OK, it’s been and gone and so some of us are in the depths of withdrawal and may remain such for another long four years!
The first time I involved myself in this event was either in 1988 or 1992. The event was of a much smaller scale and the competitors of lesser quality (considering it only began in 1976). It was still an exhibition of the brilliance and the exuberance of youth. I popped into the Conservatorium on several days through-out the competition and as I recall, the awards night and final performances were at the town hall.
For various reasons, I have not really followed the event since. But this year, my brother emailed me a month or so before and so I decided to spend sometime there and aren’t I glad I did!
I happened to be in the city on one of the Semi-finals sessions. Whilst I had some problems with booking tickets online, I was able to purchase them at the Conservatorium. The Conservatorium itself had changed significantly since I was there, last.
While in the queue for tickets, I spoke with a lady who was here from Adelaide. She was one of the many volunteers and was rewarded with some concessions for the session. She was regretting that she was heading back before the finals! Many of the others were regretting the same or that they hadn’t come earlier! No doubt the competition was addictive and there were music lovers here from all parts of Australia. What’s not addictive about a group of young enthusiastic musicians – the future of their profession.
Near the foyer, there was an exhibition of pianos and several people were taking the opportunity to play on some of the best pianos in the world! Including some kids who thumped and banged on the keys with utter delight while their adoring mums encouraged them! But there were some brilliant passages of music being played as well.
I was early, so I decided I would go down to the area and have a closer look (yes, the thumping kids and their adoring mums had moved on!!). There were several youth pianists there, probably students from the Conservatorium but there was also an fairly elderly Asian pianist playing some incredible passages, including some from the Liszt Piano concerto.
I sat there and enjoyed the many refrains coming from all sides!
Closer to the time of the competition session, I entered the auditorium. Shortly after, a tall, elegant young lady with “big red hair” (sorry, but that’s the only way to describe it) sat next to me. I had noticed her earlier in the foyer (it was impossible not to!). Several others came and congratulated her and told her that they thought she deserved to be in the Semi-finals. So, she clearly was one of the Australian competitors.
I politely made conversation with her by asking if she was competing and congratulating her on being selected. I then asked her if she had anyone that she was “following”! She mentioned Oxana Shevchenko. I asked why? and she gave me a good youth feminist answer – “she’s the only female in the semi-final”! Ok, but if you took away the gender based biases, who did you find impressive? She said, Oxana was pretty good anyway and judging by some of the comments I heard from others, she obviously was. But she also told me that she really hadn’t had much time to listen to the other competitors and this was really the first time she was attending the sessions. Considering she was participating in the previous rounds, I could well understand that.
As I left the auditorium during the break, I noticed a board with photographs of all the competitors and identified the young lady as Ayesha Gough (winner of the Lev Vlassenko Piano competition 2015). It’s brilliant to see young Aussies playing at that level.
The session I saw included 3 semi finalists – Kenneth Broburg (US), Gyu Tae Ha(Korea) and Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev (Russia). Each performing for over an hour! I found Broburg rather mundane. Ayesha had also mentioned the name of Ha as brilliant and very young! His performance was stylish and he finished off quite brilliantly. But undoubtedly, my favourite was Nokolaev. His performance included my two most favourite composers of piano music, Chopin and Rachmaninov and was masterful, controlled and overflowing with brilliance. It was his performance that continued my interest in the competition.
I was eager to find out the results several days later (as round 2 of the semi-finals which included accompaniment was over a few days and it didn’t really interest me), and was pleasantly surprised to see that both Broburg and Nikolaev had made it in to the finals. I was disappointed that Ha hadn’t and couldn’t help but think that politics probably gets in the way of these judgements. For instance, having to 2 Russians, 2 Chinese and no Yanks – not acceptable. Having no women was probably not acceptable either! Ha was much younger than the rest and so has probably got plenty of time to shine (although this should not have been taken into account). To add to that, the judges had seen the previous rounds as well and could make a more holistic judgement. Regardless, I was sure that the stage was set for a great final.
