Yundi Li: Live in Concert

This is a performance by one of the new generation of classical concert pianists. Li's technical command seems absolute. Such command appears to be the minimum qualification for pianists today. No allowances for the slipped note or somewhat indulgent phrasing of a Rubenstein or Rudolf Serkin that endeared them to audiences. Li certainly passes muster in the technique department. His pianistic chops are extremely impressive. The Chopin in this concert (the Scherzi) is precise, clear, and appropriately sonorous. He is detached but attentive to detail. He lets Chopin speak for himself. The Liszt B-minor is another matter: passionate, intimate, involved. He seems drained at the end. Video and sound are fine. Recommended.

This is a great DVD, with great sound, and an impressive performance. Yundi Li's technique is seemingly effortless, and his mastery of the piano are outstanding, especially at his age at the performance. There are very few mistakes (adjacent notes touched) that would be noticed only by a listener who has memorized the works performed. His tempi are reasonable, although occasionally hurried, but not so out-of-control as with Martha Argerich, and not slumped as Claudio Arrau's. His overall performance is awsome.On the other hand, the photography is totally inappropriate. Watching a classical performance is not the same as watching drama, and the competent photographer usually knows when to focus on the face or the hands. This is terribly missed in this production, and you find yourself almost begging the photographer (so to speak) to show the hands in critical passages. I see that a previous reviewer also mentioned that point. I normally don't look much at credits, but here, I have to mention that the photographers - Walter Hasenfratz, Michael Horcher, Gary Kaul, Christian-Michael Oertel, and Karl-Heinz Zeagler - did an extremely poor job. I gave only four stars for that reason.

This is a wonderful live-concert captured on film. I enjoyed this DVD immensely because Yundi Li is an amazing young master at the piano, and the film has many close-up shots of his hands where you can really see the atheletic aspects of piano playing. Good camera shots and good sound quality of the recording. "Extras" on the DVD are real bonuses, including the 3rd movement of Chopin's piano concerto which he performed at the winner's concert at the Chopin Int'l Piano Competition. The photo-essay of his childhood and youth is a real gem.

Listening to Yundi Li play, one wonders if he could ever play better than what he is doing on this dvd....He plays the 4 Chopin Scherzi as good as anyone out there playing in public today....And when you hear him play the Liszt B minor Sonata, and the Liszt Paraphrase de concert of Verdi's Rigoletto, you will ask yourself how someone as young as Mr. Li can play as well as he does without years of playing experience behind him...However, there is still room for improving his interpretation of Chopin if you use Vladimir Horowitz as your benchmark for this great composer...But who can compare to Mr. Horowitz. Nevertheless, if Mr. Li, as well as the other great Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, live as long as Mr. Horowitz did, then I could not think of many other up and coming pianists who might one day reach Mr. Horowitz's level...

Great musician. The picture is grainy on my Sharp LCD 52 in TV. The quality of the recording is fair but not up to the current standards. The concert was in 2004 and I expected good quality digital picture.

I have recently re-discovered classical music. It was browsing through Amazon's videos that really got me hooked.Yundi Li's Chopin interpretation brings me to tears. He is that good.

We were really enjoyed of Yundi's performance, especially on the bonus section was the best on this DVD!

I already owned his Chopin Scherzo CD. This live recording allows one to appreciate his great technique and fingering. This is a very good live recording.

This disc, recorded in concert at Baden-Baden in 2004, highlights how much Yundi Li is an inspirational artist who will deliver different performances of equal quality under, and as a result of different circumstances. This remark can be made on the basis that the Chopin Scherzi and La Campanella study are also the content of another recording made, also in 2004, but at Le Roque D'Antheron. In both cases the Chopin pieces are equally stunning but the interpretations offered here are up-scaled to match the markedly larger venue which would need far greater power to fill adequately.The first scherzo is played with a controlled wild abandon that fully matches its temperament. The chances of hearing another performance that so clearly risks all for the inspiration of the moment must be vanishingly small. The same can be said for the other three scherzi with the heroism of the second balanced by the more brooding character of the third and the lively, and slightly lighter fourth. All of these descriptions are subjective of course and others will find other ways of describing them in such a small space as this. Whatever the offered descriptions are the fact remains that these are extraordinary and thrilling achievements.The same can also be said of the mighty and difficult to control Liszt sonata. Yundi Li plays with amazing virtuosity combined with breath-taking sensitivity. Far from appearing to fragment under its length and varying mood swings, the sonata seems to grow in stature as it progresses and time stands still. Not surprisingly, by now the audience is ecstatic in its response to what has built to an unforgettable event.Three encores follow starting with a short and glittering piece by Yu Shi Wang and then it's back to Chopin for the Nocturne in Eb. The Liszt Rigoletto Paraphrase is the final extraordinarily generous encore and it receives the sort of performance that makes Yundi Li seem tireless. One can only assume that he is kept going at this level by sheer adrenalin!Fortunately this whole wonderful concert has been recorded with good imaging and camera work. The sound is especially lifelike and is presented in DTS 5.1, DD 5.1 and stereo.There are bonuses from earlier in Li's career in the form of the last movement from his winning Chopin concerto1 at Warsaw in 2000 plus a couple of promotion videos. This concert however only goes to show how much further Yundi Li has travelled in the intervening 4 years.This is a particularly fine recital caught at white heat. In my opinion it will be an amazing experience for most purchasers and on that basis I am sure that 5 stars is the only reasonable way to judge it.

I have seen Yundi Li live - for me this DVD confirms his position as a pianist of note, both technically and musically. The sound quality of a live performance is well-represented in this product. I wanted a recording of the Chopin Scherzi and the interpretation by this artist, as well as the technical quality of the DVD, have met my expectations.

as described.

Contenu présenté de façon originalesTrès bon son pour un DVDPianiste virtuoseJe vais finir par ne plus mettre d'appréciation si Amazon exige un si long discours