Out of the woodwork

I'd only heard Jacob Wu as an organist and then as one of 12 from the ACT Organ School.  But then I heard this concert, on piano, of Chopin and Liszt, and it was seriously a blowout.  The works were major, Chopin Piano sonata no.2 Bbmin and Liszt Ballade no.2 Bmin.  Ballade?  The intensity and cloudy sheathes of arpeggios and forceful statements and cascades of descending chords and the occasional delicate melody and the final gentler resolution spoke strongly and demanded virtuosity.  Jacob played from memory and with fitting application.  Stunning.  And that after Chopin, again a work of virtuosity and intensity, of rippling arpeggios and 2 and 4 feels and handfulls of notes and again still and contemplative melodies in quiet passages and again application and memory.  Maybe more organ-like was the Marche funebre mvt.III, that quintessential funeral theme played for Churchill, Kennedy, Brezhnev, Andropov and many more.  But mostly not like a work of organ so somewhat unexpected but mightily admired.  I was nowhere near the only one be floored.  This was a musical blast and a virtuosic tempest.  Seriously well done.  BTW, JC is a current ANU music student.  It bodes well.

Jacob Wu (piano) played Chopin and Liszt at Wesley.