Chinese Pianist: Yundi LI

[frederic]

Recently I bought a copy of Yundi Li's debut disc of a Chopin Recital and i was fascinated by this 19 year old pianist.

I know he won the chopin competition in warsaw and he was the first to be awarded the 1st prize in 15 years.

Have any of you heard of him?
If you have what did you think of him?

[tosca1]

No, I haven't heard of him. Is he from mainland China?

There is another young, sensational Chinese pianist called Lang Lang and although I have not heard him live, his recordings  reveal a heavenly musicality and a stupendous technique. He is about twenty years old.

[rachfan]

I haven't come across Yundi Li yet, but will be on the lookout.

Also from China is a considerably older pianist of note, Li Min Chan, or under the newer spelling, Li Ming Qiang (as when Peking became Bejing).  He won first prize at the Enescu Competition early on.  Years ago he did a recording of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" with the Romanian Film Symphony.  It was superlative, and FM stations at the time gave it a lot of airtime.  I believe he then became a victim of the Cultural Revolution, was sent out to work in the fields, etc., and was separated from his art for a long time. Later he was president of the Shenghai Conservatory, was on the jury of the Van Cliburn Competition in 1985 as well as many other international competitions, and toured and recorded extensively.  He also had numerous appointments as resident artist at many universities in the U.S. and elsewhere.  I would have to believe that in China he is the still dean of pianists.  

[tosca1]

Most interesting... There is also Fou T'song who would have left China well before the Cultural Revolution and used to  live in London.    (I imagine he still does). He is a wonderful pianist too and would play marathon programmes including both  the opus 10 and opus 25 sets of Chopin studies in one recital along with other major works.  I shall try to get some information on the others.

Thank you,
Robert.

[salex]

Yea, I heard about hhim. He won a 3rd prise at the Liszt Piano Competition in 1999. I heard a CD made of the finalists and he seemed to be 1st prise.

[tosca1]

There is a good deal of information about Yundi Li on the internet. Simply go to a search engine, type in "Yundi Li pianist" et voila...
His rapid stellar rise along with Lang Lang, who is also from the world's most populous country, bodes well for the future of piano playing not only in China but also in the world.