2021 Chopin Competition, Warsaw

[Schenkerian]

This is a feast for piano enthusiasts and thanks to the marvels of technology we can enjoy most of the stages and proceedings:

https://chopin2020.pl/en

I watched the last competition, won by Seong-Jin Cho, from start to finish.

[Peter]

Yes I think many musicians have mixed feelings about these events, though of course they do reveal great talents. Garrick Ohlsson talks about his own experiences and postulates that Chopin would have hated it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTYz...=tonebasePiano

[Schenkerian]

Fascinating interview with Garrick Ohlsson who has, of course, been a past juror at a lot of these competitions. And isn't he nursing some kind of hand injury at the moment?

The Chopin Competition website is proving difficult to navigate and I've sent it around to friends!! I hope the broadcasts are possible on the internet and that the bugs in the site are fixed up. There seems to be a rather too lengthy Preliminary round and this took place as early as July. The performances are only available on a piece by piece basis, as far as I can see.

Ohlsson spoke about the 'rescue' of Chopin as having been necessary at the beginning of the 20th century. I also believe pianists like Liberace did a huge amount of damage to Chopin. It took musicians like Australian Roger Woodward, who did a lot of research on Chopin in the 1980s, to rehabilitate him from his moribund status as effete salon lizard whose music later provided fodder for decadent musicians and the blue rinse set. I still have a mental image of Lee Liberace in that fur coat, sporting those vulgar rings and his piano adorned with candelabra. Chopin was part of his schtick.

I cannot understand Chopin's attitude towards Liszt and his "keeping that pig out of my garden" comment. A lot of musicians, no less than Brahms and Clara Schumann, had very nasty and defamatory comments to make about Liszt who was, by all account, a generous and philanthropic individual who helped many struggling composers and musicians. Perhaps it was his wealth, flamboyance and success which galled them; this wouldn't surprise me in the least. Good old jealousy; it has been with us since the Garden of Eden!!!

[Schenkerian]

An excellent discussion about Liszt's masterpiece, 'Sonata in B Minor', which I personally love. Here's Leslie Howard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAel-mzSmts

[Schenkerian]

I've been trying to make sense of the Chopin Competition website. As far as I can tell there is no direct broadcast as everything seems to be accessed afterwards under individual works by Chopin. There is no Stage 1 performance in toto from any competitor - so it's the works of Chopin which are important in this competition and not the competitors themselves!! Go figure.

I've watched only two or three individual pieces from competitors so far from Stage 1: Tomasz Murat from Poland. It's hard to judge from an isolated piece how he's handled the performance experience but I do wish they'd stop with the eye-rolling, heaven-ward glancing. Don't they have teachers who tell them to sit straight and not to engage in this self-indulgence? Also that tender power you expect to find in Chopin is largely missing, replaced instead with an overly-reverential seriousness. Where is the playfulness in Chopin? Gone with the wind!!!

I'm quickly becoming bored with navigating the Chopin Competition site and have had a friend already say he's "tired of all those runs and up down the keyboard"!!

[Peter]

I've watched only two or three individual pieces from competitors so far from Stage 1: Tomasz Murat from Poland. It's hard to judge from an isolated piece how he's handled the performance experience but I do wish they'd stop with the eye-rolling, heaven-ward glancing. Don't they have teachers who tell them to sit straight and not to engage in this self-indulgence?

Totally agree. What these performers fail to realise is that in reality it isn't about them, it's the music and they're merely the means not the cause. I can't watch Lang Lang for exactly the same reason. I think Liszt came to realise this in later life which is why he stopped giving recitals - others such as Emmanuel Ax and Leon Fleischer were also humble enough to acknowledge it.

[Schenkerian]

This is an excellent discussion about Chopin from Garrick Ohlsson, which I've just finished watching, wherein he actually says what I did - that Chopin was jealous of Liszt!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsp4igO9NQ

[Quijote]

Totally agree. What these performers fail to realise is that in reality it isn't about them, it's the music and they're merely the means not the cause. I can't watch Lang Lang for exactly the same reason. I think Liszt came to realise this in later life which is why he stopped giving recitals - others such as Emmanuel Ax and Leon Fleischer were also humble enough to acknowledge it.

