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BA
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Posts: 186
(5/24/01 3:20:36
am)
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Naumburg Finals:
report/opinion
Let me start with a disclaimer that these are purely my own
opinions- I would welcome alternative points of view from others who
were at today's final round. Unfortunately there was no program and
I have to guess at some of the names. This is all just OPINION- and
only my opinion.
4 cellists played. The first was Angela Lee.
I misssed the first few minutes of her program. I heard some Janacek
that was fairly average and the third movement of the Dvorak
concerto which unfortunately was not very good. Technically and
musically she sounded very student like. There were serious
problems- the piece seemed almost beyond her. Given the high level
of cellists that entered this competition and were eliminated in
earlier rounds, how she ended up in the finals is a mystery to
me.
The second player was a young chinese man whose name
soudned like Chu-yi (???) or something. (Sorry) He moved around the
instrument with amazing speed. However intonation was generally only
adequate and while he showed a firey temperment, that is really all
he is showing at this point. Basically everything was fast, very
fast, loud and aggresive. The second movement of the Elgar was
comically and absurdly fast. While the playing was immature, I do
respect his passion and intensity, I think he might develop into an
interesting player if he develops a sense of repose and lyricism.
Certainly he has facility.
The third player was a chinese man
studying with Kirshbaum at Manchester. I believe he is Li wei Quin
(???) the Australian who won a prize at the last Tchaikovsky. I'm
not positive of this though. His playing was extremely polished,
well in tune, usually with a nice sound and to my taste musically
repulsive. The bow swells, delayed vibrato, bizarre tempo changes-
it was like listening to some lesser but more exaggerated version of
Yo Yo. I felt compelled by to leave the hall for the final work- the
first movement of Barber (which however-heard through the speakers
was still very impressively played technically). I felt that this
was poised, profesional, good playing of the worst sort- detached
from any sense of line or musical intellect. HOWEVER, I was sitting
with my ex-teacher, Nelsova who thought he was quite good and
'interesting'- much better than the previous two. Only goes to show
how people listen to different things.
The final player was a
young man named Clancy Newman. While his sound was noticably
inferior to the previous three and his vibrato did tend towards the
overly fast side, most of what he did was musically logical and
often quite beautiful. He was the only player of the four that I
could envision becoming an artist of the first rank in the future.
He has ample technique, though not perhaps the equal of the previous
candidate. Still he- to me- was the one that seemed to have real
potential to become an artist.
The final decision was that
the thrid and fourth players (Clancy Newmann and ?Li Wei?) shared
the first prize. No second prize was awarded and the second player
(Chu-yi?) received the third prize. I realy think this was the right
decision- Li Wei was clearly the polished professional player, ready
for a NY debut. But he is already as good a cellist as he will ever
be- and his playing will probably always be plagued by mannerisms.
Newman, well not yet as polished shows true potential. It may be
true as some suggest that he might not have achieved this
competition result were he not a Krosnick student, but I really feel
he has a talent worthy of exposure, and also deserves to play.
Nelsova and I agreed that these were the two best players of the
four but her opiion of Li Wei was higher and somewhat lower of
Newman, mainly because of sound issues, which I felt were the more
the fault of the cello.
Overall kudos to all four for having
the courage and stamina to stand and play this competition, and play
well. The repertoire requirements are huge and just to compete is a
challenge. And again these are just my ears and my opinions. Just
wanted to share my experiences. After a long day of cello, an
evening concert of Gil Shaham was a welcome change. Regards to
all
PS- judges: Marcy Rosen, Nick Rosen, Tomas Demenga, Andre
Emelianoff, Norman Fisher, Bobby and Lucy Mann, Bernard Greenhouse.
also Colin Carr (prelim rounds only)
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SW
Registered User
Posts: 43
(5/24/01 8:06:49 am)
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Re: Naumburg
Finals: report/opinion
Interesting. So, BA, how is your former teacher? Is she still
teaching...how is she to work with?
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George
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Posts: 94
(5/24/01 11:04:20
am)
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re
Isn't Le Wei Qwin (sp?) the one who played Haydn D at the WCIII?
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Nicholas
Anderson
Registered User
Posts: 68
(5/24/01 11:35:39 am)
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Sounds
right...
