CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Grand Finals

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012

Grand Finals

Shanghai Concert Hall

Sunday (11 November 2012)

The grand finals of the Shanghai International Piano Competition was held at Shanghai Concert Hall, a converted cinema hall just south of Renmin Guangchang (People’s Square). Its close proximity to Xinshijie (New World), once the entertainment centre and playground of Shanghai’s moneyed and affluent suggests its rather plebeian origins. It resembles some of the minor opera houses in Europe, and is smaller and more intimate than the Shanghai Grand Theatre. I however favour the acoustics here, which although on a dry side is still preferable to the desiccated sonics of the larger and grander venue. 

The finals was accompanied by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, which had its origins as a film orchestra, conducted by a young 30-something conductor who happens to be my namesake, Zhang Liang (the Chinese characters are exactly the same). The orchestra is wholly Chinese and the playing alert and sensitive, even if there are some raw edges. Due to the dryish acoustics, the sumptuous bloom that usually accompanies the strings is absent, and brass tends to come out with a bleating stridency.   

The pianists performed according to their established order when their lots were first drawn, which is the fairest way of doing things. That meant the first music to be heard was Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto performed by the Chinese lass LIU YILIN. She is a most musical soul, although a tad inexperienced. I will not be surprised to learn if this was the first time she is performing a concerto with an orchestra. 

Raw nerves emerged shortly after the mellow opening, when she lost her place momentarily, and rhythmic insecurities and unsteadiness marred certain passages. The Adagio religioso slow movement however found her at her best. The chorale theme was stated with simplicity and beauty, and the night music segment was delivered with full of colour and spirit. She gradually grew into the work, and the section with rapt woodwind solos was simply beautiful. The finale began well with virtuosity brought to the fore and the fugue subject was played very crisply. Again when the rhythms became more intricate and tricky, there were missed notes, but she recovered well to close with a flourish. Liu is only seventeen, and she will have a lifetime ahead with this concerto and much other music, and I think her overall musicality and true feeling for piano literature will serve her well in the long run. 

Next was HENRY KRAMER, who demonstrated a gulf in experience with his assured performance of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in E flat major. Again great musicality dictated the proceedings. In the opening salvo of octaves and cadenza, he does not barnstorm in the manner of Argerich, but instead plays these with much dignity and nuance. But this is Liszt, and is he being too polite? The second movement’s nocturne was mellow and moody, livened up by a well-appointed cadenza and very even trills leading to the triangle-led scherzo. The true meaning of scherzando (the sense of playing a joke) was well realised, and that is where the real barnstorming for “Barenboim junior” truly began. With not a single missed note, and doing exactly what is necessary to make the work come alive, have we found the first prize winner?

Followed without a break was JIN WENBIN in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in G major (Op.58), arguably the most difficult of the three concertos to interpret. Opening with G major chords on both hands, he confidently set the tone for the work, which was one of great mellowness and musicality. There are neither gimmicks nor gestures bringing attention to oneself, only the joy of music expressed with much alacrity. Yet he was also able to dictate the tenor of the performance, exerting and relenting in equal degree, with the orchestra responding in kind. Taking no untoward chances, he opted for Beethoven’s own usual cadenza which was beautifully shaded. A miscue in synchronising with the orchestra’s entry provided the only blemish.

The short but dramatic slow movement – contrasting brusque strings with lush piano chords – was gorgeously handled, fully living up to the legend of Orpheus taming the Furies. The finale was another display of unadulterated joy and the ecstasy of being alive. Jin has this in loads, and his artistry is matched with very strong and secure technical capabilities. Could we now have a two way tie for the first prize?

The three semi-finalists (from L): Hao Yilei, Zhu Wanchen and Bruno Vlahek.

Unlike many competitions where the jury takes an agonising long time to decide its winners, this one was particularly short. The other three semi-finalists were given a chance to perform again, Hao Yilei in Ravel, Zhu Wanchen in Liebermann and Bruno Vlahek in Scarlatti. With the spotlight of competition now extinguished, there was a certain casualness to the playing, but Vlahek still meant business in the three Scarlatti sonatas he offered, as if to demonstrate that his elimination from the semi-finals was a mistake.

The miscellaneous prizes were announced first:

Best performance of Commissioned Work: JIN WENBIN

Best Lieder accompanist: HENRY KRAMER

Best Chinese pianist: JIN WENBIN

   

Chairman of the Jury, Gary Graffman, then read out that the First Prize would not be awarded, and there would be a tie for Second Prize. The mostly Chinese audience gave a gasp of surprise only after the translation into Chinese was complete. With that the final placings were already decided, and the rest became an anti-climax of sorts.

