posted by M. L. Liu, the Unofficial Website for International Fans of Nobuyuki Tsujii
(The title of this post is inspired by Anthony Doerr's novel All the Light We Cannot See.)
UPDATE: On Oct. 31, Nobuyuki Tsujii's performance in Manchester U.K. was a great success.
On October 31, Nobuyuki Tsujii will performRachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 for his first time. It will take place in the U.K., with the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Yutaka Sado. Since early September, Nobu has been holed up in Tokyo in preparation for this performance. And I have been sweating at the thought of Nobu tackling this impossible work.
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Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 is considered by many the most challenging concerto for a pianist. It is monstrous: thousands of densely packed notes to be performed in 40 minutes. It used to be considered so difficult that only the most virtuosic of pianists could and should tackle it. One of the many challenges of performing this work is to keep the audience engaged throughout its three lengthy movements ... to reach the torrid finale, which always brings the house down -- it seems -- regardless of who is playing.
Perhaps I am the only one who was clueless about this, but do you know which pianist gave the most famous performance of Rach 3, ever? No, not Horowitz, Argerich, or Kissin; not even Rachmaninov himself. It is Australian pianist David Helfgott. Mr. Helfgott is no longer in the spotlights these days, but in 1996 he was quite a global sensation, when an award-winning feature film Shine propelled this completely unknown pianist to a fame unimaginable in the classical music world.
There are striking parallels between the stories of Helfgott and Nobu. Helfgott was a pianist prodigy whose promising career was cut short by mental illness. The film (which I have not seen) portrays Helfgott as a broken man who triumphed over adversity, and its climax is a performance of Rach 3 by the mentally fragile pianist. The movie was a box-office hit. It won major awards, and, suddenly at age 49, Mr. Helfgott -- nervous tics and self babbling not withstanding -- became the world's best-known classical pianist. He toured around the world, performed at sold-out recitals at high-profile venues including the Carnegie Hall, and a live recording of his Rach 3 performance sold more copies than any other rendition in history.
What really caught my interest, as I read postings from the past about David Helfgott, is the extraordinary reactions that Helfgott drew from the classical music echelons.
In a 1997 article,Denis Dutton a New Zealand professor wrote:
And in another 1997 article that appeared in the U.K. Weekly Standard, "The Assault on David Helfgott", Jay Nordlinger wrote:
What happened, it seems, is that Helfgott was adored by the public, but despised by classical music connoisseurs. You can see this dichotomy plainly if you take a look at the reviews posted on Amazon over the years with the CD David Helfgott Plays Rachmaninov Concerto
To start with, we have this nasty editorial review:
On the Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein wrote:
Doesn't that ring a bell? What really upset these learned critics and cultured listeners is the overwhelming support by the public for some pianist that they (the critics) consider unworthy. Instead of rejoicing at a phenomenon that drew in new audiences for classical music, these people saw the public's adoration of Helfgott as an affront, a violation of an art form -- their art form -- that they alone possess the necessary sacred knowledge to properly evaluate. They see themselves as guardians of classical music, gatekeepers of good taste. "Let me tell you what REAL classical music is," they fairly shouted to the ignorant public duped into adoring David Helfgott, and they muttered to themselves: "How dare a side-show artist sully our sacred concert halls!"
I used to respect classical music reviewers. But their cachet has faded over time. Reviewers are products -- or by-products -- of music conservatories: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can neither do nor teach become critics." People pay good money for a berth at the Julliard or the Curtis, to learn to perform and appreciate music in a prescriptive way -- the experts' way. Indoctrinated with years of musical orthodoxy, they become incapable of listening to music instinctively or enjoying music for pure pleasure. The heart has no place in their model of classical music performances.
And so it is that these learned critics and high-minded purists held their collective noses to the success of pianists who are not mentally or bodily "whole", who cannot conform to the ideals of conservatory-trained classical pianists. Fixated on techniques and theories, our high-minded purists cannot see the light that illuminate from within a performer like David Helfgott, or Nobuyuki Tsujii.
