18th International Chopin Competition
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wrote on 21 Jul 2021, 17:05 last edited by Klaus
List your predictions for the results of the first round!
Here's mine:
Proceed to next round:
- VICTORIA WONG
- Anke Pan
Out:
- MACIEJ WOTA
- Katharina Hack
(to be continued as competition goes on)
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wrote on 21 Jul 2021, 17:27 last edited by
I listen to Chopin while I mow the lawn.
But not by any of these people, Arthur Rubinstein.
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I listen to Chopin while I mow the lawn.
But not by any of these people, Arthur Rubinstein.
wrote on 21 Jul 2021, 17:37 last edited by@copper said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
I listen to Chopin while I mow the lawn.
But not by any of these people, Arthur Rubinstein.
Us polish Jews prefer the moniker “Artur”
The first serious classical music record I ever bought was Artur’s rendition of Chopins piano concertos 1 and 2. I think I must have been about 12.
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wrote on 21 Jul 2021, 18:31 last edited by
Second pianist I listened to so far, this guy is very good, musically and technically: https://chopin2020.pl/en/competitors/153/yuchong-wu
I expect him to advance.
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wrote on 21 Jul 2021, 21:05 last edited by
@bachophile said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
Artur
I listen to Artur Rubinstein playing the nocturnes, while driving, mowing the lawn and playing golf. My wife is tired of hearing them.
Several people in the Saturday morning group will play music during the round. Some even install speakers on the cart. In this part of Virginia, you mostly hear Country & Western or some 80's Pop maybe Jimmy Buffet. I can listen to those, but you can raise an eyebrow with Chopin Nocturnes.
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wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 10:25 last edited by
The level in this competition is insanely high. I'd gladly attend a full concert of basically every contestant I heard so far. Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
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The level in this competition is insanely high. I'd gladly attend a full concert of basically every contestant I heard so far. Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 11:13 last edited byWas scrolling through the list of contestants. It looks like over 80% of them are Asians of the far-eastern/Oriental varieties. It seems competitive classical piano playing has become a de facto racist enterprise.
@klaus said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
Due to widespread racial discrimination 150 years ago, most of the Asian pianists would have been barred from entering the US, let alone be given concert halls, due to the various versions of the Chinese Exclusion Act in effect in that era. :man-shrugging:
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wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 12:17 last edited by
Listening to Miki Yamagata now, technically impassive for sure, and I liked her Nocturnes and Mazurkas, keep hoping for stronger left-hand melodic elements in her Etudes, and keep hoping for more swagger, more robust rubato with her Ballade #4. My prediction is that she will advance past the preliminaries but probably will not advance as far as YuChong Wu whom I heard yesterday. :man-shrugging:
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The level in this competition is insanely high. I'd gladly attend a full concert of basically every contestant I heard so far. Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 14:37 last edited by@klaus said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
The level in this competition is insanely high. I'd gladly attend a full concert of basically every contestant I heard so far. Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
So piano playing is a solved problem, you say?
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@klaus said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
The level in this competition is insanely high. I'd gladly attend a full concert of basically every contestant I heard so far. Everyone of them would have made headlines and been given the biggest concert halls 150 years ago.
So piano playing is a solved problem, you say?
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 14:46 last edited by jon-nyc@horace said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
So piano playing is a solved problem, you say?
It’s only a problem when Klaus is playing. The solution is well known - get him to stop.
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@horace said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
So piano playing is a solved problem, you say?
It’s only a problem when Klaus is playing. The solution is well known - get him to stop.
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 17:55 last edited by@jon-nyc said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
@horace said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
So piano playing is a solved problem, you say?
It’s only a problem when Klaus is playing. The solution is well known - get him to stop.
But getting me to stop isn't easy. Only if you pry the piano from my dead cold hands.
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wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 17:57 last edited by
One thing this competition reminds me of: I don't really like most of the Mazurkas. Does anyone? I like almost everything else from Chopin, but the Mazurkas don't work for me.
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One thing this competition reminds me of: I don't really like most of the Mazurkas. Does anyone? I like almost everything else from Chopin, but the Mazurkas don't work for me.
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 19:24 last edited by@klaus said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
One thing this competition reminds me of: I don't really like most of the Mazurkas. Does anyone? I like almost everything else from Chopin, but the Mazurkas don't work for me.
The Mazurkas are where Chopin went full Polish, they are more "ethnic music" than "classical music", so I supposed from that standpoint it does not surprise me that the Mazurkas do not appeal to the non-Poles the same way the other Chopin pieces do. :man-shrugging:
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wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 21:39 last edited by
From today's competitors....here's Boao Zhang (18 years old!) playing what most pianists consider to be the hardest etude, Op. 10 No. 2. Knocks it off with ease.
Link to video
I think he's a candidate to advance to the finals. -
From today's competitors....here's Boao Zhang (18 years old!) playing what most pianists consider to be the hardest etude, Op. 10 No. 2. Knocks it off with ease.
Link to video
I think he's a candidate to advance to the finals.wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 21:50 last edited by@sd-tav said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
the hardest etude, Op. 10 No. 2.
There are more rankings of Chopin Etude difficulty than Etudes, but I've never seen anyone propose 10/2 for the top spot.
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@sd-tav said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
the hardest etude, Op. 10 No. 2.
There are more rankings of Chopin Etude difficulty than Etudes, but I've never seen anyone propose 10/2 for the top spot.
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 22:20 last edited by@klaus Here's an interesting ranking of all of the etudes
Link to video)!
[Chopin Etudes](
He does mention Op. 10 Nos. 1 and 2 (I agree!) and Op. 25 No. 6. the double thirds one is a real b*tch! I can only play it at half tempo. -
wrote on 22 Jul 2021, 22:26 last edited by
I would never have guessed he's only 18, I mean if I walked by him on the street.
I haven't studied the etudes enough to have a strong ranking viewpoint, but agree that 10/2 is a bear.
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From today's competitors....here's Boao Zhang (18 years old!) playing what most pianists consider to be the hardest etude, Op. 10 No. 2. Knocks it off with ease.
Link to video
I think he's a candidate to advance to the finals.wrote on 23 Jul 2021, 00:54 last edited by@sd-tav said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
Boao Zhang (18 years old!) playing […] etude, Op. 10 No. 2. Knocks it off with ease.
Went listen because you called out him out. Agree with you assessment that he knocked Op.10 #2 out of the park; that performance was divine.
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wrote on 24 Jul 2021, 10:03 last edited by
The list of competitors who advanced to Stage 1 has been posted.
The preliminary round eliminated half of the competitors. A little over 2/3 of competitors from China advanced. Just a bit less than half of Japan’s competitors advanced. Amazingly, 15 out of 16 competitors from Poland advanced!
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The list of competitors who advanced to Stage 1 has been posted.
The preliminary round eliminated half of the competitors. A little over 2/3 of competitors from China advanced. Just a bit less than half of Japan’s competitors advanced. Amazingly, 15 out of 16 competitors from Poland advanced!
wrote on 24 Jul 2021, 17:10 last edited by Klaus@axtremus said in 18th International Chopin Competition:
Amazingly, 15 out of 16 competitors from Poland advanced!
Quick, let's turn this into a partisan issue such that we know whether to condemn or defend this.