Belgian violinist Pauline Van der Rest: a stunning teenager who can go far

She is one of the youngest participants, and the only Belgian: how did Pauline Van der Rest fare in the first round of the Queen Elisabeth Competition? Excellent, as it turns out. That tastes like a semi-final.

This year, for the twentieth time, the Queen Elisabeth Competition will focus on the violin and Eugène Ysaÿe – the legendary Belgian violin mentor of Queen Elisabeth and spiritual father of the competition. In such an anniversary edition you would expect a kicking load of young string violence from our own soil. That turned out a bit differently. Of the 63 candidates, exactly one defends our tricolore. Of course, a competition like this only has one winner. And why couldn’t that be Pauline van der Rest?

The Brussels native is only 19 but already has a lot of concert experience and competition kilometers under his belt. What’s more: Pauline is a stage animal. That could make the difference in the first round, in which candidates have half an hour to make a lasting impression on the sixteen-member jury. It is important to demonstrate at such an early stage of the competition that there is sufficient technical knowledge. That is why each participant has to work not only with piano accompanist, but also solo with Sonata n°3 by Ysaÿe and one or more Capriccios by Niccoló Paganini. Double and triple grips, chromatic rollercoasters and effect balls: this is the kind of obstacle course that you will never be able to get through with a shaky technique. Ideally, in this phase a candidate also gets a glimpse of storytelling power, style, insight and the X-factor that holds the promise of a glittering career.

Imaginative, but focused

Enter Pauline, with a black and white dress around her shoulders, storm in the head but calm in the pasterns. It’s great how she opens with Szymanowski’s Dryades et Pan – the final part of the triptych Myths from 1915. Thanks to Van der Rest’s imaginative, but focused approach, the notoriously difficult quarter tones do not sound like a cat that has stepped on its tail, but like the chatter of a mischievous faun. Suggestive, but fragile in the harmonies – the most exciting we heard on Thursday – she also serves delicate runs, melodies that extend to the tips of their toes and basses without fear of depth. Her Capriccio n°20 – a Paganini monster truck driven by a bass drone – does not pound and grind like Angela Chan’s earlier that evening, but sighs melancholy, looking towards infinity. In Ysaÿe’s sonata she continues to go for the daring timing that does wonders for the precision of her jumping arc. Another modest smile and then she flutters off the stage again, as if it was nothing. But we thought it was quite something, this stunning teenager who could go far in this competition.