KEY POINTS:
It seems like yesterday," says festival director Tamas Vesmas - but in fact the inaugural Auckland International Piano Festival took place almost a year ago.
On Friday, the AIPF returns, with nine days and nights of concerts and masterclasses presenting us with the artistry and wisdom of pianists and teachers from around the world.
Vesmas is pleased with the new Steinway at the Raye Freedman Centre. "It will be the star of the week," he says. "Its warm, resonant sound is perfect for beautiful cantabile and legato playing."
There are concerts not to be missed, says Vesmas. One is Albeniz' complete Iberia, played by Guillermo Gonzales on Wednesday evening next week. "Iberia is a Spanish kaleidoscope and a marathon for the pianist," says Vesmas. "It's ideal for a festival performance."
The previous evening will see Vesmas himself accompanying Romanian bass-baritone Ionel Pantea in Schubert's Die Winterreise. Vesmas has no reservations about putting his colleague in a class with Fischer-Dieskau and Schreier. "And Schubert's songs seem to be written in blood, they are so moving and emotional."
Lighter fare can be enjoyed in the closing Piano Extravaganza, with four pianos on stage, and up to eight pianists on the keyboards at the same time. Expect fun, hilarity even.
Vesmas is convinced that Milhaud's Paris suite - "with each piece like a little tourist guide" - might well be a New Zealand premiere.
Australian pianist Stephen McIntyre is certainly looking forward to the Milhaud and says the AIPF is offering all sorts of wonderful things.
"One of the good things about piano festivals is you always discover something you have never heard before."
This Melbourne pianist, who has carried off a National Critics Award for his complete cycle of Ravel's piano music, describes the French composer's Valses nobles et sentimentales and La Valse as "a few other little numbers" he will be playing alongside Beethoven's Diabelli Variations on Friday. "The Diabelli is Beethoven's last major work for the piano," says McIntyre. "It is intensely long and intensely difficult, starting off as a parody of the Diabelli tune and ending up utterly serious and extraordinary."
Chenyin Li is also keen to highlight Beethoven in her Saturday night recital, in this case the Bagatelles Opus 126.
This may seem like a modest offering in a programme that includes Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy and Ravel's Miroirs, as well as Liszt's Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody which the young Chinese pianist admits is "a homage to my teacher Tamas Vesmas because I learned that piece with him".
"People often underestimate the musical value of the Bagatelles because they seem so short," Li says.
"When I experienced the American pianist Richard Goode perform them, he made me aware of just how much was there and I could hear fascinating links with Beethoven's late piano sonatas which I absolutely adore."
While this is Li's first visit back home for some years, returning from London where she has just completed her doctorate, Piers Lane is a familiar presence on concert stages all around the country.
The lively Australian's Sunday recital offers Chopin with a difference. As well as two of the piano sonatas, Lane is tackling the Barcarolle.
"It has always been one of my favourites," he says. "It is marvellously evocative, filled with light, tender and passionate."
It is Lane who most eagerly awaits his masterclass duties on Saturday afternoon and Tuesday morning. "There is always a slight dilemma for the teacher though," he says, "and that is the challenge of keeping the audience entertained and in the loop while trying to impart something serious and worthwhile to the student."
PERFORMANCE
What: Auckland International Piano Festival
Where and when: Raye Freedman Centre, Silver Rd, Epsom, Friday June 22-Sunday July 1
