Chopin it Up

This year is an eventful one for classical pianists, with three of the biggest competitions—the International Chopin Competition, the Van Cliburn Competition, and the first rounds of the International Liszt Competition—all scheduled for this year. The International Chopin Competition is especially reputable for rocketing the fame of its medalists, with some of the most popular pianists today being past medalists, including Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimmerman, Daniil Trifonov, and the more recent Seong-jin Cho and Bruce Liu. Along with those internationally recognized competitions, however, is also the 11th Nation Chopin Competition, held every five years as the appetizer to the International Chopin Competition.

The National Chopin Competition, first held at the Miami School of Music in 1975, was established by Mrs. Blanka Rosenstiel in her mission to aid American pianists in their musical pursuits as well as to prepare them for the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Despite not being as popular as the international one, its competitive nature is by no means less than its big brother. This year’s competition was held from January 4 to January 12. Some of the best pianists under the age of 30 in the country gather at Miami to compete against one another for fame—and a $100,000 prize. Each round requires the competitor to perform a program of 40-60 minutes, and with four rounds (including the preliminary round), each person must memorize three to four hours of Chopin’s music. Although not the most technically challenging, Chopin’s music is one of the hardest to perform due to its musical complexity; it generally contains an emotional depth that requires the performers to explore, and it is very easy to give a mediocre performance as a result of inadequate expression of feelings. Across the four rounds, performers must play a wide dynamic of pieces such as concertos, sonatas, nocturns, and mazurkas that indicate their understanding of this Polish-French composer. 

Due to the sheer volume of performances in the earlier rounds, this article will review highlights from the semifinal and final rounds (all the concerts are available on YouTube as previous live streams).

For the semifinal round, the 12 performers must each play a set of mazurkas, one of Chopin’s second or third sonatas, and any other piece of the player’s choice. The mazurka, a type of Polish dance, is one of the most musically challenging Chopin pieces due to its Polish Slavic tones comprising of playful rhythms and melodies; the two sonatas, on the other hand, may be the most complex Chopin works, each being around 30 minutes long and containing four vastly contrasting movements. The final round, consisting of six finalists, required Chopin’s Polonaise-fantasy and one of his two piano concertos, accompanied by the Chopin Competition Symphony Orchestra. This round is challenging due to the competitors’ having to work with an orchestra and present their abilities of not only their solo playing but also their collaboration with other musicians.

The winner of the competition was William Yang, which came as a shock to me. Each of his pieces was played with a strive for perfectionism, which I found myself less compassionate towards and had a more difficult time indulging and immersing myself fully into the music. His Sonata No. 3 and the mazurkas were played in a textbook style that adheres to a general modern interpretation of the pieces, which might have pleased the juror, who looks for the holistic tone and technique rather than moments of musical wonders and magnificence. His Concerto in F minor lacked excitement in the first movement, but the second movement was well thought out and played with a very delicate touch.

The most beautiful performance of a sonata in the third round of this competition belonged to Anthony Ratinov. He began the first movement of the third sonata with a clear and commanding statement of the first theme, then captivated the audience with an emotional passage filled with excitement. After a short interlude, the sonata sings its second theme: a romantic and sweet melody in the relative major key that practically sounds like falling in love. Ratinov perfectly captured the message and played this section with utmost sincerity and raw emotion, wordlessly reciting an ode to the surreal and wonderful feeling of unexpected romance. The rest of the movement was played with equal passion. The fourth movement, with a wild, joyous mood permeating throughout and a childish, Disney-like melody, was played with both intensity and calculated skill, with their careful voicings and rubatos. The energy persisted throughout the movement, yet Ratinov took his time to give the phrases a lot of breathing room which made the overall listening experience unrushed and very comfortable.

In addition to Ratinov, Angie Zhang performed with a different kind of brilliance. She played the fourth movement of the third sonata with a very unique fingering: in one iteration of the melody, she played most of the notes on the right hand with only her index finger. This unique approach gave the section a distinct characteristic that may seem clumsy but also powerful at the same time.

The mazurkas were all played with differing excellencies. It’s really difficult to find a performance that really stood out as each person’s mazurkas were played with individual delicacies as well as flaws. Yang, who also received the Mazurka Price, played the mazurkas with technical perfection and a clear sound, but they hardly sound associated with their Slavic origins. Zhang’s mazurkas were musically close to the Polish origins yet contained some occasional harsh sounds, while Madison Yan played them with a composed lightness in her touch but lacked excitement.

The best performance in the final round belonged to Angeline Ma, who studies at Northwestern; she gave an excellent performance of the Polonaise-fantasy and later one of the best renditions of Concerto No. 1 in E minor in recent years. Like Ratinov’s sonata, Ma’s concerto was characterized by a brush of sublimity and an openness of feelings that transfers directly from her fingers to the audience. The second theme, an aria of another warm and lyrical melody, was performed with a stunning elegance and sincerity that could quickly melt the hearts of the audience. The entire concerto was chaste, with every note played tensionless and free. Ratinov also gave a superb performance on the less popular Concerto No. 2 in F minor. Although in the interview later, he claimed to not be in good shape and was very tired during the performance due to the late time, he still played very emotionally. The entire concerto was filled with a consistent thoughtfulness and delicious phrasings, with the first movement especially inspiring and thrilling throughout.

There were many other superb performances that were unique and brilliant in their own ways, but mentioning them all may take as long as their performances. Yang’s first-place finish, as well as his awarding of best sonata and mazurka, was unexpected, especially considering Ratinov and Ma, who were placed second and fourth respectively, played much more passionately than Yang. It reflects the unfortunate nature of competitions that evaluate one on their perfection rather than musical ingenuity, but Yang still gave a very well-played set of performances, making it reasonable to place him first. It’s very intriguing to see how each of the finalists will do on the international stage in around June, where they will face even more fierce competitors who will all give very convincing performances.