Part of the fun at the Festival of the Sound is to get to hear new talents, younger players near the start of their concert careers. The energy and joy of these performers is hard to resist!

In its first full week, the Festival frequently featured two spectacular young performers, working alongside a young but established European artist making his North American debut. My prediction is that all of these players will become much better known in many parts of the world.

The two RBC Stockey Young Artists this year are Jan Lisiecki and Frederieke Saeijs. Those who heard this young virtuoso playing last year as well were keenly aware of the great growth in his artistic maturity, which now bids fair to match his sheer technical wizardry at the piano.

Lisiecki amazed, as before, with his sheer bravura in Chopin. His performances of the Piano Concerto # 1 on Sunday night, and several Etudes in his unique master class concert with Janina Fialkowska were memorable and exciting, with many subtle touches. But he is not just a Chopin expert. On Friday night he brought equal artistic vision and insight to the wonderful Variations Serieuses of Mendelssohn.

Frederieke Saeijs created musical magic with her violin on a number of occasions, in her first North American appearances. Her performance of Bach's Chaconne in D Minor, a towering masterpiece, was most impressive. She brought the audience to its feet with a showstopper performance of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, including what has to be the fastest rendition of the finale that I have ever heard. She concluded the week with an impressive account of Bach's A Minor Violin Concerto.

Spanish virtuoso Leopoldo Erice appeared many times during the week, and proved himself a pianist of formidable gifts. The range of his repertoire alone was enough to catch attention: the Goldberg Variations by Bach, an entire recital of Spanish music, and works by Franck and Mendelssohn, among others. In all these diverse musical styles, he seemed completely at home, and sounded perfectly idiomatic in each one.

That Spanish recital was a special program indeed. The music of the great Spanish composers is far too rarely heard and little known in Canada. Erice addressed the need with a fine selection from four of the greatest of Spanish composers: Albeniz, de Falla, Granados, and Mompou. Keenly aware of the essential differences in style among these four composers, and sharing some of those differences with us in his on-stage comments, Erice immersed us in the great musical tradition of Spain for an afternoon.

He was joined in this program by Monica Whicher and Carolyn Maule in the beautiful Seven Spanish Songs by Manuel de Falla. This marked the first occasion on which I heard the lovely lullaby Nana performed complete on the Festival stage. Veterans of the first season in the Stockey Centre will recall Mary Lou Fallis trying to sing this beautiful song, only to be interrupted by recorded train noises -- the literal last train at the Festival!

I've saved the best for the last. One of the joys of this Festival for musicians is the chance to play with other musicians they have never met before. In several concerts together, Leopoldo Erice and Frederieke Saeijs forged a memorable musical partnership, with the highest degree of integration and a clear sense of give and take between them. This was true in the Sarasate already mentioned, and in the arrangement for violin and piano of the de Falla songs, heard the day after Whicher and Maule performed the vocal version.

The peak of the Erice/Saeijs collaboration came in the performance of Cesar Franck's monumental Sonata for Violin and Piano. This work requires immense power in some passages alongside great intimacy in others. Both artists met these difficult demands with energy and passion, and with coordination which was especially evident in the canonic passages of the finale. For once the Sonata seemed far too short! A memorable performance indeed.

The Festival continues until August 9. For information or tickets, call 746-2410 or visit the Festival Office at 42 James Street in Parry Sound.

~ Ken Stephen