Maj Lind Piano Competition Aftermath

For the past two weeks the people of Greater Helsinki had a rare opportunity to hear young aspiring pianists play known and less-known works, as the 2nd International Maj Lind Piano Competition took place. I decided to take advantage of this, and attended some concerts, including the finals. It was interesting to hear young musicians play, and it reinforced my decision to study music further. On the other hand, it allowed me to get some disturbing insight into the musical world, and my view of who should have won after the finals was rather different from the jury's. Let me go through the finalists:

Sofya Gulyak, from Russia, came first. I heard Gulyak in the semifinals and the finals, and frankly, her performance there wasn't at all reassuring. On the Yle website you can hear her play Listzs Trancendental Etude to a thunderous applause, but I think the last few seconds of her performance really epitomize my view of her. Fair enough, that particular piece she played very beautifully, until the very end when she suddenly goes berserk and starts playing faster than she can actually handle, thus effectively ruining the end.

This was her biggest fault. She regarded everything, even a Mozart sonata, as something to play at a virtuoso speed. Often I listened to her playing with a feeling like "She's playing technically pretty well, but... why on earth is she playing like that?"

The biggest problem was in the finals, when she constantly played faster than the orchestra did. After that I came to the conclusion that she couldn't possibly be the winner if any sane person could decide, but I already had some insight into the jury's mind then, and was afraid she would win after all.

Her playing was occasionally very beautiful and always clear, but sometimes her approach to music was so... unmusical. I consider virtuoso works themselves very unmusical pieces anyway. They haven't been made for the sake of music but to show off physical dexterity, which of course is important, but it's a narrow-minded way to look at music. I would have favored a more balanced pianist.

An interesting note: I had a privileged position right next to the pianist, and I could see her, after having played the last notes, look conductor Leif Segerstam in the eye and do an apologetic "whoops, sorry!"-gesture. It was funny, and it kinda justifies my view of her, because apparently she thought there was something wrong with her playing as well.

On second place we had a Finn, Roope Gröndahl. I only heard Gröndahl play the Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto and the Berg's Sonata, so I didn't get a very good summary of her abilities. He played the Berg very well; with the concerto he was very nervous. He's obviously a very talented young pianist, but I think second place is rather high even as an encouragement prize for a 17-year-old.

He was also one of the few to play Chopin well.

Violetta Khachikian, Russian as well, came third. Now, this is the first rank I could agree with. Khachikian's playing was always beautiful and very musical. Definitely in the top three! I couldn't think of anything particularly wrong with her playing, everything was rather great in fact, but nothing was exceptional or... personal.

I only heard one piece by Marko Mustonen (Finland) and can't really say how well he played. Less wrong notes than Gröndahl had. I can't remember much of Yoonjung Han's performance, only that she played well but perhaps in a rather dull fashion.

Irina Zahharenkova, Russian who moved to Estonia and then to Finland, came sixth. Her position after the finals was the real "what the..."-element in me being slightly upset about the competition. This brillaint musician, who had found a good balance between technique, own interpretation and being true to style, and who left at least me with a wide grin and a feeling of elated happiness after her performance in the first round... became last. Apparently because she was over 30. What was the point of letting her compete at all, then? "Well let people who are +30 years old enter, but leave them last in the competition?" I find it rather cruel - everybody should have the same chances, regardless of age. If Irina ever does a recording of, say, Ligeti or Mozart or Bach, I'd buy it immediately.

In general I noticed how few people can play Mozart, Chopin and Bach well and in style. Most pianists had problems with all or some of them, with Chopin's Etudes being most commonly not so well-played. Even Zahharenkova's Chopin wasn't convincing to me.

It was interesting to hear pieces by less-known composers, many of them Finnish. I also heard Ligeti for the first time, previously I had thought his music was like Bach's, but boy was I wrong...

I also felt sympathy for some of the players - their career was dependent on a competition and they were nervous, and looked as if they would rather have been someplace else entirely. I myself regarded the event just as concerts, and in that sense I was very satisfied with the experience. But I don't think I'll ever be attending any competitions, if that's what's required of professional pianists I'd rather be a... lied pianist or an accompanist or something, and let the virtuosos handle the big concert halls. Ha, as if I'd ever get that far...