For the record, here are the final placings:

2ND PRIZE (Ex-aequo):  HENRY KRAMER and JIN WENBIN

3RD PRIZE: LIU YILIN 

The three finalists (from L): Jin Wenbin, Henry Kramer and Liu Yilin, with Gary Graffman and Idil Biret.

Was my effort of flying to Shanghai worth all the trouble? An emphatic “yes”, because the later rounds of this competition was a display of high levels of musicality (and undoubted virtuosity as well) from all the musicians I had heard. There was very little to separate the quarter-finalists, and even less to separate the semi-finalists playing in their respective rounds. Given the same cohort of pianists in a different competition with a different set of judges, the result might have been very different. A musician of the quality of Sun Jun, Abdiel Vasquez or Bruno Vlahek might have won first prize in a different setting. With fewer participants, the performance rounds in the quarter and semi-finals were limited to the afternoons, and there was ample time to do sightseeing, shopping, catch dinner and stroll on the Bund afterwards.

The competition was very well organised and the atmosphere was congenial throughout. There were opportunities to mingle with the jury, many of whom had passed through Singapore over the years and provided me with marvellous musical memories. The He Luting Concert Hall at the Conservatory had very good acoustics for the two Steinway grands to bloom, and Shanghai Concert Hall provided a nice cameo or the finals. Most of all, music was the winner, and that is the long and short of it all.    

  

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Semi-finals

6^TH CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Semi Finals

Friday (9 November 2012)

Six pianists have been selected for the semi-finals, which consists of a 45 minute programme to include a newly commissioned work and two Richard Strauss lieder, accompanying a soprano. These specific requirements may be performed in any sequence during the allotted time. 

The Chinese composer Wang Jianzhong (right), whose commissioned work Capriccio was performed by the semi-finalists, speaks with Chinese jury member Wu Ying.

The new work was Capriccio by Wang Jianzhong, the venerated Chinese composer and transcriber of such popular standards like Liu Yang River, Calm River in an Autumn Night and Thousand Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix. It is a pleasant 7-minute scherzo-like piece in sonata form, with a skittish ballabile contrasted with a more lyrical second theme. It does not sound explicitly Chinese, but its predominance of the whole tone scale and use of arpeggios point clearly to Debussy as an influence. Claude-Achille goes to Shanghai perhaps? All the pianists gave competent and even sympathetic accounts, and I would hazard to say that the Chinese pianists do not have a distinct advantage here. Anyway, they were playing to a mostly Western jury, although the composer himself was in attendance in all the rounds. All performed with the score, with the exception of Bruno Vlahek who had the chutzpah of commiting it to memory.

With both pianist and soprano dressed in stunning  red, is this the :Red Detachment of Women"?  The partially obstructing handbag belongs to Oxana Yablonskaya. Ah,... women!

I really do not see the point of having Lieder accompaniment as an essential part of a competition. What if a pianist does not accompany well although the rest of his playing is excellent? Will that militate against his or her inclusion in the finals? Anyway, it gave us all the pleasure of hearing and seeing the very pretty soprano Li Qian, attired in hong bao red, in the varied delights of Richard Strauss’s Cacilie and Morgen!  

 

The semi-finals opened with HAO YILEI (China), who had impressed with his prodigiousness in the quarter-finals. In my opinion, it was a mistake of his to build a semi-final programme wholly on short pieces. He started with four varied Scarlatti sonatas, and without playing any repeats, gave only a fleeting impression of the pieces. The same applied to the five Scriabin Etudes from Op.8, despite displaying much proficiency in their thorny technical challenges. The fearsome Study in Thirds (Op.8 No.10) completed an impressive showing. The larger pieces were Une barque sur l’ocean and Alborada del gracioso from Ravel’s Miroirs, which provided a wash of colour and rather smooth glissandi.

ZHU WANCHEN (China) clearly has the fingers for Chopin’s First Ballade in G minor (Op.23), but in his efforts to impress by sheer velocity and going for broke, he missed more than a few notes along the way. His view of Schubert’s late Sonata in C minor (D.958) was a very persuasive one, even if it was that of a young person unburdened by the weariness of the world. The tragi-heroic opening resounded with a declamatory salute, contrasted with lyrical Lieder-like moments that portended drama and tragedy. He seems to revel in those vertiginous runs on the right hand, which held no terrors for this speedster. The under-stated beauty of the slow movement however revealed him at his best, a sensitive soul when he chooses to be. The tarantella finale was repetitious (as Schubert’s finales tend to be), but he kept it interesting with a fleet-fingered approach, some nice touches and the sort of humour that best defines Schubert’s music.

