Musical genius, highly gifted pianist, child prodigy. The labels stick firmly on Kit Armstrong, and with great fanfare he was brought to BOZAR. In Brussels, he managed to live up to all those expectations, yet also left us wanting more.
"This is phenomenal" flashed through my head, while Kit Armstrong worked his way through Liszt's piano sonata. Well, worked. The effortlessness with which the piano genius darted through the composition was incredible. One of the most challenging piano compositions in the Western music canon, but Kit Armstrong made it sound like Au Claire de La Lune.
And there's the rub. You sit there with your mouth open, gaping at the technical qualities of the child prodigy. Your jaw drops another few centimeters when he sits down at the organ, and not only his hands but also his feet dance across the instrument. I could write paragraphs full of superlatives about Armstrong's technical qualities. He is so damn intriguing, but musically it's not really interesting.
Of course, a concert is always a showcase of your qualities, but that technical brilliance must never overshadow emotional experience. Not that I expected great passionate gestures or a charged spectacle from Kit Armstrong, but this had a bit too much of a demonstration about it. One with nothing to fault, and that's precisely what makes it difficult to be negative about it.
Look, Kit Armstrong is a masterful pianist. Someone who absolutely deserves his place in the world's greatest concert halls. But in BOZAR he was like fireworks without the bang. Brilliant to watch, but you miss that moment when your heart races faster.
- WHAT: Franz Liszt on piano and organ - Sonate voor piano in b (S. 178); Fantasie en fuga op het koraal "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", (G. Meyerbeer | S. 259)
- WHO: Kit Armstrong (piano, organ)
- WHERE: Henry Le Boeufzaal, BOZAR, Brussels
- WHEN: Thursday 4 October 2018