Tchaikovsky Competition results: Russian wins piano, lone Brit is joint 2nd
NewsIn a very limited field with an even more restricted jury, these are the results of the piano finals:
I Prize and Gold Medal – Sergei Davydchenko (Russia)
II Prize and Silver Medal – George Harliono (United Kingdom), Angel Stanislav Wang (USA), Valentin Malinin (Russia)
III Prize and Bronze Medal – Stanislav Korchagin (Russia), Ilya Papoyan (Russia)
IV Prize and Diploma – Suah Ye (South Korea), Xuanyi Mao (China)
The russian deserved it. That Prokofiev 2nd was something like Yunchan’s Rach 3, just amazing
I agree he deserve to win. But his Prokofiev wasn’t iconic as Yunchan Lim’s Rach 3 was. However, it was the highlight of the competition, by far!
Bravo!
Can’t we finally get past Lim’s Rach 3 performance and move on to other performances? It was certainly unique and quit amazing but there will certainly be other artists with legendary performances of piano works with much offering greater musical value value to the listener. Bravura technical facility is par for the course nowadays.
I’m not quite ready to do that yet, Bert. Give me 6 more months!
I also love Lim’s Rach3 , and only listen to his version ever since 16th Cliburn.
Lim’s performances, in both the Rach 3 and the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, were about a lot more than just technical bravura.
Including Rachmaninov’s 1938 recording with the Philadelphia and Ormandy.
Agree. Sergei is the best undoubtedly! Just like Yunchan Lim in Van Cliburn competition last year.
pure politics based on nationalities…
These ‘winners’ are actually losers, and should hang their heads in shame. Especially the Brit.
As you say Norman, it was a very limited contest. The list of moral pianists who didn’t actually enter, and thus boycotted in solidarity of Ukraine would be of greater worthiness.
In terms of sheer standard alone, due to the limited playing field this year, these winners would not be good enough to win any other major contest that has not been boycotted by western musicians.
The competition was open to all nationalities, including Ukrainians. What you see as superior morals, I see as cowardice. Was there no Ukrainian pianist trained well enough to make it to the first round?
How do you think is it possible? Morally or physically?!
So one from Ukraine (if he/she is not killed by Russians) should take a car, drive though frontline and be like, I’m sorry can you stop bombing because I am late for TCH17?
You probably are joking or pretend to be an idiot. For Ukrainian to come to Moscow for competition these days when Russia cowardly kill his/her compatriot civilians, destroying Ukrainians cities and burning villages while stealing Ukrainian grain and arranging technogenic catastrophe on Ukrainian land, would be the same as for Russian (Soviet) citizen to come to Berlin for competition after June 22 1941 when Germany did similar things to Soviet (including Ukrainian -.sic!) people
Perhaps you have an example in mind of brave Russians participating in contests in Germany during WWII?
There are three plausible explanations for the absence of well trained Ukrainian pianists in the 1st and subsequent rounds: A) The well trained Ukrainian musicians were killed fighting for their country, B) fled the destruction of their country with their families for their lives, C) refused to be propaganda tools of the host nation, D) All of the above. If this were a multiple choice exam question, I’d choose D.
Harsh!
I’d like to point out here that there are 2 different Anons posting in these Tchaikovsky threads. I’ve posted a lot previously under this name & this is a new & different Anon.
A remarkably uninformed and irrelevant remark. I cannot abide the constant politicization of sporting and cultural events, so long as they take a pro-US/Israel slant. As regards this latest cowardly proxy-war launched by the US, why not try to contextualize events and understand the CAUSES? Enough of this CNN-style propaganda. Why not support the victims of US/ISRAEL hegemony for a change? I know….it takes real guts to do so….
Some readers here can rather sanctimonious… artistes train for years under tough circumstances to participate in competitions. Should they thus forfeit the competition to satisfy the need to politically posture? Yes, there are other competitions, but young artists do not have massive ‘competition runways’ to gain experience or launch a career.
Well I guess it depends on what you want to be remembered for. I honestly don’t know how anyone could travel to Russia to be part of a propaganda machine. Sometimes you have to draw a line. Huge respect to all you talented musicians who did just that, you are the winners here.
“Sanctimonious” seems rather dismissive under dire circumstances. If support of wanton cruelty and murder is a “political posture”, then sure, let them play away.
The self-involved choices of these young artists will follow their careers forever. It will inhabit their souls.
So, I take it you will be condemning with equal vigour all the artists who failed to boycott the Leeds competition in protest at the UK’s manifold war crimes? And, for that matter, artists who entered a competition in any country with record of recent illegal aggressions and invasions (in other words, most countries in the West)? Or are the illegal invasions perpetrated by NATO countries “humanitarian”, whilst those perpetrated by other countries “wanton cruelty and murder”?
But in any case, these competitors’ careers are unlikely to be harmed by all this… the way things are going, we have a situation where many anglophone countries are marginalising Western classical music in the name of so-called “decolonisation” (funny how learned discourses thereon tend not to stop and reflect on the ongoing hegemony of the English language and the enormous quantity of overseas military bases maintained by the USA) and “relevance” (funny how classical music is denigrated as élitist, whilst West End theatre and Premier League football are lauded as unifying and populist), whilst the art form is embraced enthusiastically in Asia.
I am so pleased that someone finally had the guts to say this and to point out that the West isn’t as pure as it likes to think it is. If only governments were run by musicians instead of politicians.. In terms of classical music the west is being left behind, it just hasn’t noticed, yet.
