By Chris Shull
The Star-Telegram

As the preliminaries progress, it is perfectly permissible to supplant one favorite performance for another, to reorder in the hierarchy of excellence. So it was Monday afternoon, when Evgeni Bozhanov (25, Bulgaria) played Mozart and Chopin and vaulted to the top of my still-evolving "best performers" list.

From start to finish, Bozhanov captured the essence of the music with an easy, always-engaging virtuosity.

Playing Mozart's Sonata in D major in an elegant, classical style, he displayed quicksilver fingers and a light, singing touch that broadened evenly into darker resonance. He sustained a delicious joie de vivre throughout Chopin's Rondo a la Mazur.

But it was in Sonata No. 3 by Chopin where his musicality shown brightest. He captured not only the music's glorious surface - translucent melodies, chiming trills, incandescent chords - but also tied the work's intricate thematic inventions into broad arcs of musical progression. His was a performance of deep riches, poetic intensity and noble feeling.

Ilya Rashkovskiy (24, Russia) turned in a riveting performance of Rachmaninoff's brash and brilliant Sonata No. 2. Scintillating sounds erupted - simple, silvery bell tones and bold, brassy chords that layer into those great waves of sound that propel much of Rachmaninoff's music. Though he pushed the piano to its limits, the brash tones were in keeping with the exuberant performance.

The preceding Ballade No. 1 by Chopin was also brilliant and decisive; Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 31 not always so. Though its first movement was carefully, even delicately rendered, subsequent sections displayed a highly-styled Romanticism not necessarily characteristic of the composer.

Victor Stanislavsky (26, Israel) ended his recital on the right note, playing Two Capriccios by Ligeti. His precise playing neatly rendered the cool dissonance and natural propulsion of the tight, bouncy little essays. Otherwise, the pianist's stylings didn't win me over. His phrasings leveled the natural contours outlining Mozart's Sonata in B-flat, and in Schumann's multi-mood Humoreske his rubatos were overly calculated. The music was brilliantly multifaceted but he didn't convey where he wanted the pieces to go.

Fort Worth audiences certainly have a rooting interest in Ang Li (24, Canada). She's studied piano at TCU since 2006 and she played with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in January. On Monday, the returning contestant shown on two Debussy preludes, giving the cakewalk Minstrels a jokey, hiccupy feel, and creating sheets of glistening sound to recreate the white sizzle of feux d'artifice (fireworks). On the bustling Toccata by Bowen, chords billowed and burst up and down the keyboard as Li created a glorious mélange of sound and movement. Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 3 at times lacked decisiveness and definition, especially in the bottom bass notes of the Steinway. But in the second movement, Li crafted porcelain pillows of sound in a mood like a prayer. The fifth movement finale was a rush of sound and energized spirit.

A caressing but definitive touch on the keyboard was on display by Andrea Lam (27, Australia) throughout her recital Monday evening. On Schumann's Fantasiestucke, the exuberance of Romantic sensibility was captured by Lam's confident and poetic interpretations - from simple songs and soaring harmonies to a grand promenade.

Two selections from Granados' Goyescas recreated the fragrance and sensuality of Spain - Los requiebros was paced by a sashaying lilt; the hearted melody, repeated throughout, rang clear from inside a prism of evocative accompaniments - swirls and chimes - played with relaxed and deceptive ease.

Kernis' Superstar Etude No. 2 was a fun, fitting conclusion. The piece paid homage to Thelonious Monk with short insouciant phrases that bounced and skittered across the keyboard. Monk's Round Midnight framed in weird, ghostly harmonies.

Monday's recitals ended just as Sunday's did - with Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrouchka, this time played by Haochen Zhang (18, China). The youngest competitor nailed it, playing with rhythmic verve and dramatic urgency across the colorful piece.

Even the most hectic or bombastic phrases breathed; Zhang let inner melodies glow from inside the continuous hubbub of notes, giving depth to the many-layered music.
His Chopin's Polonaise-fantasie also introduced a young artist to be reckoned with.