Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner 2009 Van Cliburn Competition Megathread

And I was telling the rest of the forum that my opinions were a bit less simplistic than your characterization. I think I'm still allowed to speak to the other people, right?

Yeah!

If the piano plays faster than the orchestra can actually play, then it is the pianist's fault. And that stuff should be worked out in rehearsal.

What makes you think that Conlon is supposed help the pianists appear at their best? It is entirely possible that what he is doing is giving the competitors a test by not being a very good collaborator, in order to show the jury how the they deal with that kind of situation. It's one they definitely will have to deal with in real life. The Cliburn is as interested in how the winners will do after the competition as how they play during the competition, and demonstrating how they cope with an uncooperative conductor can give the jurors insight.

It seems too subtle a test for the judges to arrange, first of all. Second, thousands of people have paid good money to attend the concerts in the hall, and thousands more are listening in live or on delayed tape. You would think they would want to give the best impression possible of the Fort Worth Symphony, the Van Cliburn competition and its organizers, and most of all of the music being performed. Instead we get intonation problems, contrasting tempos between the orchestra and soloist, and playing that is out of sync. This has happened to a number of the competitors so it is clearly a conductor/orchestra problem.

If they are looking for a subtle test that these competitors are likely to face, why not put on the stage one of those Steinways that show up in the showroom unprepped, rather than the three Steinways the competitors now get that seem to be fussed over day and night by Steinway's two top technicians. That would be a cheap and easy test and something that all concert and amateur pianists would understand and empathize with.

FYI - this is one of the better sites blogging the competition.


http://startelegram.typepad.com/notes_from_the_cliburn/

I think there is about as much chance of this being true as my being able to play the Prok 2 cadenza with my nose.

Yeah, the 'Conlon isn't really an arrogant jerk, he just plays one for the Cliburn' theory doesn't convince me either.

Is that an "official" blog?
I couldn't find any criticism in there.



For the technicians - how does that translate to technical terms?

I think they do a fine job. Sure, there are problems, but think about what they're being asked:

The orchestra and conductor have to rehearse and perform 12 different concerto performances in under a week. Since the exact concerti were not known until the announcement of the finalists, the exact concerti - and schedule - were unknown to the players until the last minue. This means remembering and executing 12 different sets of tempi in a very short amount of time.

This is in stark contrast to what most orchestras do - 4 rehearsals on one concerto, including 2 without the soloist and 2 with.

Plus, it's completely fair to expect pianists of this caliber to be able to work with an orchestra's problems. They've all played with orchestras before, and the management contract they'll receive will include performances with orchestras who are not as good as Fort Worth.

In my three years at the Aspen Festival and School, I heard probably two or three dozen concertos. Of those, which were played by one of the finest festival orchestras on the planet with some of the greatest soloists ever, only two stand out as having achieved a level of perfection where there were no issues with intonation and ensemble. They were Gil Shaham (Mendelssohn) and Stephen Hough (Scharwenka).

Live performance always has its pitfalls, even more so when the stakes and adrenaline run so high.

maybe next time, they would find a better orchestra? it's pretty unfair for all those finalists who have to play 2 concerti with only 1-2 hour rehearsal time. another option is to play only 1 concerto in the final instead of 2.

Cleveland competition has a world class orchestra, which never had such problems.

The Cliburn Competition will always be in Texas.

I think the best solution, if you want perfect orchestral parts, is to have more than one orchestra. Why not have the Dallas Symphony do the matinee session and the FWSO do the evening session?

The main difficulty is lack of rehearsal and that won't solve the problem. Also, I think out of fairness all competitors should play with the same orchestra and conductor.

Very true, but no amount of rehearsal will help if the orchestra is simply tiring out after all the performances asked of them. No reason to change conductors, either. Orchestras work under guest conductors all the time. So to amend my proposal:

1) Have two orchestras, but with the same conductor

2) Increase rehearsal time, maybe by allowing each performer at least two rehearsals with each orchestra. This is one of the premier competitions, after all, why not spend more time on getting everything right?

OTOH, someone pointed out that the current setup is a good test of a performer's ability to cope with a less-than-ideal orchestra and perhaps a conductor who has his own ideas, and is a stubborn collaborator. Like any decision, there's pros and cons.

if we have 2 orchestras, then each finalist will play 1 concerto with one and the other concerto with the other. so, it will still be fair.

i really think one orchestra for 12 concerto performances is too much, whether the players are good or not.

Tsujii's recital selection should cement him as audience favorite:

LvB Op. 57 Appasionata
Chopin Op. 57 Berceuse
Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody #2

I'm lovin' it already.

Wow, the Cliburn has gotten so mediocre.. Their orchestra is simply asinine. So unprofessional, they aren't even together with THEMSELVES, let alone with the soloist - terrible! I am speechless!

Not really crazy about any of the contestants either. I hope Nobu wins though - he's actually inspiring. Oh yeah, and now I'm ashamed I'm Bulgarian thanks to that FREAK.

so far, a very typical Appasionata and clean.