Just in: Yundi apologises for concert ‘mistakes’
mainThe pianist has issued a statement on his Chinese weibo account regretting his memory lapse in a Chopin concerto, played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Korea. The failure provoked a social-media storm in Asia.
Yundi writes:
‘I apologize for our mistakes in the Seoul concert and would like to issue a sincere apology to our fans and friends and thank the conductor and the orchestra for their support and forgiveness.
‘As a pianist, I know that, no matter what, my performance on stage must be perfect. Any kind of explanation is insufficient.
‘Thank you for your comments.’
His own observation on giving a”perfect” performance demonstrates
his lack of understanding the art .His audience paying $200 a ticket seem not much better You get the feeling they deserve each other .
I have to agree.
As do I. Indeed, there is in that word a gross misunderstanding of the nature of live performances and, very common these days, ignorance of the performances of the truly great pianists of an era now gone for some years.
A member of the orchestra explained in detail what actually happened in a comment on the first post of this meaningless story. That, for one thing, should have been another lesson to certain bloggers not to rush into print without a bit of fact-checking — and no where is that lesson more needed than on this blog. The clarification certainly put Yundi in a better light. If there was, nevertheless, a “social-media storm in Asia”, which I take as a relative matter and with a grain of salt, it says nothing for their music-lovers. But then I try to imagine the entire area of Asia engaged in this and again I have my doubts as to the veracity of the statement.
+1
And, perhaps, this ( and other) cases demonstrates that it is not a pretty face, fast fingers, a big label + big agency that make a long lasting career. What makes a career last is true musicianship, a deep respect and understanding of the arts and lifelong dedication to the greater good: music. Because, if you look at the 60+ pianists that are (still) around those traits are their common denomination. Everything else is merely a money making trend.
“We apologize”?
Ah, the concept of the humble apology!
You do realize that Li’s Weibo account is written in Chinese and that the word “we” does not actually appear in the original, don’t you?
If you read the Chinese carefully, you see that the statement was, in fact, made by Yundi’s hands, or that he spoke in name of his hands. Since there were two hands operating at the concert, and they both had a lapse in the same time, it is ‘we’.
To be fair, he did NOT say “we apologize”. The blog starts as “Very sorry…
Yundi’s statement was in Chinese and the above translation is terrible and may well add to further misunderstanding. He never said “our mistakes”! My translation: “Very sorry about the mistake(s) in the Seoul concert on the day before, apologies to the fans! Very grateful for the understanding and support from the orchestra and conductor. As a concert pianist I know deeply that whatever the reason (circumstance), one must give 100% performance on stage, any explanation is useless. Thank you for everyone’s guidance.”
Thank you Derek. Yes, that translation sounds exactly right. Even during that mistake his playing was uniquely lyrical, elegant and emotive all at the same time. Worth every cent to to hear him live and experience life happening. His performance was 100%, because it was real.
you must be working for Yundi or something, because that paricular concert was a major disaster enough that people were complaining for refunds. Some people pay 200$ for those and others came from other towns via bus or trains. I know, because a couple of my friends were there. You’re writing some sci-fi novel and it just sounds too ludicrous.
@Phishy & Kee: Both of you (respectfully) know nothing–of Chopin’s music, concert playing or Yundi and his indisputable brilliance at the keyboard. Too, you are grossly ignorant of the history of classical public performance. Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Horowitz have had the precisely the same thing happen to them–amongst many other players–two of them in slightly more prestigious arenas.
I can only presume neither of you is familiar with the suggestion that, “sometimes it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it!”
I can only imagine what would’ve happened if LANG LANG had been the one on stage.
Ufffff, Norman would’ve called the interpol!! Would’ve started a campaign to have all his assets frozen, the public condemnation and retirement of all of his honors, etc, etc, until Lang Lang is playing in the streets.
I think this further demonstrates why one is just a simply “good pianist” who won a competition, and the other one is actually a professional. And yes, professionalism is needed in this career. Running under the couch after making a mistake is not professional.
“Artists” trolling this comment in 3…..2…..1….
