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Entries tagged with 'Van Cliburn International Piano Competition'Cliburn 2009: More on blind keyboardistsI can't think of a prominent classical pianist who has been blind. But there have certainly been quite a few major jazz pianists, including Art Tatum, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, George Shearing. And there have been many prominent blind organists,... Cliburn 2009: Another blind pianistThe blind Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, who took one of the two gold medals at the Cliburn, certainly impressed me with his mastery of major scores. But I kept wanting more color, more rise and fall of phrases; all of... Cliburn 2009: Learning music by Braille: a contrary viewThe word at the Cliburn was that Nobuyuki Tsujii, the blind gold medalist, finds music much easier to learn by ear than by Braille editions of scores. Here's a contrary view: "I read your review with great interest since I... Cliburn 2009: That obnoxious Wall Street Journal pieceThe music world has been all abuzz over Benjamin Ivry's Wall Street Journal piece on the Cliburn: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458728669699751.html. I found it obnoxious, and inaccurate. Having covered every note of the 16-day contest, I note that Mr. Ivry nowhere says that... The Cliburn: AfterthoughtsThe jury ought to listen for those very special musicians who might bear the seeds of greatness and who are prepared to have a few doors opened for them by the competition. It must be remembered that the function of... Cliburn 2009: The WinnersQuite a surprise! Two gold medals: Nobuyuki Tsujii and Haochen Zhang. Silver medal: Yeol Eum Son No crystal award. This is the first time a blind competitor (Tsujii) has advanced beyond the Cliburn's preliminary round. And it's the first time... Cliburn 2009: The last performancesWe're waiting for announcement of winners, due any time now. In the meantime, here are reviews of the last three performances Sunday afternoon: Nobuyuki Tsujii (20, Japan) At the risk of exciting political-correctness furies, I keep wondering whether Tsujii would... The Cliburn: Les Six on Saturday the 6thJune 6th, Finals A full day at the Cliburn yesterday yielded a performance from each of the six Cliburn finalists. Two competitors faltered badly, two continued to be bland but solid, and two emerged medal-worthy. The Faltering The Rachmaninov 2nd... The Cliburn: Final Day of SemifinalsMay 31 Afternoon and Evening Sessions Solo recitals: Performing the Hammerklavier sonata of Beethoven, Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii once again impressed, for only a small percentage of pianists attempt this formidable work. He did it with extraordinary vitality and accuracy.... The Cliburn: Study in Contrast, Dank/KunzSemifinal Afternoon Session, May 30 My first impression of Ran Dank was formed on the first day of the semifinals, when he performed a forgettable Brahms Quintet. So I was quite pleasantly surprised at his delightful solo recital program this... Cliburn 2009: Welcome new guest bloggerWayne Lee Gay, who was for 18 years the classical music critic of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is joining Dr. Carol Leone as a guest blogger on the Cliburn Competition. Wayne and I were friendly duelling critics at the last... The Cliburn: Semifinals, Day TwoMay 29, Afternoon Session The first performer of the day was the youngest competitor, Haochen Zhang, who performed Chopin's 24 preludes along with Bates' White Lies for Lomax and the Spanish Rhapsody of Liszt. Mr. Zhang's approach to Chopin is... Cliburn 2009: Three pianosCliburn contestants this time have their choice of three Steinway Model D's: a Hamburg and an American both owned by the Cliburn Foundation, and another American brought in from New York. The Hamburg seems to be the most popular of... Cliburn 2009: The semifinalists' nationalitiesNone of the three U.S. competitors in the Cliburn's first round--or Naomi Kudo, who lists herself as "United States/Japan"--advanced to the semifinals. For what it's worth, the breakdown of semifinalists' nationalities is: two each from China, Italy and South Korea;... Cliburn 2009: Friday afternoon performancesTuesday night marked the halfway point in the four-day semifinal round of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Each of the 12 semifinalists is playing an hour-long solo recital and, at a separate time, a piano quintet with the Takács... The Cliburn: Semifinal OpenerMay 28, Afternoon Session Round two began with, what else...the Liszt Sonata! This is such an incredibly problematic piece to put together musically. Mariangela Vacatello delivered some superior pianism, but she was not able to convey the piece's meaning. Despite... The Cliburn: Sonata StrategyMay 27, 2009 Having attended 12 out of the 29 preliminary performances, I wrote about those 12 contestants in previous blogs and predicted that 5 of them would pass to the semifinals. Indeed they did! We have ourselves a fine... Cliburn 2009: Semifinalists announcedThe 12 semifinalists were announced around 11:15 Tuesday night: Evgeni Bozhanov, Ran Dank, Alessandro Deljavan, Kyu Yeon Kim, Eduard Kunz, Andrea Lam, Michail Lifits, Yeol Eum Son, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Mariangela Vacatello, Di Wu and Haochen Zhang.... Cliburn 2009: Tuesday afternoon performersAmy J. Yang (25, U.S./China). To listen to Yang's Bach French Overture was to marvel that a pianist trained at three of American's top music schools (Curtis, Juilliard, Yale) could evince so little awareness of the last 50 years' research... The Cliburn: The Search for the Right ExpressionAFTERNOON SESSION, MONDAY, MAY 25 Victor Stanislavsky served up my first well-rounded meal since I arrived at the Cliburn two days ago: Scarlatti for an antipasto, Mozart for the primo piatto, Schumann for the secondo piatto, and Ligeti for dessert.... |
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