singapore_2013_zaoboa_interview

Nobuyuki Tsujii makes his debut recital  in Singapore on June 25, 2013, 7:30 PM at the Esplanade Concert Hall.  http://www.jas.org.sg/event/tsuji/poster.jpg   The interview  below appeared on Singapore's Chinese newspaper 联合早报网Zaoboa   The following English translation is by me, based on the original article, which appeared as the headline article in the"Culture" section on the June 25, 2013 edition of Zaoboa.

Genius, it does not explain visiting visually impaired Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii

June 25. 2013

Hu Wenyan / reports

Avex Classics/ provided photos

image via Internet link  Photo caption: After arrival in Singapore, Nobuyuki met reporters at his hotel, with an innocent smile on his face.

Page 1

24-year-old Japanese pianist Nobuyuki will hold his debut solo concert in Singapore tonight; tickets were sold out a month in advance of the show.

Nobuyuki Tsujii is a legend. He was born blind, but was gifted with extraordinary musical talent. At age 20, he triumphed at one of the world's three most demanding piano competitions, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, winning the first prize and made a name in the international music scene.

A totally blind person, how can he shuttle his fingers to play intricate notes and make large leaps on 52 white keys and 36 black keys?

Without the use of his eyes, Nobuyuki was born with perfect pitch and a strong memory. He does not see the world with eyes, but with his mind.  This is a reason why his music is so moving.

The world learned the story of  Nobuyuki Tsujii on U.S. time June 7, 2009 in the evening. In Fort Worth (Texas) at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the 20-year-old Nobuyuki won top prize jointly with 19-year-old Chinese pianist Zhang Hao Chen. This was the first time that an Asian won the competition in its history of 47 years. 

The namesake of the competition is famous American pianist Van Cliburn. who won the  1958 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition during the Cold War.  Along with the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition and the Chopin Competition, it is recognized as one of the three most demanding piano competitions in the world. The competition is held every four years. The competition lasts three weeks, from preliminaries, semi-finals to the finals.  The contestants have to prepare to cope with the huge repertoire of three recitals, a chamber music performance, plus two large concertos. It is a great challenge, both physically and mentally.

From the preliminary round of of 30 contestants, 12 advance to semi-finals, 6 to the finals. Nobuyuki was one of the final six.  In the final round, he performed Beethoven's "Sonata in F minor" (Apassionata), Chopin's "Lullaby Op. 57", Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody", Chopin's piano Concerto in E flat minor and Rachmaninov's piano Concerto in C minor.  The pure bright timbre, rich with plenty of emotion, moved  many people, including some Fort Worth Symphony musicians on stage, to tears.

When the results were announced, Nobuyuki overflowed with joy, held the trophy tightly to his chest, tears streaming from his closed eyes. He could not see the  standing ovation of the audience nor the audience's excitement, but he certainly heard the thunderous applause mingled with his mother's sobs.

"My favorite composers: Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven."

Nobuyuki Tsujii was born blind with the congenital eye disease microphthalmia(small eye). But he has gifted with extraordinary musical talent. At two and a half of age, when his mother casually sang "Do Re Mi" from "The Sound of Music", he was able to accompany her singing on the toy piano - melody on the right hand and chords on the left.  He began formal piano lessons at four years old. At seven he won the All Japan Piano Competition of blind students. At 10 years old, he performed with the Osaka Century Symphony.  His first solo concert was held in Suntory Hall in Tokyo when he was twelve.

Talent alone does not explain what takes place in the body of Nobuyuki Tsujii

This evening, he will hold a recital in Singapore at the Esplanade. Tickets were sold out a month in advance. His repertoire will include Debussy's "Arabesque" "Bergamo Suite" "Engravings" and "Pleasure Island"; and Chopin's "E-flat Brilliant Grande Waltz" "descending minor second witty song ""  Polonaise fantasy in A flat Major "and" a flat Polonaise heroic in A flat major ".  These are large-scale works.

