Barre Montpelier Times Argus, VT
June 1 2008

Musicianship wins in Montreal piano comp

June 1, 2008

By Jim Lowe Staff Writer

How can an international piano competition be won by the candidate who
is not the best pianist?

That’s just what happened at the 2008 Montreal International Music
Competition last week. Pianist Nareh Arghamanyan took first prize with
her charismatic performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. A
stellar jury, as well as the public chose her over more virtuosic
players – and they were right.

Arghamanyan, at her winning performance Tuesday, played with a
personal excitement and musicality that proved contagious to audience
and judges alike. While there were discernible wrong notes, they were
quickly lost in the unfettered passion.

The slim and agile Arghamanyan swayed and bobbed with the music, not
theatrically but as if she were lost in it. Arghamanyan and the music
were one, and this is what music-making is all about. At some
competitions, precision outweighs artistic values, but here musicality
prevailed. Closing the competition, Thursday’s gala finale at Place
des Arts packed 3,000-seat Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Arghamanyan
repeated her bravura performance to rapturous applause.

Rather than second and third places being awarded, two were tied for
second. On Monday, Japanese pianist Masataka Takada, 30, in
Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, played with far more precision and
refinement than Arghamanyan, but without the flair and natural
musicality. On Tuesday, Russian pianist Alexandre Moutouzkine
delivered the bravura passages of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3
with flair, if not always accurately, but the poetic passages proved
lackluster. The two second-prize winners reprised the final movements
at Thursday’s gala concert.

The contestants were accompanied by the Orchestre Métropolitain du
Grand Montréal, the city’s second orchestra, through the finals
Monday and Tuesday and Thursday’s gala. Under the direction of
Canadian conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the performances were adequate
but not inspired, save for Thursday’s final performance of the
Tchaikovsky with Arghamanyan, which brought the house down.

Arghamanyan not only won the first prize of $30,000, she won another
$5,000 for her performance of the required solo work, Canadian
composer Alexina Louie’s "Fastforward," and $2,500 as winner of the
People’s Choice Award, chosen by the audience. More importantly, she
will make a recording for Canada’s Analekta and receive a series of
engagements that will help her begin her career.

The Montreal International Music Competition, presented annually by
Jeunesses Musicales, is growing in stature among world music
competitions for young professional musicians. Unusually, the
competition alternates between voice, violin and piano. This year it
was piano; next year it will be voice.

Twenty-three young piano virtuosos, from 19 to 30, were culled from
130 applicants from around the world. The quarter-finals reduced the
number to 12, who competed, each playing solo recitals May 23-24. Six
were chosen to perform an individual concerto of their choice May
27-28. From this, Arghamanyan emerged, reportedly by a substantial
margin, as the winner.