George Li: We Asian pianists are not alike
NewsThe American silver-medallist at the Tchakovsky Competition has lashed out at racial profiling of classical artists.
He tells Elijah Ho:
“I’ve had many severe moments,” reflects Li, whose parents are from China. “It’s really important to not racially profile anyone and make generalizations. They’re not helpful. Lang Lang’s musical expression is completely different from Yuja [Wang]’s, which is different from Seong-Jin Cho’s, which is different from mine. Everybody has a different statement.”
“As Asians, we have parents who are very much helping us, pushing us to grow,” he says. “We do everything very seriously in music, so of course it’s hurtful when it’s all taken as a joke, or when people say, ‘Oh, you play very fast’ or ‘like robots with a metronome.’ Those remarks aren’t helpful.”
Full profile here.
‘Not all Asian artists are the same.’
Is he a graduate of the University of the Blindingly Obvious? Why does all this matter to us? He’s just climbed on the bandwagon of the Society for Politicising Everything White.
I’d advise him drop the political manifesto, just get on with performing the music and let the public be the arbiters of his talents. It worked very well for Kyung Wha Chung, Vanessa Mae, Lang Lang, Sumi Jo, Yo Yo Ma and countless others.
We’ve all come a long way from ‘They all look alike to me’.
The average public’s prejudices against Asian pianists: Some play louder, some faster, some do it faster and louder, and those who win competitions play technically impeccable. The problem is that they can’t do it swing (as the Yankees put it), they don’t have any idea of what to do when they have to play something that demands that special feeling, that kind of Alpine hillbilly, Viennese heart, or Neapolitan passion.
It seems that the latest also talk louder.
I could counter with Liu Shikun, Dang Thai Son, Fou T’song, Mitsuko Uchida, to name just a few…
Myung-Whung Chung? Minoru Nojima’s Liszt Sonata and Miroirs suite? Seong Jin Cho’s wanderer fantasy? KunWoo Paik’s Bach? Hiromi Uehara? Kate Liu?
Another sad critic on the internet, who knows nothing about beauty or art. While these talrnted artists lead international careers, you sit alone writing spiteful racist comments on the internet, wishing you had an ounce of their success or talent.
I’ll take East Asian pianists like Yuja Wang, Seong-Jin Cho, Yeol Eum Son, and even Lang Lang over the likes of Till Fellner, Francesco Piemontesi, Lars Vogt, Piotr Anderszewski etc. any day. All of the four Central Europeans mentioned are deadly dull with subpar cantabile playing and little feeling of singing lines in Mozart concertos, the acid test of great pianists. Ingolf Wunder, one of the few somewhat interesting Central European pianists of the younger generation, doesn’t appear to have a great career. Igor Levit on the other hand achieved success through activities not entirely related to music. One must therefore conclude that on a pure musical basis, people with special feelings of “Alpine hillbilly” and “Viennese heart” prefer their pianists to be automatons programmed to play with maximum “polish”, “refinement”, “restraint”, and little else.
Don’t panic. Impacted cerumen is sometimes difficult to remove. I recommend repeated movements of the jaw to help the ears’ natural cleaning process, use of a softener under 3 days, and after that syringing with warm water. Avoid cotton swabs. If the problem persists, consult an otolaryngologist.
No need to be defensive. I’m sure you alone are not to blame for the sorry state of Central European pianism. To think you used to have Schnabel, Fischer, Kempff, Serkin, but now have to be content with the likes of Fellner and Piemontesi … pianists so weak that they cannot even be considered “lightweights”. Given nowadays Central European pianists that become famous are far inferior to those that come out of Russia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe (France and UK), Southern Europe (Italy and Spain), as well as the US and East Asia, your arrogance (Alpine hillbilly! Viennese heart!) is especially hilarious and sad.
Are you a graduate of the University of Mentally Blind? It matters because he is recounting his own experience of discrimination and microaggressions that, clearly, you have never experienced or imagined, given your above comment. This is precisely why people like him are speaking out to educate people like you, and yet it seems not to be working yet…
You have no right whatsoever to judge how artists you’ve mentioned have come to be known. Just because you want to think the world is fair and based on meritocracy, doesn’t mean the world actually is, and that all these artists are popular based on merit alone. Please grow up, it’s never too late even if you are in your 60’s, probably.
“I’d advise him drop the political manifesto” say this to Norman Lebrecht pls? Or if u can just read the full article here man: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900712/piano-virtuoso-george-li-rises-above-the-child-prodigy-label
George might well be referring to the numerous keyboard “warriors” on YouTube and social media – actually that includes us Slipped Disc readers – who look at the age of the pianist and their last name, and quip, “I bet he plays very fast notes, and is a technical prodigy but has no artistry- just like [assumptions of] Lang Lang and Yuja Wang”. The trolls have no idea who Uchida, Ma, et al are. Or even Sarah Chang and Yeol Eun Son. He wouldn’t have said anything if there wasn’t an actual issue.
Heard Yuja Wang’s ‘Tritsch Tratsch’ polka, Taussig arrangement?, on BR Klassik the other day. Exceedingly fast and not a jot of Viennese charm. In fact, the style mirrors her clothing choices.
Ok?
