Cliburn Competition

[lostinidlewonder]

Starting May 22, you may watch the entire Cliburn Competition at www.cliburn.tv, with all performances streamed live eleven hours per day, and then archived for "on-demand" viewing.

In the meantime, we invite you to download the Silverlight program today and launch the basic webcast player to ensure that it functions properly. During this testing period, you will be able to watch two performances from our 2001 Competition archives, featuring gold medalists Stanislav Ioudenitch and Olga Kern.

The full player will offer extensive functionality with an array of interactive features, including an online audience vote after each round, "email the competitor," a blog, and optional streaming commentary to alert you what to listen for during each piece.

In addition to all performances, the webcast will include rehearsals between the Takács Quartet and the pianists, all orchestra rehearsals, and one-on-one sessions between conductor James Conlon and the six finalists. You will also enjoy short competitor video portraits, numerous features, and symposia on international cultural diplomacy with members of the press, jury, and foreign diplomats.

Thirty pianists have been selected to compete in the Preliminary Round; twelve will compete in the Semifinal Round; and six will vie for top honors in the Final Round. All six finalists will receive a prize package offering three years of managed concert tours at over $1,000,000 total value. Cliburn winners perform in hundreds of venues across the United States and abroad.

All pianists participating in the competition receive extraordinary media exposure on television, radio, and Internet broadcasts, as well as through commercial recordings and DVDs. This includes a six-part learning series, twenty-six-part radio series, and Internet streaming—all of which are distributed nationally and internationally to more than 100 million people.

[aslanov]

Thanks for the link, i can finally watch Iudenitch's performance, there was so much hype about kern's rachmaninov, but this tchaikovsky performance, especially the first movement cadenza is fantastic.

[lostinidlewonder]

The standard of the competitors is extremely high this year. Here they all are, pictures and info.

https://www.cliburn.org/index.php?page=cliburn_current_comp

[lostinidlewonder]

 After months if not years of intense anticipation, Natacha Kudritskaya began the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with the resounding D-flat octave of the Chopin Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor.

The Cliburn Competition preliminaries run through May 26.

Delivering on its promise, the live webcast brings the world closer to the Cliburn at www.cliburn.tv. Watch, vote, email competitors. All from the comfort of your home.



Watching some of the prelim performances, it is a bit dissapointing to see empty seats in the concert hall!!!

[goldentone]

I watched some this afternoon, and I'm watching now.  I could watch all day.
It's hard to believe there are empty seats.  I wish I were there.

[aslanov]

its hard to believe one of the contestants, Nobuyuki Tsujii is blind...from birth. That's insanity. What a dedicated young man. I opened his preliminary recital for the chopin, and stayed for him (however gay that may sound, this is not the appropriate time to point that out, the man's blind)

[birba]

Call me dense, but I don't understand the last post.  What does it mean to "open" a preliminary recital and "stay for him"?  I had heard OF this guy and the story sounds amazing.  But I bet learning the piano blind is easier than becoming blind and still trying to continue to play.

[franz_]

I think Rashkovskiy and Vcatello are having a good chance to win

[iumonito]

C'mon.  Rashkovzkiy has not even played yet!

You may be right, of course, but let them play first, right?  Beus, for example, came in among the favorites and I will be sincerely surpirsed if he passes into the second round (pleasantly so).

So far I see Vondracek, Vacatello, Myer  and Zhang Zuo in the next round, with Naomi Kudo, Cheytan Tierra and Beus and unfortunate enourmous talents crushed under the pressure of the Cliburn stage.

But who knows; I have enormously wrong about stuff like this in the past.

My favorites have been Vondracek's Smetana and Kudo's Vine.  I have not found the equivalent of Davide Cabassi, Fabio Bidini and Antonio Pompa-Baldi thus far, but you never know.  Maybe this time the musician's choice will be Mayumi Sakamoto, who plays last in the first round and has, in my opinion, the most beautiful repertoire in the competition this year. 

