Mei-Ting Sun

[BoliverAllmon]

Has anyone heard of this pianist? I was looking at his recordings and his website and am quite shocked. He is only 21 but has a massive repertoire! He currently plays 2, 1 and a half hour solo recitals a year of new music! He is nearly completed with his doctoral degree also. Has anyone else heard of him? What do you think?

Boliver Allmon

[Babben]

Yeah, I've heard about this guy. He has quite a lot of music at mp3.com, with mostly Chopin Etudes. His recording of the Etude #6 Op. 25 is extremely fast. Also the other etudes is played very good.. But I don't know about #1 op. 10, which Askenazy rehearsed for 3 years before he played it at a concert...  

[BoliverAllmon]

yeah, I enjoyed his hammerklavier recordings. I don't know alot about the piece, but it sounds good to me. He also says that he has changed it up since his recording and that he is even better at it now.

boliver allmon

[bmusicd]

I've head Mei-Ting in recital twice now and both times have been thoroughly unimpressed. He has an absolutely enormously huge technique (you should hear his Chopin Etude in 3rds!) but musically I find him extraordinarily banal. He didn't have a single original or interesting musical thought in either performance.

[jakester]

I've head Mei-Ting in recital twice now and both times have been thoroughly unimpressed. He has an absolutely enormously huge technique (you should hear his Chopin Etude in 3rds!) but musically I find him extraordinarily banal. He didn't have a single original or interesting musical thought in either performance.

what the hell do you know about music. I have in fact heard all of his performances in the US of A and have (bootleg, though authorized) recordings of most of those. He's one of the most friendly guys I've ever seen, and also one of the most original of his generation. *** lang lang. Mei-Ting's the one I want to hear.

Jakester

[eddie92099]

I have not heard Mei-Ting Sun, but would like to join Jakester in saying f**k Lang Lang - did anyone hear his Tchaikovsky 1 on the opening night of the Proms? Not good,
Ed

[BoliverAllmon]

he can't be that bad. He did win the Piano e-competition.

boliver

[thracozaag]

I've head Mei-Ting in recital twice now and both times have been thoroughly unimpressed. He has an absolutely enormously huge technique (you should hear his Chopin Etude in 3rds!) but musically I find him extraordinarily banal. He didn't have a single original or interesting musical thought in either performance.

 Clearly, you're jealous of MT's double thirds.  He's a phenomenal pianist with actually lots of "original and interesting musical thoughts"

"Lang-Lang is the LJO of the piano"--Earl Wild

[jakester]

"Lang-Lang is the LJO of the piano"--Earl Wild

you mean J. Lo. don't you?

I'd hate to think Larry Johnson'd be able to play the piano. That miracle 3-pointer in '99 was bad enough.

I'm just taking a wild guess here, but bmusicd seems to go to the worst school in the world. We all know students that come out of that school has lots of technique and no music. He probably can't find good music even if someone points it out for him.

Jakester

[meiting]

I'd heard you guys were talking about me. Hello Boliver!

I didn't know there was a whole forum just about piano - wow! Anyway, just thought I'd drop in and say hello.

Thanks for the attention - it's 1 more google link

mei-ting

[tosca1]

I have not heard  Mei-Ting Sun but I have heard Lang Lang and Yundi Li on recordings.  These latter two are phenomenal pianists and I am sure that Mei-Ting Sun is in that league as well. It is interesting that the hottest young international pianists are all from China. Both Lang Lang and Yundi Li display extraordinary musical insight and such an immaculate technique that they give the listener the impression that even  old warhorses like the Tchaikovsky 1st Piano concerto and the Liszt B minor Sonata are being heard for the first time.  

Robert.

[BoliverAllmon]

Now, that's a compliment.

boliver

[eddie92099]

Lang Lang's Tchaikovsky 1 is dreadful,
Ed

[thracozaag]

Lang Lang's Tchaikovsky 1 is dreadful,
Ed

 Boy, ain't THAT the truth.  Glad SOMEONE agrees with me on that.

[meiting]

I have not heard Lang Lang or Yundi live as of yet, so I can't say However, recent reviews of Lang Lang has not been so favorable. I certainly wish the best for him - he is a pianist of enormous talent (as is Yundi) and it would be a shame for that amount of talent to go to waste.

