Bruce Liu

IMSLP work page “Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano', Op.2 (Chopin, Frédéric)”: composition field “1827”; reviewed 2026-08-22.

IMSLP work page “Miroirs, M.43 (Ravel, Maurice)”: composition field “1904–05”; reviewed 2026-08-22.

Circa 1726–1727 (uncertain / estimated range). An exact date or manuscript for the composition is not preserved.

Circa 1725–1727 (exact year uncertain). Rameau composed the piece after witnessing a performance by Native American emissaries from Louisiana at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris in September 1725. The exact date the manuscript was written is not preserved, but it was composed between late 1725 and its initial publication in Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin (published c. 1726–1728). (Rameau later transcribed and orchestrated it for the 1736 entrée of his opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes).

Also catalogued as Réminiscences de Don Juan [Grande fantaisie] or Réminiscences de »Don Juan« de Mozart; first published in 1843 by Schlesinger.

Born in Paris (1997) and raised in Montreal, Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Canadian pianist Richard Raymond between 2011 and 2018. He pursued advanced studies at the Université de Montréal with Vietnamese-Canadian pianist Đặng Thái Sơn, connecting his pedagogical lineage to the Russian piano tradition via Vladimir Natanson and Dmitri Bashkirov at the Moscow Conservatory. He won First Prize at the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in October 2021.

Core repertoire includes Frédéric Chopin (piano concertos, ballades, scherzi, the B-flat minor Sonata, and Op. 2 Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano'), French keyboard literature (Jean-Philippe Rameau, Maurice Ravel, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Erik Satie), Russian repertoire (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's complete cycle The Seasons, Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 and Concertos, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Kapustin), and works by J.S. Bach, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Liszt.

Described by The New York Times as having 'feline agility and lightness of touch' combined with 'muscularity that turns sensitive phrasing into tintinnabular resonance.' The Guardian and The Classic Review noted his polished, mannerism-free playing with straightforward phrasing, balanced voicing, and dynamic color over exaggerated rubato. The Boston Musical Intelligencer praised his wide dynamic gradation and grasp of color, space, and shape. Đặng Thái Sơn highlighted his natural grace, charming rubato, and dynamic intensity, while Liu points to jazz and dance rhythms as sources of rhythmic elasticity and spontaneity.

Sources: bachtrack.com · bruce-liu.com · myscena.org