My list of Les Six
Hi, it’s Ken Iisaka here.
I just came back from a friend’s performance of Faure Ballade and Milhaud Carnaval d’Aix. It certainly has been a music filled weekend for sure.
At the risk of antagonising the readers, I will hereby release my prediction for Les Six.
However, there was not a single player who didn’t have anything to say. All twelve of them enriched my life through in the past two weeks. Thank you.
Drum roll… please…
- Bozhanov
- Lam
- Son
- Tsujii
- Wu
- Zhang
This is not the same as the list of my personal favourites, however. Not that I can read into the jury’s thoughts, but there are certain exceptional aspects of others’ performances which really touched my heart in certain way but I am not certain if they will advance for a variety of reasons.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I am starting to have a feeling that the jury might add one more…
May 31st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Off topic: Have we yet figured out the gentleman’s name who is commenting along with the wonderful Jade Simmons?
May 31st, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Marcus, it’s Buddy Bray.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Thank you, James!
May 31st, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Buddy is the pianist for the Ft. Worth Symphony.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Ken,
Those were my guesses, too.
Mike
May 31st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I doubt adding an additional finalist is plausible with orchestral time and costs being prohibitive. Although I agree, it would be a nice thing to see.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I can’t see Andrea Lam making the list, as I just don’t see her competitive for a gold medal, which I would assume is the basic presumption for the finals. She seems to be an adorable personality and a lovely pianist, but I’m having a hard time thinking of a Cliburn medalist who wasn’t a top level technician.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Good personality is not a profession
May 31st, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I can’t see the logistics of a seventh finalist working at all.
I didn’t hear enough of Zhang to judge, but I’ll take y’all’s word for him, and I agree on the other five. My estimation of Lam continues to rise, as a couple of times when the camera has panned across the audience, she’s relaxed and yukking it up while most of the others look about as relaxed as I would feel.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:50 pm
OK, one of the blogmasters has created the next page. (Request to blogmasters: When you do that, could you post a comment to that effect on the previous page? The herd needs to stay together…)
May 31st, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Ken- your picks were mine except I had Son in place of Lam. Btw- your picks were the exact top 6 online voting results when I voted. I have no idea of what it is now.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Again- while we are waiting, could I ask once again if any of our fine bloggers will be able to take turns going to and reviewing the marathon recitals and if possibly a thread could be started for them, where your reviews could be discussed?
Thanks again for all the great threads you give us here to discuss.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:57 pm
any thoughts on the snap’s by Kunz in White Lies? I thought it was kinda cool — especially since it has been played so many times I am sure he wanted to be different, but…a lil much?
May 31st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Sorry to make you keep asking, Dave, but you’ll have to direct your question to Ken and the Mikes. They’ll be in FW, but I’ll still be watching from the provinces.
May 31st, 2009 at 11:52 pm
@Ken & Mike. I only heard enough to come to the same list you did, save for Lam. I heard both of her semi rounds in very because her playing interested me so much I wonder though if it’s strong enough to carry her into the finals. Because I didn’t hear everyone else live or in archives, I can’t pick a sixth.
Son is my personal favorite, followed closely by Bozhanov.
John McInerney
June 1st, 2009 at 8:47 am
Ken got 5 right. Not bad
June 1st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I only put five in the finals and guessed for Kunz. I didn’t watch Zhang at all and not much of Vacatello so didn’t put them in. however, I liked Mariangela’s Liszt Sonata and Schubert Impromptu Op. 90 no. 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AInAqGB5Iis
Bozhanov apparently graduated with distinction from the Lang Lang School of Facial Expression. But I loved his Rach 2 rehearsal today. Ken’s five out of six beats my four out of five. Wish I could be there for a closer look.