Yundi Li

[Lang]

What does everybody here think of Yundi Li?

He is a great player with great potential, and his Chopin is very accomplished for his age. But do you think he will get better with age?

[rachlisztchopin]

a fan of lang lang eh?.....interesting

[Floristan]

A great pianist who has unlimited potential, IMHO.

[rachlisztchopin]

don't get me started

[julie391]

or is this really the real langlang? 

yundi li is a PHENOMENAL talent - and he, unlike yourself, marries this talent with great maturity.

dont hit me down for this, but  i feel he is comparable to kapell in this respect.

[chromatickler]

Yundi also happens to have the most mechanized technique i've ever seen. 

[julie391]

you mean he plays mechanically?

i have to disagree if this is the case, but if you are referring to the 'taught' look of his fingers - i may concur

[Baadshah]

i saw him from the front row in paris last year - he played the liszt sonata and several chopin scherzi. the review in the Figaro or le Monde, i cant remember,the following morning absolutely slated him - his performance was supposedly devoid of emotion, just robotic.
 i found that particularly in the scherzi, his electrifying technique was magic and left me completely dazed.  maybe i was just carried away by being 2 metres away from the pianist, but after all, virtuosic pieces require a certain amount of bravura, of course combined with pianistic sensitivity.

[julie391]

proof that critics arent to be trusted

yundi is far from being robotic, although his technique is incredible

[tibidi]

dont hit me down for this, but i feel he is comparable to kapell in this respect.

In what way, julie? Could you please elaborate?

[tibidi]

dont hit me down for this, but i feel he is comparable to kapell in this respect.

[tibidi]

I mean there are so many virtuosos, why compare Yundi Li with William Kapell?

[julie391]

i mean, in that kapell died age 31(i think) and since his career started he was always a very MATURE pianist - fully bloomed it seemed, and with probing musical intellect to match.

i feel yundi li, whilst being a completely different artist of course, is comaparable - just listen to his studio recordings and live recordings, especially of the liszt sonata - so spontaneous and yet also so profoundly thought out and emotionally sincere.

also - watch his performances in the chopin competition - thats amazing playing - in every respect-for someone so young.

i predict he will be one of this generation's truly great pianists.

[stefano]

Yundi li is good,but his technique isnt the best in the world. try arcadi volodos, he has trancendental technique

[julie391]

Yundi li is good,but his technique isnt the best in the world. try arcadi volodos, he has trancendental technique

WRONG

volodos relies upon hand crossing and other 'quasi-cheat' techniques for his showpieces

yundi li never resorts to this kind of stuff, in fact - he fingers octaves with purely 15 fingering.
and he fingers chromatic scales with 13 - just to show off.

im afraid volodos is out of his depth against yundi

[tibidi]

i mean, in that kapell died age 31(i think) and...

What has that got to do with Yundi?

[tibidi]

i feel yundi li, whilst being a completely different artist of course, is comaparable -

I don't understand how two completely different artists are still comparable. I can also say that Lang Lang is comparable to William Kapell. i mean, in that kapell died age 31(i think) and since his career started he was always a very MATURE pianist - fully bloomed it seemed, and with probing musical intellect to match...

i

[tibidi]

In my opinion, the only thing Yundi li and William Kapell have in common is their strong drive  for perfection. William had practised long hours every day ( even longer than yundi Li) to gain perfection. He even did it at the expense of widening his  repertoire. Both pianists are truly very musical and virtuous with Yundi  Li having more musical sensitivity.  Yundi Li is also more passionate and more emotional in expressing his ideas and he often did that convincingly. This is my conclusion after listening to twelve recordings of William Kapell and all of Yundi Li's.

Of course this is just my personal opinion, you need not agree with me.

[tibidi]

Yundi Li has the trancendental technique too. Who is able to run that double octaves faster than him? Still, I won't jump to the conclusion that so and so has the best technique. I never mention Yundi Li before because he is relatively new compared to other pianists. It's interesting to see how Yundi Li will develop in future. I won't be surprised at all if he will become one of the greatest pianists of this century if he continues to strive hard.

[tibidi]

julie 391, I don't think you understand Yundi Li's music  at all. I believe that the more you defend Yundi, the more you will mess up his music. So why not refraining  yourself from defending Yundi Li? However, you may go on defending Lang Lang because I know this is why are are here for.

Sorry if I have sounded rather serious.

