“
”
The Wykehamist The Concerto Competition
Many( many) octave-runs
On the 9th of February 2025, a sizeable crowd made up of parents and students held their breath in a morepacked-than-ever Music School Hall. It was the school’ s Concerto Competition Finals – an annual passing of the baton to crown the new champion of the Music Department from the crème de la crème, with the likes of Chris Leung( Coll:, 2018-2023), Alex Winnifrith( I, 2020-) and Austin Lam( G, 2021-) already in its hall of fame. And this year, it was the turn of David Wang( Coll:, 2021-), Nye Bayley( Coll:, 2022-), Asher Li( E, 2021-), Coen Li( G, 2023-) and Henri Bertheau( F, 2023-) to fight it out, under the adjudication of Enyi Okpara, Assistant Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Of course, we must applaud the incredible accompaniment of NAS and DM, without whom none of this would have been remotely possible.
David began the concert with Franz Liszt’ s Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb major, an immediately sparkling bravura display. He started off with grandeur, accentuated through his near-impeccable technique. Just as Liszt intended, he projected flare throughout the first and third movements, running through the octaves and chords in the cadenza with great confidence, making sure every note was present. The Allegretto had a very playful and light tone to it, of which the vivace progressed into vivacissimo. His trills also coupled wonderfully with the bell-like rings by Dr Salwey. In the Allegro, he kept his technique to high standards, which gave the ending a brilliance which brought the audience stomping to the same level of excitement.
Then came Nye – the only non-piano performance of the afternoon – with Danish composer Launy Grøndahl’ s Trombone Concerto. It is a remarkable feat of stamina for a trombonist to play a full concerto, let alone one as technically demanding as Grøndahl’ s. Nye stood up to the challenge with very much success, playing the extremely tricky runs with incredible intonation, as well as some of the most beautiful pianissimo low notes ever to be played by a trombonist, followed by the fireworks of a well-deserved brassy finale.
Asher followed with Tchaikovsky’ s famous Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor, a beautiful interpretation and rendition of the Romantic masterpiece. The Concerto unfortunately reduced to only its first and third movements, Asher’ s rich tone nonetheless portrayed much musical sensitivity, while also showing off just enough of his technical virtuosity. In a warhorse of a piece that very much suffers from its repetitive recycling of romantic flourishes, Asher gave an enticing interpretation that did the legendary Concerto justice.
After the short and punctual interval, Coen presented Maurice Ravel’ s Piano Concerto in G major. Sandwiched between the fiery romp-like outer movements, came the absolutely beautiful second movement, played with“ tremendous musicality”, as put by the adjudicator Mr. Okpara himself. Enormous credit must also be given to NAS for possibly the trickiest orchestral reduction of the afternoon, and although the ensembleship may have slightly fallen out in places, both performers certainly gave an incredible performance that put Coen in tight contention for the top spot.
However, the title was desperate to be won, and Henri ended up besting all with Grieg’ s Piano Concerto in A minor. With the audience immediately hit by a powerful raw wall of sound, Henri delivered a performance that managed to“ say something new” with its unmannered and rich characterisations, breathing fresh, ravishing life into yet another somewhat overplayed work. The balance between accompaniment and soloist was also perfect, making the piece a precise yet poetic triumph evident from the first movement cadenza’ s bass rumbles to the finale’ s flashy runs.
“
– Henri
While, as all such intensely competitive contests go, much controversy did inevitably surround the final decision, there is little doubt that each and every one of the performers( including NAS and DM!) played absolutely amazingly.
Winston Chan( Coll:, 2022-) with thanks to Louis Haymoz( Coll:, 2024-)
”
27