Yet these classical music know-it-all's are not necessarily as technically infallible as they would have us believe. In a notorious Piano Scam, recordings attributed to Britishpianist Joyce Hatto (The Great Piano Scam) turned out to be works actually performed by other pianists, in a fraud that went on for years unnoticed by reviewers nor connoisseurs. A Hatto recording lauded by a reviewer was lambasted by the same man when it was previously released under the name of the actual performer. As another example, late in his life pianist Sviatoslav Richter realized that he had been playing a wrong note in Bach's Italian Concerto for decades, as described in the liner note for one of his CDs: "Just now Sviatoslav Richter realized, much to his regret, that he always made a mistake in the third measure before the end of the second part of the 'Italian Concerto'. As a matter of fact, through forty years – and no musician or technician ever pointed it out to him – he played 'F-sharp' rather than 'F'. The same mistake can be found in the previous recording made by Maestro Richter in the fifties." This wrong note was never detected by the presumed discriminating ears of learned reviewers or hard-core classical music fans.
Nearly twenty years have passed since the movie "Shine". Critics and pundits have since taken satisfaction in "the musical reputation of David Helfgott now (being) in tatters" and that the man no longer sullies their vaulted concert halls. The sacred order of classical music has been restored; these days the mighty critics are falling over each other in praise of conservatory products such as Daniil Trifonov and Yuja Wang (questionable stage antics of the latter not withstanding); their comments eagerly parroted by those who fancy themselves classical music purists.
But, the Trifonovs and the Wangs -- promoted to the max -- do not always fill seats at concert halls like Mr. Helfgott did in his heyday. Meanwhile, the movie "Shine" still has a following, and Helfgott's albums are still selling on Amazon. David Helfgott now lives in a comfortable home with his devoted wife and still performs occasionally.
Now that I am aware of the story of Mr. Helfgott, I am beginning to understand the genesis of resentments that I have always sensed from the U.S. critics towards Nobu. To begin with, the Van Cliburn Competition, held in (culturally lowly) Texas, has never been well-regarded in blue-nose New York. When Nobu gave his recital at the Carnegie in 2011, there must have been a collective groan from New York: "Oh, no, not again, another David Helfgott sideshow!" I was in the Carnegie Hall that night, and witnessed the fervor for Nobu from the audience and the Japanese media. That open display of adoration ticked off New York Times critic Vivien Schweitzer, who went on to write an ill-conceived and unflattering review of the performance. Earlier this year, another New York Times reviewer, Zachary Woolfe, wrote a careless and damning review of Nobu's performance with the Orpheus Orchestra at the Carnegie.
I pity classical music critics. Theirs is a dying art and a thankless job. Concert reviews in New York Times, etc. no longer carry the cachet that they once did. They seldom get any comments. These days, well written reviews by concert goers can be found on free publications on the web, and some of them are of very high quality.
The other day on my radio I caught a segment of an interview of someone who used to be a critic, whose son was struck with some crippling decease. He said, "I was a pretentious critic. I have become a much better person because of my son." All the light they cannot see -- it can only be seen by those whose hearts are ready.
We are ready. And to Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii we wish nothing but the best for his debut performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no. 3.
(The title of this post is inspired by Anthony Doerr's novel All the Light We Cannot See.)
UPDATE: On Oct. 31, Nobuyuki Tsujii's performance in Manchester U.K. was a great success.
On October 31, Nobuyuki Tsujii will performRachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 for his first time. It will take place in the U.K., with the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Yutaka Sado. Since early September, Nobu has been holed up in Tokyo in preparation for this performance. And I have been sweating at the thought of Nobu tackling this impossible work.
Nobu's first performance with Yutaka Sado and the BBC Philharmonic, in 2010
Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 is considered by many the most challenging concerto for a pianist. It is monstrous: thousands of densely packed notes to be performed in 40 minutes. It used to be considered so difficult that only the most virtuosic of pianists could and should tackle it. One of the many challenges of performing this work is to keep the audience engaged throughout its three lengthy movements ... to reach the torrid finale, which always brings the house down -- it seems -- regardless of who is playing.
