Three evenings have passed, the final of the KEW Violin 2019 is halfway through. Have we already heard a possible winner? Can a first cautious prognosis be made? For me it doesn't have to be, it's not about football and yes, there too the results, if they are not 'rigged', cannot be known in advance. Let us leave the final assessment to the jury. Our assessment will be what it is, it will not influence the jury. Good so, because if there is anything that cannot and should not be done, it is trying to sway jury members into making certain decisions. Ultimately it is about that which moves everyone, inspires everyone: the music.
Candidate 5: Seiji Okamoto (Japan, born 21.06.1994)
The first thing that stood out about this young man was his not entirely perfect pitch at the beginning of the set piece. Many violinists still struggle with finding the correct notes in the highest registers. An eternal problem? Apart from this observation, his bow control was clear. His right hand guides the music with beautiful phrasing, no disturbing grunts when starting, beautiful movements.
These also partly come into their own in his interpretation of the Concerto in d Op. 47 by Jean Sibelius. Partly because the impression arises that he is sometimes a victim of competition stress. What is good about him is his masculine interpretation which fits this composition. He could reasonably end up near the front of the competition, if he were more precise in his playing, because where he started with the set piece, imprecision, it took over in Sibelius. Too many inaccuracies and that could go against him. A pity because he convinced me that he could do more, only it didn't quite come together today. Oh well, that's how it goes in competitions.
Photo: © Seiji Okamoto
Candidate 6: Iona Cristina Goicea (Romania/Germany, born 6.11.1992)
She launches the set piece, Fidl, with force and virtuosity. That is strong because she almost overwhelms her male competitors. She is athletic in her interpretation of this work, very technical but insufficiently musical. Characterful, a tough lady if I may say so. That makes her playing impressive, but that is no synonym for beauty. I miss that beauty where it nevertheless exists in this composition, the refinement that adorns the violin so, I do not hear.
And, standing ovation or not, I do not hear that fine sound that makes the violin the most beautiful of all instruments in her interpretation of Dmitry Shostakovich's first violin concerto either. She plays warmly in the depths, sure with her bow, full of feeling, she is a violinist as the work entirely is, primordial strength and conviction, but she does not move me, she does astonish me. It is her strength and maturity that makes the audience jump to their feet and applaud with cries of bravo. Will the jury react the same way?
Photo: © Sheena Haywood