It's quite interesting to hear what you thought of Clancy Newman -
in the past, I've had very much the same response to him. A couple
times in the last few years I've had occasion to sit in on the
performance class of Krosnick's students at Juilliard, and I was
always most impressed with Clancy's playing there. I felt he
distinguished himself in that context too as the one with the best
artistic instincts and future potential. A lot of special musical
qualities in what he does with the cello. I also found it noteworthy
at the time that he was doing the double major thing with Columbia,
I think in English - which suggests that he's bringing some other
strengths of mind to the situation.
(As for Angela Lee - I
knew her when she was a student millions of years ago in California,
since she was a little kid!)
Regarding Zara's responses - it
seems to me that while she naturally has strong opinions, she
*usually* goes out of her way to be fair-minded and avoid negativity
when possible, so maybe that had something to do with it; of course,
I'm sure you know her much better.
In any case, thanks for a
fascinating report on an important event. I really wanted to hear
those finals, but on Wednesdays I always have a heavy schedule at
one of the music schools where I teach, and with my cello students'
end-of-semester recitals coming up, it was just too much of a
federal case to rearrange things.
-Nick
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Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
Posts: 1308
(5/24/01 12:16:01 pm)
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Re: Sounds
right...
Thanks for the update BA and Nick. It's good to hear about what's
going on if only vicariously through you guys.
Regarding what
Nick said about Nelsova being of very strong opinions and what BA
said about listening differently...
I played Beethovens D
major Sonata for a my juries at Juilliard where she was present (I
was a student of Ardyth Alton at the time). The comments were very
interesting.
In her comments she wrote that I had "no sense
of style..."
But interestingly, Channing Robbins wrote that I had
a "very good sense of style"
During my time there it seemed
that there were some strong personalities on the cello faculty. I
remember bringing the first movement of Dvorak for another jury.
Alton told me to be prepared to play the final coda of the first
movement (with all the octaves) because Nelsova would surely ask
anyone playing Dvorak to play that section. I was ready to play
it.
When I got to that jury, I finished the first half of the
1st movement. Everyone looked at Zara and Harvey Shapiro said
"aren't you going to ask him for the coda?"
She sheepishly
said something like, "no, I wasn't going to ask for it."
I
ready to feel a bit relieved and disappointed (since I worked so
hard on it). But then Shapiro said "Go on, kid, play it!" So I
played it and it went well. Juries were always very funny to me at
Juilliard because of all the different personalities. Shapiro was
supposed to be this really nasty and mean guy, but he was always
very nice to me and gave me good grades and remarks in my juries.
Maybe it was because I wasn't one of his students?
Back to
Naumberg...
The last one I attended was when Hai Yi Ni (sp?)
won first prize. I remember that she was head and shoulders above
the other players and really deserved to win. Gustav Rivinius also
played really well but I think the results were right.
Paul Tseng
My Website
Alexander's Photo
Albums
Free Cello
Music!
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Laura
Wichers
Moderator
Posts: 975
(5/24/01 1:29:09 pm)
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Re: Haydn
D
Yep, Qwin played the Haydn (okay Bob, the "Haydn") D at the WCCIII.
His playing is definitely polished. I liked the way he played the
Haydn, stylistically he nailed it.
Laura
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BA
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Posts: 187
(5/25/01 12:42:57
am)
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Nelsova
She is recovering now from complications stemming from a broken
pelvis last December. She had a hard winter but managed to keep
teaching her 21 students without missing a beat (some at Juilliard,
the majority at Rutgers) She is now looking much stronger and better
and hopefully will be fully healed after taking the summer
off.
To be perfectly honest, many people did not like
studying with Nelsova. She can be critical and demanding. If you are
looking for someone to make you feel better about your playing she
is not the one. And of course her health and playing are not what
they were. But when you learn how to learn from what she says, she
is truly a musical descendant of Casals. There is such a wonderful
honesty, simplicity and beauty in her musicianship sadly missing in
most cellists that I have heard. I feel lucky to have had the years
with her that I have had.
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BA
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Posts: 188
(5/25/01 1:13:41
am)
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Nelsova/Channing/Rivinius/etc...
