Four Contestants, Four Winners
I attended the performances at Rice Universtity June 10 and wanted to compare my selection to that of the judges. These young people memorized their parts and played with the world-class Houston Symphony behind. It's a massive accomplishment. Here's the Judges pick:
1st:: Shih-Kai-Lin /Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47
2nd:: Hrant Parsamian/Hayden Cello Concerto #2
3rd:: Ji Hye Jung/Klatzow Marimba Concerto (some composer from S. Africa)
4th:: Ahrim Kim/ Bloch Schelomo Hebraic Rhapsody Cello Concerto
My Pick was Klatzow-Marimba, Bloch-Cello, Hayden-Cello, Sibilius-Violin.
Kind of like the opposite. I think the judges are weary of new 20th century music so they hang with the older stuff. I go by entertainment value and the marimba thing was astonishing. Its played with 4 malletts and they are changed to get different sounds. A marimba is a big percussion on wheels. Although Hayden surprised me with emotion I don't usually get from him, I sort of fell asleep mid-way through. The Bloch thing was played by a girl in a pink dress and I liked her bright aggressive sound more than the Hayden Cellist's. The big winner, who was also the audience choice award, was my least favorite because he had a metallic sound and played the hyper-speed parts like a screeching robot. He also wore this white Chinese shirt which made him look like a waiter. Hey if visuals didn't count for something, they would play behind a screen woudn't they? Keep in mind that they memorized the parts as well as played them in front of a huge crowd. I would guess that if you did the statistics, one out of 100,000 people could do such a thing! They start early, such as 5 years old for the marimba girl, and develop physical habits.
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