Natacha Kudritskaya, up first in the unenviable jump spot, of 29 (one pianist, Yue Chu, a 25 year old from China, withdrew from the competition four days before the semifinals due to a hand injury) strode on stage making a striking impression--more like a hurdle jumper than a concert pianist, unfortunately.  Tall, reed slender, wearing a surprising performance outfit of a black T shirt with cap sleeves, brown cargo pants made from what looked like parachute silk, and shoes that were eye-catching: at first I thought they might be tennis shoes or even flip flops--my binoculars showed them to be a sort of leather tennis shoe, with striking white stripes alongside the sides.  I've heard the Cliburn is the Olympics of the music world, but this is ridiculous--she did indeed look ready to play a sport.  There was no denying it--her shoes were distracting.  Her hair was short, her manner: get down to business.    However, I'm happy to report that very soon after she began playing, nothing distracted the listener from enjoying her music.  She is a very intense person and musician, that was clear.  So, we followed her into her intensity--which is a very good thing for a performer to do.

She opened strongly with the Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2, in B flat minor, Opus 35.  This is a four movement piece.  She played the first two movements technically very well, but without her heart in it--tempo was rushed, she didn't linger at beautiful cadential points, the sense of beauty was missing and indeed it didn't seem as if she was listening to herself....but by the 3rd movement, she had found her way.  The 3rd movement is the majestic funeral march so well known.  This she played exquisitely, and she played well for the rest of her recital.   Following the Chopin Sonata, she played the very difficult Gaspard de la Nuit (Ravel) beautifully, all color and lightness and sonority--the movement about the gallows has a haunting, ethereal ostinato that she played with amazing dynamic control.   She closed her recital with Scriabin's Valse, a piece I heard for the first time.  One of the things I love about hearing the preliminaries is the opportunity to hear so much of the repertoire that I am still learning about--as contestants strive to differentiate themselves, they select works that can be fresh.  Although I am a Scriabin fan, this one did not win my heart.  Perhaps I was expecting a waltz, and was disappointed, or perhaps she did not play this as dance-like as I would have liked.  I'll have to hear it again sometime to know for sure.

Lastly, I'm always observing pianists' various positions from bench to keyboard and would like to share my observations.  Natacha is very tall.  She sat about at the middle of the bench, her elbows were slightly below her wrists.  Her hands were very graceful and terrific fun to watch (I was marveling at the final movement of the Chopin Sonata where her hands seemed to be playing passages in octave unison (does that make sense?) up and down the keyboard--wonderfully, mesmerizingly graceful.  Infrequently her hands took on a contorted "claw"position--perhaps best described as an exaggerated lift upwards of the wrist with fingers sharply pointing down.  Interesting.

Because each recital is about three hours long (three competitors perform an hour apiece), the audience takes a 15 minute break between sets.  I overheard an amusing conversation in the lobby--a couple were asking each other: "what's with her shoes? I offered my observations, but another individual joined in, saying, sotto voce, that she didn't want to wear any shoes at all, and at the last minute someone made her put on the only pair of shoes she had with her--the striped tennis shoes.  Truth or rumor?  Hard to imagine performing in bare feet.  I would have enjoyed seeing that!  If true, she must have been very upset--perhaps that would account for why it took the first two movements for her energy to kick in.

Our second pianist, the American Stephen Beus, played on "the Hambourg Steinway", as did Natacha.  He opened with Bach's English Suite No. 3 in g minor, BWV 808.    Mr. Beus has a stong, comfortable and relaxed stage presence.  You know you are in good hands here.  You can tell when an artist has an affinity (devotion) to Bach's music, and Mr. Beus indeed had it.  He had a relaxed face, smiling when the music was lighthearted.  It feels good knowing that there are capable pianists carrying on Bach's unparalleled legacy to the world.  Mr. Beus sometimes rhythmically kept beat with his right foot, making me wonder if he was pedaling.  I can state (thanks to binoculars) that he was not--only when there was a slow adagio movement, when use of the pedal was totally appropriate.  I have more to write about, but am falling asleep.  More on Mr. Beus, and then there was the Israeli pianist, Ran Dank.  And then there was the evening recital to report on as well!  I can categorically state that I have heard one of the Cliburn's medalist tonight--and that pianist is the Russian Eduard Kunz.  He was a striking individual pianist.  More on him later.