XIV Tchaikovsky competition - words from two jury members

Peter Donohoe, pianist & jury member.

One of the jury members, pianist Peter Donohoe, winner of 1982 Tchaikovsky competition was interviewed last night after the performances. He started the interview all emotional and excited saying Tchaikovsky No.1 always makes him cry as he slowly stabilizes his emotions and speech. It was interesting to hear some of the rules / guidance of the jury, how the committee tries to maintain a high level of art, as Mr Donohoe said: "we are looking for perfect pianists". He explained; it is not that they're looking at how the pianists master or control the piano. It is beyond that. At this level they are all assumed to be masters. It is each character and he's emotions transferred from the composer to the audience. And if they do make a mistake, if it does slips, as it does sometimes to the best as well (or at least so they say. I do believe that perfect IS perfect and can be achieved just not by anyone) then that is not what is going to get them out of the round. What is more important is the sound in each and every scenario. It has to touch the listener and carry him with, it has to be perfect!

Mr Donohoe was asked if they are to judge each round separately on its own or as a combination of all rounds. The bottom line is: each round on its performance. Plain and clear. But, and there’s always a “but” in these circumstances, how can you separate what you heard in the recital rounds or the chamber concerto, how can you ignore those moments you cried (or almost cried) from listening to a particular competitor? And that is what makes the jury’s task so difficult, and sometimes their decisions are not unanimous.

Mr Donohoe also talked about the ones who leave the competition. It does not mean that the ones who didn’t make it to later stages of the competition are not good pianists. On the contrary, as said above, at this level of competition, leaving in the middle of the 2^nd round means you are pretty damn good but just not matured yet to win this competition, come again if you can in 4 or 8 years.

Yefim Bronfman, pianist & jury member (final)

A world known pianist has joined the jury today for the final round. Yefim Bronfman, a master pianist that never participated in any competition.  He admits, he got famous quite young and didn’t need to take this path. Mr Bronfman was talking with the hosts at the beginning of the evening saying that he feels a bit guilty coming over completely fresh without hearing the previous rounds, as if he missed the whole dinner and showed up only for the dessert. Yefim Bronfman is the only jury member that does not hold any competition prize. On the question if the other jury members “filled him in” on the pianists and the previous rounds he replied “I got a very thick book of rules which says that you’re not allowed to discuss anything”.

Today and tomorrow the performances will starts at 1pm Moscow time. Two competitors will play today: Alexander Romanovsky (Ukraine) and Seong Jin Cho (South Korea). Tomorrow we will hear the last three competitors.

Enjoy!