This review appeared in the Peninsula Review, a publication the originates in Monterey County, California, with an excellent of Nobu on stage.

http://www.peninsulareviews.com/2011/10/10/pianist-nobuyuki-tsujii-opens-carmel-music-societys-2011-2012-season/

Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii Opens Carmel Music Society’s 2011-2012 Season

by Lyn Bronson

October 10, 2011

Those attending the Carmel Music Society’s season-opening event, a recital by Van Cliburn Piano Competition Gold Medalist Nobuyuki Tsujii, arrived at Sunset Center yesterday afternoon expecting to hear one pianist. However, by the end of the afternoon’s performance it was apparent that they had actually heard four quite different pianists, so varied was his performing style. We heard Tsujii play some aggressive over-the-top Mozart, some exciting virtuoso Liszt, a powerful, yet sensitive performance of a masterpiece by Mussorgsky, and finally as two encores, compositions written by Tsujii himself.

Expectations for this event had been running high. Although Tsujii has been blind since birth, his sensory motor skills and proprioception are so masterfully developed that after competing against some of the finest young pianists in the world during the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, his extraordinary virtuosity and musicianship earned him a shared Gold Medal. Since the competition, he has developed a “rock star” following in his homeland, Japan, where he is celebrated as a national hero.

Did he draw a substantial audience in Carmel? Yes, he certainly did! Sunset Center Theater was filled to near capacity with an audience that included the Carmel Music Society’s subscription members, many young local piano students and lots of loyal Asian fans, some of whom traveled considerable distances from in and out of state to attend this event. Especially interesting to young piano students was the inclusion on the program of two widely popular works by Mozart — the Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je, maman (instantly recognizable by the audience as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”) and the well-known Sonata in A Major, K.331, the concluding movement of which is the famous “Rondo alla turca.”

It was uncanny to observe how easily and accurately Tsujii navigated his way around the keyboard in the two virtuoso Liszt works he performed (the Concert Etude in D-flat Major (“Un Sospiro”) and the Paraphrase from Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto). No less astonishing was Tsujii’s mastery in Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Since all these works require a performer to be constantly moving rapidly around the keyboard while executing difficult leaps, they are extremely challenging even for pianists who can see. Tsujii made it all look quite easy.

There were a few curious aspects about this recital. It came as a surprise that his Mozart playing was so loud and fast it sounded like a series of Czerny Etudes. It was also surprising that he achieved louder volume in his Mozart playing than he did in the great climax of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

However, it was a very appreciative audience that awarded Tsujii tremendous applause and a standing ovation at the end of the recital. As a final gesture to end the recital he performed two of his own compositions: “Relief for Victims of the Tsunami & Earthquake of March 11, 2011” and “A Morning in Cortona” (a small village in Tuscany, Italy). These original compositions are in the “New Age Style” and were exquisitely performed. In these pieces we heard a totally relaxed Tsujii demonstrating that he is truly a person born to play the piano.

The entire audience was invited to a reception in Sunset Center’s lobby after the performance at which time Tsujii made an appearance and graciously greeted his fans. It was a long and patient line of people waiting to shake his hand and say a few words of appreciation. A variety of CDs by Tsujii were available for sale in the lobby, and the entire supply of 100 copies sold out in less than a half hour.

End