Well I don't think she was just trying to be nice about Li Wei- the
things that bothered me were not as much a priority for her. She was
listening to different things. I think she heard that his sense of
poise and maturity were clearly superior to the previous players.
However as Russell Sherman used to say, the least imaginative
players mature the earliest. i.e. someone who is already polished
and completely 'mature' in his 20's is unlikely to ever devlop into
an interesting musician. I'm not sure I entirely agree with this,
but I do think when someone plays with such ingrained mannerisms as
Li Wei does, they are unlikely to undergo a radical change late in
life. But let's hope I'm wrong.
Paul- given how much Channing
hated Zara I wouldn't put it past him to do his best to directly
contradict her if he had an inkling what she thought, and she was
never shy about sharing her opinions. I know Channing students
really enjoyed him, but his hatred of Zara and Harvey really made
the cello juries a weird scene. However their drinking usually
loosened things up. The trick was to schedule an afternoon jury, by
which time they were all pretty happy!I remember Aldo used to be
half conscious on the couch. He wrote only 'improving' on almost
everyone's jury sheet. Ahh memories...
Well I admire Hai-Ye's
playing these days very much and consider her a friend, in my
opinion at that time she definitely did not deserve the prize over
Gustav Rivinius who was an excellent, excellent player deserving and
ready for the NY debut. (he went on to win the Tchaikovsky the
following month) Hai-Ye, though technically excellent was still
young and it showed in her recitals- her playing these days is much
superior, and had she made her debut later when she was more ready
it might have been a better launching board for her career. Gustav
unfortunately is almost never heard from in the States now. Anyone
know what he is doing?
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Paul
Tseng ICS Staff
Administrator
Posts: 1311
(5/25/01 1:40:44 am)
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Re:
Nelsova/Channing/Rivinius/etc...
BA- The question about my Beethoven and Channing's vs. Nelsova's
commnets is, who commented first? And who was right? All water under
the bridge now. I wasn't offened, I thought it was
funny.
Most of my juries had all the cello faculty very
relaxed (I guess it was the time that they'd all tanked
up).
About Gustav and Hai Ye, I guess we'll have to agree to
disagree. Gustav was definitely more mature as a musician at the
time, but do you remember his Milhaud Concerto? His playing was
extremely clean and technically perfect and yet, I always lost
interest in his playing after a little while. I thought Hai Ye
displayed an uncanny degree of artistry in all the works she
performed at the finals. Gustav played perfectly, of course, but I'm
sorry to say I didn't find his playing intersting.
I don't
know what he's up to these days.
Paul Tseng
My Website
Alexander's Photo
Albums
Free Cello
Music!
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MsCheryl
Registered User
Posts: 224
(5/25/01 7:17:12 am)
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Thanks
Thanks, BA. I have a former student (SSP here  )who had a
choice between Mason Gross at Rutgers and North Carolina School of
the Arts. She went with Rutgers (mostly because of money
considerations) but we were concerned because we had heard various
reports about Nelsova. Well, my student seems to love her lessons
and I am relieved to hear your descriptions of her teaching - sounds
good to me!
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Anna
List
Registered User
Posts: 34
(5/25/01 6:27:39 pm)
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Rivinius
Gustav Rivinius is now a Professor for Cello at the Music Academy
in Saarbrücken, Germany (where Vengerov teaches violin...). He has a
very good class and is a great teacher, as one of his students told
me. He also gives concerts in Germany. I adore his cello playing for
its elegance in tone.
Anna
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justinkagan1
.gif)
Registered User
Posts: 378
(5/26/01 8:55:01 am)
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Re: Sounds
right...
I'm glad to hear that Clancy's still at it. The only time I heard
him live was when he was about 11 (played Saint-Saens concerto), in
a program presented by my mother-in-law, whose piano student was
paired with him. He was totally into the cello, and his teacher,
David Gibson, pushed him a ton....I'm glad he survived. A few years
ago my M-I-L played for me a tape of a Schelomo performance at
Juiliiard which left me rather underwhelmed. Very unusual to hear of
his "double life" program at Columbia, but it gladdens me a whole
bunch, he's a smart kid. Only other Juilliard/Columbia person I know
is Gene Drucker of the Emerson, and it was wonderful for him.
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