Have u been to Hong Kong and realize how absurd that situation turned out to be?
He plays 4 hands with pop stars, he is called 'the prince of piano', some people called him 'greatest pianist alive', fans fainted over his appearance and he certainly enjoys it, so many people bought his CD and not listen to it.
ANd this kind of thing transists him from making serious music to a pop-star/pianist kind of thing, and his Grieg Concerto performance in HK is just horrifying... He plays so uncertainly, and it's like he lost every single bit of glory that he used to have. ANd people still waved about his performance.
OMG, you can't believe how ridicuolous this crowd is.
And I believe I have 2 times more matierals of Yundi Li than everyone here has. Yet, I sense a deteroiation in his technique and musical mind. DOn't get me wrong, I am not anti-Li or pro-Lang, I am neither like Li nor Lang. I am just someone loves music.
And I know that there are a lot of Li's fan here. ANd he did made some excellent CDs, but studio recording can be deceiving, If u can, try to get some live performance, u will be dissapointed.
And I can't believe someone called the La Roque (or Husum) performance he gave being 'as good as before'.
His Liszt Sonata back then was one of the best I have heard, now he is just struggling with notes and stupid phrasing, completely ruined the masterpiece. Is it because he has to played the same programme OVER AND OVER AND OVER again for 3 years? I don't know. What I certainly know that is, for people who say 'Yea, Li is as good as before' or 'Li is being commercialized wouldn't affect his playing', are just as blind as the people who think Lang Lang is the 'best, greatest Virtuoso alive'.
It's just simply absurd.
Try to get more materials before u speak.
Where did you get the information that some people called him 'greatest pianist alive', fans fainted over his appearance and he certainly enjoys it? This is certainly the wildest thing I have ever heard. If what you said is true, the website dedicated to him would have mentioned it when that happened. This is just the tactic employed by Lang Lang fans to exaggerate the whole situation. They thought they could copy examples of Liszt when women fainted on seeing Liszt?
There might be some people who just bought the CD without listening to it, but what has that got to do with Yundi's music? To prove that his music is not good enough? The way his record company DG had promoted Yundi has nothing to do with his music. Didn't DG advertise Lang Lang shamelessly as era of future classical music? Lang Lang even accompanied pop star singer Lee in the album of this pop singer and yet you don't see any criticism any where, but when Yundi Li played with pop singer at a party for fun, the Chinese websites attacked Yundi like ***. I had bad experiences dealing with these Yundi attackers in the past in the sense that those websites masters just deleted my posts and blocked my IP. Why is it that Yundi was allowed to be abused by those people but no one is supposed to say anything for him?
I have heard Yundi's Grieg concerto recorded in Hong Kong (someone recorded it in the concert hall) and it is comparable to the one played by Lipatti. What you said is similar to what a Harvard university graduate had said. This person had written a few articles praising Lang Lang to sky high but attacked Yundi at the same time although he doesn't know much about classical music (his doctorate degree is in humanity subject, not music). What he wrote was sometimes published in Asia magazine. Quite a few Hong Kong writers haven't been kind towards Yundi at all, strange, isn't it? Luckily they have more or less stopped this kind of activities. Instead, you see them trying to seize opportunities to praise Lang Lang while praising Yundi after Yundi had won CD prize from New York Times.
Studio recording could be deceiving, true, but have you heard Yundi playing in concert halls? Didn't you read what music critics had written that his Liszt sonata is even better played in concert halls? People who have paid attention to what is happening in the west won't be misled so easily by you.
As I mentioned before, I lived in HK, I think I have a more complete picture of what happened than u do.
And I almost take it as a insult that u think Li's Grieg Concerto is comparable to Lipatti's. Can't u hear all those uncertain moment in his music? Don't u think he should practice that piece more before he perform it in Hong Kong. If u think it's on the same level with Lipatti's legendary perforamcne then I think I have nothing to say to u.
Quite frankly, I like Li's recording 10 times better than Lang Lang.
Lang Lang is just a pianist sweeps thru all those concerto without brain, his Rach3 is so horrible that i have to put it way below my CD shelf. And he is now doing Rach2, Rach/paganin and performning Prokofiev 3rd and Bartok 2nd in the coming January in Chicago.
I own every single CDs that Li and Lang Lang put out, and I enjoy the majority of Li's CD. While LL's CDs are always a joke to me. (Especially the Carnegie Hall CD, the Schubert Wanderer Fantasy almost made me want to puke. It's just so 'greasy')
I feel dissapointed and bad about Li's tendency of technique and musicality. Yes, he is still putting out good CDs like the recent Chopin Scherzi which I enjoy the No.1-3 very much (not a big fan of his 4th) and his impromtus too.
overall, I think Li is a much better pianist but he has very little freedom on what he can perform, and he has to obey the record company in order to survive (remember the Vietnamess Chopin competition winner Dang Thai Son? He doesn't obey DG and he is now nobody) Lang lang is lucky, because he started out in American or in the western world, which the classical music audience are more mature and willing to listen to lesser-known music. So DG gives him more freedom as they know he will still sale even if he plays stuff by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. But will it be the same for Li? NOOO! Li's career based in Asia, and it's Asian who knows Li the best, and he is more popular in Asia. And Asian classical music listener are lesser mature, they are expecting like 10 CD of Chopin , maybe occasionaly some Liszt or beethoven. So DG made Li play just those several pieces that he has been performning for 3 or more years. I meant, everyone will be tired of those piece after 3 years of continous performance, no matter how great those pieces are. And that's one of the reason why the marketing of the company can change the musical quality of a pianist.
ANd Lang Lang was right, he was very lucky and it's very rare of him to be so successful.
And what I hate about Lang Lang is he pays no attention to the 'tone-color', he jerks the notes so bad that it sounds like CD scratch (listen to his Don Juan)
While tone-color is Li's forte, I think his tone-color in the Ballade 4 and Grande Polonaise can be comparable to some of the greatest pianist alive right now (eg, Zimerman)
But again, I feel bad for Li, instead of attacking him, he is one of the most talented pianist for sure, but the marketing tactics has made him nothing but a pop-star/pianist here in Asia. And it's a shame.
While Lang Lang enjoys the freedom of recording 5 crappy CDs a year, Li can only tour around the world playing what the company tells him to play. (Believe me, Li's reportire is WAY bigger than it's projected to be. He played Brahms 2nd when he was 16, Prokofiev sonatas, and Liszt transcdental etudes. But these pieces are consider as 'cold dish' in Asia, people in Asia are still expecting stuff like Chopin. Just look at how sucessful Maksim is, and u will know how superficial the mass audience of Asia are)
Again, I am feeling bad for Li. And I am bashing Lang lang for his crappy tone-color.
But I think Li's Grieg Concerto, Liszt sonata live are very bad indeed.
I got his Liszt concerto 1 several days ago, and I like it. So maybe he is rethinking of changing his reportire and start to educate the mass audiecne in Asia.
And yes, there was female fans fainted over him, and he was really called the 'prince of piano' in Asia. At least that's what I read and watched on the news and TV. And I have friends who were friend with him back in Shanghai Music Conservatory, and they have told me some nasty thing about him. But I don't think that's what matters.
But I am just telling u, Li is no more of a sacred figure that u potray him to be. He is a pianist, and he needs to earn money, so he was enjoying his fame and the craziness of fans in Asia, as much as Lang Lang enjoying his sucess and phony praise of his music here in America.
I like them both, yet, I abhor certain aspect of their career.
Topic: Yundi Li