Pianist gives his aural feast a visual touch

After a Beijing debut, a performer talks of the challenge of taking on Mussorgsky, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

Far from being content to let his audiences feast their ears on his playing of the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, Sun Yutong is keen, too, to provide a commentary taking in the visual dimensions that inspired the work by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.

"These are two interesting and abstract forms of artistic expression," he says. "Music has no visual, and painting has no audio, so both art forms are perhaps somewhat disconnected from the audience.

"When conveying to the audience what the composer intended to express, I can think of myself as an audience member, or someone who is playing the piece for the first time. Perhaps in this way I can bring to the audience a sense of freshness, and also draw the audience closer."

Sun, 27, gave a recital at the Beijing Concert Hall on Sept 26 themed on Mussorgsky's 10-piece piano suite, played in the second half of the recital. In the first half, he presented two works by Polish composer Frederic Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2 and Fantaisie in F Minor, Op. 49.