I went to my first TSO concert of the year on Wednesday. Yes I know I’ve been slacking, and I probably won’t hit my total from last year. Wednesday’s concert was the TSO debut, and first of three consecutive shows by Chinese pianist Yundi Li. He has a variety of credentials to his name which you can look up on his Wikipedia page. He is by no means better or more renowned than say Emanuel Ax, but because he is Chinese and I am Chinese, it seems everyone I know (even my mom) knows who he is. So look at me, I saw him live in concert in his TSO debut.

Actually when I perused the TSO schedule earlier in the season, I didn’t know who the heck he was, but wanted to attend anyways because he was planning on playing the famous Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. So I was disappointed when I went to buy tickets and saw that he switched to playing Prokofiev’s 2^nd Piano Concerto in g minor. I was not familiar with this piece and was surprised by its impressionistic style (and four movements — good thing I have slow clapping reflexes). It was traditionally Russian, with large, heavy chords and jumps; which showed off Li’s virtuoso technique. But I still would have rather heard the more accessible Tchaikovsky. My pet theory is that Li has released a recording of the Prokofiev, so maybe he did not have the Tchaikovsky ready in time.

The bookends were Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody, which was enjoyable and catchy; and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6 — a refreshing and more Romantic piece, but otherwise forgettable. The conductor was Yannick Nézet-Séguin from Montreal whose most defining quality was his enthusiasm for conducting, although Li also had some eccentricities such as bringing and using a handkerchief fairly often.

Oh I forgot to mention, I got my best seats ever; on the floor in the raised box section on the right. It was preferable to actual floor seats because we were sufficiently high enough to see over the piano and see Li’s face.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: chinese, concerts, tso