Beethoven Concerto No. 4 by George Li (15 yr)

George Li performed this with Symphony ProMusica under the baton of Maestro Mark Churchill on Jan. 30, 2011.

Music Review: http://www.telegram.com/article/20110201/NEWS/102010390/1011
Symphony Pro Musica wins with Mahler, Beethoven
By John Zeugner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER
Tuesday, February 1, 2011

WESTBORO — Symphony Pro Musica's concert Sunday afternoon at the Mill Pond school centered on two very different — and very challenging — farewells. The first was Gustav Mahler's sublime meditation about his impending death, "Das Lied von der Erde," and the second was pianist George Li's exit from virtuosic boy wonder to international artist, through the lyric poetry of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto.

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Fans of the piano concerto repertory celebrate the pastoral lyricism of Beethoven's 4th, and argue that negotiating its simplicity and elegance (like that of Mozart's 24th piano concerto) requires seasoning, mature thoughtfulness. So it's a gamble for a young pianist to take on the subtleties of the piece. Prodigies prefer to concentrate on, as George Li has, the virtuosic flash of Liszt, Chopin, Saint-Saens and Mendelssohn concertos.

In those, technique can compensate for interpretative emptiness.

Heretofore George Li, although clearly sui generis, always came on stage in his diminutive presence and smilingly engaging personality as the boy next door who, after climbing on his piano bench, waved an invisible cape and became a super wizard of the keyboard.

Virtuosity carried all before it, but the Beethoven requires much more.

The notes bespeak transcended affliction, liberation from suffering, and wholesale embrace of the salvation of exquisitely formed sound. From the opening note — alone among Beethoven's concertos the piano begins the piece — it seemed Li had passed from prodigy to genuine artist.

You could quarrel with his intonation — at times too strident, at times too light — but at every instance you were confronted with the astonishing fact that, though barely 16, Li was spinning out an interpretation that could be measured against those produced by much older artists. He had crossed a threshold between dazzling technique and artistic vision. His mastery of the first movement's cadenza generated fierce excitement and commitment, his fluency during the supremely challenging second movement andante, and of course his technical panache in the finale established him as viable with the most distinguished company. And having just won major international competitions with the Cleveland Orchestra, and in New York, young Li was signaling that he merited, and doubtless will get, the most professional orchestral accompaniment.

Playing Beethoven's 4th was a way of moving on, saying farewell to SPM. Doubtless sentiment will occasionally bring him back, but as SPM's President Dan Sweeney remarked to the reviewer afterwards, "Now that George has an International Management Agency, I wonder if SPM is even on their Rolodex?" SPM, as superb incubator of world-class talent, surely ought to be.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Beethoven
• Piano
• Concerto
• No.
• George
• Li

[goltjen]

george you are a prodigy

[ibk1980]

congratulations George! I recommended your videos to all my friends. Warm regards from Germany.

[W0oJ0o]

awesome

[gerardbedecarter]

@gerardbedecarter  ... also the Gluck.

[gerardbedecarter]

Beautiful playing, George. Wonderful to hear you in this concerto.

[jpayne4040]

You did all of that without any music in front of you! Wow!

[malakhification]

Parabéns pelo video, sucesso amiguinho.

[2minstral]

I have it from good authority that Beethoven smiled when he heard you play his music. 8O)

[PhillipLWilcher]

It is an honour to hear art of the highest order from one so young.

Bless you my friend!

[Rayfeng2001]

What a treat to listen to your playing, George! Absolutely marvelous!