Legendary pianist Eliso Virsaladze plays Chopin with heart and ebullience

Thanks to the buzz created by the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition, which concluded in Warsaw about a month ago, music lovers are still debating what constitutes ideal Chopin playing versus what wins competitions.

- Chang Tou Liang

The reality lies somewhere in between, no better illustrated by the 83-year-old Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze.

Belonging to the venerable generation of pianists that includes Martha Argerich (who no longer performs solo recitals), Vladimir Ashkenazy (now retired) and Daniel Barenboim (diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease), Virsaladze appears unimpeded by age.

Belying a slow walk from wing to keyboard, she unleashed torrents of sound and passion on the C. Bechstein grand once she got started.

Opening an all-Chopin recital with the Polonaise-Fantasy In A Flat Major (Op. 61) was a most daunting task. There was virtually no warm-up, with its declamatory opening statement setting the tone for the evening. Her swift and unsentimental take, eschewing rubato for its own sake, meant there was to be no posturing nor virtue-signalling with this music.