The Final was scheduled over 4 days. Round one was over the first 2 days and included 18th century concerto and a few days later, round 2 a 19th or 20th century concerto.
For the first time, the competition was streamed over the internet. This was a great offering by the organisers. It meant that a much larger global audience could enjoy the event.
I missed the first day of round 1. But on the second day watched both the Chinese contestants Moye Chen and Jianing Kong and Oxana Shevchenko. All six contestants played Mozart in round 1. Not surprisingly both Chen and Kong had silky smooth techniques with amazing control. Whilst I do enjoy Mozart, it doesn’t move me as much as the Romantic and Impressionist periods. I had now seen 5 of the 6 finalist and still had a preference for Nikolaev, although I did think the Chinese contestants were going to be great challengers.
Round 2 finally arrived – this was my passion. 2 contestants played Prokofiev No 2, one Saint-Saens No. 2, one Brahms No. 2 and 2 Rachmaninov's No. 2. Day one had Broberg, Nikolaev and Gugnin playing Saint-Saens, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev respectively.
Broberg gave a solid performance, but not a moving one. In an interview later, he said that his choice of concerto was more due to a mis-match between the eligible items and his repertoire.
New was Nikolaev playing Rachmaninov, which was for me the performance of the finals. Finally Gugnin played the Prokofiev, which was impressive to watch, but Prokofiev rarely moves me.There is no doubt he played it well.
Day 2 had Oxana playing Prokofiev, Chen playing Rachmaninov and Kong playing Brahms. Oxana was clearly the hosts of the streaming and the other commentators favourite. Unfortunately she apparently completely messed up a page or so in one of the movements. I’m not sure how anyone would have known(!!) as it all seemed like the orchestra was still tuning and the piano was bashing away numerous notes – physically extremely demanding, I would think!
Then came Chen, whose performance of Rachmaninov was faultless but too me didn’t quite match Nikolaev – I guess it’s hard to beat a Russian playing a Russian! Finally we had Kong take on the ginormous task of Brahms No.2. I was not familiar with the work, but he played it brilliantly all the way!
To me, the result was going to be between Nikolaev, Chen and Kong. Mostly because I just didn’t care for the Prokofiev and the Saint Saens was quite ordinary. And still it was Nikolaev for me!
The streaming had a host and two other guest commentators to fill in the time between performances. One of whom was an totally obnoxious individual by the name of Gerard Willems. The pompous ass decided that the reason some of the audience applauded between movements was because they had never been to a concert!!! In the same breath he mentioned a concert that he had been in where the same thing happened! The idiot didn’t even realise that he was contradicting himself.
I’ve been to many concerts in many parts of the world where concert goers, in their enthusiasm, applaud between movements. In fact, there are certain pieces of music where the first movements have such grandioso endings that consistently audiences applaud – this Gerard clown was talking through his pompous ass!
Let’s leave the pompous ass and get back to the good stuff! It was now time for the results. I couldn’t but think that the brilliance was over and now it was time for the politics. Would the Chinese pianists get a fair hearing (pardon)!
Finally the results were announced. Gugnin won the competition, Nikolaev 2nd and Chen 3rd.The last time I attended the competition the competition was between a Chinese and a German (I don’t recall the names). That time, I preferred the passion of the German over the technical brilliance and smoothness of the Chinese player, but the Judges opted for the Chinese player. Although, he then performed Chopin’s Barcarolle in F sharp major to perfection at the winner’s concert, justifying the judges decision and it have ever since been one of my favourite pieces of music for piano.
So, once again my favourite had come second. There was no encore or winners concert so it was suddenly all over! What had been for me a wonderful week and a bit had now come to an abrupt end and it would be another 4 long years before I would enjoy such a wonderful event back in Sydney. This gathering of brilliance will now disperse – in fact some had left already but they will leave their mark in Sydney forever and least in the minds of some of us. Hopefully we will continue to hear their music and hear of their many future accomplishment.
I wish them all well!
