So I went to the finals of the London International Piano Competition last Tuesday at the Royal Festival Hall. There were 3 finalists who were to play a concerto each with the London Philharmonic. By chance, all of them offered almost the same programmes (one Liszt and one Beethoven concerto each, from which the jury selected one for them to play). So Jayson-Lloyd Gilham of Australia and Frederick Neuburger of France were to play the Liszt 1st and 2nd piano concertos respectively, while Herbert Schuch of Germany was to play the Beethoven 5th.

There was certainly an element of luck involved, because it's much easier to show of one's musicality playing Beethoven, than with Liszt. Incidentally, Herbert Schuch was the German I watched at the beginning rounds with the love affair with his sustain pedal, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, so I guess his combination of exquisite tone and lavish romanticism has more than overcome any stylistic doubts (I still think his Bach was totally wrong!).

Of the two Liszt concertos, I personally prefered the 1st over the 2nd, which probably coloured my perceptions regarding the French pianist (who played the latter), because he received a very enthusiastic response from the audience, while I didn't find myself as touched by it. The Beethoven by Schuch was very well played, but again I personally felt his approach was a bit archaic in this time and day, and would be less out of place 50 years ago. Don't get me wrong, I love a lyrical and romantic approach towards interpretation, but from an objective point of view (i.e. that of the typical music critic) I wouldn't have thought he could progress through the first rounds.

In the event, Schuch in fact did win the first prize, with Neuburger getting the 2nd prize and the Gilham, the Aussie, getting the 3rd prize (I should also point out that both Neuburger and Gilham are only 18 years old, while Shuch is a comparatively more mature 26). However, I thought all three pianists were absolutely incredible, and I would have paid money to watch any one of them alone. Somehow, having to seat there and figure out who was better detracted from the enjoyment from just listening to the music.

More random stuff about the competition... after the competition, I was present at the reception. A random old chap mistook me for one of the semi-finalists who was a Chinese, despite the fact that the pianist was about 6 inches taller and didn't wear specs. I also got to speak briefly with the conductor who led the London Phil, a nice lady called Sian Edwards. When I mentioned that I was doing physics in UCL, she asked me if I knew Marshall Stoneham, one of the professors there (yes, I did know him). Apparently, Prof. Stoneham is an amateur horn player, and when Sian Edwards was a young girl, she used to go to his house to play in a string quartet... talk about a small world.

The Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward, brother of Charles) was present as the VIP, and he is WAY better looking than the Prince of Wales. While he was on stage to give out the prizes, I was horrified to see that he was sitting on a humble straight-backed chair. In Malaysia, the organisers would have been shot, hung, and then quartered if even the most minor royalty had to sit on anything less than a full-blown leather sofa armchair with a long yellow carpet leading all the way up to it.

A picture of the finalists awaiting the moment of truth: (L-R) Neuburger, Shuch and Gilham. The Chinese guy in the back is my alleged spitting image according to some 80-year old eyes.