Yingdi holds young GKJ audience totally spellbound

Evi Mariani and Jim Read, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How often do you leave a concert venue totally satisfied, with hands still sore from clapping so enthusiastically?

It happened on Monday night when winner of the 7th Frans Liszt Piano Competition Sun Yingdi delivered a spellbinding performance full of pianistic fireworks at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ), driving the sell-out audience to demand three encores after a well-deserved standing ovation.

Playing six full-length pieces from memory, Yingdi opened the concert with a warm-up by Mozart -- Sonata in C Major. The second movement was very lyrical, with good articulation, while the third was notable for its dazzling, crystal-clear arpeggios.

He continued with eerie, suspense-filled Scarbo (from Gaspard de la Nuit) by French composer Ravel, whom Yingdi said was one of his favorite composers.

The demonic gnome in Scarbo terrorizes the poet (on whose text the music is based), changing shape, looming large and suddenly vanishing.

It was brilliantly executed, the numerous technical challenges provided by fast, repeated-note and running passages melting away in Yingdi's capable hands. Impish arpeggios moved mercurially from darkness to sheer joy in the twinkle of an eye, the entire interpretation capturing the essential scariness of the piece.

The spell cast by Yingdi lasted until the third composition, Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No.1, which created more or less the same mood as the Ravel.

Yingdi imbued Mephisto with such tension that the audience was left gasping for breath at the sheer audacity of it all.

Sudden mood swings were spiked with drama of a type encountered in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, as played by a full symphony orchestra: You just knew that when it all went calm, with a quiet interlude, a truly dramatic passage was just around the corner.

The second half of the concert continued with three composition by Liszt: Ballade No.2, Sonetto di Petrarca 104 and Rhapsody Espagnole.

In the second half, the mood changed, from the demonic and macabre to one of luxuriant romance.

With his superb piano technique, Yingdi took the audience by storm on an exciting, sometimes adventurous journey. He played the pieces so beautifully that sometimes just listening to them left the audience, many of which were young music students, breathless in admiration.

The hugely romantic tenor theme in the Ballade swept all before it, while the brilliantly executed double-thirds in the Sonetto were a wonder to behold.

Listening to Liszt, as interpreted by the young pianist from Shanghai, was like going on a high without resorting to chemical assistance.

When the Rhapsody ended, the normally reserved GKJ audience broke into thunderous applause, with shouts of admiration.

Yingdi, who said he never gave less than two encores at his concerts around the world, played one encore -- and then the enthusiastic audience demanded another. The pieces were a Schubert-Liszt transcription and a study by Scriabin.

Afterwards, GKJ director Marusya Nainggolan presented a bouquet to Yingdi while GKJ staff opened the auditorium doors and turned on the lights to allow people to leave.

But the audience tried their luck once more, their insistent ovation demanding that the pianist take the stage again.

To the audience's relieved laughter, he complied. The last encore was as enchanting as the first two.

Within seconds of the end of the concert, the backstage area was packed with fans, many of them teenage girls. This was almost like a rock concert: The girls were too polite to scream or throw their underwear at Yingdi, but the enthusiasm was palpable as they waited patiently in line for his autograph.

Looking tired but still smiling, the 25-year-old soloist, who said he often felt the loneliness of the soloist traveling around the world, signed away magnanimously, occasionally posing for cell phone photos with groups of smiling teenagers.

Asked how long he practices each day, Yingdi said, "Only about two to three hours" -- an astonishingly short time, considering the sheer brilliance of his piano technique.

Quizzed further on possible pre-performance nerves, he gave a very honest, yet candid reply, again surprising given the enormous technical difficulty of his concert repertoire: "Why should I be nervous?"

The concert at GKJ was the last in his Java tour (after performances in Surabaya, Surakarta and Yogyakarta), arranged under the auspices of Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis, whose auditorium is currently being renovated.

Indonesia can feel proud to have given Yingdi such recognition at this early stage in his career, for he will surely become a soloist with strong worldwide appeal, if indeed he is not already.

The following day he was due to give a music workshop at Pelita Harapan University before leaving for Hungary, the next stage on an international tour in which he is captivating one audience after another.