Yes, I know what you mean about Lang Lang and other pianists who over-indulge in these "theatrics" - it can be very disconcerting, not to say irritating. There are certain cellists who do the same, mind you; violinists less so, perhaps, as their upper body movements are more restricted.
That said, I do remember reading an account of Beethoven's playing reported by a young girl whilst he was improvising somewhere (Heiligenstadt?). I can't find the reference, I vaguely remember it was the daughter of the landlord from whom Beethoven was renting an apartment during the summer. Anyway, according to this account, on Beethoven's part there was much eye-rolling, heavenward-looking regards and a whole bunch of grimaces. Not reported was if Beethoven indulged in any of that "finger ballet" stuff certain pianists do.

[Peter]

This is an excellent discussion about Chopin from Garrick Ohlsson, which I've just finished watching, wherein he actually says what I did - that Chopin was jealous of Liszt!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsp4igO9NQ

Enjoyed that very much, thanks.

[Peter]

Yes, I know what you mean about Lang Lang and other pianists who over-indulge in these "theatrics" - it can be very disconcerting, not to say irritating. There are certain cellists who do the same, mind you; violinists less so, perhaps, as their upper body movements are more restricted.
That said, I do remember reading an account of Beethoven's playing reported by a young girl whilst he was improvising somewhere (Heiligenstadt?). I can't find the reference, I vaguely remember it was the daughter of the landlord from whom Beethoven was renting an apartment during the summer. Anyway, according to this account, on Beethoven's part there was much eye-rolling, heavenward-looking regards and a whole bunch of grimaces. Not reported was if Beethoven indulged in any of that "finger ballet" stuff certain pianists do.

Could it be Fanny Giannattasio del Rio? https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/vi...51779568009216

[Schenkerian]

Enjoyed that very much, thanks.

Ohlsson is a vigorously intelligent artist and the man who held the discussion with him is equally interesting and knowledgeable!! Also, I finally started streaming the Chopin Competition successfully online. There isn't anything in their menu which gives you access to the full performances after the event, so far as I can see - but technology isn't my strong suit. Anyway, there is only a finite appetite for the same works repeatedly endlessly. And the same problem of overly-reverential Chopin is sapping the life out of the composer. Listening to Ohlsson tell it, there's much more to Chopin than that usually portrayed under these conditions. But we live in hope!!

It's great to see so many contestants from Asian countries, though these musicians were probably taught in either the USA or UK. I'm unsure about this latter point.

What I'm always left wondering is why there are so many obviously fine musicians drawn into an increasingly limited field from which to derive a living!!

[Schenkerian]

Here's a fellow who is the hope of the side!! He has the appearance, style and poise you might expect - but the posture needs work!! See what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kXEGE5y1MQ

Gotta love the Poles; well I do, since I have a Polish doctor friend who is so interesting and with a wonderful sense of humour (well, he laughs at my jokes anyway!!).

[Peter]

Ohlsson is a vigorously intelligent artist and the man who held the discussion with him is equally interesting and knowledgeable!!

Yes that Tonebase channel is excellent - here's the same guy interviewing the humorous Seymour Bernstein, very enjoyable and funny!

[Peter]

Here's a fellow who is the hope of the side!! He has the appearance, style and poise you might expect - but the posture needs work!! See what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kXEGE5y1MQ

Gotta love the Poles; well I do, since I have a Polish doctor friend who is so interesting and with a wonderful sense of humour (well, he laughs at my jokes anyway!!).

Fine playing, but they're all amazing - his posture needs a little assistance indeed but he's nowhere near as compromised as the other guy with Brendel! I don't know how they choose unless there is one obviously outstanding talent. I love the Eb op..55/2 nocturne. one of my favourite Nocturnes.

[Schenkerian]

Fine playing, but they're all amazing - his posture needs a little assistance indeed but he's nowhere near as compromised as the other guy with Brendel! I don't know how they choose unless there is one obviously outstanding talent. I love the Eb op..55/2 nocturne. one of my favourite Nocturnes.

I've discovered another one; Polish ADAM KAŁDUŃSKI. Poise and composure in abundance; played like a professional; excellent posture; zero histrionics; much dynamic variance even within the most virtuosic passages. And he's the kind of pianist, as I commented to the spouse, who commands you to listen. All the way with him in the most delicate, quiet passages. Something about him makes you want to listen to him. With some others, during the Nocturnes for instance, you can grow slightly bored. Not with KAŁDUŃSKI. He's obviously pretty experienced already. But with so many excellent competitors I don't really have the expertise to judge adequately.

I did find a U-Tube performance of Adam's from last year, so you can get an idea about what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFXp63mmY4s

I also found a link of the unfortunate memory lapse from a contestant playing the Fantasie in F Minor. It occurs here from 25:40.

FEDERICO GAD CREMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdHNkUz93Nc