On the heels of the Honens International Piano Competition, highlights of which will be heard on CBC Radio 2's In Concert on Oct. 28, we're celebrating Canada’s pianistic exports. Among them are three of the most celebrated artists of 2012: Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt and Louis Lortie.
Which of them deserves to receive In Concert's Audience Award? We want you to help us elect Canada's greatest pianist of 2012.
You may also vote by sending an email to InConcert@cbc.ca and letting us know which of these three pianists deserves to win In Concert's Audience Award. Include your name, telephone number and mailing address, and you could win a 30-CD prize package including Hewitt’s complete keyboard works of J. S. Bach, the first three volumes of Hamelin’s Haydn Sonatas series, and Lortie’s recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas.
To get the debate started, on Oct. 28, In Concert invites June Goldsmith, D. D. Jackson and Francis Merson to each advocate on behalf of one of the three pianists in the running.
And, as though we need reminding, here is video proof why Hamelin, Hewitt and Lortie have made our short list.
Hamelin has a reputation, pianistically, of having no fear. And why not, when gifted with such technical prowess. Lately though, he’s recording music with simpler technical challenges. Witness his latest recording of Haydn Sonatas.
Many aficionados of Bach’s keyboard works consider Hewitt their prime living interpreter of that catalogue. She enjoys later repertoire though and her recent Schumann recording has reviewers scrambling for glowing descriptors.
To the degree that Hewitt is renowned for her Bach, Lortie has an affinity for Chopin. Notable about Lortie, though, is his touch: it differs distinctly, especially between his interpretations of Beethoven and Chopin.
The prize winner and the In Concert Audience Award for Canada’s greatest pianist of 2012 will be announced on In Concert Sunday Nov. 4, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. NT, on CBC Radio 2.
Related:
Watch Angela Hewitt's recital at Koerner Hall in Toronto