I too judge a pianist by how they play a fluffy encore arranged by an ubervirtuoso meant for showing off, and of course by what clothes they wear. Not like a philistine at all.
The name is “Tausig” by the way, and that’s not who arranged the piece. The transcription she played was by Cziffra. If you are going to diss a pianist like Yuja Wang, at least try not to sound like a music illiterate.
Assuming what you said is true, which isn’t as the encore piece is clearly not about “Viennese charm” (something you probably know nothing about), what’s your point then? All Asian pianists are alike?
Li hardly has a “musical expression”. Not much besides learned technical proficiency.
Go win silver in the Tchaikovsky, and I’ll give your remark some serious consideration.
U hardly has a ear
OH, HOW WRONG you are! George Li is one of the true expressive young artists! I have followed his career since he was 10 years old. He grows every time listen to him.
He is 25 by now, so I doubt he is still growing.
🙂
Yeah, keep telling people that. Maybe they will believe it!
Of course the comment above is cherry-picked from a much longer and more substantive article by Elijah Ho, in which Li has many perceptive comments. I urge people read the whole article before reactively commenting.
But why read some dumb article if you already know what you think?
“We do everything very seriously in music, so of course it’s hurtful when it’s all taken as a joke…”
Call the wambulance.
And call the ambulance for you too.
Is that meant to be a microaggression Dave?
But we listeners, or listener/musicians, DO tend to generalize or profile all the time and in contexts having nothing to do with Asian musicians. There are common generalizations concerning style and repertoire about Russian pianists, Soviet pianists, American pianists (“good at the Rhapsody in Blue”), Austrian pianists, Norwegian pianists (“best ones for the Grieg Concerto”), “competition winners” in general.
Worse yet sometimes, maybe often, these generalizations hit the nail on the head!
Welcome to the way the world thinks: it thinks in shorthand.
True, but your comment suffers from two logically fallacious arguments: 1. the fallacy of equivocation, and 2. the is-ought fallacy.
1. We all generalize but the way in which certain generalizations are made, and its impact are different. Nobody says “Norwegian pianists are the best ones for the Grieg Concerto!” in the most serious tone, and it does not affect non-Norwegians to perform the concerto.
2. And just because this is the way “the world thinks”, it doesn’t mean this is how it should be. Just because he is speaking out on behalf of Asians (because … well..he is one and he has a very valid perspective on it), it doesn’t mean he thinks the rest of the world is without a problem. Perhaps we can think of how we can all advance to create a better world for everyone instead of the typical “welcome to the real world! world is not fair!” response that adds absolutely no value to this world.
The problem is that the Asian epithets are usually derogatory, while others are not so much. You’ll see there’s a distinct asymmetry if you are perceptive enough.
Good points. However, Americans are not necessarily best at Rhapsody in Blue, rather, force of habit, ditto Norwegian pianists and Grieg. When it comes to voice, though, Souzay will have always sounded French because that was his native tongue, as Fischer-Dieskau was with German. But the voice is from the trunk of the tree, whereas pianist fingers are not. That’s an entirely different topic. I will say this, though, that there may be a list of Asian composers just waiting to be commissioned to compose a new generation of concertos for all instruments, with many successful artists who can make that happen. To avoid profiling comments, this can be done by anyone from anywhere in the world. (Am I trying to say something about future projects? No, but never say never).
Not to mention George Li is American. Don’t you see some irony here?
And Gershwin’s parents were Jews from Russia…
Yes and I have two more generalizations which hit the nail on the head:
1. Norman Lebrecht’s comment section is full of toxic old white trolls like you with nothing to share but racist resentment spurred on by their failed dreams.
2. The “reporting” on this site is nothing but poorly justified gossip, out-of-context quotations, and creepy comments about Yuja Wang.
No, that’s just how naive Europeans think. The rest of the West doesn’t.
George Li is simply the best.
I’ve heard him play and he is terrific.
Even if one thinks the blatant discrimination days against Asian pianists are over, you can still see leftover remnants of that thinking crop up from time to time in subtle was. Take all the criticism that’s leveled against Lang Lang for being “self-indulgent” and going overboard in his playing. I am pretty certain a lot of that has to do with conflicts against preconceived notions for how Asians (especially Asian males) are supposed to look/act. Same goes for all the Yuja hysteria over her appearance.
Don’t tell us, tell the US universities who are putting quota limits on Asian student intakes. Too late: white Americans will very shortly belong to a cultural minority in the USA. Research the statistics yourselves.
George played concerts with Pinchas a week after P’s mini-controversy…..guess the check cleared…..
What is your point, exactly? Do you mean to imply that Li should have cancelled the engagement on some high-minded principle, an action that would have almost certainly constituted a breach of contract (concert engagements are normally signed and sealed a lot further in advance than a week)? Is one supposed constantly to vet every professional colleague, and ‘cancel’ him/her instantly if he/she is reported to have said or done something questionable? To my mind, such an approach would have been deeply unprofessional, and I am glad that Li honours his engagements.
wait, all Asians are different? Are white people different too, Hmmmm. He sounds like a deep thinker!
You’re all alike. sigh. all bloody alike.
Rejecting your own culture, to play the culture of the dying west… in perfect dying-west-manner.
Modern.
All modern.
haha dipple dopple hundrum squeeeeeeeze