Who's around NYC during November?

mei-ting

[NetherMagic]

Wow is Lang Lang really that bad?  My teacher told me to go see him few months ago, but I didn't go cuz too lazy.  However I remember he was playing Liszt's entire Paganini Etudes!  How old is he right now btw?  Well I just think that's a phenomenal feat at least, I remember he was pretty young.

Well put that aside, Yundi Li, he's just spectacular.  Iunno about that Piano-e-competition (actually yes I do) but Yundi Li won the 1st place in the 14th International Chopin Competition, after 10 years (theres one every 5 years) of no 1st places because the judges thought no one could bring out the spirit of Chopin enough.  In addition to that, he also won the International Franz Liszt Competition 1 year prior to the Chopin one.  I have listened to his Chopin recordings and man they're spectacular, no one plays Fantaisie-Impromptu like him.  I read on the back of the front cover of his Chopin recordings cd case, it said that after he won he requested piano lessons with the famous Polish pianist Krystian Zimmerman, and even he said that he had nothing to teach the talented pianist!  

Anyways you guys should really check up his pieces on winmx or somethin.  It's definately worth it.

It is interesting that the hottest young international pianists are all from China.

yup you know why?  It's because some areas in China are still very poor, so the kids living there just play piano all day long (you don't see'em in North America or Europe anymore like the 19th century when TVs and computers are robbing us of our potential)
Of course I'm not saying only China only produces hot pianists, I'm just using it as a likely example.
When Yundi Li requested a piano from his parents at 7, after playing the accordian for 3 years, his parents almost became penniless after purchasing it for Yundi!

[jakester]

:Wow is Lang Lang really that bad?  My teacher told me
:to go see him few months ago, but I didn't go cuz too
:lazy.  However I remember he was playing Liszt's
:entire Paganini Etudes!  How old is he right now
:btw?  Well I just think that's a phenomenal feat at
:least, I remember he was pretty young.

He's 21 right now. Do you think playing the paganini etudes is as much an achievement as playing the complete Chopin etudes?

:Well put that aside, Yundi Li, he's just
:spectacular.  Iunno about that Piano-e-competition
:(actually yes I do)

what do you know about the piano-e-comp?

:but Yundi Li won the 1st place in the 14th International
:Chopin Competition, after 10 years (theres one every 5
:years) of no 1st places because the judges thought no
:one could bring out the spirit of Chopin enough.

Actually, that's not exactly true That's only what they tell the public.

:I read on the back of the front cover of his Chopin
:recordings cd case, it said that after he won he
:requested piano lessons with the famous Polish pianist
:Krystian Zimmerman, and even he said that he had
:nothing to teach the talented pianist!

He also said he wanted to be "the next Zimmerman". Now don't get me wrong, I like Zimmerman's playing just fine - but.. shouldn't one try to aim a little higher? maybe Horowitz or Rubinstein if you want to go with someone of this century...

:Anyways you guys should really check up his pieces on
:winmx or somethin.  It's definately worth it.

I have. And they're rather bland.

:yup you know why?  It's because some areas in China
:are still very poor, so the kids living there just play
:piano all day long (you don't see'em in North America
:or Europe anymore like the 19th century when TVs and
:computers are robbing us of our potential)
:Of course I'm not saying only China only produces hot
:pianists, I'm just using it as a likely example.
:When Yundi Li requested a piano from his parents at 7,
:after playing the accordian for 3 years, his parents
:almost became penniless after purchasing it for Yundi!

Sounds like you know him pretty well.. Have you seen the ad-campaigns they're doing for him in china?

jakester

[eddie92099]

Lang Lang is certainly a talented pianist, but certainly not (in my opinion) a talented musician. Yundi Li is rather good though. Also, just because Krystian Zimerman is not as famous as Horowitz or Rubinstein, it does not mean he is not as good! His Debussy preludes are unsurpassed and so is his Liszt Totentanz (I found out recently that Argerich plays this but it is unfortunately not recorded - naturally I'm sure she would be the best!),
Ed

[jakester]

His Debussy preludes are unsurpassed and so is his Liszt Totentanz (I found out recently that Argerich plays this but it is unfortunately not recorded - naturally I'm sure she would be the best!),
Ed

His Debussy preludes are not unsurpassed. I have the recording - Geiseking's is SO much better, as are the one that Richard Goode plays.

[eddie92099]

I haven't heard them so I can't comment,
Ed

[Hmoll]

I'd heard you guys were talking about me. Hello Boliver!