He came to Singapore after just performing in Vietnam.  Nobuyuki met reporters at his hotel, looking like a 24-years-old big kid with an innocent smile on his face. He said: "My favorite composers are Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven. Chopin is a poet of the piano, and I especially love his music; Debussy's Impressionist music is like paintings; Beethoven is great - in spite of his deafness in old age, he still wrote many moving works.

It is difficult to imagine a totally blind person playing intricate notes and shuttling his fingers among 52 white keys and 36 black keys, making leaps.  From other reports about Nobuyuki, we know that his talent and  perseverance is amazing.

Page 2

"Please do not 'watch' how I  play but 'listen' to how I play"

He does not have eyes to see the world, but with the mind to see the world, this is precisely the reason why his music is moving. His playing tells you to please do not "watch" how I play, but "listen to" how I play.  Many so-called virtuoso pianists  perform to satisfy the audience and for self aggrandizement, putting individual performance above the music.  Nobuyuki Tsujii, because his eyes do not see, focuses on the expression of the music and lets the music control himself, so that he becomes part of the music, purely and truly playing the role of music evangelist.

Listening to his playing, we found his mind especially delicate, uniting all forces on the fingertips, popping up every note, playing the melody like drawing lines, intricate, high spirits, the huge volume and copious warm tone, hitting a soft spot somewhere in your heart.

Nobuyuki Tsujii is not like ordinary people.   In lieu of his eyes, he has developed particularly keen senses. After he won the Van Cliburn Competition, he was  in Germany for his first performance.  Passing an open door leading to the stage, he immediately said to his manager Mr. Nick Asano : "Oh, the concert hall is so small!" Speaking of the anecdote after so many years, Mr. Asano still seemed incredulous. "We were flanked by German television camera crews, they heard it and were  petrified. The concert hall was really small, only 200 seats; but how could he know?"

No one can explain how he has come to develop such sense, as in how he performs a concerto with an orchestra by listening to clues from the breathing of the conductor.

"I was participating in the competition as a pianist, not a blind pianist"

Van Cliburn, who passed away this past February, praised Nobuyuki highly.   "He has the magic  to cure people!" said the equally legendary pianist at the 2009 tournament where he personally presented the medal to Nobuyuki and held him in his arms in excitement.  In speaking about the victory of Nobuyuki at the competition, it is a kind of disrespect to focus on his blindness while discounting his musical accomplishments and attainments.

Nobuyuki Tsujii, said: "I ​​was participating in the competition as a pianist, rather than a blind pianist." Likewise, he expects us to care about him, not because of his disability, but his music.   All the spoken and written languages in the world cannot express the most sincere feelings.  His is a very rich world of the stuff of legends, far more than we can imagine.

"Mom, what color is the wind today?"  "I am very fond of music and never feel bitter"

In the beginning, he practiced by touching  Braille music scores with one hand, playing with the other hand.  Later, he felt that this process was too slow, and switched to "listen" to learn the works. His  music teacher was the first to transcribe music scores for him onto a cassette recording, separating the parts of the two hands.  Each cassette would hold  a few bars, plus instruction on tempo, volume, phrasing, tone, and a detailed description of the structure, so that Nobuyuki could  listen repeatedly during practice, and then  combine the left- and right-hand parts through memory for performances.

Nobuyuki Tsujii was deprived of his eyes, but God gave him abilities beyond those of ordinary people. He was born with perfect pitch and a strong memory, he never forgets what he heard. There is a video on YouTube of a childhood piano lesson.   In one scene, the teacher played a paragraph, and he was -- astonishingly -- able to repeat it from memory immediately.

The memory of his fingers on the piano, replacing the eyes, creates an unimaginable miracle and a very rich world of music.  Although this may seem to mere mortals as  incredible, to Nobuyuki Tsujii it is just a natural instinct. He said: "I practiced one hand at a time, and of course it is more difficult.  But I really like music, so I have never felt bitter. Playing for me is the happiest thing; I can sit in front of the piano for hours.  In my childhood,  my parents had to stop me from practicing and causing a headache. "

"I am grateful to my parents; my mother is my eyes."

