Doing everything at the same time has definite drawbacks..

Fog in Warsaw? Not likely? It happened! The airport is a big mess, and i'm now stuck here in the hotel across the street having a scotch. What to do. The flight isn't cancelled, just "delayed," so I'm in limbo and it is NOT fun. Anyone wanna keep me company here?

I'll try to keep this situation updated..

Cheers.

www.meiting.com
www.whitekeys.com

Doing everything at the same time has definite drawbacks..

Ok, I'm back in Warsaw. It's cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be. The city basically looks exactly the same it did last year, except that the closest Citibank to where I am is gone. Also, the whole thing of how Polish people are so nice has worn off slightly - I take it for granted now instead of being so impressed with it all the time! And no, I'm not doing nearly as much socializing, since I actually have something to DO this time .

Hope everyone is well. This weekend I'm off to warm Florida!

Cheers..

mt

www.meiting.com
www.whitekeys.com

Doing everything at the same time has definite drawbacks..

I'm uploading a bunch of pics from the first half of this year. Yes, I'm that behind! Trying to do that before I head to Warsaw next week - a recital there this time, so unfortunately not subject to my rumor mill, which has been long dead and buried into someone's grave.

It's been a real busy year. I'll have some photos from Brazil to share with you guys a bit later. I'm still trying to sort through all my shots from Spain, the first time around.

Hope you all have a great thanksgiving. I'm missing that, and christmas, and new years - out of town for all three!

Peace.

www.meiting.com
www.whitekeys.com

Doing everything at the same time has definite drawbacks..

Mood: Happy and dating
Listening to: Belleville (Django Reinhardt)
Reading: Against All Enemies
Watching: Star Trek

So much for the warsaw rumor mill.. I don't think I'll be updating that series anymore.

I am currently in Colombia, playing a recital, and after having a wonderfully busy and productive summer, I'm about to have a wonderfully busy and productive fall. Not that there are any boundaries between summer and fall, mind you, especially since I don't go to school anymore. Yay!

Well, I hope everyone has had a nice summer, and I'll have some more photos uploaded soon, including a few from Valencia, the home of the Paella! *drool*

-mt

www.meiting.com
www.whitekeys.com

Doing everything at the same time has definite rewards.

Mood: Happy and flirting
Listening to: When I am Sixty-Four
Reading: A Scanner Darkly
Watching: 007

Previously on the Warsaw Rumor Mill, we had just heard the results of the preliminary round, which, they called the "eliminatory" round. Several contestants complained to me about that term. Why they choose to confide in me, I'm not sure, but maybe it is because they know I will never name names?

Eliminatory. That sounds so cold and final. By contrast, "preliminary" sounds so much more relaxed and somehow reassuring. Elimination sounds brutal. Once you're eliminated, do you go off into the netherworld and disappear forever? It also gives the connotation that the ones who do not make it through will not be heard from again, which is not entirely true - many contestants do stay and talk to the media, or hang out and make themselves heard by practicing. Seeing the announcements of the daily order of elimination really did not make us feel welcome.

However, I digress. Following the announcement, for which many of the contestants did not appear, most of the people who did not make the competition left. In fact, quite a few left before the announcements. The oft quoted reasons include that they know they won't make the next round, that they cannot take the pressure of the announcement, that they would rather spend the time sleeping or eating, that they could not afford to stay in Warsaw because the housing was too expensive and would instead return to a neighboring town where they can stay for free, probably with a friend, and in a particular case, that they knew they were in the next round and did not need to show up, and instead wished to distance him or herself from the rest of the contestants. Of the ones that came to the announcement, quite a few were disappointed, and the general feeling amongst the ones that did make it was relief, and subdued happiness. This was, after all, only the very beginning of the long journey, the long march that would make a few, break many, and invite revenge or absolution for the rest. For the very special few, it would bring irreplaceable opportunities and stories that will be told for the rest of their lives.

There were a few different types of contestants at the competition. The ones who were good, and knew they were good, were the real pros, and deserved everything that the competition had to offer. Then there were those who were not quite as good, and knew that they were not at the same level. They did the competition mainly for the experience, and possibly just to take a shot in the dark. Those were fun people to hang out with, because they were there to enjoy the experience, party a bit, maybe, and they were the ones who truly enjoyed music, and had time to enjoy the music. Next, very rarely, comes those who were good but didn't know it. I can only think of 2 or 3 contestants who might fit in this category, and they each have a couple of weaknesses that kept them out of the competition, and yet I enjoyed their music-making more than most of the other contestants. By far the most, however, were those contestants who were not as good as they thought they were. The amount of ego on display (myself included) at this competition was simply unbelievable. Here follows a sample list of things I heard from fellow contestants:

Category I, critique of others playing:

"That Ballade was completely wrong. The sixteenth notes were not played in rhythm!" (The sixteenths were in fact slightly rushed at the end. However, I didn't personally feel there was anything particularly bad about that, and that does not make the Ballade "completely wrong")

"That Etude was not clean at all. You couldn't hear any of the notes! And it wasn't fast enough!" (The etude was in fact fairly clean. The lack of articulation was caused mainly by the reverberation of the hall, and playing it faster would have made it less clear.)

