16 March: Yundi the Chopin player at Royal Festival Hall

Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Sonata No 2 “Funeral March” and Polonaise in A flat “Heroique”! How could I not get excited??? And even more so if Yundi was playing them!

These days, there are so many talented and gifted musicians from my part of world (and his), the Far East. I used to think that there was a huge invisible hurdle these Far Eastern musicians couldn’t overcome. In order to understand and interpret Chopin’s compositions, I simply thought that you needed to belong to and have grown up in the same part of world as him, with a deeper understanding of the bitter history, people and religion, and a sense of belonging. I believed that this is something people grow up with, not something you can acquire later on in life. Until, one day several years ago, I heard Yundi playing Chopin.

The first half was a selection of Nocturnes and Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise. What beautiful nocturnes.  With just a few notes, there was no doubt that he was a capable pianist. In the quiet concert hall where you could literally hear a needle drop, Yundi’s serene nocturnes were just divine; with perfect collaboration between two hands, with the left hand accompaniment of calm, even and steady broken chords and gorgeous right hand arching cantilena. It created an undefeatable beauty and harmony. I hate to use a cheap expression, but I always think every sound he creates is like a sparkling jewel, so his music making is like a cluster of millions of small but shiny jewel stones of various shapes. They have absolutely no impurities.  I however had impression that they were a bit too done up and made up?  Not quite sure how other people felt.

Then, Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise; it is grand, as the name suggests, and so elegant and lyrical. Yundi showed this elegance without showing off – it comes naturally to this young pianist! And perfect pitch - three years ago, I went to Evgeny Kissin’s recital in which he played this piece too fast to my disappointment. (Having said that he has been my number one favorite since his debut, and I go to every single one of his concerts in London.)

The second half was rather disappointing.  Yundi opened the second half with 4 Mazurkas. Not so inspiring and mediocre playing.  This was followed by the massive Sonata No 2 with the 3rd movement, named ‘Funeral March’. It seemed that he was swallowed and beaten by this monsterous Sonata - he could not control it.  He missed quite a few notes in the opening bars and they were unfortunately noticeable.  The start of the first movement gives out a feel of agitation and desparation, but I could not sense any of that.  He was also lacking power and strength.  The third movement wasn't too bad.  The opening theme of this movement is overwhelming and grievous, like dragging yourself with sorrow and pain to someone’s grave. The contrasting middle part, to me, represents the moment of peace when people reminisce of the dead and indulge in good memories with the dead. Yundi’s expression was deep and convincing. The last piece of the evening was Polonaise in A flat, “Heroique”.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, I must say that I much preferred Alexei Grynyuk’s Polonaise he played at Breinton....  Am I being too harsh?  Perhaps, but my expectation was very high (for the money I paid too!).

Two encores were unfortunately not so impressive.  One of them was Liszt Wigmung, which he whipped through very fast without depth and breath.  Well, still I queued for a very quick autograph before I headed home!