FANS CHEER RETURN VISIT BY MASTERFUL PIANIST CHIU

"When it was learned that pianist Frederic Chiu would return in February for his third appearance in Des Moines, the Art Center's Levitt Auditorium was sold out weeks in advance. Saturday night's intelligent, intense and spectacularly played recital thoroughly fulfilled all the eager anticipation.

If the most astonishing thing about Chiu's performance is his dexterity in managing fistfuls of notes, the most riveting is his constant, intense mental concentration. No physical histrionics, no facial clues or emotional cues, just close attention to the keyboard as if he were inventing the music on the spot. Chiu's seemingly improvisatory - even obsessive - way of finding and underlining each mazurka's, or each etude's, single most obsessive figure or color proved both convincing and compelling. This is not your great-grandmama's drawing-room Chopin!"

By Bruce Carr - Special to the Register.