Earlier this week, Nobu made it into the semi-finals. I caught a bit of his rehearsal with the string quartet prior to their perfromance. He had to have both a translator and a guide there to make up for his lack of English skills as well as his blindness. Regardless, as soon as they started playing, everything flowed together seamlessly. It was even better during their actual performance on stage. There were many people who were waiting for this moment, hoping that somehow Nobu would “expose” himself as being a poor pianist who gets special treatment for being blind (I guess they weren’t listening to his Chopin or Debussy carefully enough) but he came back with a nuanced and attentive performance that didn’t dominate the quartet nor lie in the background throughout. Tomorrow is his solo recital, he’ll be playing Beethoven’s monster of a piece, the Hammerklavier sonata. It’s a very ambitious choice to play, and if he can pull it off well then it will be the most impressive performance so far in the competition for sure.
I completely understand where all the people on blogs who criticize Tsuji for a lack of interpretation are coming from. But dang it, I still want him to win. The clarity of his Chopin etudes were remarkable. If you ever want to convince students not to hide behind the pedal, show them Tsuji’s performance. He rushed a bit through the beautiful opening of the 3rd etude, but I can forgive him. His Images were fantastic. Some bloggers said he played the Debussy like Chopin. I have no idea what they were talking about. From the second those delicate chords opened “Reflet’s dans L’eau”, Tsuji’s took on a wonderfully impressionistic touch. His choice of this suite for his program simply made me like him even more. And finally, at the end, watching this blind pianist masterfully conquer the large jumps in La Campanella, watching all the smiles found on audience members at various times, I became more than little bit emotional imagining the amount of dedication and love he must have towards music and the piano….Furthermore, in his interviews he seems like a wonderful and humble person, for whom a chance meeting on the subway with fellow blind pianist Stevie Wonder is one of his most cherished memories. Go Tsuji go!
Er, okay, that was a bit overdramatic, but it’s a bit hard to not get emotional when you watch over 500 musicians come together under the baton of Hisaishi Joe to perform the beautiful and evocative pieces of music from the greatest animated films of all time. Hisaishi’s music won’t always satisfy listeners who are constantly searching for musical innovation or complexity, but they will satisfy by a mile anyone who is searching for music with sincerity and heart. Beyond that, I can’t think of any other composer who can so effectively bring to music the nostalgia, wistfulness and childlike wonder we all retain within us even as we grow older.
Username: Theowne Real Name: P. Kodees Interests: anime, classical music, math, piano, Studio Ghibli Occupation: Computer Engineering Student Location: Toronto, Canada, York University University of Toronto SATEC @ W.A. Porter High School Contact: Feel free to strike up a conversation with " theowne [AT] gmail [DOT] com, and if you're a fellow Toronto-ite I encourage it :) Omohide?: The old spelling of omoide, which means "memories", my reference to "Omohide poroporo", by Studio Ghibli.