Perhaps I am the only one who was clueless about this, but do you know which pianist gave the most famous performance of Rach 3, ever? No, not Horowitz, Argerich, or Kissin; not even Rachmaninov himself. It is Australian pianist David Helfgott. Mr. Helfgott is no longer in the spotlights these days, but in 1996 he was quite a global sensation, when an award-winning feature film Shine propelled this completely unknown pianist to a fame unimaginable in the classical music world.
There are striking parallels between the stories of Helfgott and Nobu. Helfgott was a pianist prodigy whose promising career was cut short by mental illness. The film (which I have not seen) portrays Helfgott as a broken man who triumphed over adversity, and its climax is a performance of Rach 3 by the mentally fragile pianist. The movie was a box-office hit. It won major awards, and, suddenly at age 49, Mr. Helfgott -- nervous tics and self babbling not withstanding -- became the world's best-known classical pianist. He toured around the world, performed at sold-out recitals at high-profile venues including the Carnegie Hall, and a live recording of his Rach 3 performance sold more copies than any other rendition in history.
What really caught my interest, as I read postings from the past about David Helfgott, is the extraordinary reactions that Helfgott drew from the classical music echelons.
In a 1997 article,Denis Dutton a New Zealand professor wrote:
... the question persists how an incompetent, mentally disordered pianist has found himself touring to sold-out halls, promoted in the expensive souvenir program as “one of the world’s leading pianists.” Why don’t his champions snap out of the delusion that his recitals are supreme musical events? Is it despite or because of the most scathing reviews dumped on any pianist in recent memory that Helfgott continues to get rapturous, standing ovations?
And in another 1997 article that appeared in the U.K. Weekly Standard, "The Assault on David Helfgott", Jay Nordlinger wrote:
... As the Shine Tour continued, virtually the entire American critical establishment heaved with indignation. They were frustrated by Helfgott's appeal, annoyed at the thousands who flocked to him, and suspicious of the handlers and packagers who shared in his profits. .. The Post's Page, invited on National Public Radio, said, "I really wondered why he was being exhibited when he could be being helped," and then demonstrated exactly what has stuck in so many craws: "We have reached the point in . . . the history of classical music in this country that the hottest person in classical music is a disturbed man who can hardly play the piano."
What happened, it seems, is that Helfgott was adored by the public, but despised by classical music connoisseurs. You can see this dichotomy plainly if you take a look at the reviews posted on Amazon over the years with the CD David Helfgott Plays Rachmaninov Concerto
To start with, we have this nasty editorial review:
This is perhaps the most famous recording ever made of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, and probably the worst. Poor David Helfgott, who may have been a great virtuoso before his well-publicized mental breakdown, can barely hack his way through this concerto. Perhaps the cruel practice of issuing a live performance recording spares the expense of endless retakes, but it also exposes the pianist's severe deficiencies. The studio-recorded solo pieces are played accurately, perhaps due to endless retakes, but they are so devoid of musical impulse that Helfgott sounds as though he's on heavy tranquilizers. Try Alexis Weissenberg's version of the Rach 3 (RCA Victor Gold Seal 09026-61693-2), or anybody's. --Leslie Gerber
On Amazon, there are numerous 5-star reviews for the CD, like this one... He really is an overlooked concert pianist. He's a remarkable pianist and exceptionally musical ...
And then there are one-star reviews like this: It's truly sad the number of people here who say they never tried classical music before, but were "turned on" by the Shine movie and this recording. Really great artists are releasing brilliant recordings into the vacuum of public notice every day, and something like this piece of garbage comes along and is hoisted to Classical's Top Ten. All because the people who are weeping over Helfgott and his semi-autobiographical yarn have never heard classical music before, as they even state in their reviews, but feel compelled, after one listen to one piece by one pianist, to tell the world what a "genius" he is. If they would go out and buy a second CD, one by an artist and not a sideshow talent, they wouldn't be "amazed" and "moved" by this recording ...
On the Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein wrote:
Doesn't that ring a bell? What really upset these learned critics and cultured listeners is the overwhelming support by the public for some pianist that they (the critics) consider unworthy. Instead of rejoicing at a phenomenon that drew in new audiences for classical music, these people saw the public's adoration of Helfgott as an affront, a violation of an art form -- their art form -- that they alone possess the necessary sacred knowledge to properly evaluate. They see themselves as guardians of classical music, gatekeepers of good taste. "Let me tell you what REAL classical music is," they fairly shouted to the ignorant public duped into adoring David Helfgott, and they muttered to themselves: "How dare a side-show artist sully our sacred concert halls!"
