The 25th International Chopin Piano Competition in ASIA
Feedback from the Jury
Final Round of Concerto C●Jury A
Like last year, we welcomed the string quartet from Poland, and the all five participants
did a great job of performing as an ensemble with the quartet, despite the shortrehearsal time. Three participants played the first concerto and two participants played
the second concerto, and they played all the movements with consistent technical skills
and rich expressiveness. I wish you all the best in your future studies.
●Jury B
I consider the level in this category to be quite varied. Only in one performance I foundmost of the features that determine the highest artistic level. In the rest, some elements
dominated over others, and some were simply missing. The most important things toalways pay attention to are:1. precise reading of all elements contained in the score, i.e. text, rhythm, dynamics,articulation, phrasing (each phrase should have some climax - smaller or larger ofcourse),
2. leading melodic lines molto legato and proper phrasing, including vocal breath,
3. showing as clearly as possible the features of the brillante style, avoiding hard andheavy playing, you should never force the sound and use more finger technique,
4. respect all dynamic markings used by the composer, (piano is not pianissimo),
5. trying not to overuse the pedal.
What you should especially pay attention to when playing with quartet is:
1. knowledge of the ensemble parts (you basically should know it by heart),
2. breathing phrases together, feeling of string instruments - the time needed to produce
sound is different for strings (never overtake the ensemble’s sound),
3. playing with full rounded sound, but differentiate individual plans, do not force all ofthem, because it will be too heavy and sharp,
4. all agogic changes you apply must be understandable to the quartet, avoid anyabruptness.
Above all, always enjoy playing with the ensemble. If you can show it, they immediately

play better and want to help you more. Create the music together. Good luck!
●Jury C
Thank you for your performances!
In a conversation with A. Toscanini, G. Mahler told him “In the score, there is everything
except the essential.” Looking for this “essential” is a complex and interesting process.
If I have to advise something, it will be to think more in a parallel with the usual work(sound colors, pedaling, phrasing, musical structure and etc.) on the content.
●Jury D
When performing concerto, a composer’s largest work, it is up to the individual pianist todecide how to play it, but as a joint performance with string players, it seemed to raise
its own unique challenges, different from a solo performance. In this context, I’m gladthat there were performances with interesting content that showed a chamber musicsensibility.
●Jury EThe level of performance in this category was high and the evaluations were very close.
It was particularly pleasing to see that not only had the level of the performance
improved, but that the performers had a good understanding of stylistic sense of
Chopin’s music, which they captured appropriately. The performances of theparticipants must have been pleased everyone who listened to them and this can beseen as proof that the level of Japanese musical culture itself has risen.
●Jury F
Everyone played well together with the string quartet with good ensemble. The stringquartet is in front of the piano, so it is difficult to make it sound beautiful beyond its
sound, but when you play with an orchestra, it has more sound than that. Participants
who had good sound projection and a good ensemble feel like chamber music werehighly evaluated.