Bulgaria isn't known for producing great pianists; the best-known is the polarizing Alexis Weissenberg. Bozhanov gave a very attractive performance, with beautiful gem-like tones throughout. His Mozart Sonata in D major (K. 311) was much more pointed than Stanislavsky's Mozart in the earlier session (so much for my ears going dull), and then he played Chopin's rarely heard Rondo a la Mazur with some rhythmic verve, though he couldn't quite convince me that the piece was any more than a trifling early work by the great Polish composer.
He finished with Chopin's B minor Sonata, with the same beauty as Naomi Kudo's version of the piece earlier but with much more attention to the drama in this four-movement work. I particularly liked the gentle cascade of notes in the middle section of the third movement. His performance captivated me until the final movement, when he played with rather more prettiness and less destructiveness than I generally prefer in the finale of this piece. However, this is a worthy semifinalist in my book.
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