One of the frustrations of attending a major piano competition is the frequent happenstance that a contestant one finds thrilling is not destined to win a medal. That was certainly the case in 2015 when I spent nearly a month at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw. A few of the pianists I liked won prizes, but among those who most impressed me was Aljoša Jurinić, a 25-year-old Croat, who made the finals but failed to win a prize.

A student of the great Georgian pianist, Eliso Virsaladze, Jurinić  had given performances of Chopin’s popular and frequently programmed Sonata No. 3 in B Minor (Opus 58) and “Winter Wind” Etude (Opus 25, No. 11). I tried to keep track of him, but after he won fifth prize in the subsequent (2016) Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, I lost track of him. Much to my surprise, I accidentally discovered that Jurinić, is now living in the Boston Area, doing research at MIT into the biomechanics of playing the piano, and still giving concerts.

His afternoon recital in Newton’s Free Library’s  Druker Auditorium on May 13^th  consisted entirely of Chopin’s two mature sonatas (the popular one in B Minor and the once more celebrated “Funeral March” Sonata) and, of course, I could not resist going – though with, I must admit a certain amount of trepidation. All of us have heard an enormously talented young musician for whom we have great hopes bewilderingly disappointment us later. The best-known example is that of Van Cliburn – at 23 pronounced a genius and at the age of 30 demoted to a pianist who used to be great. And truth to tell, this is usually the case with prodigiously gifted youngsters; they rarely satisfy our later expectations.

In the case of Jurinić, I need not have worried. He still has an abundance of the three T’s: Technique, Tone and Temperament. The enigmatic last movement of the “Funeral March” Sonata ,  an 80-second musical prose poem of haunted shadows that moves at something close to the speed of light, is marked sotto voce and all but disappears before it starts. Jurinić found things in the way of inner voices that I have rarely heard from another pianist. And apart from that, there many details that made the heart beat faster and elevate blood pressure: the ease with which he negotiated the tricky figurations in the outer part of the scherzo or the drama, atmosphere and intensity of the third movement’s funeral march.

After ten years, Jurinić’s interpretation of the B Minor Sonata still ranks among the most persuasive I’ve heard; commandingly eloquent, with a beautifully sustained slow and dream-like third movement and a brilliantly articulated finale, exhilarating in its bravura. Throughout the performance he produced an unfailing variety of touch and a perpetually singing tone.

Jurinić will perform again on May 31^st at the Goethe Institut Boston as part of the Tristan Trio (with violinist Thomas Lee Cooper and cellist Tyler Michael James) in works of Debussy, Saariaho, and Mendelssohn. 

Stephen Wigler has a peculiarly geekish interest in the piano and in pianists. He has served over the years as a staff music critic in Orlando and Baltimore.