[julie391]

i still stand by what i said.

yes - they are comparable in their perfectionist attitudes, and relatively limited repertoire(according to you)

but i was talking in terms of musical maturity, yundi li often sounds like an old master to me, albeit with greater technique

[tibidi]

i still stand by what i said.

yes - they are comparable in their perfectionist attitudes, and relatively limited repertoire(according to you)

No, I have never said that Yundi Li has limited repertoire, I only said Kappel strived for perfection at the expense of widening his repertoire.

julie, I know what is going on, don't try to mess up Yundi's music. You may be able to fool others but you people can never fool me. Take my advice, don't pretend to support Yundi Li, OK? You are a fan of Lang Lang. Fans of Lang Lang are very well organized, poor Yundi Li!

[tibidi]

I am only referring to julie alone here.

[julie391]

lol, what?!!??!?!!

a fan of lang lang cant be a fan of yundi li too?

yundi li does have a limited public repertoire - so limited in fact that he barely plays anythin he hasnt recorded, and always promotes his latest cd.

[tibidi]

You see what I mean? First, julie was more or less cursing Yundi Li by comparing him with Kapell in the way that Kapell died when he was 31 years old. Now she attacked Yundi's limited repertoire. Believe me, please don't take too much notice of what julie say in future regarding Yundi Li. The tactic is this: If a supporter of Yundi Li criticized Yundi, people tend to believe it. I have seen too much of these kinds of nonsense.

julie, do you know that Kapell died of plane crash? Who is flying almost everyday performing all over the world? What a mean fellow I am!

[julie391]

lol, i know kapell died in a plane crash

you are getting me VERY WRONG HERE

i love yundi li's playing, im not attacking his limited repertoire, merely stating facts

thats one of my only quibbles about yundi

[tibidi]

Fans of Lang Lang used to attack Yundi Li at those Chinese websites in the past few years for his not so wide repertoire compared with that of Lang Lang. No doubt that very often, Lang Lang  used to claim that he is able to play forty concertos, but is he ready to record any one of them now? I bet he is very scare to make a recording of those concertos he is still playing in the concert halls now. What is the point of playing so much rubish in the concert halls?

[banana_split]

I've seen this guy around. He's a troublemaker and an expert in twisting the meaning of people's words. Julie, he set you up so that he could attack you. Do you know why? Because he didn't like you defending Lang Lang in another thread. He believes all people who like Lang Lang have a conspiracy to hurt his idol, Yundi Li. Talking about a messed-up mind.....I would avoid this guy like plague!

[abe]

lol, these forums can be malicious. i dont know much about Yundi, but having heard some of his music and seeing as how he won the chopin and liszt competitions, he's gotta be good. really good.

[rachlisztchopin]

lol how interesting
i love it when these sorta things happen
but perfectionists usually do have a limited repertoire...look at michelangeli perhaps....amazing pianist who didnt play a whole lot of stuff

[tibidi]

i saw him from the front row in paris last year - he played the liszt sonata and several chopin scherzi. the review in the Figaro or le Monde, i cant remember,the following morning absolutely slated him - his performance was supposedly devoid of emotion, just robotic.
 

I am quite  used to these sorts of unfair reviews for Yundi Li already after seeing so many of them given to Yundi by some  Chinese Newspapers and Chinese websites for the past few years, but you don’t see so much of these kinds of nonsense nowadays after Yundi has won recognition from some well known western music critics. Instead, you see people trying to  seize  opportunities to praise Lang Lang to sky high  while writing reviews for Yundi or reporting on Yundi’s activities. They  also started to praise Yundi just to make themself look more neutral. After all, if Yundi Li has won New York times CD Prize, who wants to ridicule himself by writing nonsense about Yundi's Liszt album? Still, you do find unfair reviews every now and then. Take a look at the amazon German editorial reviews at the following site:

https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002SZVUO/qid%3D1097822685/sr%3D1-3/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F11%5F3/028-4905226-2534956

If you use google translation to translate reviews written by these people for both Lang Lang and Yundi Li, you will find that they are full of  praises and flatteries for Lang Lang’s three albums without a single trace of negative comment at all.  Yundi is not so lucky, some of the criticisms given to Yundi are not true at all. If you can read German, see if you agree with me. I hope I haven't  misunderstood the translated texts. Do you think these reviewers are fair to Yundi Li?

[abe]

WHO CARES!


PS--I kinda read german, but taking a language in high school barely gets you anywhere, you know?