"Did you hear ***** play yesterday? It was really bad. Really bad." (The contestant was then unable to come up with anything specific of what was bad regarding the performance.)

"I heard him play. It was so boring I had to leave the hall. I was going to fall asleep!" ("Him" turned out to be Rafal Blechacz, the guy that won. Of course, that doesn't reflect on the veracity of the comment - I'm only quoting here.)

"He's only here because of his teacher." ("He" was still a very good pianist.)

Category II, gossip regarding fellow contestants:

"You know his father was the ********* of ******* right? They have a ton of money." (It turned out to be somewhat true, but that does not reflect on the pianist's playing at all)

"Did you see ******** (a juror) backstage congratulating his student today? That's just wrong!" (Yes. I saw that too.)

"Don't worry about him/her. He/She won't be in the next round." (Heard many times regarding many contestants. From many different people.)

"Somebody was practicing the Tchaikovsky concerto today!" "Yeah, yesterday I heard someone playing Liszt concerto #1!" "Guess they're ready for the competition."

Category III, attempts at sabotage, whether deliberate or not:

"How is your confidence today?"

"Did you play already? No? Ah. There are always cellphones running off. Don't trip on your way to the stage!" (The tripping part actually happened to a friend of mine.)

"Feeling nervous?" "Not really." "You will."

And one of the best ones:

"I wish Martha was here."

For the piano selection, we each had 10 minutes to look over three pianos. A Hamburg Steinway, a Shigeru Kawai, and a prototype Yamaha. Before I get to that, let me promise you more gossip later regarding the piano situation of this competition.

Here is my personal opinions of those three pianos:

The Steinway had the best sound of the group. It had a rich tone, complex, with a heavier distribution of the lower overtones. It was reminiscent of a really good bottle of wine, mature, full of body, and it sang. However, the action on that piano was almost dreadful. Hamburg Steinways have always had enough resistance and depth in the keys for great control. In fact, nothing can beat the best Hamburg in terms of control, with the possible exception of a great Mason and Hamlin. But good Hamburg actions are rare to find, especially newer ones. New Hamburgs have in general a slightly lighter action, slightly faster, which is supposed to make them easier to play, like the American Steinways, which have lightning-fast actions at their best. However, the American Steinways also have a shallower key-depth, meaning that it doesn't take as much time to get to the bottom of the key and back up again, so that with the super-fast action one can play very brilliantly and fast with minimal effort. The new Hamburgs, unfortunately, still has the extra key-depth, so now we have an action that is too fast to control easily, and too slow to play as if it is a fast action. It is still controllable, but it takes a bit more effort.

The Kawai had a very smooth action that was very light. It uses a new, patented plastic material. In fact, one of the Kawai tuners gave me a demonstration. It is all black. The action feels very responsive, and it takes minimal effort to get a big sound out of it, and yet at the same time allows one to play softly. Unfortunately, the big sound that it produces is rather scattered, and sounds noisy rather than deep or singing. The action also feels slightly plasticky, in the sense that it lacks the warmth of a wooden action. This was also not a result of seeing the plastic in the action, because there were pianists who described that piano to me as feeling plasticky, and I replied, that that is because it is made of plastic! Quite an ingenious solution to many of the problems in the construction of a wooden action: heat and cold, and humidity and dryness will cause wood to shrink, expand, and warp, and yet they will have no effect on this plastic, making maintenance a much easier task.

The Yamaha was apparently a prototype that has never been used before, even though from the grapevine, they apparently had this frame constructed at least three years prior. On the metal frame, there is a sort of horizontal attachment between the two metal braces farthest on the upper register, and there were other assortments of modifications. The end result is supposed to be that it sound bigger and juicier. It does indeed sound bigger and juicier than previous Yamaha CFIIIS's. It still cannot compare with a great Hamburg Steinway sound - whereas the Steinway sounds mature, the Yamaha sounds pure, perhaps as a very talented, but innocent virgin. That said, it was still an extremely pleasant piano to play. The action felt different from normal CFIIIS's as well. Instead, they are closer in feel to the C5 and C7 actions, which feels slightly more solid, a bit less smooth, and makes me feel as if I have something to grasp onto. That is my favorite action from Yamaha.

Needless to say, I choose the Yamaha - I didn't feel comfortable enough with the control of the Steinway, and I didn't like the sound of the Kawai. I sat down at the Steinway first, and started to play a little Chopin, and didn't feel good immediately. Then I went to the Kawai and tried a bit of the Wanderer Fantasy. That was a little better, but didn't feel good either. Then I played Begin the Beguine, much to the amusement of the photographers there, on the Yamaha. I did not like the acoustics of the hall for that piece; it is simply too wet. Jazz should be played in dry rooms, not wet concert halls. Oh well.

What happened after the piano selection? What happened in the first round? And where is the more gossip about the pianos in Warsaw that I promised? For that and more, stayed tuned for the next issue of…

The Warsaw Rumor Mill!

www.meiting.com
www.whitekeys.com