[furtwaengler]

Hey, where do they have the repertoire lists?

[kevinatcausa]

The repertoire for each competitor can be found by clicking on the competitor on this cliburn page.   There's also a list of repertoire I made up that's sorted by composer if you want to get a sense of what's getting played.  

[birba]

Can anyone explain to a klutz (me) why I can't see the trials at the cliburn comp.?  I downloaded that silver light thing - twice - but when I point the arrow to see the comp, it doesn't turn into a little hand. Ergo: see nothing.

[aslanov]

Call me dense, but I don't understand the last post.  What does it mean to "open" a preliminary recital and "stay for him"?  I had heard OF this guy and the story sounds amazing.  But I bet learning the piano blind is easier than becoming blind and still trying to continue to play.

as in, i opened the link, and stayed at that site listening to him.

[perfect_pitch]

Is it just me or is the audio quality pretty shitty when watching archived footage???

Anything usually above a forte starts distorting and I know it's not my speakers... because they play everything else very clearly.

I MEAN it is a piano competition and you'd think that the microphones would be setup professionally and broadcast professionally... with decent sound.

[arumih]

Agreed perfect pitch! Just thought it was my headphones. Now I'm trying to listen to a performance with sound only coming out of one side of my headphones, thought it was the headphones again, but nope, it's the stream!

Can't complain too much, this is the first time I'm really getting to listen to performances from a competition of this level. Everyone's ridiculously good...got introduced to some good repertoire from a few of the performers, but everyone does seem to love their Liszt and Chopin..guessing in the semi-finals, we'd probably get something different...would have loved if someone played Scriabin's Poeme Tragique...checked the programme notes...no such luck...sigh...Scott Cantrell from the Dallas News has been doing reviews of the various performances if anyone cares for such things. I'm too impressed by the standard and reminded of how long the road ahead of me is to really care about the reviews, but they are interesting in a way.

[tanman]

and the semifinalists are...


    * Bozhanov
    * Dank
    * Deljavan
    * Kim
    * Kunz
    * Lam
    * Lifits
    * Son
    * Tsujii
    * Vacatello
    * Wu
    * Zhang, Haochen

[goldentone]

I couldn't believe Soyeon Lee didn't make it.

[tanman]

and the finalists are...



    * Bozhanov
    * Son
    * Tsujii
    * Vacatello
    * Wu
    * Zhang

[omei]

Nobuyuki Tsujii has said, he wants to be regarded as a pianist, not a blind man. His emphatic opening of Beethoven sonata in the semifinal drove me in tears right away. His performance was followed by Haochen Zhang who made me smile. 

[perfect_pitch]

    * Bozhanov

Great... Just what we need - another fricking Lang Lang... Have you seen his facial and physical gestures while playing Chopin's Piano Concerto in e minor??? He looks like a frigging idiot...

Plus I think because of his physical gestures he does have a tendency to disrupt the musical line (such as his plonking of the keys and the very big hand lifts....)

Where are all the dignified Pianists... (Pollini, Horowitz... oh wait - they're dead  ) People who play from the heart instead of trying to make it into a physical drama...

Is it just me or are there more and more people trying to turn Pianism into showtime in the movies with their over the top eccentricities???

[minor9th]

Umm...Pollini is still alive!

[tanman]

Great... Just what we need - another fricking Lang Lang... Have you seen his facial and physical gestures while playing Chopin's Piano Concerto in e minor??? He looks like a frigging idiot...

 

[perfect_pitch]

Umm...Pollini is still alive!

Oh sh*t - your right.... Well thank god one of them is still alive. Don't think he plays much nowadays though...

[franzliszt2]

Bozhanov only does it to make up for his lack of musicality! It's depressing that he is in the final. His fast bits are just like a machine (and notice he doesn't do as many faces, at least Lang Lang does it all of the time lol) and he slow bits where he really really seriosuly cannot play he pulls faces to make it look expressive...instead it just looks stupid as well as sounding awful

[tanman]

anyway....
who are your favs? 