In Nobuyuki's life so far, the two most important persons are his mother and mentor Masahiro Kawakami.   The latter was the piano teacher of Nobuyuki Tsujii for twelve years, starting from when he was  six-years old.  He recorded more than 200 audio tapes for Nobuyuki Tsujii, who said: "These tapes for me are 'music for the ears'."

Generally,  Nobuyuki Tsujii learns a short work in a day or two.  Longer works, such as a Chopin Sonata, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition ", or a piano concerto takes about a week to memorize and approximately one month to internalize.  This is while he continues practicing works that he already performs.

Listening to his playing, we found his mind especially delicate, uniting all forces on the fingertip, popping up every note, playing the melody  like drawing lines, intricate, high spirits, the huge volume and copious warm tone, hitting a soft spot somewhere in your heart.

Page 3

Nobuyuki's father is a physician in obstetrics and gynecology, and his mother is a former news anchor.  Nobuyuki is their only child. Nobuyuki Tsujii, said: "I am very grateful to my parents, especially my mother; she is my eyes."

Since childhood, Nobuyuki's mother raised him as a normal child, taking him to exhibitions, swimming, skiing, holding his hand to fully experience the world, and explaining instructions carefully, so that his mind was full of the colors of the universe. As a child, Nobuyuki asked her mother: "What color is today's wind?" In Nobuyuki's world, everything is colored. In his childhood, the parents  taught him that apples are red, orange is yellow and vegetables are green, so that  his world is not all dark.  Full of rich imagination, he loves the wind, which he thinks colored, 

Listening to his playing, we found his mind especially delicate, uniting all forces on the fingertips, popping up every note, playing the melody like drawing lines, intricate, high spirits, the huge volume and copious warm tone, hitting a soft spot somewhere in your heart.

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Text, in Chinese, of the original article

P. 1

天才， 是无法解释的 访日本视障钢琴家辻井伸行

2013年06月25日

胡文雁／报道 Avex Classics提供图片

张进培／版面设计  Zhangjin Pei / layout

24岁的日本钢琴家辻井伸行在新加坡的独奏音乐会今晚举行，演出前一个月票已售罄。

辻井伸行经历传奇。他出生便全盲，却拥有过人音乐天赋。20岁时夺得世界难度最高的三大钢琴比赛之一范克莱本国际钢琴大赛首奖，惊动国际乐坛。

一个完全失明的人，如何在错综复杂的音符之间穿梭演奏，在52个白键和36个黑键上奔腾飞跃?

失去了眼睛的辻井伸行，天生拥有完美的音准和超强的记忆力。他不用眼睛看世界，而用心灵看世界，这恰是他的音乐所以动人的原因。

辻井伸行（Nobuyuki Tsujii）的故事充满传奇色彩，世界认识他，是美国时间2009年6月7日的晚上。在德克萨斯州沃思堡（Fort Worth）举行的范克莱本国际钢琴大赛上，20岁的辻井伸行技压群雄，与19岁的中国青年钢琴家张昊辰并列首奖。这是该奖设立47年来，首次有亚洲选手夺冠。

比赛以在冷战方炽的1958年赢得柴可夫斯基国际钢琴大赛的美国著名钢琴家范克莱本（Van Cliburn）之名举办，公认是世界难度最高的三大钢琴比赛之一，与柴可夫斯基国际钢琴大赛和萧邦国际钢琴大赛齐名。比赛每四年举行一次，赛期长达三星期，从初赛、半决赛到决赛，参赛者得准备庞大的曲目以应付三场独奏会、一场室內音乐会，加上两个大协奏曲，无论从体力和精神上来说，都有很大的消耗。

