14th Arthur Rubinstein International Master Piano Competition - Final's Schedule

 

It is almost over and this is just my first post. Sometimes, it is just the way it is. There is a lot to say, but maybe too much for just the one post so I'll start with the most recent update and hopefully more will follow.

Tonight (May 29th) is the 2nd part of the 3rd part of the final.

The concert will start at 7:30 pm local time in Tel-Aviv (CET +1):

• Cho Seong Jin (South Korea) - Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1
• Osokins Anrejs (Latvia) - Rachmaninov Concerto No. 3
• Mazo Maria (Russia) - Beethoven Concerto No. 4 

At the end of the performances the Jury will assemble for the decision making, followed by the awards ceremony. I wonder how long it will take them to make the decision. It will definitely not going to be an easy task. Good luck to the jury!

All performances are available to watch/listen live on the competition's website. All information about the competition, previous stages, competitors, jury etc can be found on their website.

Visit the competition's Facebook page.

Enjoy!

ParaClassics.com archive

The archive works again and I found all of the piano finals when selecting by competition dates but there are 2 mistakes. The piano performances from 29^th June are under the category of the 28^th. These are Seong Jin Cho playing the Tchaikovsky concerto and Alexander Romanovsky playing the Rachmaninoff concerto. Here’s the link to archive:

http://pitch.paraclassics.com/#/archive 

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!