The conductor that night was David Robertson, but why should the Sydney concertmaster Andrew Haveron clarifies? What I read from the Chinese media is very different from the story given here by Andrew Haveron. From what I read, it was the conductor David Robertson who stopped the performance simply because he was unable to catch up with Yundi’s fast playing. Yundi was rather annoyed with the conductor for the interruption. But Andrew Haveron wrote that Yundi had stopped the performance. To be fair to Yundi, I think the conductor David Robertson should come here to clarify himself in an honest way instead of sending Andrew Haveron here to distort the fact that shame Yundi even more. Who is Andrew Haveron? I hope there is no Impostor here.
Why must Yundi apologize for the conductor’s wrong doing? Because he had to obey the instruction given by the Secret Agent of communist China since 2008. Very few people know the kind of life Yundi has lived since 2008. By the way, the present Chinese leader General Secretary Xi Jingpin has nothing to with the conduct of these evil people.
Yundi has been controlled by the Secret Agent of communist China since 2008 for some selfish reason of the Secret Agent. What do you think is the reason for Yundi to disappear from the world arena after 2008 while he was at the peak of his career? This Secret Agent had actually forced him to stay away from the outside world for sometimes during 2009. He was not even allowed to have contact with his family during that time. I suspect that he was more or less under some kind of house arrest during that time. It is hard for the people living in a democratic country to understand that this kind of thing could happen to any individual.
When he finally re-merged in 2010, he had become totally a YES man to this Secret Agent – being very scared of this evil people. Against his will, he had to mix himself with pop song singers, fashion designers etc etc. He was even forced to interrupt his duty as a judge of Chopin piano competition to fly back to China in order to attend a wedding of an Chinese actor. He had completely lost his freedom. He has to say and do whatever he was told. The Secret Agent had planned all these so that it may look as if Yundi has lost interest in classical music and that he has become so deteriorated in his playing that he often makes tons of mistakes. The Secret Agent has a troop of posters to verify all such claims at many websites. People who are able to think logically refuse to believe all such nonsense claimed by these posters. Listen to Yundi’s CD’s , how can all such claims be true if Yundi ‘s is able to play so well? This Secret Agent is also quite capable of controlling reporters and media which often slandered Yundi and Yundi was not supposed to deny anything claimed by such reporters.
It will be useless trying to get any truth from Yundi’s lips as his lips has been completely sealed – after being terrified by this Secret Agent.
You know that some information given here is not true. For example,, in the apology delivered by Yundi, he said that after checking with the organizer of the concert, there was no such thing as audiences trying to ask for a refund. But the story given here is very different. Obviously, there has been too much lies going around.
In the same apology, he also mentioned about checking through the posts dropped by some Korean audiences who had attended the performance. I believe Yundi was trying to tell the world that although he had to apologize, the mishap was not his fault. you can only get the truth from the posts dropped by some Korean audiences as who was to be blamed for the mishap that night..
I have watched Yundi’s development closely since his winning of first prize of Chopin piano competition. He is such a good interpreter of classical music that I even wrote some reviews for his CD’s at Amazon using the nick name Kee. Having read all the news from the Chinese media for the past fifteen years regarding Yundi’s problems, I understand the intensity of the rivalry feeling between him and the other pianist.
“..the other pianist”? Are we forgetting all the other pianists from China? Why conflate artistry with politics.
Don’t you know that your human right is closely connected with politics? In Yundi’s case, after his human right is taken away, he has completely lost his freedom to develop his career as a pianist. In fact, the purpose of this Secret Agent is to pull him away from classical music. When he is only allowed to mix with people chosen by this Secret Agent – people such as pop song singers, actors, and fashion designers – he has lost completely his freedom to chose his own friends. Very few people realize that he has to say and do whatever he was told by this Secret Agent. I even suspect that sometimes, he had play the piano in a way which is not his style. For that, I wrote a few times at a website urging him not to kill his artistic playing. Without the dirty intervention of this evil Secret Agent, Yundi would have achieved a greater success as a pianist. You see, how closely connected politics is with artistry?
Please don’t misunderstand that this has something to do with the present Chinese government. This is just something out of the control of the General Secretary of communist China Xi Jing pin. I had actually hinted at a website that Yundi should report his case to the present government, but obviously, there might be some risk that I haven’t foreseen in taking such action.
