendered the accented staccato accompaniment in No. 4 in D minor like a rider on horseback, and the descending fifths of a French horn signaled the start of a hunt. The chase accelerated with a delightful lightness of hoof.
Schumann based his glorious Études symphoniques, Opus 13 on a theme composed by Baron von Fricken, guardian of Ernestine von Fricken, the Estrella of Carnaval, and Schumann’s fiancée. The etudes consist of a theme with eleven variations, the 12th and final etude based on the Romance Du stolzes England freue dich (Proud England, rejoice!).
Just like young athletes breaking Olympic records, a new crop of pianists is taking the world by storm and electrifying audiences everywhere; Sham stands among them. His very heartfelt and sensitive Thema set the tone for the set. He handled the intricately interwoven melodies in Etude II with great skill, the sweeping arpeggios in the vivace Etude III flew fast, fluid and even, and with astonishing speed. The big staccato chords in the marcato Etude IV never felt choppy. Sham found the proper lively joy for theEtude V Scherzando, and he gave Etude VII a wonderfully dreamy and ethereal approach. In Etude VIII his well-balanced hands adeptly juggled the musical figures between them. In Etude XI Sham kept the wide ranging LH at a soft rumbling murmuring volume. And he executed the big chords in the finale with triumphant precision and zest, keeping the supersonic dotted passages in perfect rhythm, for a fitting end to a glorious concert.
Sham encored with a sensual rendition of Ginastera’s Danza de la moza donosa, (Dance of the graceful maiden), Opus 2 No. 2 from Danzas Argentinas.
Sibylle Barrasso is a longtime piano student of Robert Poli. She has played in piano competitions in Pickman Hall and Chicago, is on the board of directors of the Boston Piano
* His many prizes are too numerous to list. He has performed for royalty and dignitaries such as Prince Charles, the Queen of Belgium and ex-President Hu of China, and collaborated with orchestras such as the London Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. This recital marked a return for him to NEC, where he studied with Victor Rosenbaum and was mentored by Gabriela Montero. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at Julliard.