Chinese Chopin expert back

Press, 19 November 1977, Page 21

Chinese Chopin expert back

One of the most popular Concert pianists to tour New Zealand in recent years, Fou Ts’ong, will return to Christchurch, for the fifth time next week. He will present an “AllChopin” recital at the James Hay Theatre on Monday. The recital will be presented by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, in association with 3ZB and Radio Nova. Born in Shanghai in 1934, Fou Ts’ong became acquainted -with Western culture at an early age through his father, a. writer, art critic, and translator of French and English classical literature. At 10, Fou Ts’ong began piano studies with an Italian pianist, Mario Paci. Later he studied with the Russian, Ada Bronstein. He gave his first concert in Shanghai in 1952, performing the “Emperor” Concerto. In 1953 he won third prize in an international competition in Bucharest, and two years later he was third in the Chopin Competition in Poland, where he also took a first placing for his playing or the Mazurkas. His recital will include four Mazurkas, Op 41 (C sharp minor, E minor, E, A flat). Fou Ts’ong took up a scholarship at the Warsaw Conservatory, and gained the highest diploma. In 1958 he was given asylum in England, where he made his home with the Menuhins. A year later he made his London debut, and since then he has toured all five continents and has performed with leading conductors and orchestras in both Western and Eastern Europe. His repertoire includes more

than 35 concerts, and his recordings include both solo and orchestral works. Fou Ts’ong’s consuming passion for Chopin’s music was intensified by a return visit to Poland in 1972. His familiarity with original manuscripts brings to his interpretation of Chopin’s music a brilliance seldom heard in other contemporary pianists. Of a recital given by Fou Ts’ong in the London Festival Hall, “The Times” wrote, “Rarely can Chopin have been paid a more moving and pianistically enthralling tribute than that by Fou Ts’ong in his recital marking the 125th anniversary of the composer’s, death. From start to finish he provided the supreme elo-

quence and ravishing artistry of a master pianist, making us more aware than ever not only of a special sense of occasion but of Chopin's final crystalization of all his diverse powers; the summa of his artistic achievement.” As well as the Mazurkas, Fou Ts’ong’s programme will include the Polonaise No 1 in C sharp minor, Op 26 No 1, Polonaise No 2 in E flat minor, Op 26, Ballade No 4 in F minor. Op 52, Polonaise No 5 in F sharp minor, Op 44, Two Nocturnes, Op 55 (E minor, E flat) and Scherzo No 4 in