Shame on the Secret Agent of communist China for bringing this fake video to Youtube for the troop of their posters to drop posts there in order to destroy Yundi. For the purpose of not giving me any chance to refute their evil claims against Yundi, they managed to stop me to register myself at Youtube so that I am unable to drop any post there for more .than ten years. I am also banned by many websites to make any comment – that includes Yundi’s facebook. I was even denied access to Amazon to write reviews for Yundi’s CDs at one time. It was through the advertisements sent by Amazon to my email box that I finally gained access to Amazon. But because of the harassment of the Secret Agent of China, I have stopped writing review for Yundi for the past three years. I can see that their plan is to make the reviews written for Yundi becoming less and less so that it may look as if people have gradually lost interest in Yundi. Do you know that they have actually engaged many reviewers to write reviews for Yundi at Amazon and many newspapers? You can see how determined these people are in trying to destroy Yundi especially after Yundi was included in the panel of judges for the Chopin piano competition.
If, as Alvaro imagines, BANG BANG had been on the stage, (instead of Yundi) there would have been a full state funeral on Fifth Avenue, his Hyde Park performance in front of a billion followers would have been broadcast in every elevator and Kleenex stock would have shot up on Wall Street. Apart from that, n othing
So you who were not at the concert can state that those people who are complaining about the refunds are ignorant or know nothing about the public concerts. Nice. Those people who’re so ignorant do not just pay up $200 for tickets to see such concerts at all. And since you know so much than those ignorant people, then how can you explain about Yundi’s another bluffed recital in Japan a couple of days after the disastrous Korean concert? He played with open music sheet at his recital in Japan. Some people joked he was having an open practice session. lol You can try to defend him all you want, but it’s clear that he’s seriously losing his touch. At least with Lang Lang, with his showmanship personality, he can get away with such circus act.
@Fishy. Your continuing to bleat on about the price of the tickets, your assumption that only ‘cultivated’ musical types would pay such money for admission, proves to me you judge musicians by the admission price one pays to hear them. In closing, may I refer you back to the comment previously made (so wisely and so well) that, in the age of Youtube, the following geniuses would never have been allowed to get away with the same either:
Here is a partial list of great musicians who have committed the ‘sin’ of memory lapse and mistakes :
Toscanini, Richter, Rubinstein, Gould, Stravinsky, Giles, Serkin, van Cliburn, Pollini and Horowitz
So let’s now start tearing their achievements apart! – See more at: https://slippedisc.com/2015/11/just-in-yundi-apologises-for-concert-mistakes/?replytocom=104376#respond
Oct 29 – Washington Post, Anne Midgette – National Symphony Orchestra:
“Then out came Lang Lang, whom Eschenbach has been able to draw to Washington with some frequency in recent years, and who sat down and played with the fire and conviction of total freshness, as if the Grieg concerto were not one of his staples, offering the audience something vivid and of the moment.
Lang Lang has been labeled overhyped and shallow by some, a whiz-bang entertainer. I’ve subscribed to that view in the past, but I didn’t think so when I heard him make his Carnegie Hall debut in this concerto with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2001, and — in part through having had such frequent opportunities to hear him in Washington — I don’t think so now. At 33, the pianist still has some of the physical mannerisms that have drawn criticism in the past — call it an overemphatic visualization of the drama of the music — but he’s toned it down. Or perhaps I’ve just started seeing past it. In any case, what I got from his playing was a welcome excitement, entertainment in the good sense and some beautiful communicative moments. More than his effortless runs, his whip-crack-perfect fingers, what struck me were his pianissimos, consistently delicate and perfect, nestled at the upper edge of the keyboard like a robin’s egg. As an encore, he offered a Cuban Dance by Ernesto Lecuona.”
Bang Bang is a pianist with his instincts at the right place, I would say, in spite of his exaggerated fortissimo’s, but with a persona that comes across rather cheap and vulgar, or: not quite understanding intellectually what European classical music really is. But if the playing is good, so what? It’s not the bottle but the wine we should judge. Some years ago he talked on his website about HIS music, meaning his repertoire – showing the point.
Does anyone know what so called european classical music “really is ” ??????Pray tell us Mr. Borstlap……..
European classical music is the music that is left over when you cross-out all the other music.
If this happened to Lang Lang he would have carried it off to a T .
Being the showman he is he would have left the audience cheering him on .
