Recital by Julian Pflugmann

Brahms: Sonata in C Major, Op 1
Brahms: Sonata in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2
Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5


Julian Pflugmann is a terrific young pianist! One of his parents is German and the other, Chinese, both musicians. Interestingly, he grew up, and studied in both countries. He also studied here with Jerome Rose while preparing for his Master's degree at Mannes College of Music. He has played many concerts, and won several competitions, including first prize at the Piano Competition Concours International de piano Teresa Llacuna in France, and second prize at the Steinway Förderpreis OWL in Germany.

Mr. Pflugmann offered an unusual program for a recital: the three piano sonatas of Johannes Brahms. Whereas Beethoven, Mozart and other great composers are renowned for their piano sonatas, those of Brahms are rarely played. These three mammoth, very difficult works were written when he was barely twenty years old, and, with the exception of the Third, are not considered his finest compositions. In fact, the first two are rarely performed, and were only vaguely familiar to me.

Did Mr. Pflugmann change my mind that the first two are not as good as the third? No. But he made the best, possible case for them, and indeed, played them brilliantly.

One could hear from the opening of the first sonata that he displays great clarity of thought and touch. Though he produced a very big sound at the beginning, he did justice to the contrasting second theme, and a lyrical theme in the development. One never worried if his strength or fingers would fail him. The second movement has a plaintive theme and stark emotions. Pauses add to the drama of the movement, and the tension of the earlier C Minor part is relieved in the later C Major section.

The scherzo third movement was turbulent, to which the trio section was a calm contrast. (Indeed, some of the most beautiful music Brahms wrote is in the trio sections of scherzo movements in other works!) The finale starts off in the unusual 9/8ths meter, and has odd syncopations. The contrasting A Minor section sounded longing and Mendelssohn - ish.

The opening of the 2nd sonata is flamboyant and powerful. Enigmatic in nature, parts of it sound like a Liszt etude! Mr. Pflugmann played the quieter parts with much dynamic subtlety. It had drama, and a surprise soft ending. The rather bleak second movement has an odd but interesting theme. There is a very expressive middle section with responsive outcries. It then goes, attacca, directly into the third movement. This is a vigorous scherzo with another interesting trio. And this leads, via some strong dissonances, back to the scherzo. The last movement has an unusual, quasi recitativo introduction, which leads into the main theme. Among much else there is also what sounds like a fugato section. At the end there are soft, gliding scales and passagework, followed by loud chords. All very effectively played!

Like the first two sonatas, Mr. Pflugmann's performance of the third was very fine. But here, this listener remembers some terrific performances of Arthur Rubinstein and Jerome Rose that seemed a little deeper. Perhaps they lingered a bit more on harmonic and color changes. The first movement was very straight and not particularly expressive till the A-Flat Major theme. But he brought out, beautifully, the D-Flat Major theme in the middle of the movement. The second movement seemed a tad fast, but there was much that was lovely here.

The rollicking third movement was explosive, and the D-Flat Major chorale was good too, though one could imagine a different sound coming in there. The last two movements were very fine. There was a dramatic push into the last movement, which got even faster. The conclusion of the sonata was very exciting and here he produced a HUGE sound!

His energy still not flagging a bit after this challenging program Mr. Pflugmann concluded with a super-charged performance of the C Major Etude of Chopin, Op. 10, No. 1. It was staggering!