New York Times review

On Nov 13, the New York Times posted this review online: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/arts/music/nobuyuki-tsujii-in-piano-debut-at-carnegie-hall-review.html?_r=1, with the photo below:

Source: New York Times, Nov 14 edition

It is written by a female reviewer, Vivien Schweitzer, and not the chief critic Anthony Tommasini.  The reviewer praised Nobu's techniques as well as his playing of Musto's "Improvisation and Fugue" and Chopin's "Raindrop" prelude.   It's not exactly a glowing review, but respectful and gentle.  For preservation, the review has been copied here:

Music Review

A Pianist’s Composition Rounds Off Debut Recital

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Published: November 13, 2011

The 23-year-old pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, blind from birth, is said to have achieved pop-star status in his native Japan since he shared the gold medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with Haochen Zhang, from China.

To judge from the row of television cameras at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening, when Mr. Tsujii made his New York recital debut, there is certainly considerable interest in his developing career. Mr. Tsujii, the first Japanese musician to win that prestigious event, is a recent graduate of the Ueno Gakuen University, a music academy in Tokyo. He learns music with Braille scores or by listening to recordings made especially for him, which include codes and instructions.

His achievements are considerable; it is remarkable that he has attained an impressive technique that enables him to navigate the keyboard confidently and accurately in difficult repertory. He made only a few slips on Thursday evening in his program of overplayed pianistic favorites and one new piece.

But probing depth and a sense of spontaneity are missing, perhaps inevitably, since Mr. Tsujii must precisely calculate every move to ensure that his fingers are above the correct keys. This was noticeable in works by Liszt, including “Un Sospiro” from the Three Concert Études and the “Rigoletto” Concert Paraphrase, both marred by stilted phrasing, as was the rendition of Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata.

Mr. Tsujii demonstrated his impressive technique again after intermission with Mussorgsky’s ever popular “Pictures at an Exhibition,” although he could have paid more heed to musical details like the grandeur of the theme in “The Great Gate of Kiev.”

The program began with John Musto’s appealing “Improvisation and Fugue,” composed for the 2008 New York International Piano Competition and also a competition piece at the 2009 Cliburn event. Mr. Tsujii played it with flair here, lingering on the bluesy harmonies of the opening section and darting up and down the keyboard with panache in the lightning-fast runs that come later.

Mr. Tsujii is also a composer; the encores included his arrangement of Stephen Foster’s “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair” and Mr. Tsujii’s “Elegy for the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011,” as well as a nuanced reading of Chopin’s “Raindrop” Prelude.

(A version of this review appeared in print on November 14, 2011, on page C5 of the New York edition with the headline: A Pianist’s Composition Rounds Off Debut Recital.)

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Notable reactions to this review:

From Japan:

Nobuyuki Tsujii in Piano Debut at Carnegie Hall - Review: http://nyti.ms/syjFy4 辻井伸行氏のカーネギーデビュー評（NY Times）。 はっきり言って「絶賛」ではない。 Nobuyuki Tsujii's Carnegie debut evaluation (NY Times). Frankly, It is not a  "rave" review. --tweeter

辻井伸行さんのカーネギー〜影響力のある雑誌に「深みを感じなかった…」みたいな感想が書かれていた。伸行さんは自然や物事を感得(特に深遠な真理などを 悟り知ること)する能力がずば抜けている。特別な何かにつき動かされているようなSoulfulな音色は深い。それを感じられないのかな？ The impression that seemed to be "... which I didn't feel depth" was written to the influential magazine (New York Times) of the Carnegie recital of Nobuyuki Tsujii. As for Nobuyuki, his ability to perceive nature and things is exceptional (I realize that this is a particularly profound truth.   The special soulful tone that moves is deep. Isn't it felt?  --tweeter

Yes,同意! Subtle quality such as "soulful" tone is not something that traditional classical music reviewers in USA would recognize. --tweet, in response to the one above.

There is  a discussion, in English, of the review on pianoworld.com: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1790392.html

Whereas some people were quick to interpret the review as an affirmation of their skepticism about Nobu's Cliburn win:

• • I thought it might be of interest to discuss the NYT review of Tsujii's recital. I did not attend it but I did watch and listen to all of his Van Cliburn contributions. I will admit that his win surprised me, though perhaps a case can be made for his remarkable accomplishments ... I happen to agree with this critic, though she is not my favorite NYT critic. I also thought that in some of his pieces at the Cliburn, he was sort of "metric" and sometimes his phrasing a bit odd.

  • Reading it, I get the feeling I may have overestimated him a bit from the Cliburn.