It’s always the humorless pretentious so called artist that falls apart
$200 a ticket to hear a piano player ????!!! football I can see but a piano player ?
In the wild west in the 19th century, all saloons had the sign: “Don’t shoot the piano player” to prevent violent differences of opinion spilling over into the musical accompaniment. Maybe a custom to restore?
Yes, Lang Lang would have carried it off, but I can’t imagine him slipping up, ever.
I’m feeling sorry for Yundi – he’ll be dreading his next recital I should imagine.
I like the royal “we”. I can see the next IP in the making.
The exact translation cited from Global Times (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/950604.shtml) is “I’m very sorry for the mistakes on Seoul concert the day before yesterday, and I apologize to all the music fans. I’m grateful for the forgiveness and support from the orchestra and the conductor.” – See more at: https://slippedisc.com/2015/11/just-in-yundi-apologises-for-concert-mistakes/#comment-87045
Thank you! It seems that Norman’s imagination was at work once again.
Hum,maybe it’s not Norman’s fault….. As far as I know，Norman is not good at Chinese, all his blogs about yundi are provided by a Chinese named RuoFu Tang carrying with rumors and gossips sometimes.
I don’t see any need to apologize for losing his place or having a memory lapse; people are human. Accept it in good humor and start over. It’s only if he engaged in bad behavior that he should apologize.
When Stravinksy performed his own piano concerto in Berlin in the early thirties, at the beginning of the second movement, where the piano begins, he had completely forgotten how it went and had to ask the conductor to hum it for him. After that, he could start the movement without problems. So, if even a great composer can get it wrong, performers should be excused.
Its widely known how Beethoven brutalized his nephew. Child abuse must be OK for you I assume.
Bravo!
Yundi turned pages by HIMSELF on stage of the recital of Fukuoka, Japan on November 3, Tuesday.
He played Chopin Preludes and Ballades. For me it a sad to know it because he is still young and a champ of Chopin competition, now needs sheet music to play them…
More to say, hard to believe he was a jury member of Chopin competition in Warsaw a few weeks ago. He’s been in trouble of days of absence there.
Dear Norman：
Sorry to bother you again.
But Yundi’s words : ““I’m very sorry for 【the】 mistakes on Seoul concert the day before yesterday”.He uesd “the”,not “our”.
Yundi claimed that it was he that be responsible for the mistakes.There isn’t any blame being laid on anyone else.I really donn’t understand why RuoFu Tang uses these misleading words.
+1
Also recalling- I’ve attended his Beethoven Sonatas recital Dec. 2013. It was his memory slip of skipping a page of Pathetic 3rd mov. His big amount of wrong notes there whispered me his whining of ‘Wanna go home!’
Probably he burnt out after his Chopin competition…no?
I would think it wasn’t the concerto mistake that people were dissatisfied with. It was probably the absence of ‘compensation’ for that mistake. There was no encore or additional performance.
As an Asian myself, I know the Asian mindset. The most important thing (in life) is not one that has no mistakes but a life of not being ‘cheated’. Yundi could have come out a play a few encores to ‘compensate’ for that mistake: a few preludes, a barcarolle or polonaise.
At least for the audience, for the money they paid, they get a ‘memory lapse’ concerto plus a few extra works. Now they just get a ‘memory lapse’ concerto and nothing else.
I absolutely agree. Humans can make mistakes but it’s all about their ‘attitude’ afterwards. I read that Daniel Barenboim made some brutal mistakes playing complete Beethoven sonata and after the concert as encores he played a relay of great pieces ever so passionately to make it up. That is professionalism and consideration for the audience.
This is a lesson to all:
Nowadays, people spend $200 and expect a perfect musical performance as if you walk into a store and buy a brand new DVD player which is expected to work perfectly for years.
It’s never like that. We should appreciate the arts of live music making more, rather than criticize and criticize and criticize.
Yundi may have acted differently that night to be more diplomatic. But trust me, nobody felt any worst than Yundi that night.
Another Double L: Louis Lortie performed (from memory) the same work last week in Paris with no muss, no fuss, no showboating, and I paid a mere 25 euros for the privilege and pleasure.
Louis Lortie is an artist, Yundi Li is but a prize winner of a pointless competition which
proves nothing except that types like Li play to the judges and win .