I didn't know there was a whole forum just about piano - wow! Anyway, just thought I'd drop in and say hello.

Thanks for the attention - it's 1 more google link

mei-ting

Hi Meiting,

What are you playing for your Nov. '03 New York recital, if you don't mind my asking?

[thracozaag]

Hi Meiting,

What are you playing for your Nov. '03 New York recital, if you don't mind my asking?

 To the best of my knowledge, the Tormentor's program will include Schumann's Humoureske, Bach G major partita and a piece written for him by Robert Cuckson.  Should be fabulous.

[Irock1ce]

hey mei-ting, are you ever going to be on tour in the SAn Francisco Bay Area? if so, please give a date.. i would love to see you play  

[cziffra]

can we get over these stupid arguments of "Geiseking is better" "no Zimmerman is better" "no Yundi Li is"

people were talking like that in primary school maybe, "Tazo's are the best" "no, pokemon is the best" "no, tamogotchis are."
but surely we're a little more mature than that?  
you know, having realised now that there are no universal absolutes like "THIS is THE best pianist, and the second best is distinctly inferior in rank."  

none of them are any better than the others.  they are all incomparable, even if they play the same songs.  there is no difinitive "better and worse," only each individual's personal liking of whichever style they each have.  just because you like it doesn't make it the best.

[eddie92099]

Vindin I disagree with you. If every pianist is equal how come we have all heard of Horowitz but none of us have heard of the guy who plays the piano for the local amateur choir?
Ed

[thracozaag]

Vindin I disagree with you. If every pianist is equal how come we have all heard of Horowitz but none of us have heard of the guy who plays the piano for the local amateur choir?
Ed

 I was going to post something even more sarcastic, but you beat me to it.

[ravel]

i have heard mei ting sun play prokofievs piano concerto no. 2 on mp3.com, it was good, but it was too fast at times, and ya technically he was good, but i really dont think it was lik eany comparision to ashkenazy, (ashkenazy gets a little dull at times, but otherwise is good on that),
i heard him play bartok sonata too, and it was nooooooooooooooooo match for kocsis, the power kocsis generates from his playing, specailly in the first and third movement of bartoks sonata for piano, is like unsurpassable and mei ting sun does not really get any where near that,  
he may be a good pianist, but he is definitely not a great pianist
sahir

[eddie92099]

I have not heard Kocsis' Bartok Sonata but surely it is not more powerful than Argerich live,
Ed

[cziffra]

Vindin I disagree with you. If every pianist is equal how come we have all heard of Horowitz but none of us have heard of the guy who plays the piano for the local amateur choir?
Ed

the point i'm making is it's so tiresome for everyone to always rank us musicians, when really they're ranking us on stuff that just isn't important.  it's like comparing two couples, and deciding on which couple loves each other the best.  it's pointless and irrelevent.  what's more, their love for each other is being ranked and judged according to a physical technique they have- it's like saying "obviously Mr and Mrs Bloggs love each other much better than Mr and Mrs Smith because they have a much more spectacular kissing technique."

they all love playing music- some might hit the notes better than the others but in the philosphical sense that they are all satsifying the same creative passion- they all feel the same love for music- who cares what technique they use?  

obviously technique is important because if you don't have it you sound like sh*t but, if you have a technique that gets you to your desired end (technique is afterall only a means to an end) then does it matter if someone else has one better?  they may have a faster car but if they are driving to the same place for the same reason, who cares?

vindin

[eddie92099]

The fact is professional pianists, whether they like it or not, are competing with each other. It is true that one does not make music against other people, but one makes money against other people - and being a pianist is something that one must make a living out of. Therefore it is necessary to rank people - just like in any profession (ranking of companies, lawyers, doctors etc.).
Ed

[cziffra]

that is absolutely true- and the fact that it is so true to me exacerbates the problem.  i know that it is a necessity to be ranked, but as i'm still young and full of nebulous ideals, i really wish it wasn't.

[meileng]

well,he is great. but i still found some careless mistake from his chopin's ballade though....

