200TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF F. LISZT ALONG WITH L. GENIUŠAS 0

www.kamane.lt, 2011-07-11

Justina Paltanavičiūtė

Lukas Geniušas. Photo of Edmundas Katinas

Liudas Geniušas. Photo of Edmundas Katinas

In brief: The 200th birth anniversary of one of the most outstanding Hungarian Romantic composers and pianists Franz Liszt will be celebrated on the 22nd of October. Anniversaries of great composers are usually commemorated throughout the year, and one of the events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of F. Liszt was organised by Pažaislis Music Festival on the evening of the 30th of June. The pianist Lukas Geniušas played the piano at Kaunas Philharmonic Hall. He performed opuses of F. Liszt and F. Chopin: 24 sketches for piano (op. 10 and op. 25) of F. Chopin and the Sonata for piano No. 2, in h minor of F. Liszt.

Even though the anniversary of F. Liszt was commemorated by the concert, much of F. Chopin's music resounded in the concert. Still, this choice did not surprise admirers of classical piano music: F.Liszt and F.Chopin become synonyms while speaking about Romanticism and piano art of this epoch. Both composers were born almost at the same time (Chopin was born one year earlier than Liszt, in 1810), they are both considered the great innovators of this art: they broke the rules of composition, performance and listening. However, the main difference between these two geniuses lies here: F.Liszt used to play the piano for big audiences, he loved spectacular and grand performances, while “diary-like” language prevails in the piano music of F. Chopin; therefore, the surroundings and audience was more chamber while performing his music.

L.Geniušas presented the deep, modest and intimate interpretation of F.Chopin's music during the concert. His performance was really mature and had no sweetness or superficiality: the music sounded from his heart; the piano and the performer seemed to have melted and become one body. The technical and artistic maturity of the pianist was proved by the programme – the musician played 24 sketches for the piano of F. Chopin in the first part of the concert.

The Sonata for the piano in h minor of F. Liszt dedicated to Robert Schumann was performed in the second part of the concert. The musician succeeded to play musical themes of the Sonata in diverse manner: he revealed the entire palette of moods. The piano sounded melancholically, modestly and darkly sometimes. The opus sounded really originally and uniquely, the performance was philosophical and mature.

Lukas Geniušas is a student of Moscow State Conservatory (not a graduate yet). Born in 1990, the 21-year-old pianist has already played in various prestigious concert halls, has won a number of international pianists' competitions. This time the audience heard masterpieces of two romantics interpreted in a traditional and at the same time individual and intimate manner: manly, sensitive and modest Chopin and very philosophical Liszt. Perhaps these performance features as well as sincerity of the pianist charmed the full hall of listeners. After enthusiastic applause, L. Geniušas played an encore, and it seemed that he could go on playing so maturely endlessly.


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