If any one is worth $200 a ticket it would be Louis Lortie or an Anderszewski .
Lortie will be playing Totentantz this weekend in Boston. Looking forward to hear somebody that Milka actually likes!
Wish I could be there , the last time I heard him play this it was stunning , the piano a wreck
and the audience in hysterics. You knew you were in the presence of a brain at work,the
playing almost brutal ,a take no prisoners performance.He is a master
Here us a partial list of great musicians who have committed the ‘sin’ of memory lapse and mistakes : Toscanini, Richter, Rubinstein, Gould, Stravinsky, Giles, Serkin, van Cliburn, Pollini. Let’s start tearing their achievements apart!
MusicLover, your point is well taken. And I would add Vladimir Horowitz – many, many times!
And it’s a just a fad to expect every soloist to perform from memory. Organists (for example) rarely perform from memory, and I once page-turned for an eminent American pianist who used to be a member of the Melos Ensemble in his live broadcast of the Brahms D minor concerto. He never ever performed in public without his copy of the score and a page-turner.
According to history, playing from memory was started by Franz Liszt. Both Beethoven and Chopin disdained this practise. Some music historians even felt that this practise may have inhibited the expansion of repertoire for many musicians whose memory skills were not their forte.
It is the norm nowadays to play from memory in recitals and concertos. Unfortunately, to do otherwise will be perceived by the audience as being a less competent and ill-prepared performance even if it were excellent.
The audience in Seoul wasn’t angry about Yundi’s memory slip itself. Actually, the audience in the Seoul Arts Center was generous to his mistakes at the time of the concert.
Actually, social media was heated after Yundi uploaded his selfie in a Halloween costume on Facebook. Yundi’s attitude made the fans in Seoul think he was very unprofessional and they were cheated.
I think many replies missed the point about this issue.
Agreed. He needs to be taught how to behave properly. He needs a coach and mentor.
It may not have been Yundi himself who uploaded the Halloween costume. Many artists have their social media managed by ‘teams’.
Well I hope Edinburgh and Glasgow book him soon! Genius allied to humility!
Bravo Yundi – Beautiful manners!
Why are people writing so much about this?
Gustav (long time), Maybe because he had such difficulty (this part was definitely understandable) and yet didn’t have enough respect for the high-paying audience to play even ONE encore and then left the area WITHOUT explaining to the fan group he was *scheduled* to meet with and who were waiting to meet him that night, and then just tweeted a picture of himself in a Halloween costume that night after ignoring them?
It was his cavalier treatment of the situation and attitude toward fans, apparently. You’re not really encouraging young, very supported (solid resuscitated DG contract for Yundi Li) musicians who are commanding $200 per seat to act in this way? The funding of competitions should encourage in its winners more professionalism than this than to act in this way toward fans who had looked forward to the scheduled meeting?
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s concert on Oct. 30 in Seoul included the following program: 1. Smetna;s Moldau, 2. Chopin Piano Concerto #1 – Yundi Pianist, intermission, 3. Brahms Symphony #3. You seem not to know the complete program. The concert goers that night did not go just because of Yundi. They were there to enjoy the performances of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as well. It is most customary for soloists engaged in concerto performances not to play an encore. As Mr. Andrew Haveron stated, Yundi did not give an encore the night before at Daegu. I have been to many concerts where the soloist did not give an encore, and the orchestra gave an encore at the end of the second half.
Are you a fan or an official spokesperson for the fans to state in such an authoritative way about how the fans feel and what they want?
I am not a fan. Even if I were, I would completely understand why he did not show up at the scheduled meeting. A spokesperson for the artist and not the artist should have apologised for his absence given the circumstance. This was mishandled by the people in charge who scheduled the fan meeting.
The fact is that some pianists do perform one encore at a symphony engagement if circumstances allow. I would say circumstances more than allowed, and it would have been gracious. And I say that as someone who spent 9 years sharing a stage with a symphony orchestra as a member of its official chorus and often enjoyed listening to its concerts from the audience and have heard encores from a pianist after a concerto if there was some call for it. That includes Argerich with the Montreal Symphony.
There are also realities of time frames and union rules, but salvaging a bad situation would have been useful for the orchestra.