[ravel]

well, i havent heard argerich playing bartok sonata, but it cant be more powerful than kocsis hhehe
well, i ll try listening to a reacording of argerich playing that, but i really think kocis does the trick as  far as that piece is concerned,
sahir

[eddie92099]

Do try and find the Argerich, it is (like everything she does) astonishing,
Ed

[allchopin]

How can you possibly say that a pianist is not good if they play all of the notes perfectly (which Im sure mei-ting did) and puts passion into the music?  Doing both those things (as well as in front of an audience!) is a great accomplishment, and you cant say that its not.  When you say that someone is an incompetent pianist, just think of how well YOU play... Nobody here, I can ensure, has the tecnique of mei-ting.

[eddie92099]

When you say that someone is an incompetent pianist, just think of how well YOU play... Nobody here, I can ensure, has the tecnique of mei-ting.

Remember this is a world-wide forum and we remain largely anonymous - you don't know who you are dealing with. For all you know, I could be Mr Pollini himself,
Ed

[debussy_lover]

Remember this is a world-wide forum and we remain largely anonymous - you don't know who you are dealing with. For all you know, I could be Mr Pollini himself,
Ed

Except your profile says you're a 17-year-old kid in Kent.  You may still be Pollini, but I wonder why he would go under such deep cover.  

And allchopin: you have no idea how well people on this forum play!  You can't "ensure" anything!

[BoliverAllmon]

We have a pretty good idea who most are, or at least what they are capable of. Why would someone lead on that they are a worse pianist than really are? Musicians are known for being arrogant of their accomplishments. or at least proud. From what I know of people here there are very few that are at the level of Mei-ting. Robert Henry might be up there, I haven't heard much of him, but I do know that his repertoire is quite extensive.

boliverallmon

[tosca1]

This topic has generated some robust comment and of course the very existence of this forum depends on people expressing personal opinion.  
In sport it is very easy to rank people but in music and the creative arts it is much more difficult as the criteria for assessment are more subtle and complex.
Winning a major international piano competition may be the career break that aspiring professional pianists are wanting but even there the judging panels may not agree and outcomes may be controversial.

Pianists at that level have mostly achieved technical perfection and consequently they are judged on the highly subjective criteria of interpretation and musical insight.

We all have our preferences and prejudices.  When applying them to pianists playing at the highest levels we should not be "one eyed" and dismissive with the easy put-down, but we should try to  be  balanced and constructively critical.

Robert.

[meiting]

writing from Japan..

This has definitely been an extremely entertaining thread to read - whether it was the compliments, derogatory comments, support, or any other irrelevent information. The fact that people are commenting means that they care, (if not about me, at least about classical music) and that certainly fills me with hope.

I'm here in Japan right now, just finished two concerts (it has been extremely hectic). Replying to some of the previous questions - no, I don't know when i'll be playing in the SF bay area - as far as I know there aren't ANY plans to do so in the near future.

The program for my Nov '03 recital is:

Bach Partita No. 5 in G major
Bartok Sonata
Chopin Nocturne Op. 62 No. 2 in E major
Chopin Ballade No. 1
 INTERMISSION
Schumann Humoreske(sp? I can never spell it)
Robert Cuckson "Harbst"
Liszt Wagner Tannhauser Overture

Ravel: the recording of Prok 2 on the mp3.com site is far from my best playing of the piece. And I absolutely agree with you, some of it IS too fast - the Sendai performance was my first ever of it in public, and i had just learned it and was somewhat unfamiliar with the extreme capability of the music. The Bartok, I'm not sure which recording you heard - if you thought the Piano-e-competition performance lacked "power", then I'd suggest that you go listen to whomever you like. When i played it in France earlier this year, it was compared favorably by the locals (who were the only people I could get an opinion from at the time) with the Kocsis performance.

Meileng - careless mistakes in the Ballade you say? That's far from the only place I make careless mistakes - In fact, I'd probably say I make more careless mistakes than a lot of pianists - almost every mistake i make is one that i can possible avoid. Fortunately, that has been slowly getting better. Most of the times I just don't care enough about the notes to try to make them perfect - I would much rather prefer a performances with thought, or at least some meaning rather than one with all the notes and nothing else, which we hear much too frequently from modern pianists.

