Young pianist shows he's ready to be Romantic

One way to get really comfortable with a piece of music is to live with it for a while. That's exactly what Chinese pianist Yundi Li did before releasing his first concerto recording, which joins his four earlier solo recordings.

Li says there are two sides to his personality: one is poetic, the other is passionate. "That is why it is the right time for me to record the Liszt and Chopin concertos," he explains.

Li has grown up with these pieces, learning both of them at age 14. He's played them many times all over the world. After developing his own ideas on tempo and nuance, he finally felt ready to record these two great Romantic concertos with conductor Andrew Davis and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

It was an old 78 rpm recording that first introduced a nine-year-old Yundi Li to Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. Liszt spent more than 20 years tweaking this concerto. When it premiered in 1855, the composer was at the piano and Hector Berlioz was the conductor. It's been said that whenever Liszt would play the challenging opening movement he would sing along with the opening theme, "Das versteht ihr alle nicht!" ("None of you knows how to do this!")

Yundi Li certainly does know how. In the first 60 seconds of this concerto we get an immediate snapshot of Li's dual musical personality. After a brief but bold orchestral opening, the soloist enters with the same level of excitement. With one rippling arpeggio, Li reins in the orchestra and the boisterous party shifts into an intimate conversation. From powerful to poetic, Li captures the many moods of Liszt's concerto. Just as Liszt did in his own performance of this work, Li makes heavy use of the sustaining pedal, which in this case helps to pull those varied moods together.

In addition to creating this concerto in one continuous movement, Liszt introduced another innovation by opening the last section of the piece with the faint clinking of a triangle. The pairing of Li's light, percussive touch against this small, but fearless rival is delightful.

Chopin is Yundi Li's specialty. In 2000 he was awarded first prize at the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He was 18 at the time--the youngest winner in the history of the competition. Chopin designed his two piano concertos to showcase his own talents as a traveling virtuoso. He was just 19 and 20 when he composed them, and yet they reveal an incredible depth and range of emotion. Yundi Li is now just a few years older than that and he knows just how to tap into these complex feelings.

Chopin said he intended the slow movement of the Concerto No. 1 to convey the impression one has "when gazing on a beautiful landscape that evokes in the soul beautiful memories."

Chopin's soul had been touched by a beautiful young singer. It was for her that he wrote the beautiful love song that became the second movement of this concerto. Li plays that tender slow movement with exquisite grace. I think Chopin would be pleased.

Even though Li is only 24 years old, the emotional content of his performance radiates from a much older soul. The two concertos featured on his new release hold great meaning for Li and his heartfelt performance proves it. Before recording these concertos, he worked out every detail and subtle shading so that he'd be comfortable sharing both his poetic and his passionate side. Yundi Li's careful homework makes our experience as listeners that much richer.

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