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How does it feel to be with the masters of the “NCPA Piano Virtuosos 2018?"


In the past 27 days, we have enjoyed solo concerts given by three internationally-renowned pianists: András Schiff, Jan Lisiecki and Ivo Pogorelich. The gifted musicians have their own growth experiences and different interpretations on piano works.

Pianist
András Schiff
 
András Schiff (October 30th, 2018)
Virtuoso Schiff is distinguished for his steady and dignified way of playing the piano, and this finds expression in his repertoire: Brahms’ three later piano pieces, including Three Intermezzi, Op. 117, Six Klavierstücke, Op. 118 and Four Klavierstücke, Op. 119, amid the works by Mozart, Schumann, Bach and Beethoven.

I still remember the moment I saw the repertoire in an email from Schiff’s agency last summer. I felt confused. After all, it would be worth giving a try to hold a mini-concert with any of Brahms’ three piano pieces, Schumann’s variations, Mozart’s rondo, Bach’s prelude and fugue and Beethoven’s “Les Adieux” Sonata. So, I replied to the email with the subtitle of the repertoire written up in it, and got an interesting reply: “Although we are confused, too, we’re sure that the virtuoso really wants to play these pieces this time.” I was full of expectations for nearly one year, and this was a pleasure in my career.

Finally, the concert was more wonderful than we expected. Virtuoso Schiff might want to reach the acme of perfection in playing “Brahms’ later pieces,” so he treated the concert as a two-act opera, and every piece had its own “structural function.” Besides, he presented seven encores, and it’s no wonder why the concert was jokingly called a “scheduled” wonderful recital of the year by many music lovers. Many people might, as I did, feel a little panic at the sight of the “Farewell Sonata”. “Virtuoso, are you going to say goodbye to us?” “Oh no! I thought back and forth to myself: possibly only this piece by Beethoven could be the most appropriate grand finale of the concert,” said Schiff with a calm look on his face as he was backstage after playing the last encore, leaving the audience behind cheering ecstatically.

Pianist
Jan Lisiecki

Jan Lisiecki (November 11th, 2018)
The virtuoso performance continued. Sending away virtuoso Schiff, who always “speaks in a gentle and mild way,” we remained full of emotion when pianist Jan Lisiecki, who is youthful and always takes cheers and laughter wherever he goes, appeared on stage and performed night-themed pieces. In his words, he had just chosen Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and Chopin’s Nocturne before the rest appeared in his repertoire. Interestingly, among the rest was a suite composed by Rachmaninoff at the age of 19 (when Rachmaninoff suffered from depression).

It was Jan Lisiecki’s first visit to the NCPA. When the rehearsal was halfway through its process, Lisiecki rushed backstage, and returned with a SLR camera around his neck. He took photos of everything at the Concert Hall. Perhaps he didn’t enjoy himself to the full, because after rehearsal, he ran up to the public space inside the NCPA like a breath of vapour to continue photographing. For viewers that arrived at the NCPA early on that day, they must be impressed by this young “photographer” nearly 1.90 metres tall and wearing red shoes.

Jan Lisiecki is not only an amateur photographer, but a fairy tale book lover. During the tour, he collected different international versions of Le Petit Prince. After getting two Chinese versions in the bookstore inside the NCPA, he leafed through them with keen interest.

Pianist
Ivo Pogorelich

Ivo Pogorelich (November 25th, 2018)
Undoubtedly, both András Schiff and Jan Lisiecki have an ingenious mind about concert design. Actually, Ivo Pogorelich treats music in the same way. In my eyes, he is none other than a “poet” or “philosopher,” or an “eloquent speaker” as called by Mr. YU Zhigang, a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music who listened to the concert that evening.

Some people think that Ivo Pogorelich is too “eccentric” and “unapproachable,” but I think of him as an enthusiastic person that is passionate about life. For instance, he showed special preference to the marble floor in the public space outside the Opera House. Before the autograph session, he told his Japanese friend, “Look at the texture, incredible! It looks as if music were coming out of it.”

Ivo Pogorelich demanded to “warm up” for his performance on stage and didn’t stop until the concert would kick off in 15 minutes, not minding at all whether the audience was crowding around him. He also asked the auditorium to be in light during the performance, and refused the use of ceiling lights. However, when the lighting from above was adjusted, he tested the brightness in person for a while between 65% and 70%. ”OK. It’s time to choose a piano. Please turn off all stage lights. I need an hour and a half.” Then he began to repeat some clips known to himself only on the piano in “sweeping mode.” Drawing from the past experiences, we placed a standby piano on stage after he selected one.

As expected, when returning backstage after the first half ended, he said, “I will change the piano in the second half. That one is ice-cold, and I want to change it now!” So, the staff rushed to the stage to change the piano.

I noticed that many people were discussing his performance from various angles after the concert, e.g., they were mentioning that he had played Liszt’s sonata for over 40 minutes. Apparently, he left a few puzzled with the audience again.

When talking about his interpretations of Schumann’s works at his recital, Pogorelich once again left some deep impressions. “You played the piano by the music score last night. The five supplementary variations in Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes lie at the end of the music, but you played them in advance of the theme, so actually you didn’t play by the music score.” “I played the five encores first and wanted to express such a feeling: If people listen to the theme first, they will only say to themselves: Oh, that’s the theme, that’s it. However, if they listen to the five variations first, they will get familiar with the harmonic sounds. Then when the theme appears finally, they will get a special feeling. It’s like you open the window in the morning to look at a mist-shrouded mountain in the distance. Afterwards, with the morning mist thinning slowly, you can see the mountain clearly. The theme should be clear like the mountain. I suppose this might be one of the emotions that Schumann hoped to express.” ”So, did you play Mozart’s (Rondo in B Minor) first in the first half in order to set the tone of the air in the concert hall in B Minor?” “Exactly!”

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