Concert in Feldkirch

Aaron Pilsan virtuoso and multi-layered

Aaron Pilsan's "home game" in Feldkirch's Pförtnerhaus turned out to be a real triumph.

(Bild: Chopingesellschaft Vorarlberg)

Born in Dornbirn, Aaron Pilsan performs on the world's great stages. On Sunday, he performed at the Pförtnerhaus in Feldkirch at the invitation of the Chopin Society.

"Chopin plus virtuosity" is what Aaron Pilsan called the demanding program he played at the invitation of the Chopin Society in the Pförtnerhaus late on Sunday afternoon. But for Aaron Pilsan, virtuosity does not mean strenuous effort, no, he has this musical virtue in his little finger. The young man is towering above it all and therefore has the resources to interpret this incredible program, to find the strength for expressive nuances, to create characters and even to make the audience smile at times, not least with his moderations.

Simplicity and sweetness
There was pure virtuosity at the beginning with César Franck's "Prélude, Choral et Fugue", but also admiration for the complex harmonic developments and impressive architecture of this 15-minute work. The waltzes by Chopin and his Barcarole in F sharp major then had an almost relaxed effect. This revealed a completely different side to Aaron Pilsan, as we experienced simplicity and sweetness in an ideal mixture.

A veritable mammoth work followed after the interval with Robert Schumann's cycle "Carnaval" Opus 9. As if at an imaginary ball, Schumann, then aged 24, had various fictional and real figures dance past: his two alter egos Eusebius and Florestan as well as Paganini, Liszt and Chopin, but above all the two women between whom he stood at the time. On the one hand, his future wife Clara appears, but at the center is Ernestine von Fricken, whose place of residence Asch forms the compositional basis of this composition - it can be expressed in four notes (a-s-c-h).

Aaron Pilsan presents these notes in their place in the middle of the cycle to great public effect, as he does not strike them on the keyboard but plucks them in the body of the grand piano. Schumann's "Carnaval" can quickly become long-winded with other pianists, but not with Pilsan. He characterizes each section so clearly that the whole thing never gets boring.

The two concluding works, Alfred Grünfeld's "Soirée de Vienne" with themes from Johann Strauss' "Fledermaus" and Franz Liszt's "Rigoletto Paraphrase", were very sensual and virtuosic. Aaron Pilsan also showed his range with his encores: Schumann's delicate "Arabesque" was followed by the groovy version of Mozart's "Turkish March", created by fellow pianist Fazil Say.