2009年第13届的比赛，从世界各地选拔来151名选手，进入初赛的只剩下30名，半决赛12名，决赛六名。辻井伸行一路过五关斩六将挺进最后的六强，在决赛时先后演奏了贝多芬的《 f小调奏鸣曲“热情”》、萧邦的《摇篮曲作品57》、李斯特的《第二匈牙利狂想曲》、萧邦的《e小调第一钢琴协奏曲》和拉赫曼尼诺夫的《c小调第二钢琴协奏曲》，那纯净透亮的音色，丰富充沛的情感，让许多人，包括台上的沃思堡交响乐团的演奏家感动得热泪盈眶。

成绩公布时，辻井伸行把奖杯紧紧抱在胸前，禁闭的眼睛溢出了欢乐的泪水。他看不见台下观众全场起立致贺的激动场面，但他肯定听得到那雷动的掌声里头夹杂着他母亲的啜泣声。

“我最喜欢的作曲家：萧邦、德彪西和贝多芬”

辻井伸行患有先天性的小眼症（microphthalmia），出生时便全盲，但他有过人的音乐天赋，两岁半时听母亲随口哼唱《音乐之声》里头的插曲“Do Re Mi”时，已经能够在玩具钢琴上弹奏出来，右手旋律，左手和弦。他四岁开始正式学习钢琴，七岁赢得全日盲人学生音乐竞赛钢琴组冠军； 10岁与大阪世纪交响乐团同台，12岁在东京三多利音乐厅举行个人首个独奏音乐会。

天才，是无法解释的。发生在辻井伸行身上的事，同样无法解释。

他在新加坡举行的独奏音乐会今晚在滨海艺术中心举行，演出前一个月，票已售罄。他的演奏曲目单上，有德彪西的《阿拉贝斯克》《贝加莫组曲》《版画》和《快乐岛》，以及萧邦的《降E大调华丽大圆舞曲》《降小调第二诙谐曲》《降A大调幻想波兰舞曲》和《降A大调英雄波兰舞曲》，都是一些规模宏大的作品。

刚从越南演出完转程新加坡，辻井伸行在下榻酒店受访，一脸天真的笑容，是个24岁的大孩子。他说：“我最喜欢的作曲家有萧邦、德彪西和贝多芬。萧邦是钢琴诗人，我对他的音乐特别有感情；德彪西是印象派，音乐如同绘画一般；贝多芬是伟大的，晚年失聪，仍然写出那么多动人的作品。”

很难想象，一个完全失明的人，如何能在错综复杂的音符与音符之间穿梭演奏；在52个白键和36个黑键上奔腾飞跃。在一篇又一篇关于辻井伸行的报道中，我们知道，他的毅力和天分是惊人的。

P.2

“请不要‘看’我演奏而是‘听’我演奏”

他不用眼睛看世界，而用心灵看世界，这恰恰是他的音乐之所以动人的地方。他的演奏告诉你，请不要“看”我演奏，而是“听”我演奏。当很多所谓的炫技派钢琴家以满足于取悦观众而自我放大，把个人表现凌驾于音乐之上时，辻井伸行却因为眼睛看不见喧哗，而专注于音乐的表达，让音乐驾驭自己，使自己成为音乐的一部分，纯洁而真实地扮演着音乐传道者的角色。

聆听他的演奏，我们会发现他的心思特别细腻，力量全部凝聚在指尖上，弹出来的每个音符，都像画出来的旋律线，千丝万缕，神采飞扬，庞大的音量及丰沛温暖的音色，会扣住你内心某处最柔软的地方。

辻井伸行不是普通人，除了眼睛，他有特别敏锐的感官能力。赢得范克莱本大赛后他第一次到德国演出，通往舞台的门一打开，他马上告诉身边的经理人浅野尚幸说：“这个音乐厅好小哦！”说起当年的轶事，浅野尚幸仍不能置信。“当时我身边还有德国电视台的摄影队，他们听了都吓呆了。音乐厅确实小，只有200多个位子，可是他怎么可能知道？”

没有人可以解释他的感觉是怎么来的，就如他和乐队演奏协奏曲时，是通过聆听指挥的呼吸和喘息来得到提示的。

“我是以一名钢琴家的身份去参加比赛 ，而不是一名盲人钢琴家”

