Nobuyuki Tsujii: 'The piano is an extension of my own body'

This year's Proms feature a blind pianist who is mobbed by groupies in his native Japan. Nobuyuki Tsujii talks to Ivan Hewett.

Nobuyuki Tsujii

2:50PM BST 16 Jul 2013

There's something fascinating about the idea of a blind musician. The sheer persistence needed to acquire skills where sight is normally so important – reading all those black dots, measuring the leap from this note to that one – is astonishing enough in itself. But there's something else, an almost mystical feeling that in lacking one sense, a musician sharpens others that matter more: intense concentration on the task in hand, super–sharp hearing, and, above all, an intuitive sense of how others are thinking and feeling. This is surely why in many cultures the blind seer who knows truths, and can sing them truly, is a revered figure. Homer is our prime example.

That ancient reverence might account for the craze around 24–year–old pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. He's adored in his native Japan, and is one of the very few classical artists with genuine groupies, who traipse reverently from one concert to the next. Thanks to his second career as a composer of film scores, he's reached a vast audience which most classical pianists wouldn't. In the West his appearances have been greeted with the rapturous tones normally reserved for mystical experiences. After Tsujii won joint gold prize in the Van Cliburn piano competition in Fort Worth in 2009, the aged Van Cliburn described the young Japanese as being "absolutely miraculous. His performance had the power of a healing service. It was truly divine."

Given all this, I'm expecting to meet someone reverently serious. In fact "Nobu", as he's known to everyone, is smilingly cheerful and straightforward. He's also endearingly honest about the origins of his passion for making music: "I remember I was five years old, and I went to a restaurant with my family. There was a locked piano there and I really wanted to play, so the manager unlocked it. I played something and everyone applauded. That made me very happy."

By then Nobu was a seasoned performer, having started at the age of two. "My mother was a pianist, and she noticed that when she played a Chopin Polonaise I really loved it, and moved my whole body to the music. Also I could tell the difference between different recordings of the same piece. So my parents got me a toy piano. That's how it all started."

His progress was amazingly fast. He played a concerto in public at thr age of 10, and two years later gave his first solo recital in the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. I wondered how he managed to learn all that repertoire, let alone play it. "It is difficult, because Braille music is very slow to use, and the repertoire is quite small. I was lucky. When I wanted to learn a new piece my teacher recorded both hands separately, so I could learn by ear."

One of the pieces Nobu played during the Van Cliburn competition was Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata, which begins with a famously perilous leap. I ask how he copes with that, but Nobu is puzzled by the idea that this might be especially problematic for him. "People always ask me about leaps, but they are not difficult. For me the piano is an extension of my own body, so I know exactly where everything is."

That's understandable, but what about the tricky task of coordinating with a conductor during a concerto, which many sighted pianists find difficult? "I listen very hard for the conductor's breathing. That tells me where we are in the rhythm."

Overcoming handicaps that seem insuperable to us is part of every blind person's life but, even so, there's something especially winning about Nobu's innocent cheerfulness.

One person who's become a fan is Richard Wigley, general manager of the BBC Philharmonic. "He's just adorable," he says. "We did a tour with Nobu in Japan in 2011, and the players found him such a joy to work with, always smiling and positive. I remember after the rehearsals they used to stay on late and gather around the piano, just to hear him play more. I can tell you that doesn't happen very often."

It was during that tour that the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. Nobu remembers the shock in the hall in Yokohama. "I could feel it, and I knew straightaway something really terrible had happened. Luckily my own family was not affected, but this event caused terrible pain to everyone in Japan. I tried to help with my music as best I could." The orchestra, meanwhile, had to abandon the tour, as concert halls were declared unsafe. "We felt bad," says Wigley, "as if we were abandoning these people who'd been so kind to us."

Since then, the orchestra has more than made up for their abandonment. "We went back for a 12–date tour in April this year, with Nobu and the conductor Yutaka Sado," says Wigley, "and this time the demand was overwhelming, we sold out all the dates within a few hours. Everyone wanted a piece of the story of how we'd come back to make good our commitment."

Next week Nobu and the BBC Philharmonic are together again, at the BBC Proms. He's pleased to be appearing with his old sparring partners, saying that for him music–making in company is the best of all.

I get a sense that for him making music has a deep spiritual significance, but he disclaims an allegiance to any creed. "I don't have a religion, but I have a strong feeling for nature. When I compose I take my inspiration from nature. I love to go out hiking and skiing and feel the wind on my face."

Skiing, hiking, playing Beethoven's Hammerklavier: it all suggests a great fearlessness, but Nobu prefers to see it as an attitude of trust towards the world. "If you give of your best, life will offer you something in return. Also, I find when you trust people, they reward your trust. That has been my experience. But maybe I'm just a very lucky person."

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I posted this comment to the article:

Thank you. Mr. Hewett, for a fine "curtain raiser" article for Nobuyuki Tsujii that clearly wasn't just snapped together based on Internet literature.

I am American. I do not work for Mr. Tsujii, but I am one of his biggest fans around.

Having been to numerous live performances of Nobu, I am still dazzled by him every time. You can count me as one of the people who asked Nobu about how he manages to make those large leaps so confidently -- no hesitations whatsoever! Nobu told me the same as what he said to you.

I have come to believe that Nobu can really see with his heart, as he often says in Japan. In fact, Peter Rosen, maker of the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition documentary, is coming up with a new film titled "In the heart's eye" about this extraordinary young man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

For those of us who live outside the U.K., I hope Mr. Rosen will include in the film footage from his Proms performance tonight. It gives me chills to envision Nobu being led on stage to that huge crowd in Royal Albert Hall. It is yet another dream coming true for Nobu, and for his fans.

Thank you again for a thoughtful article on Nobu! And I and many others all over the world are already tuned in to BBC Radio 3 for the broadcast of Prom 6.

What a country the U.K. is!