[flash]

I heard Wilhelm Backaus playing Chopin and it is an other story, an other culture, an other style.
Yund Li is only a commercial thing.
Daniel

[julie391]

Fans of Lang Lang used to attack Yundi Li at those Chinese websites in the past few years for his not so wide repertoire compared with that of Lang Lang. No doubt that very often, Lang Lang  used to claim that he is able to play forty concertos, but is he ready to record any one of them now? I bet he is very scare to make a recording of those concertos he is still playing in the concert halls now. What is the point of playing so much rubish in the concert halls?

i wasnt attacking yundi, i was merely stating one of his shortcomings

[julie391]

I've seen this guy around. He's a troublemaker and an expert in twisting the meaning of people's words. Julie, he set you up so that he could attack you. Do you know why? Because he didn't like you defending Lang Lang in another thread. He believes all people who like Lang Lang have a conspiracy to hurt his idol, Yundi Li. Talking about a messed-up mind.....I would avoid this guy like plague!

noted

[julie391]

lol, these forums can be malicious. i dont know much about Yundi, but having heard some of his music and seeing as how he won the chopin and liszt competitions, he's gotta be good. really good.

trust me, he IS

[julie391]

lol how interesting
i love it when these sorta things happen
but perfectionists usually do have a limited repertoire...look at michelangeli perhaps....amazing pianist who didnt play a whole lot of stuff

in public yes, but his private repertoire was immense

[julie391]

I heard Wilhelm Backaus playing Chopin and it is an other story, an other culture, an other style.
Yund Li is only a commercial thing.
Daniel

i agreed right up to your stupid comment about yundi being commercialised

[julie391]

i saw him from the front row in paris last year - he played the liszt sonata and several chopin scherzi. the review in the Figaro or le Monde, i cant remember,the following morning absolutely slated him - his performance was supposedly devoid of emotion, just robotic.
 

I am quite  used to these sorts of unfair reviews for Yundi Li already after seeing so many of them given to Yundi by some  Chinese Newspapers and Chinese websites for the past few years, but you don’t see so much of these kinds of nonsense nowadays after Yundi has won recognition from some well known western music critics. Instead, you see people trying to  seize  opportunities to praise Lang Lang to sky high  while writing reviews for Yundi or reporting on Yundi’s activities. They  also started to praise Yundi just to make themself look more neutral. After all, if Yundi Li has won New York times CD Prize, who wants to ridicule himself by writing nonsense about Yundi's Liszt album? Still, you do find unfair reviews every now and then. Take a look at the amazon German editorial reviews at the following site:

https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002SZVUO/qid%3D1097822685/sr%3D1-3/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F11%5F3/028-4905226-2534956

If you use google translation to translate reviews written by these people for both Lang Lang and Yundi Li, you will find that they are full of  praises and flatteries for Lang Lang’s three albums without a single trace of negative comment at all.  Yundi is not so lucky, some of the criticisms given to Yundi are not true at all. If you can read German, see if you agree with me. I hope I haven't  misunderstood the translated texts. Do you think these reviewers are fair to Yundi Li?

lol, is there an underground gang culture in china?

the langlang red dragons vs. the yundi li black panthers

LOL

[steinwaymodeld]

proof that critics arent to be trusted

yundi is far from being robotic, although his technique is incredible

It's quite believable, I love his studio recording of the Liszt sonata, and I have heard him live.

But recently I got the live recording of his performacne of Scherzo No.1,2,3 and Liszt sonata, clearly he either had a bad day or the Nike Commercial was just too much of a thriller to him. His technique is not as sharp as before, and it was quite robotic.

He is not as fine as he used to be, let's hope he won't become another Kissin.

[steinwaymodeld]

Yundi li is good,but his technique isnt the best in the world. try arcadi volodos, he has trancendental technique

Volodos is good, but his technique isn't the best in the word. try Marc-Andre hamelin, he has the most transcedental technique ever in history of all keyboard instrument.

[steinwaymodeld]

I heard Wilhelm Backaus playing Chopin and it is an other story, an other culture, an other style.
Yund Li is only a commercial thing.
Daniel

i agreed right up to your stupid comment about yundi being commercialised

I think I have WAY more Yundi li's materials then u have.
Except all the normal recording and video u can buy in store.
I happens to have his Brahms 2nd concerto video back in China when he was 16, I have his LIszt 1st concerto recording when he is in Germany, I haev his COMPLETE Japan recital video (which some of the part was taken out and as a promotion VCD in his liszt cd, too bad they didn't include the Liszt sonata, which in my opinion was pretty good.)

