In his acclaimed return to NEC on Saturday for the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts concert series, Hung-Kuan Chen played Bach/Busoni, Schubert, Chopin and Scriabin.

The Bach/Busoni Chorale Prelude “Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland” (Now come, Savior of the Heathens}, which contemplates the mystery of Christ’s coming to the world) swept us almost as a prayer.  The Jannie Burdeti’s handout essay describes Bach’s “…gradual unveiling the depth of the soul as if it were a slow dance, moving with grace yet gravitas.” Chen stayed true to the quiet restraint of the chorale, achieving an effect more vocal than pianistic through the lush use of the damper pedal evoking the sounds of a choir in a cathedral. The beautiful walking bass line was dignified, Chen showed throughout that less is more, keeping in perfect harmony with the sacred text of the chorale. Like Chen, Busoni taught at NEC (in 1891), when a significant number of its piano students were women. He complained often to Mrs. Gardner about his exploitation there.

Writing his final piano sonata in B-flat Major, D 960 in 1828, a few months before the composer’s death, Schubert triumphed over pain, painting a canvass of the complete range of human emotion. The beautiful and hopeful theme of the first movement comes with a restrained wash of notes in the left hand interrupted by a rumbling trill of distant thunder, and thus Chen embarked on a long journey, the main themes returning time and again, with increased intensity and longing. Chen made each return fresh and interesting through the force of his musical understanding, allowing himself great freedom, at times giving the illusion of improvisation, completely in the moment. He executed the multiple long rests with perfection, the sudden pauses seemingly surprised even the pianist himself, and enhanced our suspense and anticipation. The pp ending of the first movement leads to a long moment of absolute silence as Chen took both hands off the keyboard for a sustained time before continuing to the emotional core of the sonata, the C-sharp minor Andante sostenuto movement. Chen’s gave an interpretation of this tragic traversal remarkable in its intimacy.  Here the LH crosses over the right hand of the keyboard for a single note in most of the measures. Controlling the volume of this note is very difficult, not only for technical reasons, but also because this note falls within the range that the human ear favors. One slip, with the note sounding too loud, destroys the flow of the melody line of the previous measures. With Chen this single note was delicate, always staying in the background as part of the accompaniment, never taking center stage and thus never breaking the magical cohesion of the movement. In contrast the final two movements, bring us back into the world of joy and out of the depth of despair. The Scherzo gleams with sunlight and innocence. In Chen’s take on the Allegro, with its recurrent long G octave in the LH, an anchoring note of sobriety interrupted the playful arpeggios, chords and dotted rhythms, resulting in an emotionally satisfying ending. 

Throughout the recital, Chen showed a personal and fresh take on well-known repertoire. In keeping with a speech he later gave to a small group of friends, Chen commented that Beethoven believed that after 50 years of studying the piano a shift in perspective ensues. For Chen, 50 years exactly marked a milestone, he described it as “if a portal had opened,” and he was flooded with thousands of new ideas about music. He commented that there is a standard way of playing most piano repertoire. I agree and would compare most piano playing nowadays to a beautiful garden, where plants live in manicured predictable perfection. This is not Chen’s playing: his music is natural and organic and transcends the concert hall. It sits on a grander scale, a landscape of flowers and trees and streams and lakes and mountains and sky, the architecture unpredictable and surprising, sometimes even untamed, but one that echoes in perfect harmony within God’s larger plan of majesty and beauty.

Following the intermission Chen performed three pieces in A-flat Major. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue BWV886 was not a dry exercise, but rather a learned essay rich in emotional intensity where Chen employed much rubato and pedal. The fugue is heavenly, and Chen’s achieved a deep warmth unusual for a Steinway. Without a pause, Chen launched into a Chopin jewel, the airy Prelude No. 17; its identical key signature made the transition seamless. Pianist Afred Cortot poetically subtitled this prelude “She told me, ‘I love you.’” It was also the set favorite of Robert and Clara Schumann. Chen’s achieved his heartfelt rendition, at once tender and passionate, via a great deal of rubato and ample dynamic changes. According to the notes, “…the prelude concludes with an A-flat bell tolling eleven times in the bass as if to suggest the eleventh hour and the quiet end of a romantic evening.” The finale of the A-flat Major set is Chopin’s Opus 61, the famous Polonaise-Fantasie.  The long and  complex piece defies description.  It serves as the perfect vehicle to showcase Chen’s emotional depth and pianistic gifts.

Following a five-minute pause due to a medical emergency, Chen finished the recital with the Scriabin Sonata No. 5, considered to be one of Scriabin’s most difficult compositions, both technically and musically. The composer himself said: “It is a big poem for piano, and I deem it the best composition I have ever written. I do not know by what miracle I accomplished it.” He included an epitaph, translated from the original Russian: “I summon you to life, secret yearnings! You who have been drowned in the dark depths of the creative spirit, you timorous embryos of life, it is to you that I bring daring!” The single movement lasts about 11 minutes, but its changing moods, complicated polyrhythms, ultra-sensitive and virtuosic passages in quick succession demand a skillful understanding.  Chen handled the technical difficulties without apparent effort and finished to tumultuous applause.

Inundated in flowers during his bows, Chen returned for three Chopin encores: the Mazurka Op. 59 No. 1, the Nocturne Op. 55 No. 2, and the Prelude No. 13, in an exquisite introspective rendition which he dedicated to his teacher and mentor Russell Sherman.

Sibylle Barrasso is a long-time piano student of Robert Poli. She has played in piano competitions in Pickman Hall and Chicago, sits on the board of directors of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association, and has played in the Boston Symphony Cafe since 2010.