One doesn’t have to be a “fan” or “not a fan” to have the ability to read the voluminous reports here and in links provided, pro and con. The fact is that he skipped the scheduled autograph signing without a word to those waiting and, on social media, merely wrote a Halloween greeting that same night.
Your writings here are those of an apologist for ANY of his actions, to the extent you attack other writers if they dare to say he did anything amiss after the (understandable) memory loss — your responses are those of a voluntary PR type person or adoring fan who can’t abide any criticism of actions after a performance accident. It’s not the memory loss so much as how it was handled.
I’ve read some history on Li and see that he does not have the rep for being the most gracious concert pianist, so he should think about the fact that people pay $200+ a seat because they do want to hear him. And he should have behaved differently after the accident. You prolong the conversation unnecessarily with your attacks on other commenters who disagree with you.
I think it’s understandable for Yundi to cancel the scheduled autograph session.
How is it possible for an artist to meet the fans just after the disastrous performance?
Problem was Yundi didn’t seem to care about his calamitous playing when he uploaded his selfie in a Halloween costume just a few hours after the concert concluded.
What’s missing are a few things:
1) Yundi Li had a very highly publicized poor performance in a stadium (not concert hall) in China that is available for all of Youtube to see. Anyone expecting perfection, or Yundi himself expecting it, is guilty of just not doing their homework when spending your $200. Not that he does this all the time, but to be surprised is ridiculous. (By the way, people spent $1,500 plus to hear Pavorotti only to hear him sing 20% of a program titled “Pavorotti in recital” – he still got applause). Maybe the real story is that as you will see in a moment, Yundi Li does not have the teflon some others may have.
2) It has been since Youtube and Facebook (just a few years) that people can share in virtual real time, the disasters on stage. As if they never happened before that. No, not Horowitz’s generation. How about Vladimir Feltsman in the Liszt Concerto getting so hopeless lost that an orchestra had to stop – the world-renowned conductor cutting off the orchestra and I hear the conductor bark a certain number of bars after section ___ for the orchestra to play again with the pianist. Feltsman continued his solo in the third movement while the orchestra was silent as if it was part of the score and just kept playing until he found his way back. The majority of the audience did not know anything happened and he received the customary standing ovation of any virtuoso showpiece. When I was a student, a violinist was so upset for his memory issues in a Brahms Concerto with an American orchestra – I did not know the piece that well at the time. The audience hadn’t a clue and either did the reviewer. Sure, he did not stop. But he certainly made it a point to tell me how upset he was with himself – something artists rarely do to people outside their closest friends.
3) Then there is not getting lost at all – there is Horowitz in Moscow itself and Horowitz live at the end that anyone could hear (and can hear even more with the new big box set of live, unedited recordings). His Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto broadcast live with the New York Philharmonic and LP with Ormandy of the same are as sloppy as any performance of the concerto in history (many reviewers applauded the recording). Anyone can buy them on Amazon. It was ok for Horowitz to play repertoire well beyond his abilities late in his life – he could do no wrong. Sure, the Scarlatti late in his life was magnificent as was his Mozart (which ironically was not earlier in his career based on his recording made for CBS). And his Chopin Heroic Polonaise at the end, oh boy was that dirty.
The bottom line is mistakes have been made not just way back, but have been made all the way to the present, including the beginning of Youtube and Facebook.
Someone should see the documentary on British tennis player Andy Murray and the horrific school shooting that took place at his own school. A fascinating documentary. But only now do people talk about these issues. That’s an example of the same phenomenon in a very different area. Yet, the tennis world often takes shots at Murray’s demeanor and toughness. Few knew until recently that he went through one of the great tragedies for any school child in Scottish history.
Thus, to act like Yundi Li did anything so bad compared to what some great pianists have done in the past or showing signs of what he himself did in China – just shows today’s jump for judgment and general lack of perspective or realism.
I am not even that fond of some of Yundi’s playing – but I am fond of realism and the fact that he deserves nothing less than the respect of any high level concert pianist. A disaster can happen at any moment, as one world renowned violinist who has played for the world’s most famous politicians and in the greatest concert halls once said (he even mentioned the odd occasion precisely where it happened).
