Pianist’s travels take her on classical journey

China Daily | 17-Feb-2022 | By Chen Nan

For pianist Zuo Zhang, her life has been all about traveling. Born in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, she moved to Berlin at the age of 3 with her family. As a touring pianist, she travels from one city to another and from one country to another every year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the pianist to slow down and allowed her to concentrate on her schedules in her home country.

In 2021, Zuo toured nationwide with repertoires dedicated to the 210th anniversary of Franz Liszt, the Hungarian pianist and composer, considered one of the most important composers of the Romantic era. She is going to release an album, titled The Journey, inspired by her tour in 2021, which features works by Liszt, Maurice Ravel, Richard Wagner, Francis Poulenc and Arnold Schoenberg. As the name of the new album suggests, the pianist reflects upon her own traveling life through her musical expression, as well as taking the listeners on a musical journey with her piano language and technique. “The inspiration of traveling to musicians is complex and profound. I not only hear the sounds I produce on my musical instrument but also see different images, with wild imagination brought by those musical works,” says the pianist.

On Jan 21, she released the first music piece of the new album, Tarantella, which was composed by Liszt. A dazzling fantasy, Tarantella was from the composer’s supplement to his famous Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), a set of three suites for solo piano. Tarantella is based on a form of dance originating near Taranto, Italy, in the medieval period when the bite of tarantula spiders was said to cause hallucinations, and dancing was said to help eliminate the effects of the poison in the victim. Liszt incorporated the romanticism poetry and his impression of the Italian Renaissance masterpieces to Tarantella, which is also one of his representative works.

Années de pèlerinage was composed by Liszt after he eloped with Marie de Flavigny, or countess d’Agoult. Liszt began his travels in Europe in 1835. He traveled to Italy in 1837, and completed Années de Pelerinage in 1839.

“The set of pieces, Années de Pèlerinage, are like a musical diary of places the composer went and how he felt about the things he saw. Since I have traveled around the world a lot for many years, I found myself inextricably linked with Liszt’s music,” says Zuo. Liszt’s other music works, including Vallée d’Obermann (Obermann Valley) and Les Jeux d’Eau à la Villa d’Este (The Fountains of the Villa d’Este) both from Années de Pèlerinage have been included in the new album. “The influence of drama, poetry, painting and sculpture is clear in Liszt’s works, which challenges pianists. His portrayal of nature in his Années de Pèlerinage also resonated deeply in Liszt’s soul as he was traveling through Europe,” says Zuo.

She recalls that in April 2020, she performed with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in an online concert, which was the first concert she gave after the pandemic. She played in front of empty seats. “Audiences and performers create their own atmosphere in concert halls. That’s why the atmosphere at a live concert is completely different from when you watch a recording on television,” say Zuo. It also inspired the pianist to record the new album at Shenzhen Concert Hall. As she says, the concert hall provides a sense of intimacy for musicians and audiences, allowing her performances to be natural and much more expressive. She also selected music pieces by composers who were either greatly influenced by Liszt or connected with him closely.

For example, in the new album, she performs Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act I, because Wagner and Liszt were not only friends but also related through marriage. Wagner married Liszt’s daughter, Cosima.

She also plays Jeux d’eau (water games) by Ravel in the new album. It was Liszt’s piano piece, Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este (Fountains at the Villa d’Este), that inspired Ravel to compose one of his most famous works in 1901: Jeux d’eau. Laid out in sonata form, the music piece is known for its water-like gestural motion. Zuo, 33, started her music life at the age of 3 when her mother took her to buy a present for her birthday. She chose a piano over a doll. Drawn to the sound of the piano, Zuo started taking lessons at the age of 5. The same year, she won third place at the International Steinway Piano Competition.

When she returned to her hometown Shenzhen in 1995, Zuo enrolled at the Shenzhen Arts School and began studying with renowned piano educator Dan Zhaoyi. Zuo won more national and international competitions and held her first concerto at the Shenzhen Grand Theater at the age of 10.

Later she continued to receive training under the mentorship of pianist Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music for her bachelor’s degree and Yoheved Kaplinsky and studied with pianist Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School for her master’s degree in the United States. As the winner of the prestigious William Petschek piano debut recital award in 2013, Zuo launched her career as a touring pianist. She has performed throughout China, Europe and the US with leading symphony orchestras and conductors. In 2019, she released her debut album titled Ravel ∙ Liszt under the record label Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2020, Zuo gave birth to her daughter, who is 14 months old. Her transition to motherhood is described as “a fresh starting point” by the pianist. “Motherhood made me a more focused person. I have a clearer idea about what I want, which is also seen in my music performance,” says Zuo.

In March, the pianist will start her new programs by working with Chinese symphony orchestras, such as Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Xi’an Symphony Orchestra. She will also launch a new tour later this year.