[perfect_pitch]

My favourite is Tsuji... not just because he's blind, but because that despite the fact that he can't see, he's managed to pull off the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with such emotion and care, DESPITE the fact that he's never ever seen the sheet music.

To learn a piece of music like that BY EAR, is remarkable. I think he deserves it... because Bozhanov sure as sh*t doesn't deserve it.

[retrouvailles]

To learn a piece of music like that BY EAR, is remarkable.

He actually didn't learn it entirely by ear. It was reported that he uses the equivalent of sheetmusic written in braille. Don't ask me how that works, but he uses it, along with numerous recordings. As for my views on the competition, I'm not going to let the fact that Tsujii is blind sway me toward him. I am treating him like any other competitor. Sure, his story is remarkable, but that isn't enough. I am going to treat him like a pianist, not a blind man, like he said. I am personally rooting for Vacatello. I was rooting for Beus early on, but he was shamefully cut in the beginning.

[omei]

I attended tonight's concert in person, sitting next to Tsujii's host family. The competition is so keen, but I was told that, Tsujii said to his host family that he didn't come to play for the medal, he came to play for American people. He sees. In his own way, he sees the beauty of life. With his music, he opened my eyes.

[tanman]

I am personally rooting for Vacatello.

like omg! me too! 
I'm dying to hear her prokofiev concerto because that concerto is like awesome!

[franz_]

Vacatello has to marry me.

[tanman]

OMG! their announcing the winners now! 
your predictions?

[tanman]

and the medalists are...






crystal- not awarded 
silver- Son
gold- (tie) Zhang and Tsujii

[goldentone]

I'm very disappointed that Di Wu didn't even medal.  She was my favorite.  Tsujii I believe was deserving, but Zhang I'm really mystified about because he does not yet have the maturity.

[faulty_damper]

I have to agree with you, GoldenTone, although I was impressed at Zhang's Prokofiev 2nd.

I think Tsujii took first because he was blind and one can imagine the kind of publicity it would bring to the Cliburn to award a blind man first prize.  He was a crowd favorite as well.  But I don't think his concerto performances would merit first prize.

[retrouvailles]

I think Tsujii took first because he was blind and one can imagine the kind of publicity it would bring to the Cliburn to award a blind man first prize.  He was a crowd favorite as well.  But I don't think his concerto performances would merit first prize.

Agreed. It's all for the publicity. Take away the blindness and he's just another pianist.

[scottmcc]

Agreed. It's all for the publicity. Take away the blindness and he's just another pianist.

maybe I like the repertoire he chose the best, but I sure thought that his solo performances were pretty awesome.  however, I did find his head bobbing distracting.

zhang seems like a lost, awkward little boy.  his playing was quite good, but I think he could benefit at least as much as tsujii from someone to lead him around.

my vote was for son, so I'm glad she medaled. 

overall I thought the field of competitors was amazing, and I'm really saddened that american idol gets millions of viewers and the cliburn gets dozens.  alas.

[birba]

I think Tsujii took first because he was blind and one can imagine the kind of publicity it would bring to the Cliburn to award a blind man first prize.  He was a crowd favorite as well.  But I don't think his concerto performances would merit first prize.

Let's not forget that Van Cliburn did not win the Tchaikowsky comp. on talent alone.  There are often extra-musical reasons behind the decision.  Part of the game.

[aslanov]

Agreed. It's all for the publicity. Take away the blindness and he's just another pianist.

Although I agree it would be insensitive to treat Nobu any different than the rest of the competitors....but how can you guys be so....i dunno, insensitive towards the other extreme? I mean...he's blind.
He has no sight, and yet he performed that rachmaninov concerto with less mistakes than Evgeni.
I'd say that his rach 2 was better than Wu's Rach 3 (which i didnt really like much).  If not for his musicality and maturity, what about his dedication? When you compare him to the other winner, Zhang i think it was...why not Nobu first place?  Finally, I sincerely doubt that the jury which consists mature and seasoned musicians would let their judgment of quality of music be compromised by his blindness. If anything, their judgement of the art as a whole would be compromised by Nobu's dedication

[perfect_pitch]

He has no sight, and yet he performed that rachmaninov concerto with less mistakes than Evgeni.
I'd say that his rach 2 was better than Wu's Rach 3 (which i didnt really like much).

