CHOPIN VS AI / CHUREN LI PIANO RECITAL / Review

 

CHOPIN VS AI

Churen Li Piano Recital

Chamber @ The Arts House

Sunday (19 April 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 April 2026 with the title "Recital proves that AI will replace mediocrity but not true inspiration". 

Organised by the Embassy of Poland in Singapore as part of its PolandShiok! Festival, this unusual hour-long recital by Singaporean pianist-composer Churen Li pitted the composition skills of Poland’s national composer Fryderyk Chopin against the modern marvels of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The premise was simple. Li performs on the Yamaha grand and the audience is asked to vote as to whether each piece was by Chopin or AI. A big question was being asked: can human composers be replaced by AI? This experiment was both thought-provoking and interesting.

Li’s opening piece was silky and nocturne-like, with a gentle legato melodic line accompanied by G major arpeggios on the left hand. There were also discrete ornamentations that dressed up the invention. Those in the know would recognise Chopin’s serene Andante Spianato in G major (Op.22), played without the Polonaise.

Next came another elegant nocturne, this time in A minor, but with regularly shifting tonalities. There were Chopinesque touches for sure, but some uncharacteristic ones as well. Li explained that AI generated sound files, which she needed to transcribe and edit into a score that was playable.

The key of C sharp minor figured prominently in the next segment, beginning dark and smouldering but gradually morphing from night to brightness of day at its climax. Following that was a very familiar number, with a scintillating opening contrasted with a D flat major big tune at its centre. Nobody was fooled as that was clearly Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op.66), but the preceding number was also by Chopin, his less familiar Nocturne in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.1).

The next two pieces in A minor were dances in three-quarter time, either the waltz or mazurka. The first included some dissonances which jarred somewhat but had some Chopinisms heard elsewhere. The second sounded quite like Japanese anime music trying to imitate the inimitable Pole. These flights of fancy were very pleasant but hardly authentic. AI, for certain.

Then came the Waltz in C sharp minor (Op.64 No.2), simplicity personified, and the recital closed with the longest work on show, Chopin’s Ballade No.4 in F minor (Op.52). One of his greatest single-movement utterances, a short introduction was followed by variations building up to a stirring climax, prompting premature applause at a strategic pause. Closing with a thunderous coda, this was a work of true genius not to be randomly cooked up by some app. At least not yet.

Li’s marvelous encore was her own improvisation on Chopin’s Prelude in E minor (Op.28 No.4), which skillfully played on its two pivotal notes, before gloriously reliving the original in full. In this musical duel, Chopin won handsomely simply because of his blindingly obvious genius. If Chopin’s teenaged and unformed Polonaises or his many Mazurkas were put to the test, the result might have been less one-sided.

On the other hand, had Austrian composer / pianist / teacher Carl Czerny’s 861 eminently forgettable works been scrutinised, AI has at least a fighting chance. In short, AI can and will replace mediocrity, but not true inspiration.