  • I also noticed at the Cliburn that he lacked a sense of freedom in his playing - a lack of spontaneity, as the critic in NY put it ...

  • I hear interpretations that have strange phrasing coming out of no where that distracts from the music (and that can't be attributed to his handicap), and I see a repertoire of war horses that says "look at the difficult audience favorites I can perform." I don't see him performing yet at the level of artistry he seems capable of reaching.

there are others who rose above that

• • About Tsujii: I'd love to hear him, for a lot of reasons, even more so in view of this review.

  • I want him to succeed. His accomplishment is impressive, and heck,I cannot play the piano nearly as good as he can play. I hope he will further overcome those difficulties and blossom into a unique and incredible pianist.

  • He may not be the most spontaneous pianist, nor may he ever be able to fully be free enough to express himself completely, but I will never forget watching him at the Cliburn and standing in my room cheering and applauding the man with tears in my eyes! Explain how he does what he does all you like, but to play at such a level with no sight is a truly amazing thing. There are thousands WITH sight who would love to play, but can't/won't ever play the repertoire he takes on.

  • I think he's quite awesome. I could nitpick but this (Nobu's "A Sigh" youTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64LC7zlgm7A ) makes my top ten anyway. 

  • (in response to the comment above) ^^^Wow! All those jumps hit with flawless accuracy! I think the piano just grows out from beneath his fingertips. And this is quite a beautiful interpretation, too...

  • I absolutely did not mean to be mean. I wish nothing but his success. I don't know how many more hurdles he has to overcome but he did quite a bit to come this far. I pray for him so that he would someday becomes an iconalistic pianist. I would definitely go see him when he comes to the West coast. I don't know why but I have never had such huge personal interest in a pianist. It's definitely not because he is blind. It's not his musical interpretation either at this point. It's just there is something incredible in him that communicates beyond.

  • I have read about this pianist but have not yet heard him play. I'll make no judgment on the review except to suggest a way around this popular attitude by those who have heard it all, as reflected in this line, "...in his program of overplayed pianistic favorites and one new piece."

  • I'm all for new music and repertoire that's away from the mainstream, but I have been inspired by the thought that in virtually any recital that is played of works like Beethoven's Tempest or Mussorgsky's Pictures, there is bound to be somebody who has never heard Beethoven's Tempest or Mussorgsky's Pictures, and to them it is a world premiere, a new world of discovery. I think that's pretty neat.

  • I find the comments (by the reviewer and some posters) about lack of spontaneity in Tsujii's playing strange.

  • How can one know if the pianist was being spontaneous(as in deciding some of the interpretive elements on the spot) unless one heard many of his performances of the same piece? I don't think a pianist's blindness would have anything to do with how much spontaneity he has.I think it would affect mostly the way he moves around the keyboard. To the best of my knowledge, there were many great pianists who were not known for spontaneity in their performances(as in "I play it differently every time").

• And this one from me:

  • • I have followed the career of Nobuyuki Tsujii for over a year, ever since I was overcome with admiration for him after watching the 2009 Cliburn Competition video documentary.

    • I was at Tsujii's Carnegie Hall recital. The New York Times review does not surprise me. I don't think it is all that scathing. It is exactly what I expected: damning with faint praises. Nobuyuki Tsujii poses a challenge to reviewers, because he is so very unusual. In addition to his handicap, he also has not gone through the usual Euro/American training and does not speak English.

    • In response to suggestions about his strange phrasing, may I say that perhaps we should open our minds and consider it a rare treat to have the opportunity to hear the interpretation from someone whose universe is so different from ours? His Mozart is unusual, but so was Glenn Gould's Bach.

    • And how exactly does one measure "probing depth and a sense of spontaneity" in classical piano playing?

    • Tsujii's piano tone is brilliant. His hand movements are breathtaking. And although "soulfulness" is a term below the dignity of a main-stream reviewer, Tsujii has that in his music. Tsujii's appeal is indescribable and goes beyond words.

    • By the way, I am the one who uploaded the video of Tsujii's "A Sigh", which he performed at the Carnegie as well. A warhorse? Perhaps to jaded ears. And an argument can be made that it is far more daring to play these standards than some obscure works that few people know well. (Tsujii proved that he could do THAT too with the opening piece, Musto's Improvisation and Fugue -- which you will note earned praise from the NYT reviewer.)

    • And you can read other reviews of Tsujii's performances here: https://sites.google.com/site/nobufans/critics-reviews

As a point of reference, here is a review of another pianist by the same critic, published on the same day in the Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/arts/music/adam-gyorgy-at-carnegie-hall-review.html?ref=music

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