School Activities
"Meet the Music Makers"
The London International Piano Competition has set up an innovative schools
project "Meet the Music Makers". School students were offered free places
to all Stage 1 and 2 recitals in the 6th London International Piano Competition
in April 2005. Stage 1 took place at the Royal Academy of Music on 2nd and 3rd April, and Stage 2 at the Purcell Room, South Bank on 4th, 5th and 6th April.
Students were invited to write a review of a performance of any competitior they heard, and the winning review appeared on our website later in April 2005.
This project has been made possible through generous funding by the John Lyon's Charity.
WINNING REVIEW By Aaron Hales
The evening of Saturday the 2nd of April provided me with a great
opportunity to listen to the first concert of the opening round in the
famous London International Piano Competition. A serene Duke's Hall at
The Royal Academy of Music acted as the setting for a tense, but passionate
and memorable first round.
An hour into the concert, after a strong and competent Australian
pianist, as well as a nerve-stricken Ukrainian, Hiroko Koseki glided onto the
stage.
Her outfit consisting of a bright red dress and gold shoes instantly
caught the audience's attention, as well as her regal and relaxed approach as
she headed towards the Steinway grand. At this point in the concert, I had
heard repertoire that conjured a masculine and dark image, and I hoped for
something different - I was not disappointed.
Her approach to the Bach (Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor from Book
I) and Chopin (etude, op25. no.11) was gentle and moving, fully controlled
by a solid technique and passionate emotive expression. When it came to the
Debussy etude 'Pour les quartes', I was relieved to finally see the
appearance of our Impressionist master, and of someone who fully
understood his message. Koseki's powerful technique joined with fluent creativity
provided a fantastic listening experience and had the audience fully
engaged. Koseki's use of space and time made the piece something
individual and personal to everybody in the room, leaving us feeling enlightened
and drawn into Debussy's fantastical world.
I would like to highlight something in particular that a lot of pianists
fail to pay attention to, and in my opinion can sometimes completely
spoil and disrupt the effect of the piece. After a strong emotive performance,
pianists particularly in a competitive atmosphere completely destroy the
painted image by rushing towards the next. Koseki was the complete
antithesis of this, allowing every piece time to finish in her mind as
well as ours; allowing the ether to clear and pave way for the next
performance.
During Koseki's presentation of an extremely varied performance, I
glanced down to look at her personal details in the very well compiled
programme. By looking at these, everything in my opinion settled in place. I had
noticed that the average age of all twenty-four performers was around the
eighteen to twenty-five mark. Hiroko Koseki, born in 1976, now aged 29 was at the
top end of the age limit in the competition. Her age fully complimented her
level of musical emotion and technique, and maturity was obviously
present in her approach to the repertoire.
Although not getting through to stage three, Hiroko Koseki was still a
major highlight for the competition, providing us with proof as to why we
still listen to the Argerich's and Barenboim's of the world; who provide us
with coloured and individual renditions of a broad range of repertoire rather
than pre-adolescent 'marketed' pianists constantly regurgitating
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and the first ten of the Mozart piano sonatas.
Aaron Hales
Age: 16
School: ADT College, Putney
Aaron plays and also composes.
He says: "I have a broad, eclectic
taste
in music, but especially
jazz,world music, and 20th century and romantic classical."