SVM, spot on!
Would you like to make a bet? After all, Van Cliburn went to the USSR during the Khrushchev regime – amongst the most vicious and murderous thugs to inhabit planet Earth.
I think most realize that people that would have likely won the competition this year did not enter the competition due to the circumstances. Do you really think this year’s edition is going to launch their careers worldwide?
I also don’t see how being in a tie with 2 other people will help one’s career at all.
It will probably get them into other prestigious competition, like the Chopin.
“I also don’t see how being in a tie with 2 other people will help one’s career at all.”
Just mention the silver medal, don’t mention the tie.
I recall Eugene Fodor’s liner notes would say things like “won top prize awarded” without mentioning that no gold was given that year and the silver was a tie.
Really. What is more important? Some wunderkids selfish career, or the innocent lives of Ukrainians getting bombed everyday?
The lack of human empathy appalls me. Careers can wait. Morality and decency first please.
In any case, none of these winners will get a career out of this, and will not get any prestigious concerts. If anything, they have ruined their biographies and very well maybe blacklisted by concert promoters for life. They certainly would deserve to.
And yet you are giving them air time by reading about them…
The sun is the best disinfectant.
Absolutely appalling comment.
The lack of your human empathy appalls me. Careers can wait. Morality and decency first please.
I can only dream about having your self-righteous virtue. Now, do you actually have any runs on the board to justify this – or are you a keyboard virtu-oso?
Not me, Sue. We’ve conversed previously in the Tchaik threads & arrived at a peaceful impasse. I tend to be more aligned with you than this new Anon, who just popped up today.
Agreed. Last year George Harliono did not make it into the Cliburn competition as one of the 30 contestants. He did chosen to be the 72 to fly to Forth Worth for a live audition.
Well, the winner was deserved. Moreover, Prok 2 is an insanely difficult piece and quite a risk. I do prefer Malinin’s style, but the comparison didn’t went his way. The Britten was quite spectacular and very well received by the audience, a reaction not every participant from Russia got. The jury followed suit.
The audience went wild after the performance of the Russian woman who won gold in singing at the Gala concert. Much bigger ovation than the piano gold medalist. He was much better than she was, but she captured their hearts.
The jury were in a difficult position too; they couldn’t be seen to be favouring Russia, yet also not ‘boycotting’ the West, not least under the present circumstances.
I thought it was a bizarre set of prizes; no 5th or 6th and triple 2nd prizes. Can only assume they each got the same marks for their performances from the Jury. But surprised about the Gold medalist, to be honest.
I noticed that in every catagory I watched they were careful to award every finalist a prize. It led to some very peculiar ties.
No one is mentioning how beautifully Ilya Papoyan performed. Why?
Can’t agree more- winner in my book!
Thanks for agreeing with me Ben. Ilya Papoyan was the standout pianist for me.
Angel Wang only made it to tie 2nd because he is “American” … although he speaks English with an accent and has been living in Russia since he was ten ( an has “Stanislav” as his middle name ).
His mother is Russian, his father is Chinese American. He was born in the US. I thought he played beautifully.
Angel was a clear most outstanding discovery as a Jewel
of sublime pianism and a pure world class musician that he is- Angel Stanislav belongs to the most extraordinarily gifted young pianists of his generation, and will without a doubt, become an international star of tomorrow-you just watch and see.
Such a pristinely beautiful talent, and so unaffected and pure, we were all simply lucky to have heard this miraculously gifted Angel of Music! just be grateful that the harmonic force of Music shall prevail, and one day in the future, we shall live in a fabulous world without borders, prejudice, and “countries” that separate and divide us humanity-unlike Music, the ineffable beauty that embraces and unites us humans harmoniously and victoriously elevating us to the consciousness of the Divine-!
list of young pianists without decency and empathy. Sponsored by terrorist state Russia.
Yes, they’ll probably have a competition named after them too!! Like a certain American.
Save your breath…the trolls are out in force on this one.
I found there was a certain stiffness in the fingers of George Harliono which might cause future problems for him. Did anybody else notice this? HIs playing is fluent and excellent but I can’t help feeling this might produce some joint problems. You also see bad posture in many pianists, which is also very problematic. Why is this never corrected at the point of pedagogy? I remember Schiff once in a streamed masterclass correcting a pianist’s posture. These things are important!!
It’s futile talking about a ‘limited field’ of candidates. In tennis, if a/the top tier player/s nurse injuries and somebody else can win (remember, it’s stamina which forms a major part of the winning formula in sport) this doesn’t make that win less legitimate. A win is a win. Same with the Tchaikovsky Competition. Good luck to all prize-winners.
In 1942 the Geneva Piano Competition had a similar dearth of contestants due to a war (to be fair, it was held in a neutral country, not the aggressor nation like this year’s Tchaikovsky). A little known young pianist named Georg Solti was able to get to the competition and won first prize.
All these comments mean, that a lot of music lovers were involved… Despite the politics. Why then not to mention the other results (violin etc.)?
This performance will go down as one of the standards .
Well Mr Harliono (2nd prize) has just banged a nail in his career coffin. Few organisations in the UK will offer him work. It really doesn’t take much to say “No, I won’t take part in a competition organised by a country engaged in a brutal war on a neighbour.” Rarely have career ambitions over moral positions found a more ready outlet.
Well said. I think his career will go the way the baby’s went.
I think Ilya Papoyan played with such clarity throughout the competition and his performance in the 3rd round of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd was just beautiful