Ask any astute Taiwanese observer of the local classical music scene why all the tickets are sold for Yundi Li's Taipei concert on Sunday and you will get the reply: "Because he's Chinese."
Yundi Li, still only 20, rocketed to the attention of audiences and CD buyers in Europe and Asia following his sensational winning of Warsaw's Chopin Competition, the first time its top prize had been awarded to anyone in 15 years. His first CD Yundi Li: Chopin sold exceptionally well, and has been followed by Yundi Li: Liszt and two others, one issued in Japan. And he has still to make his debut, live or on disc, in the US.
The fact that he's Chinese may influence some ticket-buyers, overjoyed to see someone of his ethnicity beat the foreigners at what could be perceived as their own game. Nevertheless, there have been many before him, and in every department of classical virtuosity. This week alone has seen several such in Taipei for Lin Cho-liang's International Music Festival, but the loudest applause at last Monday's concert was for Gil Shaham and Lynn Harrell, notably non-Chinese musical stars.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MNA
Another element in Yundi Li's phenomenal success may be his youthful good looks, plus the way these have been used by Deutsche Grammophon in promoting his recordings.
Nevertheless, the heart of the matter is that Yundi Li is an outstanding artist in his own right. His Liszt CD is brilliant in every way, combining the utmost delicacy with total interpretative authority and, where necessary, power. All the indications are that here is a major international pianist, supremely talented by any standards, with a long career ahead of him.
His three Taiwan concerts will feature Chopin's four Scherzos, followed by the arduous Sonata in B Minor of Liszt which opens his Yundi Li: Liszt CD.
This is a rather uncompromising program, to put it mildly. Chopin's scherzos (he only wrote these four) are not like what most listeners will expect from this composer. And the Liszt sonata is bravura stuff, but hardly familiar to non-specialists.
Yundi Li, in other words, is making no allowances for popular taste, but instead assaulting some very difficult music head-on. There can be little doubt, however, that there will be encore items at the end, and these are likely to be of more familiar material.
Sunday's concert in Taipei is sold out, but tickets from NT$800 to NT$1,500 were available for Tuesday's concert in Kaohsiung and Thursday's in Taichung as of press time.
Yundi Li will perform at the National Concert Hall, Taipei on Sunday at 7.45pm; at Chihte Hall, Kaohsiung, 25 March, 7.30pm, and at Chunghsing Hall, Taichung, 27 March, 7.30pm. Tickets are available through ERA ticketing.
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