The only woman in the semi-finals was LIU YILIN (China), who wisely chose just two Scarlatti sonatas – in F major (K.518) and F minor (K.481) – and without eschewing the repeats. Clean staccato playing, distinguished by clarity and fluidity in the former contrasted well with the sorrow and desolation evoked in the latter. Advantage Liu over Hao. In Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata in A major (Op.82), she gave a surprisingly nuanced performance, balancing a pulverising brute force in the outer movements with lyricism and droll wit of the middle movements. With her, the pauses and silences between passages meant something special. Even the lacerating finale was gradually built up from a calm sotto voce to the final scorching conflagration. It was not guns blazing from the start, and that worked psychologically to perfection. The re-introduction of the first movement’s motif also became a moment to remember. I was about to hail this performance to be the equal of Yuja Wang’s (at the 2010 Singapore International Piano Festival) when a bad stumble near the finish line threatened to derail her earlier sterling efforts.

BRUNO VLAHEK (Croatia) was the first of two non-Chinese semi-finalists to perform. True to his penchant for offbeat repertoire, he opened with Grieg’s 18-minute long Ballade in G minor. Unlike Chopin’s famous number, this is in the theme and variations form, much akin to Mendelssohn’s spectacular Variations Serieuses. The work does plod on for a while, but his playing was always engaging, making each variation count. And there was always something interesting about, the finery of filigree or the jocularity of a folkdance. Grieg even provides a false ending, in an unresolved E flat major chord, a longish pause before closing in the home key. Vlahek worked these to a fine art. After the set-pieces, he closed with the Liszt-Busoni Fantasia on Two Motifs from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. These motifs were, of course, from Non piu andrai and Voi che sapete. It is an exhausting work for both pianist and listener, and by mid-way, he had lost me. The closing was nothing more than a succession of loud notes and cascades, which by this time, had become a bit of a bore. In the words of Emperor Franz Josef to Mozart on one of his operas, I quote, “Too many notes, my friend.”

HENRY KRAMER (USA) appears to be the most confident pianist of the lot, one who is totally comfortable with himself. This showed in his playing here, as in the quarter-final round. Beginning with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade in F minor (Op.52), his reading came close to the perfect conception of this masterpiece, opening with unadorned simplicity and working his way through the variations to a feverish climax. Even in the terrifying coda, absolute clarity and no over-pedalling concluded this moving and probing account. Only in a piano competition will one get to hear two performances of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata in the same afternoon. It is a wearying piece but in Kramer’s hands, all the contrasts came out very well. He packed in more savage power than the slender Liu, but had his own moment of insecurity in the first movement. He captured well the paradox that is Prokofiev, brutality and sentimentality to equal degree. The finale was encapsulated not by a binding onslaught of loud notes, but mystery and menace, which in my opinion is a far more potent force. 

The final semi-finalist was JIN WENBIN (China) who began his solos with the eight Fantasiestucke (Op.12) by Schumann. For me he is the pianist who expresses the greatest joy and wonderment in his playing. Everything comes across as fresh and unhackneyed, as he has always something interesting to convey, even in the most familiar of pieces. The full gamut of feelings and expressions were gratefully realised in these pieces, from the gentle lyricism of Des Abends to the dizzying delights of Traumes Wirren. Being devastatingly accurate was just part of the story, the whimsy and intimacy offered were far more valuable qualities. To round off a totally musical outing was Liszt’s rather vulgar transcription of the Waltz from Gounod’s Faust. In his view, it sounds positively joyous as his flying fingers took it into the realm of fantasy. There is a section for ad-libbing, which he reciprocated with the most magical of scales and the most even and gentlest trilling of a nightingale.  

I have two rather obvious standouts for finalist status: HENRY KRAMER and JIN WENBIN. The third final spot ought go to either LIU YILIN or ZHU WANCHEN. The jury must have read my mind as they opted for as their top three:

LIU YILIN

HENRY KRAMER and

JIN WENBIN

With no Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky or Brahms concertos figuring in the finals on Sunday, it looks like it is going to be a rather short evening. 

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