By ZAN JIFANG

China Celebrates Chopin

By ZAN JIFANG

Toasting the 200th anniversary of the great Polish composer’s birth

PIANO PRINCE: Li Yundi plays during a rehearsal before the evening gala concert marking the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth in Warsaw on March 1, 2010

March 1 marked the 200th birthday of the famous Polish composer Frederic Franciszek Chopin (1810-49). Music lovers throughout the world will dedicate 2010 to the Romantic poet of the piano.

Festivities

On May 15, a Chopin concert by Chinese piano prodigy Li Yundi was staged in Beijing, a highlight of China’s yearlong celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

The performance, also the frst leg of the young pianist’s worldwide tour spreading the music of the great composer, was held at the newly built National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), where the nationwide celebrations for the musician’s 200th birthday were launched on December 7 last year.

Known as the “prince of the piano,” Li is considered as one of the best of today’s interpreters of Chopin’s music in China and is also regarded as sharing a similar temperament to Chopin. In 2000, Li won the first prize at the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw at the age of 18, becoming one of the youngest winners of the competition ever and also the frst in 15 years to be awarded a frst prize at the prestigious event.

Before his Chopin concert at the NCPA, Li released a new album Chopin: Nocturnes in April, to convey his respect for the great master’s anniversary. Talking about the new album, the accomplished pianist said con-centrating on the composer’s famous pieces had given him a deeper understanding of the Romantic musician.

Frederic Franciszek Chopin

“These pieces represent the composer’s style.The music is so lyrical and beautiful, and is also quite easy to understand. The pieces are very accessible to listeners,” Li said.

Besides the events in which Li was involved, many other celebration activities have been and will continue to be held in China, as part of the global commemorations.

The special celebrations in China, with the curtain coming down on December 10 this year, feature a series of Chopin concerts presented by a stellar list of pianists from home and abroad, as well as exhibitions, movies, dramas and other events about Chopin’s life and music, with the aim of helping the Chinese better understand this musician of the Romantic era.

Cooperating with the Chopin 2010 Celebrations Committee of Poland, the NCPA has invited 14 of the world’s piano maestros, including Italy’s Maurizio Pollini, Russian conductor and virtuoso pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone, to interpret Chopin’s classics at the grand theater in 15 concerts. Nine of these famous pianists have won the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition.

Such a large-scale celebration for a foreign musician reflects the deep impact Chopin has made on music lovers in China, where Western classical music is still looked as an art form for a small audience and far from the lives of ordinary people.

Many learners in China like to practice Chopin’s music, and some even started to learn the instrument simply because of Chopin

Synonym for piano

Many Chinese, especially the young, know the name of Chopin. For them, the name of Chopin equals “piano.”Quite a few people in China are able to hum the tunes of some of Chopin’s masterpieces, though most of them may not be able to say what the names of these pieces are. In reality, Chopin is one of only a few Western classical musicians with whom Chinese people are familiar.

A fever in China to learn the piano that took root in the 1980s boosted Chopin’s popularity in the country. The piano, a Western instrument, also attracts millions of people in China who love the music it produces.

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Since China carried out the reform and opening-up policy 30 years ago, it has gradually become a piano-manufacturing giant. Its yearly output of pianos comes to 300,000 now, ranking first in the world. And the number of those learning to play is swelling still. Statistics of the Chinese Musicians Association show China now has more than 30 million people learning to play the piano, the largest number in the world.

With greater numbers of children attending piano schools, competition is becoming more intense, and the level of playing skills of Chinese players is also improving rapidly. A great number of piano competitions and grading tests are held all over the country, through which many young learners show their talent on the keyboards and even win prizes in international competitions.

Li and fellow Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang, whose concert on December 7 last year kicked off a series of Chopin concerts in China this year, are examples of these young talents.

Chopin wrote 27 piano etudes throughout his life, and all perfectly combine pianoplaying technique and beauty. These etudes are often selected as pieces for concerts and blazed a new concept in the composition of the form.

When playing Chopin’s etudes, players are not only able to practice their skills fully, but also can enjoy the charm of the pieces. Chopin’s etudes, which are made an important part of learners’ practice, have exerted an infuence on young learners from the beginnings of their musical journeys.

Different from other composers, Chopin dedicated his whole life to piano. He was one of the few musicians in the world who concentrated on composing for one type of instrument. He wrote hundreds of masterpieces for it with a variety of themes. His devotion to the piano and his legendary life garnered a great deal of admiration from numerous Chinese piano lovers. Many learners in China like to practice Chopin’s music, and some even started to learn the instrument simply because of Chopin.

Resonance

The musician’s influence is not limited to learners. As Chopin’s music is lyrical and passionate, its impact on the Chinese moved far beyond just classical music.

“Because of cultural differences, it is diffcult for most Chinese to understand German and Austrian music, yet Chinese are quite receptive to Chopin’s music as it is full of poetic feelings and appeals to their aesthetic tastes,”said Li Min, Dean of the Piano Department of the China Conservatory in Beijing, explaining why the Chinese love Chopin more.

HOME OF THE MASTER: Music lovers visit the former residence of Chopin in Poland

Having also experienced dark colonial days, the Chinese well understand such a strong patriotic complex in Chopin’s works, said Yu Runyang, former President of CCM and a prestigious Chopin scholar. It was coincidence the most mature pieces of Chopin featuring strong feelings of sadness, indignation and heroism were written in the 1840s, when the Chinese people were also undergoing trauma caused by foreign aggression.

Yu went to Poland to further his music studies 40 years ago, which helped deepen his understanding of Chopin, his favorite Western classical music maestro.

“The spiritual world unfolded in Chopin’s music is extremely rich, and all kinds of feelings and passions were embodied in his unique, delicate and personal musical language, which made him a significant contributor to European Romantic music,”he said.

Persistent influence

IMMERSED IN MUSIC: Lang Lang was invited to perform at a concert in Warsaw on January 7, when the global celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth was launched

Chopin’s music has been understood and loved ever since it was introduced to China. The frst Chopin concert in China was held in the early 1930s in Shanghai, which shows his music was already very popular then among Chinese musicians, noted scholars.

In 1945, Columbia Pictures released a biographical film about Chopin, A Song to Remember, which was also shown in China and considered to have enabled a close empathy for the composer with the Chinese audience.

In 1955, China for the first time sent a pianist to participate in the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Chinese pianist Fu Cong took third place and also won a special Mazurka Prize for his mastery of that compositional rhythm. It was the frst time a pianist from the East to win major prizes at the competition.

With the increase in Chopin’s popularity, many books about him and his music have been published in China, and research on Chopin has also made progress. Up to now, most scores of Chopin have been published in China.

The composer’s music has also inspired contemporary artists’ creations. Taiwan’s pop star Jay Chou is a big fan of Chopin. His album November’s Chopin released in 2005 reflected an obvious influence, and the opening track Nocturne was dedicated to the maestro.

As greater numbers of Chinese children are embarking on learning to play the piano, the 19th century Romantic composer will surely continue to exert a growing influence on China’s coming generations.