I used to respect classical music reviewers. But their cachet has faded over time. Reviewers are products -- or by-products -- of music conservatories: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can neither do nor teach become critics." People pay good money for a berth at the Julliard or the Curtis, to learn to perform and appreciate music in a prescriptive way -- the experts' way. Indoctrinated with years of musical orthodoxy, they become incapable of listening to music instinctively or enjoying music for pure pleasure. The heart has no place in their model of classical music performances.
And so it is that these learned critics and high-minded purists held their collective noses to the success of pianists who are not mentally or bodily "whole", who cannot conform to the ideals of conservatory-trained classical pianists. Fixated on techniques and theories, our high-minded purists cannot see the light that illuminate from within a performer like David Helfgott, or Nobuyuki Tsujii.
Yet these classical music know-it-all's are not necessarily as technically infallible as they would have us believe. In a notorious Piano Scam, recordings attributed to Britishpianist Joyce Hatto (The Great Piano Scam) turned out to be works actually performed by other pianists, in a fraud that went on for years unnoticed by reviewers nor connoisseurs. A Hatto recording lauded by a reviewer was lambasted by the same man when it was previously released under the name of the actual performer. As another example, late in his life pianist Sviatoslav Richter realized that he had been playing a wrong note in Bach's Italian Concerto for decades, as described in the liner note for one of his CDs: "Just now Sviatoslav Richter realized, much to his regret, that he always made a mistake in the third measure before the end of the second part of the 'Italian Concerto'. As a matter of fact, through forty years – and no musician or technician ever pointed it out to him – he played 'F-sharp' rather than 'F'. The same mistake can be found in the previous recording made by Maestro Richter in the fifties." This wrong note was never detected by the presumed discriminating ears of learned reviewers or hard-core classical music fans.
Nearly twenty years have passed since the movie "Shine". Critics and pundits have since taken satisfaction in "the musical reputation of David Helfgott now (being) in tatters" and that the man no longer sullies their vaulted concert halls. The sacred order of classical music has been restored; these days the mighty critics are falling over each other in praise of conservatory products such as Daniil Trifonov and Yuja Wang (questionable stage antics of the latter not withstanding); their comments eagerly parroted by those who fancy themselves classical music purists.
But, the Trifonovs and the Wangs -- promoted to the max -- do not always fill seats at concert halls like Mr. Helfgott did in his heyday. Meanwhile, the movie "Shine" still has a following, and Helfgott's albums are still selling on Amazon. David Helfgott now lives in a comfortable home with his devoted wife and still performs occasionally.
Now that I am aware of the story of Mr. Helfgott, I am beginning to understand the genesis of resentments that I have always sensed from the U.S. critics towards Nobu. To begin with, the Van Cliburn Competition, held in (culturally lowly) Texas, has never been well-regarded in blue-nose New York. When Nobu gave his recital at the Carnegie in 2011, there must have been a collective groan from New York: "Oh, no, not again, another David Helfgott sideshow!" I was in the Carnegie Hall that night, and witnessed the fervor for Nobu from the audience and the Japanese media. That open display of adoration ticked off New York Times critic Vivien Schweitzer, who went on to write an ill-conceived and unflattering review of the performance. Earlier this year, another New York Times reviewer, Zachary Woolfe, wrote a careless and damning review of Nobu's performance with the Orpheus Orchestra at the Carnegie.
I pity classical music critics. Theirs is a dying art and a thankless job. Concert reviews in New York Times, etc. no longer carry the cachet that they once did. They seldom get any comments. These days, well written reviews by concert goers can be found on free publications on the web, and some of them are of very high quality.
The other day on my radio I caught a segment of an interview of someone who used to be a critic, whose son was struck with some crippling decease. He said, "I was a pretentious critic. I have become a much better person because of my son." All the light they cannot see -- it can only be seen by those whose hearts are ready.
We are ready. And to Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii we wish nothing but the best for his debut performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no. 3.