今年2月逝世的范克莱本曾如此赞扬辻井伸行的琴音：“拥有治愈人心的魔力！”这位同样充满传奇色彩的钢琴大师在2009年的比赛亲自颁奖给辻井伸行，并激动得将他拥入怀里。可以这么说，范克莱本大赛成就了辻井伸行，但如果我们把他得奖的焦点都放在他的全盲上，而模糊了他在音乐上的修养和造诣，这对这项比赛和辻井伸行都是一种不敬。

辻井伸行说：“我是以一名钢琴家的身份去参加比赛，而不是以一名盲人钢琴家。”同样的，他期望我们关注他，不是因为他的残疾，而是他的音乐里头有语言和文字所无法表达的所有人世间最真挚的情感。那是一个无比丰富的世界，跟他的传奇一样，远超于我们所能想象。

“妈妈，今天的风是什么颜色？” “我很喜欢音乐从来不觉得苦”

他开始练琴是通过一只手摸索点字读谱，另一只手弹奏，后来他觉得这样的速度太慢了，于是改用“听”来学习作品。他的老师先把音乐分成左右手两个部分录成卡带，几小节一段，再加上节奏、音量、乐句、音色、结构的详细说明，让辻井伸行反复聆听练习，然后通过记忆进行左右手的合并演奏。

辻井伸行失去了眼睛，但上天却给予他常人所没有的能力。他天生有完美的音准和超强的记忆力，几乎能做到过“耳”不忘。YouTube上有一段短片，清楚记录了他幼年习琴时，老师弹一段，他马上能凭记忆丝毫不差地重复弹奏的情景，实在让人拍案惊奇。

他用手指指头的记忆，替代了眼睛，在钢琴上创造了无比宽广的音乐世界和令人难以想象的奇迹，凡人如我们若非亲眼所见，只觉不可思议，但对辻井伸行来说，却是一种天生的本能。他说：“一只手一只手的练，当然比较困难，但我很喜欢音乐，因此从来不觉得苦。弹琴对我来说是最快乐的事情，我可以日以继夜的坐在钢琴面前。小时候爸爸妈妈为了让我停止练琴而伤透了脑筋。”

“我感激我的父母亲，妈妈是我的眼睛”

在辻井伸行的生命中，最重要的两个人是他的母亲和启蒙老师川上昌裕（Masahiro Kawakami）。后者从辻井伸行6岁开始就担任他的钢琴老师长达12年之久，为他录制了超过200卷录音带。辻井伸行说：“这些录音带对我来说是‘写给耳朵的乐谱’。”

一般的短曲子，辻井伸行用一两天就能背起来，长一点的，如萧邦的奏鸣曲和穆索尔斯基的《展览会中的图画》，约一个星期，要熟记和内化一部钢琴协奏曲则需要约一个月时间。

P.3

辻井伸行的父亲是妇产科医生，母亲是前新闻主播，只得他一个孩子。辻井伸行说：“我很感激我的父母亲，尤其是我妈妈，她是我的眼睛。”

从小，辻井伸行的母亲就把他当正常孩子来养育，带他看展览、游泳、滑雪，握着他的手去充分感受这个世界，并透过细心的说明，让他的脑海里充满关于世界的缤纷画面。小时候，辻井伸行最爱问妈妈的一句话是“今天的风是什么颜色？”在辻井伸行的世界里，所有的东西都是有颜色的，父母自小就教会他苹果是红的，橘子是黄的，蔬菜是绿的，他的世界因此并不黑暗，连最喜欢的风，他都认为是有颜色的，充满丰富的想象。

聆听他的演奏，我们会发现他的心思特别细腻，力量全部凝聚在指尖上，弹出来的每个音符，都像画出来的旋律线，千丝万缕，神采飞扬，庞大的音量及丰沛温暖的音色，会扣住你内心某处最柔软的地方。