By Kwan Weng Kin
Japan Correspondent
wengkin@sph.com.sg

 

IN TOKYO

I ALMOST cried when I heard the news. Japanese pianists have won major piano competitions before. But Nobuyuki Tsujii, 20, easily outshines them all.

Blind from birth, Tsujii became the first Asian to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the results of which were announced on the competition’s last day on Sunday evening.

The gruelling 17-day-long Van Cliburn, held once every four years in Fort Worth, Texas, is recognized as one of the four most important piano competitions in the world.

The other three are the Leeds (held in Leeds, England), Tchaikovsky (held in Moscow, Russia) and the Chopin (held in Warsaw, Poland).

Tsuji shared the highest honours at the Van Cliburn with 19-year-old Zhang Haochen from China, who is another pianist to watch.

I have in fact been a fan of Tsujii ever since I first saw him on a rare two-hour television documentary five years ago when he was still a teenager in shorts.

I am not generally one to weep in front of the television screen, but I remember tearing up uncontrollably towards the end of the programme when Tsuji visited a school for the blind, at his own request, where he gave a moving rendition of a piano piece for the benefit of the students.

Tsujii, who began studying the piano seriously at the age of four, is currently a third-year student at the Ueno Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo.

Although some piano scores are available in Braille, he learns a new piece strictly by listening to live or recorded versions of the work.

It is human to be moved just by the fact that Tsujii is a musician with a disability. But it is what he has to say through his music that really brings tears to one’s eyes.

For the entire duration of the Van Cliburn competition, Tsujii stayed at the residence of John and Carol Davidson, playing Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Debussy on the family grand piano after breakfast each morning.

Mrs Davidson told The Dallas Morning News: “I cry a lot when I hear him play. And when I'm not crying, I feel goose bumps."

It is not surprising that many people have wondered if Tsuji’s blindness worked in his favour, possibly drawing sympathy from the judges at the competition.

But one of the judges, Dr Yoheved Kaplinsky, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper that blindness was not an issue.

Said Dr Kaplinsky, who heads the piano department at the famous Juilliard School in New York: “He won based on his playing. We were instructed very clearly to judge him exactly the way we judged everybody else. He himself requested he be judged like everybody else."

Audiences at the competition were reportedly touched to see Tsujii being led out on to the stage by his mother for his solo performances, and by conductor James Conlon for his concerto performances in the final round.

Tsujii reportedly also endeared himself easily to his audience with his big smiles.

It is indeed hard not to like Tsujii, even when he is away from the keyboard.

He told an interviewer that meeting legendary R&B singer Stevie Wonder, who is also blind from birth, “was the happiest moment of my life”.

But winning at the Cliburn “is now the happiest moment”, he added.

Once Tsujii starts playing, one quickly forgets that this incredible pianist cannot see, enabling the listener to concentrate fully on the music.

His performance of Chopin’s first piano concerto in the finals is an outstanding example of his music-making.

But do judge for yourself, for there is nothing more subjective than music. The performances of all the contestants can be viewed at the competition's website.