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An Abundance of Ability

May 30, 2007 at 6:22 AM

There's a strange new feeling that accompanies listening to a music competition when one is already aware of the results. The change in atmosphere feels about as sudden as someone flipping a switch, but the contrast isn't so much a difference between black and white, or dark and light, as it is merely changing hues on a nice-looking picture.

(I should mention before I begin that everything I've wanted to say about my day two commentary has been said in my two or three very clunky-sounding comments on Buri's and my blog entries, so I won't repeat myself yet another time here. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that while I have an edit button for my blog entries, as well as for comments on the discussion boards, such luxuries are not afforded my comments on blog entries. That, combined with the fact that my proofreading wasn't exactly top-notch last night, means that I'll just have to live with the awkward prose for the rest of eternity.)

Yesterday was quite an eventful day. Besides Sendai, it was also the first day of the finals of the Queen Elisabeth competition; I managed to fit in some practicing and listen to the first day of the QE before leaving for a doctor's appointment. I had also planned to listen to and write on the third day of the Sendai semifinals that evening, but after the six or seven blood tests that followed the doctor's appointment, I wasn't feeling particularly up to it. So, I had a listen to them this morning instead.

The last day of the semifinals featured three candidates playing Prokofiev, and another playing Bartók. I'm pretty sure that competition organizers did not produce the day three programme simply by photocopying the day two programme, but they could have; other than the names of the soloists, the two programmes were item-for-item identical.

The first Prokofiev came by way of Japan's Sayaka Chiba. Chiba gave me the impression that she was playing for enjoyment: that of the audience, of course, but more importantly, her own enjoyment. As far as I was concerned, the hall could have been completely empty, and the performance would not have suffered one bit for it. To be sure, the third movement sounded more on the methodical side than the tense melodies of the first two movements, but I came away from the performance feeling full of soul and spirit.

My first reaction to hearing American competitor Erin Keefe play was to notice the broad colour palette at her disposal. The thing that troubled me throughout, however, was that her Bartók was otherwise unmemorable. If you asked me to recall it hours later, I could tell of the many wonderful scenes she painted with the vast array of tone qualities under her control, but I would be unable to recall how those pictures moved, or in what direction the music was headed.

Korean competitor Suh Minjeong's Prokofiev was the only performance of the semifinals that I took an almost immediate dislike to. The opening tone was consistently thin and frequently scratched, and early intonation problems didn't help in the slightest. My biggest concern, however, was how she dealt with transitory passages throughout the piece. They sounded like, well, transitory passages. They had all the excitement of border signs: "Now leaving Canada. Now entering the United States. Please have your passport ready and open to the picture page." One transition caught my attention in particular – Suh made a very big deal out of the ritard over the return to the first theme. It was an interesting effect, but it came at a somewhat significant price: the orchestra did not follow her very cleanly, and the stagger was quite noticeable.

The transitions got less blocky as the performance went on, however. She also sounded much less nervous by the middle of the first movement; the third even sounded confident, boisterous at times. The tone, however, did not ever improve to my liking, and was anorexic through the rest of the performance.

Yao Shanshan of China performed the seventh and last Prokofiev of the semifinals. She's the only one out of the twelve that I've heard live, and one of the two that I'd heard at all previous to these semifinals. (I heard Wang Zhijiong's semifinal performance at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis last September.) My memory of her playing was one of impeccable technique.

She did not disappoint in this regard. The sound she produced, however, was disappointing: not consistently scratched like Suh's, but still weak. It is quite clear that she has the fingers to accomplish anything she wishes on the instrument on a technical level, but these semifinals have not been for lack of technical ability. Making it to the semifinals of an international music competition is no small task.

The finals of the Sendai begin June 1st and feature concerti by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, and Saint-Saëns.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on May 30, 2007 at 4:50 PM

Nice observations, Eugene - thanks!

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on May 30, 2007 at 10:38 PM

Very good. Next time you are coming to Nagoya drop me aline and I`ll come up and buy you a beer or two.
Cheers,
Buri

From Eugene Chan
Posted on May 31, 2007 at 12:24 AM

Well, I for one am happy to see my writing be slightly less blocky than usual. This was one of my better pieces...

From Eugene Chan
Posted on May 31, 2007 at 12:51 AM

By the way, Buri, am I legal drinking age where you are? :-)

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