[LJ2ME] Li(ve) Yundi
The fact that top prices for Li Yundi's gala concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra exceeded that of the likes of Sarah Chang and Sumi Jo is telling of how even the classical music world is ensnared in the machinations of the superficiality of life and how youth and beauty are valued higher than others.
It was a full house attendance to the rafters, where even the Gallery seats behind the stage were filled to capacity. Such is the allure and draw of this big name superstar in the pantheon of classical musicians, not only up-and-coming, but arrived at the acme and zenith of his career and profession.
That the programme was Tchaikovsky's masterpiece helped sell the tickets, but even if it had been some obscure work, the box office tills would still be ringing. Little wonder the SSO decided to sell tickets to their rehearsal session so as to milk opportunity for all it's worth.
Admittedly, perhaps the biggest name pianist on local shores in recent years, excluding the "other" Chinese pianist who shall not be named, Li Yundi certainly lived up to the hype and his reputation. However, while to say his reading was laboured would be inaccurate, to say it was effortless would also be lying.
The firebrand in him reveled in fast showy passages and purposely and purposefully accelerated his pianism when the score allowed and called for it, setting a blazing trail in his wake. That said, remember the mantra of "more haste, less speed" lest it comes back and bites you as it did Li, where missed and wrong notes and garbled and messy passages were glaring and obvious. And then he ran out of steam and was compelled to hide behind a veil of added pathos.
When he pulled out the stops on his showboating, the second movement was beautifully crafted with an exquisite duet with the cello where the mannered hesitation was well thought through and allowed the audience to float into surreality while allowing the soloist a breather. This was short-lived and we were soon thrown helter-skelter into the skittish skirmish that closed the movement with Li's animated delivery.
More flaws were revealed in the finale where the incendiary finish had traps and loopholes all over the fabric of the music as the pianist pulled out fistsful of notes from the keyboard in generous handfuls. The ubiquitous octave run was executed without affair but could have been infused with more raw visceral bite.
This was a different Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 where the overall impression was one that exuded more femininity than masculinity. This in part perhaps due to the Oriental sensitivities of our soloist as opposed to the vodka-laced immunities of Caucasian pianists.
The audience erupted at the end, but standing ovations were limited to only two solitary people whose conviction we have to take at face value. The applause rang true and loud, but perhaps, maybe just perhaps, it was for his track record and not the current participation.
What does it matter anyway? We were there for Goldmark's Rustic Wedding, no?
It was a full house attendance to the rafters, where even the Gallery seats behind the stage were filled to capacity. Such is the allure and draw of this big name superstar in the pantheon of classical musicians, not only up-and-coming, but arrived at the acme and zenith of his career and profession.
That the programme was Tchaikovsky's masterpiece helped sell the tickets, but even if it had been some obscure work, the box office tills would still be ringing. Little wonder the SSO decided to sell tickets to their rehearsal session so as to milk opportunity for all it's worth.
Admittedly, perhaps the biggest name pianist on local shores in recent years, excluding the "other" Chinese pianist who shall not be named, Li Yundi certainly lived up to the hype and his reputation. However, while to say his reading was laboured would be inaccurate, to say it was effortless would also be lying.
The firebrand in him reveled in fast showy passages and purposely and purposefully accelerated his pianism when the score allowed and called for it, setting a blazing trail in his wake. That said, remember the mantra of "more haste, less speed" lest it comes back and bites you as it did Li, where missed and wrong notes and garbled and messy passages were glaring and obvious. And then he ran out of steam and was compelled to hide behind a veil of added pathos.
When he pulled out the stops on his showboating, the second movement was beautifully crafted with an exquisite duet with the cello where the mannered hesitation was well thought through and allowed the audience to float into surreality while allowing the soloist a breather. This was short-lived and we were soon thrown helter-skelter into the skittish skirmish that closed the movement with Li's animated delivery.
More flaws were revealed in the finale where the incendiary finish had traps and loopholes all over the fabric of the music as the pianist pulled out fistsful of notes from the keyboard in generous handfuls. The ubiquitous octave run was executed without affair but could have been infused with more raw visceral bite.
This was a different Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 where the overall impression was one that exuded more femininity than masculinity. This in part perhaps due to the Oriental sensitivities of our soloist as opposed to the vodka-laced immunities of Caucasian pianists.
The audience erupted at the end, but standing ovations were limited to only two solitary people whose conviction we have to take at face value. The applause rang true and loud, but perhaps, maybe just perhaps, it was for his track record and not the current participation.
What does it matter anyway? We were there for Goldmark's Rustic Wedding, no?