This is the debut disc
of a pianist who, incredibly, is yet
to celebrate his eighteenth birthday.
Chinese-born Wen-Yu Shen has been based
in Germany for some years, and first
came to prominence in Europe last June
when he gained second prize in the Queen
Elisabeth piano competition in Brussels.
He won extravagant praise on that occasion
for his maturity and stunning technical
mastery in a wide range of music.
In that sense, this
issue does not disappoint; Shen can
hardly be accused of playing safe for
his first CD, for he has chosen a programme
which, as well as being monstrously
challenging from a technical point of
view, is also stylistically diverse,
from the late romantic Rachmaninov to
the decidedly unromantic, or even anti-romantic
Stravinsky. If he is more successful
in the former than the latter, that
is not to say that his Stravinsky is
without merit. It simply calls for a
kind of discipline which he may yet
need to strive for (thank heavens this
amazing youngster is going to have to
strive for something!).
The Rachmaninov Sonata
is given a powerful performance. If
the finale is the most involving section,
then that is probably because it contains
the best music in the sonata. Certainly,
Shen launches the fireworks in a spectacular
way, and the torrents of bravura figuration
hold no fears for him – every semiquaver
as clear as a bell. Though he is not
quite so convincing in the slow movement
– and that’s true also of the three
op. 32 Preludes that follow – he is
by no means prosaic or insensitive,
and balances the delicate textures of
the Preludes with precocious mastery.
The issue in the Stravinsky
is mainly a rhythmic one. Shen is superb
in the impressionistic music of Chez
Petrouchka (the scene in the central
puppet-character’s cell) and in the
high jinks of the Shrove-Tide Fair.
But the opening Danse Russe finds
him indulging in a rhythmic rubato
which would surely have infuriated Stravinsky.
This music depicts the mechanical movements
off the three puppets, and must have
an appropriately machine-like inflexibility
of pulse to it if the style of the music,
so typical of its composer, is not to
be misrepresented. Back to the drawing-board
– or at least the metronome – for that
one!
The disc is completed
by a glittering performance of one of
the Rachmaninov Etude-Tableaux, and
an equally brilliant one of his arrangement
of le Vol du Bourdon (otherwise
known as The Flight of the Bumble
Bee!). Despite my reservations about
the Stravinsky, this is a very fine
and, in many ways remarkable disc. Shen’s
playing (on A Steinway type D) has been
perfectly captured by the Cyprès
recording engineers.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Wen-Yu Shen, piano 
