Every member of the audience was a jury member in his/her own right. Eight of my semifinal picks made it through. |
MY 12 PICKS FOR THE SEMI-FINALS
So we’ve reached the end of the
Preliminary Rounds, after a whopping 60 recitals by 30 pianists, 29 of whom I’ve
liked. So it remains the onerous task of picking just 12, and disappointing 18
others. This is one competition where there are no weak participants (including the artistically wayward ones), and any
of the 30 would walk into another competition and be its winner stat. Here are
the 12 pianists I have chosen (in alphabetical order, and a capsule summary):
ABROSIMOV (Substitute
pianist, best Prokofiev 8)
CHERNOV
(Mature
and solid musician)
DELJAVAN (Angst-ridden
Italian, possible winner)
DONG
(Passionate
China doll)
DUMONT (Mature
Frenchman, ready to conquer the world)
FAVORIN (Loved his
offbeat repertoire, and Tannhauser)
GILLHAM (Warm-hearted
and genuine Queenslander)
KHOLODENKO (Rock solid
Ukrainian, best ever Petrushka)
RANA (Old soul in a
young body)
SAKATA (Japanese
wunderkind)
SUNWOO (Gangnam Style
and panache, by way of Vienna)
ZUBER (Rock solid
American, most improved of 2 rounds)
Dark horse:
BURATTO
(I’ve
always love the underdog)
So there have been some changes from my last
pick after Phase One of the preliminaries. The Russian wunderkind Khozyainov
has dropped off because I felt he could still develop in the area of feeling
and living the music, like the way his older compatriot Chernov already has. The judges
might differ and crown him the winner, but will he become a true musician under
the hothouse and microscope Cliburn winners have to live with?
Here
are the judges' pick
(In the announcement ceremony, they were seated in the balcony, separated from
the audience and participants, which was a good thing in case of lynch mobs)
and my own comments of their choices:
ABROSIMOV (Agree)
CHEN (Excellent first
recital, but after that Hammerklavier?)
CHERNOV (Agree)
DELJAVAN (Agree most
definitely)
DONG (Agree)
GILLHAM (Agree)
HUANGCI (I may have
underestimated her having played so early.)
KHOLODENKO (Agree, especially for that Petrushka)
KHOZYAINOV (I knew the
judges would pick him)
MNDOYANTS (I almost
forgot about him, so Agree)
RANA (Agree, happily so)
SAKATA (Agree, whole-heartedly)
WHAT,
no Dumont?
Sadly, my journey in The Cliburn ends today, as I return to Singapore to be with my family. Seven days of intense piano playing seems all too short, and time slips away ever so imperceptibly. I have enjoyed myself greatly in Fort Worth, made many new friends (the photos will come soon), enjoyed its warm, hearty Texan hospitality and had a whale of a time. Will I be back in 4 years time? It certainly is tempting indeed...
All 12 semi-finalists line up (roughly in alphabetical order) for their press photo. |
2 comments:
"What, no Dumont?"
My sentiments exactly!
chernov and deljavan were excellent, while dong fei fei improved a lot since her debacle in chopin2010..
huangci, khozyainov and gillham should have been elimated, while dumont deserved his elimination totally.
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