Tosca - your comment regarding technical perfection being achieved by all the pianists at "this level" is not true. There almost is never technical perfection except through studio recordings - the only one who is capable of actual technical perfection in a live performance for a susteined amount of time is Pollini, and (forgive me Mr. Pollini, if you ARE actually on this forum) I must say that I find his performances mostly boring (with significant exceptions - Petrushka, for example). Interpretation is of course personal, but there is such a thing as "good taste", which a surprising amount of pianists lack (and most of us are prune to lapses into bad taste which can occur at any given time), and also remember that the music world is like a badly-ran democracy - majority rules, but only for those with enough "political donations". I feel that I have been extremely lucky to have gotten the kind of attention recently (and I can only hope that it continues), but there are many others who are as deserving and not receiving simply because they have not been exposed to the press, and maybe not as personable a personality as me, or any number of other reasons.

Sorry about compressing a weeks worth of responses to 1 message - this traveling business has certainly taken a toll on my time constraints. Next message I write here will either be tomorrow, or when I get to China. Have fun playing!

mei-ting

[eddie92099]

the only one who is capable of actual technical perfection in a live performance for a susteined amount of time is Pollini

...and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli,
Ed

p.s. I am not Maurizio Pollini by the way  

[tosca1]

Dear Mei-Ting Sun,
I concede that I was imprecise with my choice of the expression "technical perfection".  What I meant was that concert pianists on the "concert circuit" or competing in the most prestigious competitions must have technical mastery of their instrument so that criteria for ranking pianists at the highest levels will focus on the musical imagination  and the musical intelligence rather than just the ability to dazzle by virtuosic display.

I agree with you that in  live performance, technical perfection is almost impossible to achieve.  Indeed it is risk taking and  the occasional fluffed notes that can  add spirit and  excitement to a performance.

Thank you for taking the time out from your busy schedule to respond to our comments.

I hope that you can come to New Zealand to play. I believe that Lang Lang is coming here next year.

Kind regards,
Robert.

[meiting]

Tosca - being in New Zealand, you might want to check out a fellow new zealander pianist, who's a good friend of mine, Henry Wong-Doe. He's currently also a DMA student at Juilliard, and has several engagements with an orchestra there (I can get the details a little later). He's an extremely musically gifted musician, with sensitivity that I have very rarely heard, and it is also interesting playing.

mei-ting

[chromatickler]

I saw Henry Wong-Doe play Prokofiev 3 a few month ago. The handkerchief is a highlight. He has technical security and is very musical. Applause was furious at the end. He gave one encore (chopin op10-11) which was played delicately. The arppegiated chords were not grouped as "chords" but continuous arppegios with no breaks in between. Very nice effect

[tosca1]

Dear Chromatickler,
What part did the handkerchief play in the performance?
Very interesting...
Cheers,
Robert.

[chromatickler]

When he came on stage, he placed a white handkerchief on the piano. Throughout the performance, he would use it to wipe sweat off his forehead after technically/physically demanding passages. This came across as surprisingly subtle/natural (Definately not showmanship). Curiously. his technical execution didn't look like it would generate that much sweat at all.

[ravel]

hi mei ting,
ok well hope to hear prkofievs 2nd concerto again and a better recording, this time ,  u see i am  a big fan of that piece, and i am not usually that critical about people playing stuff, but some pieces i really adore so much that i want them to be perfectly played, which ofcourse is very hard,
as for the bartok sonata, well i was a little too harsh i guess in judging ur performance, i heard it again , and u know what, i really found it quite good and powerful, except for this part in the third movment, there is this part in the third movement, which i thought was not upto the mark  , and now that i think of it i think it was that part alone on the basis of owhich i had called ur playing less pwerful,
anywaz, wish u luck,   u are definitely a much better pianist than i am haha, i mean playign those pieces, the prokofievs second and bartok sonata is not childs play
hope to see u in recital some day in toronto!!
byeee
sahir

[meiting]

"Which part did the handkerchief play in the performance?"

Which part DIDN'T the handkerchief play in the performance! "get me a towel", as Henry would say.

There's a pretty good performance of Prok 2 of mine from piano-e.. I'm still quite unsatisfied - a good performance of that piece depends on so many factors. I'm hoping the performance with the Richmond symphony will be better. I'm not sure if I can get a recording of it, since it's union and stuff.

mei-ting, from China

[meiting]

Announcing a recital in New York City, Alice Tully Hall, part of Lincoln Center.

November 10th, 2003. Come one come all. Tickets priced at $20, $25, and $30, and has a $10 student discount.


https://www.lincolncenter.org/search/event_details.asp?EventDateTimeID=15934

[eddie92099]

Best of luck with your recital Mei-Ting,
Ed