Yundi Li (piano)
Saturday 20 September 2003
Terrace Theater,
Kennedy Center, Washington
Presented under
the auspices of the Washington Performing Arts Society's Piano
Series
Chopin: The Four Scherzos
Liszt:
Sonata in B minor
Yundi Li's name is (for the time being, at least) almost unknown in the
United States. Yet his United States debut recital in Washington sold out
several weeks in advance; standing room tickets offered just before the concert
disappeared in a matter of minutes; and upwards of 50 people had to be turned
away by the box office.
Li arrived with one of the strongest credentials any young pianist can earn. In 2000, the day after he turned 18, he won first prize in what is perhaps the most prestigious of all instrumental contests, Warsaw's quinquennial Chopin Competition — the first pianist to be so honored in 15 years.
Past Chopin winners include Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman — and Li deserves to be in their company. He plays with remarkable accuracy and pliability, with a melting tone and an extraordinary identification with Chopin's idiom. He should develop into a great artist; plenty of moments in this recital suggested that he already is.
For instance, few pianists ever respond so completely as Li did to both the dramatic and the lyrical aspects of Chopin's B minor Scherzo. In the presto con fuoco ("fast with fire") outer sections, the outstanding quality of his playing was its sense of power: a massive, smooth-rolling pianistic mechanism almost frightening in its relentless sweep. Yet the quiet molto piu lento ("much more slowly") central section, with its evocation of a Polish lullaby, could not have been more light, more sure-fingered or more lyrical. Li possesses a floating, singing right-hand touch that brought out in the gentle melody details I had never heard before.
He was able to bring something fresh to each of the subsequent pieces: seriousness and passion, as well as caprice, in the B-flat minor Scherzo; an unusual depth of expression in the build-up to the conclusion of the C-sharp minor Scherzo that made the coda all the more breathtaking; beauty of tone and clarity of finger work that endowed the ethereal chords and streams of arpeggios in the E major Scherzo with almost Mendelssohnian delicacy.
The Liszt Sonata was no less impressive. The pianist gave a serious but sensuous reading in which huge sonorities were thundered forth rather than banged out and in which heroic turbulence did not crowd out deep tenderness.
Yundi Li will inevitably be compared to another Chinese pianist only a few months older than he is — the 21-year-old sensation Lang Lang, who has already achieved the kind of box-office success that the likes of Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida acquired only after decades. Yet high fees and press coverage do not equal achievement. In the latter respect, Li is far ahead of Lang, who sometimes appears to have spent more time thinking about the physical gestures and facial grimaces most likely to ignite audiences than about the interpretation of music. Like the great pianists of the early 20th century, Li plays with a poker face and economy of motion; his emotions — and he is a deeply emotional player — are poured into what the audience hears rather than what it sees.
Moreover, Li has the ability to point up sharply a phrase in a manner that
suggests a much older and more experienced interpreter. The only aspect of his
playing to which I take exception is that, on a few occasions, his extremely
detailed phrasing momentarily interrupts the music's momentum. Just like telling
a story well, playing a piece of music compellingly means learning to emphasize
some details and to spend less time on others. This comes with experience,
something which Li has plenty of time to acquire.
