Warsaw-bound Minnesota pianist shows swagger – and subtlety – in send-off concert

If Frederic Chopin was "the poet of the piano," how might you decide which pianist expresses that poetry best? Ultimately, it all depends on the tastes of the judges.

That is to say: Good luck, Evren Ozel. The 22-year-old pianist from Minneapolis soon will be on his way to Warsaw, one of six Americans among 87 pianists in one of the world's most prestigious piano contests, the International Chopin Competition. He secured his space at the Oct. 2-23 event by finishing second at the U.S. National Chopin Competition in February 2020, earning extra hardware for "Best Mazurka" and "Best Polonaise."

The Schubert Club and Chopin Society of Minnesota hosted something of a going-away party Sunday afternoon at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul. In his final preparatory performance, Ozel played a couple hours' worth of Chopin.

After 18 months outside the concert hall, piano lovers enthusiastically snatched up almost every available ticket, with the hall only half-full due to COVID restrictions. And the crowd got a strong sense of what a marvelous musician Ozel is, one with disarming confidence in his interpretations and a gift for smooth and engaging mood shifts. The audience's encouragement came in the form of a standing ovation that seemed to say not only, "You go, guy," but "You do you."

The best approach to any artistic competition might be to let your individualism shine through. Ozel did so from the time he strode onto the stage with a touch of towering swagger to the final skyward stares at the climaxes of his closing works. And his confidence shone through in his emotionally expressive yet technically precise performance. While Chopin can invite tsunamis of emotion, Ozel was intent upon subtlety, often choosing a delicate approach where others might thunder.

There was a funereal tone to the works that bookended the concert's first half, the Fantasy in F Minor (Opus 49) — a solemn choice for an opener — and history's most familiar funeral march in the third movement of the Opus 35 B-flat Minor Sonata. Between them were two nocturnes, each demonstrating this pianist's delicate touch and flair for drama. But it was the smooth slides between contrasting sections that impressed the most, especially when the sonata's "Marche funebre" went from dark and weighty to bright, warm and comforting, then back, without a hint of whiplash.

The concert's second half grew increasingly flamboyant, the Ballade in F Minor (Opus 52) receiving a lush and quintessentially romantic interpretation. The final Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat provided a contrast, with Ozel's straightforward approach bearing a reflective tone that grew mysterious and ultimately haunting.

Although Ozel has been living in Boston for seven years — he graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in the spring and is now entering graduate school there — he attended almost every one of the Chopin Society's St. Paul recitals by outstanding pianists when he was between the ages of 5 and 15. Which must have made Sunday a particularly rewarding homecoming. And quite the sweet send-off.

Rob Hubbard is a freelance classical music critic. • wordhub@yahoo.com