I enjoyed Wu's performance of Rach 3... it wasn't great but I did enjoy it.

I'm shocked that Bozhanov managed to make it to the finals with his over the top playing style, but you could clearly see that Tsujii's performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was FAR BETTER than Bozhanovs, so I believe that he deserved to tie and get the gold.

[lostinidlewonder]

Although I agree it would be insensitive to treat Nobu any different than the rest of the competitors....but how can you guys be so....i dunno, insensitive towards the other extreme? I mean...he's blind.
He has no sight, and yet he performed that rachmaninov concerto with less mistakes than Evgeni.
I'd say that his rach 2 was better than Wu's Rach 3 (which i didnt really like much).

I had to admit I knew Tsujii was going to win, because of his lack of sight. His Rach 2 opening was quite terrible, out of time and everything! I was shocked but he did recover eventually. But a gold medal performace it was not.

[perfect_pitch]

Yeah I did notice that... however isn't it the conducters role and responsibility to keep up with the soloist?

I don't think it's necessarily Tsuji's fault... or I don't think it's completely his fault.

[scottmcc]

i thought part of the role of the conductor was to reign in the soloist...

which raises a question...how would a blind soloist react to a conductor, who is by definition only giving visual cues?

[retrouvailles]

i thought part of the role of the conductor was to reign in the soloist...

which raises a question...how would a blind soloist react to a conductor, who is by definition only giving visual cues?

Actually, in my experience with conductors, on average, conductors are supposed to follow the soloist. A lot of this is discussed in rehearsals so that neither conductor or soloist does anything surprising in the performance. Maestro Conlon would just have to not do anything out of the ordinary, for Tsujii is just going to do exactly what was done in rehearsal. So, consistency is paramount.

[omei]

As a principle, Maestro Colon let them be themselves, as he said.

[franz_]

I had to admit I knew Tsujii was going to win, because of his lack of sight. His Rach 2 opening was quite terrible, out of time and everything! I was shocked but he did recover eventually. But a gold medal performace it was not.

I saw it, and it was completely the fault of the conducter, who asked the orchestra to play faster, as he didn't like the tempo given by noboyuki. Disgusting, I even think the pianist had to skip some notes to be on time again with the orchestra.
On the other hand, I can't understand why Vacatello didn't take a prize.

[nanabush]

Zhang must have been quite dedicated too.  How long does it take to learn three 50 minute recitals, a quintet and 2 full concertos?  He's only 19!  I find that pretty impressive.

I really liked Tsujii recital performances, and other than the start of the Rachmaninoff, which made me feel really bad, I really enjoyed it.

I sort of knew that the two of them were going to win.  I also really like Vacatello and Di Wu, but I suspected it was going to turn out how it did.

[tanman]

His Rach 2 opening was quite terrible, out of time and everything! I was shocked but he did recover eventually. But a gold medal performace it was not.

Did you hear Vacatello's prok 3?     

But other than that, she still should have at least gotten a medal.

[dfwreporting]

Hi,

There's an  exclusive, behind the scenes video on DFWReporting.com from the 2009 Van Cliburn Internation Piano competition on DFWReporting.com here:

https://dfwreporting.com/2009/06/06/exclusive-behind-the-scenes-at-the-van-cliburn-pianist-competition-in-fort-worth/

[birba]

Help!  Can anyone explain to me why I can't get into the van cliburn video clips?  I have installed the silverlight programme, but still nothing works.  Do you have to make a donation first?

[faulty_damper]

Check if your browser is compatible.  I used Firefox to view.