Yundi’s human – we all are. And atleast he is not an actor – as he does not practice in front of a mirror and focus as much on his outfits and mannerisms as the music itself.
Today, unfortunately, it’s about just get through things without people noticing the quality of the playing – but make it look good. Who knew Raymond Lewenthal had a vision in the future.
At least Mr. Vladimir Feltsman didn’t upload a selfie in a Halloween costume titled with “I’m gonna freak you out tomorrow!” right after the disastrous performance.
I am sufficiently grateful to Yundi for all the exhilaration and delight he has brought into my life (in a way no other pianist except Horowitz did) that for this reason alone, I would not condemn him for having a ‘bad’ night anymore than I would disdain anyone else. Yes, it is a little sad that people who paid large sums felt cheated, but there is a respectful etiquette for that too! Anyone who has never had a bad day in public is either an out-and-out fool or a damn liar!
Why did Yundi apologize? He was forced by the Secret Agent of communist China to apologize for the mishap that was hardly his fault.
According to some Chinese media, it was not Yundi who stopped the performance, instead, it was the conductor David Robertson who stopped the performance simply because he felt Yundi was too fast for him to conduct properly. For such interruption, Yundi was so very angry with the conductor that he cancelled the autograph signing session that night and there was rumors that Yundi blamed the conductor the mishap. But, two days later Yundi suddenly changed his attitude and apologized, but in his apology, he mentioned that when he checked with the organizer of the concert, he was told that there was no audience asking for any refund. Yundi also mentioned about checking through the posts dropped by some Korean audiences after that performance.
I believe Yundi was trying to tell the world that although I have to apologize, you can get the truth from the posts dropped by some Korean audiences that it was truly not my fault.
Why must Yundi apologize for the conductor’s wrong doing? Because Yundi has been controlled by the Secret Agent of communist China since 2008 – by the way, this has nothing to do with the present Chinese leader General Secretary Xi Jingpin. What do you think is the reason for Yundi to disappear from the world arena after 2008 while he was at the peak of his career? This Secret Agent had actually forced him to stay away from the society for sometimes. He was not even allowed to have contact with his family during that time. I suspect that he was more or less under some kind of house arrest for sometimes. When he finally re-merged in 2010, he had become totally a YES man to this Secret Agent . He had to mix himself with pop song singers, fashion designers etc etc. He was even forced to interrupt his duty as a judge of Chopin piano competition to fly back to China in order to attend a wedding of an Chinese actor. He had lost completely his freedom.
The Secret Agent had planned all these to make it look as if Yundi has lost interest in classical music and he has become so deteriorated that he often makes tons of mistakes. The Secret Agent has a troop of posters to verify all such claims at many websites. People who are able to think logically refuse to believe all such nonsense claimed by these posters. Listen to Yundi’s CD’s , how can all such claims be true if Yundi ‘s is able to play so well? It will be useless trying to get any truth from Yundi;s lips as his lips has been completely sealed – being very scared of this Secret Agent.
I know all these because I have watched Yundi’s development closely since his winning of first prize of Chopin piano competition. I even wrote some reviews for his CD’s at Amazon using the nick name Kee.
Please read the posts dropped by me at the bottom of the webpage Yundi crashes in Chopin concerto given on November 2, 2015 by norman lebrecht in order to understand better the whole situation:
https://slippedisc.com/2015/11/breaking-yundi-crashes-out-of-chopin-concerto/#comment-87144
You’re totally mistaken. The conductor stopped the performance not because of Yundi’s tempo, but because of his memory lapse in the Chopin concerto.
Memory lapse is what the Sydney concertmaster Andrew Haveron claimed. But the Chinese media said different thing.
According to the report given on 31st Oct by the Chinese press Universe, Yundi was playing too fast. Although the conductor was trying to catch up with Yundi, he finally gave up and called STOP!
I actually have a very strong suspicion in this conductor’s intention because one should not stop during a formal performance. Why is it that they collaborated well the previous night at Daegu Civic Center, Daegu, South Korea? I also strongly suspect the identity of Andrew Haveron. Why should he clarifies here instead of the conductor David Robertson himself? I hope there is no impostor here.
Kee seems to be drinking a very strong tea .
I know I am taking risk in going against this Secret Agent of China, but allowing the world to know the truth is more important.