As I write, Nobuyuki Tsujii is on his 2015 Japan Tour with conductor Vasily Petrenko and U.K.'s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. The eight-stop tour has been a great success so far. But in the midst of all the excitement, a gem of a delightful surprise came up -- such is the joy of following the career of the wonder of Nobuyuki Tsujii.
This is what I posted on the International Nobu fan site and facebook page a couple days back, after the fourth stop of the tour:
That really got my attention. I had known about that performance for some time, and had seen bits of footage of it in some of the documentaries about Nobu. Miyuki, another big Nobu fan, at one time wrote to say that she had seen a video of this performance on YouTube, but could no longer find it. We looked and looked, but the video was nowhere to be found.
Until now. Upon my inquiry, Yura gave me the links to two unlisted videos of the performance. I watched them at once. They are riveting. The performance took place in year 2002, seven years before the 13th Van Cliburn Piano Competition that would propell Nobu to international fame.
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The conductor was Yutaka Sado, who enjoyed (and still does) great popularity in Japan and who was to become Nobu's long-time mentor.
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Looking at the video (yes, you too will get to see it, please read on), I was once again struck by the immense talent of Nobu. At age 14, he was already playing with the poise that we have now come to take for granted. His head-swaying and his lightning-fast fingering were already there.
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I could see a little tentativeness in his hand movements that is no longer there these days. But the biggest difference between then and now is the absence of that great smile on his very young face. Here he is after the performance, with the big hand of conductor Sado draping his shoulder, as the audience gave them a raucous applause.
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On the video, Nobu never cracked a smile -- perhaps he was painfully shy as so many youngsters are at that age. Or, perhaps it is that, at the time, Nobu was going through some turmoils in his life. As the story (well known in Japan) goes, it was at about this time that Nobu's father Takashi became concerned about his son's future, questioning the wisdom of his obsession with the piano to the exclusion of almost everything else. The two supposedly had frequent arguments during that period.
Two years later (2004), Nobu would give an incredibly mature performance of Kapustin's Etudes for Piano Op.40-2, captured in this and another video that have been viewed, combined, almost half a million times. And you will see the same mirthless Nobu at age 16. ( He did crack a smile at the very end of the video.)
Lucky for us, things have turned out well and, these days, Nobu -- as many have noted -- is full of infectious joy and warmth in his performances.
For a limited time only: If you would like to see Nobu perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at age 14, please click this link -- it is a 10 minute video uploaded to DropBox by me) that shows the second half of that delightful performance. Enjoy! And I hope I will get to see him perform that work live somewhere, very soon.
This is what I posted on the International Nobu fan site and facebook page a couple days back, after the fourth stop of the tour:
♪ Jan 26 2015 At yesterday's concert in Osaka, a flyer was handed out to the audience about an upcoming performance in the same venue (Festival Hall ) on August 29 of Nobu with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. They will perform Nobu's own compositions (Morning in Cortona, Maestro!, God's Medical Chart, Still we live) -- CD coming out next week (^_^) but also Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue! A big thanks to Yura for sharing this image
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But there was more to this that I did not mention. Yura -- a big Nobu fan -- also casually mentioned in an ensuing tweet that there exists a video of Nobu performing Rhapsody in Blue at age 14.
That really got my attention. I had known about that performance for some time, and had seen bits of footage of it in some of the documentaries about Nobu. Miyuki, another big Nobu fan, at one time wrote to say that she had seen a video of this performance on YouTube, but could no longer find it. We looked and looked, but the video was nowhere to be found.
Until now. Upon my inquiry, Yura gave me the links to two unlisted videos of the performance. I watched them at once. They are riveting. The performance took place in year 2002, seven years before the 13th Van Cliburn Piano Competition that would propell Nobu to international fame.
The conductor was Yutaka Sado, who enjoyed (and still does) great popularity in Japan and who was to become Nobu's long-time mentor.
Looking at the video (yes, you too will get to see it, please read on), I was once again struck by the immense talent of Nobu. At age 14, he was already playing with the poise that we have now come to take for granted. His head-swaying and his lightning-fast fingering were already there.
I could see a little tentativeness in his hand movements that is no longer there these days. But the biggest difference between then and now is the absence of that great smile on his very young face. Here he is after the performance, with the big hand of conductor Sado draping his shoulder, as the audience gave them a raucous applause.
On the video, Nobu never cracked a smile -- perhaps he was painfully shy as so many youngsters are at that age. Or, perhaps it is that, at the time, Nobu was going through some turmoils in his life. As the story (well known in Japan) goes, it was at about this time that Nobu's father Takashi became concerned about his son's future, questioning the wisdom of his obsession with the piano to the exclusion of almost everything else. The two supposedly had frequent arguments during that period.
Two years later (2004), Nobu would give an incredibly mature performance of Kapustin's Etudes for Piano Op.40-2, captured in this and another video that have been viewed, combined, almost half a million times. And you will see the same mirthless Nobu at age 16. ( He did crack a smile at the very end of the video.)
Lucky for us, things have turned out well and, these days, Nobu -- as many have noted -- is full of infectious joy and warmth in his performances.
For a limited time only: If you would like to see Nobu perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at age 14, please click this link -- it is a 10 minute video uploaded to DropBox by me) that shows the second half of that delightful performance. Enjoy! And I hope I will get to see him perform that work live somewhere, very soon.