But to be frank, his technique and musical idea deteroiate thru out years as I have obsevered. It's quite a dissapointment, as I was excepting him to bloom.

His recent chopin scherzo recording has somehow redeem a little bit of my trust to him.
But still, I don't think he cares about the music as much as he did before.

And yea, he was a VERY VERY VERY commercialized icon in Asia (I am from Hong Kong), and half of the people who listen to him doesn't even know the music. They think he looks like a japanese TV drama star. It's quite sad, as he thinks the same thing too. And the company shapes him into this kind of Pop-star/Pianist thing.

[steinwaymodeld]

Last thing, it's quite absurd of u to compare Kapell to Li.

[chromatickler]

Yundi li is good,but his technique isnt the best in the world. try arcadi volodos, he has trancendental technique

Volodos is good, but his technique isn't the best in the word. try Marc-Andre hamelin, he has the most transcedental technique ever in history of all keyboard instrument.

Try Vadim Rudenko 

[julie391]

proof that critics arent to be trusted

yundi is far from being robotic, although his technique is incredible

It's quite believable, I love his studio recording of the Liszt sonata, and I have heard him live.

But recently I got the live recording of his performacne of Scherzo No.1,2,3 and Liszt sonata, clearly he either had a bad day or the Nike Commercial was just too much of a thriller to him. His technique is not as sharp as before, and it was quite robotic.

He is not as fine as he used to be, let's hope he won't become another Kissin.

i heard a similar recital on radio and he sounded on top form recently, to each his own though...

[julie391]

I heard Wilhelm Backaus playing Chopin and it is an other story, an other culture, an other style.
Yund Li is only a commercial thing.
Daniel

i agreed right up to your stupid comment about yundi being commercialised

I think I have WAY more Yundi li's materials then u have.
Except all the normal recording and video u can buy in store.
I happens to have his Brahms 2nd concerto video back in China when he was 16, I have his LIszt 1st concerto recording when he is in Germany, I haev his COMPLETE Japan recital video (which some of the part was taken out and as a promotion VCD in his liszt cd, too bad they didn't include the Liszt sonata, which in my opinion was pretty good.)

But to be frank, his technique and musical idea deteroiate thru out years as I have obsevered. It's quite a dissapointment, as I was excepting him to bloom.

His recent chopin scherzo recording has somehow redeem a little bit of my trust to him.
But still, I don't think he cares about the music as much as he did before.

And yea, he was a VERY VERY VERY commercialized icon in Asia (I am from Hong Kong), and half of the people who listen to him doesn't even know the music. They think he looks like a japanese TV drama star. It's quite sad, as he thinks the same thing too. And the company shapes him into this kind of Pop-star/Pianist thing.

yes, his persona is commerialised

but his PLAYING - IMO hasnt been affected at all by this

and i think he hasnt deteriorated recently...sounds as good as ever to me

[julie391]

Yundi li is good,but his technique isnt the best in the world. try arcadi volodos, he has trancendental technique

Volodos is good, but his technique isn't the best in the word. try Marc-Andre hamelin, he has the most transcedental technique ever in history of all keyboard instrument.

Try Vadim Rudenko 

i have as of yet only heard his infamous chopin etude 10/2 recording, his overall ability is still in question until i hear more from him

till then hamelin is king

[julie391]

Last thing, it's quite absurd of u to compare Kapell to Li.

i feel their level of maturity at young age is comparable

i wasnt comparing their actual playing style

[rachlisztchopin]

why do you like hamelin so much julie? is it because he plays alkan? I dont know if I should saying much because I only have heard his Alkan Concerto recording but I believe he plays it way to fast. Maybe that is the way it is supposed to be played, but hamelin is only famous for performing alkan if what my last piano teacher said is correct...."He's an Alkan Specialist"
Sorry if I am incorrect for I do not know much on the pianist.
By the way are their any videos of him playing Alkan...if so I would want to get one just to see.

[brewtality]

There's more to Hamelin than his Alkan. His Chopin-Godowsky etudes are fantastic, not only does he handle the technical difficulties with ease but he's very musical aswell. His Liszt cd on Hyperion is also wonderful (except for nuage gris which bores me). Definitely the greatest technician i've ever heard.