On November 18th we went to a reception celebrating the 92nd anniversary of Latvian independence. We've been to a number of these events for many countries. They are usually pleasant enough but often not really "exciting."
Boy, was this one different! To celebrate, the Latvians had invited a young Latvian pianist, Vistards Shimkus, to come and play a concert. Simkus is 26 years old, tall and thin, with amazingly long fingers. More importantly, he was simply magnificent and a total joy to listen to. Talk about wonderful surprises, this was one!
He started with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 3 -- a marvelously lyrical piece with great power. Simkus' attack at the piano was strong and energetic. He made the piece come alive. This was followed by Chopin's Scherzo No. 2, which he did with equal precision and energy.
But the real joy was in the second half of the concert after intermission. After a modest set of pieces by Medins (a Latvian composer) he did a piece called White Scenery, also by a Latvian (Vasks) [listen to the video]. It was one of the most haunting things we've heard in a number of years -- slow, melodic, with periods of near silence that seemed to almost strain our listening to a tension point. After the Vasks, we then heard a incomparable rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, where Simkus played with great precision and clarity. The concert ended with one of Simkus' own pieces "Heartbeats of Astor Piazzolla" which began with him beating rhythmically on the piano. The melody was interesting, but the uniqueness of the piece and its presentation really made the event.
In short, Simkus is something new and talented. I expect to see him at the NY Philharmonic some day. And the sheer surprise of seeing him at an independence day event made the pleasure all the more wonderful.
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