Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Yundi Li apologizes for screw up?

Original post and title were edited...


I'm surprised that I didn't see a thread on this story. I apologize if I missed the post. Apparently Yundi Li had a memory lapse (which is completely acceptable), and failed to recover.

http://slippedisc.com/2015/11/breaking-yundi-crashes-out-of-chopin-concerto/

For those they may know the story better. What is the big deal that requires a public apology?

thanks for the link. i was wondering what the heck happened. in my Facebook he was quoted as apologizing for something he did in Seul but i could not make out what happened.

there is an update at the bottom of the article--- Yundi did not walk off the stage but repeated the movement successfully.

I have heard mixed things about this concert, so I can't comment... However, many other professional (even big-name) artists have had crash-and-burn moments before. I don't want to slam an artist for that, though I'm personally not the biggest Yundi Li fan myself.

Also, OP, it's not too late to edit the thread title.

Harold Schonberg writes about a time when Schnabel was playing the Brahms Bb with Bruno Walter in NY and had a memory lapse during the slow movement. Schnabel -great trooper he was- backed up and proceeded to make it right.

I have never heard Yundi Li live, though his yt videos are a bit of a mixed bag. But obviously a massive talent.

It's good to know that those things happen to them

I really don't care for Yundi Li. I don't care really for what happened, cause I know people screw up regularly, so it's only human to make a mistake.

What I DO care about is the fact that a bootleg (and totally illegal) recording of the concert has been circulating since this whole thing started and nobody is doing nothing to stop it!

So, we're in this age and time when no wrong will go unnoticed and everyone will claim fame over our backs? huh? :'(

Totally agree, Nikolas... Yundi Li apparently recovered and finished. It is regrettable he did not apologize sooner, but it is really sad that concert goers have asked for a refund. When you read reviews of all concerts, it seems the trend is 'perfection only accepted' with no acknowledgement that a live performance is not the same as a studio recording. Didn't many of the former greats have imperfections and indeed, some huge slips, that were tolerated because of the beauty of the performance and an understanding of human imperfection??

There have been questions whether younger pianists play with as much passion, but we have created an unforgiving environment... what can we expect?

The real reason is the media are not mad because Yundi had memory lapse actually this is quite normal and common for artists under huge pressure and after all we are all humans. They are mad however is that Yundi got to closer of relationship to all the movie stars now and he has entered too many reality shows to earn quick money instead of keep maintaining and if not improving his piano playing skill. It is obvious after he won the Chopin competition 15 years ago, his skill has come down year after year because he really wanted to get into the movie circle.

I don't think he should have apologized. It makes it look as if he wasn't properly prepared for this performance, and he knew it. He probably should've cancelled if that was the case.

I'm really struggling to understand what you're talking about.

You mean that the media don't like Yundi Li because he's not that much interested in the classical music industry, as opposed to being very interested in the movies industry?

I don't get it. I really don't. Sorry...

I do mean the Chinese media. He has recently getting lots of gigs in reality show which is not piano related and obviously he does not have time to practice piano any more. Movie industry can earn lots of quick good money. The media are not happy that he didn't want to stick to art that might in return did get as much money. But he choose to want to have the big money and going into movie instead. He was absent recently from the judge seat for a few days from the just concluded Chopin competition to attend a Chinese famous movie star's wedding ceremony. I don't know how the media outside of China says. But from what I understand is that the Chinese media does want to send a message to Yundi himself maybe, if he does choose to spend his time to do more non piano related event, his piano playing and talent will suffer. Even though he is free to choose what he wants to do, but need to know which is more important.

Indeed.

Why would that imply that we should tolerate imperfections in the pianists of today?

I got the distinct impression that he was not being excoriated for having had the memory lapse in the first place, but because, once it was over, he apparently blamed everything other than himself for the problem, which I suppose sounded rather petulant. And then he got defensive when he was criticized for the finger-pointing and said something sarcastic like "thanks for everything" or some such thing.

I honestly do not know what the truth is. For his part, he denies having blamed the conductor and orchestra. They say he did. I have no way of knowing. His subsequent comments and initial attempts at an apology were, indeed, a bit supercilious but then again, by then he was getting a lot of heat. If he didn't blame the orchestra and conductor for the problem, what apology does he owe in the first place? After all, he restarted and subsequently delivered a concerto! Who can blame someone for feeling a bit put out if they are being demanded to apologize for something they didn't do?

In the end, I just can't suss out the truth. If he didn't blame others for his memory lapse, his behavior, while not really that mature, is understandable. He owed nobody an apology. If he did blame others for his memory lapse, his immature behavior merits a good, apology--not one of those "sorry, not sorry" type apologies. And the apology is for having pointed the finger at others, not for having had the on-stage trainwreck. He would only owe the audience an apology for the actual screwup if he hadn't subsequently delivered the concerto.

I'm not particularly outraged at the orchestra-goer for having made the recording. There are, always have been, and will always be, bootleg recordings at pretty much any concert, anywhere. I do blame the news article for having republished it, like the actual evidence of the terrible disaster was the relevant part of the story in the first place. It's not, and it's just low-blow artist-shaming. It was in poor taste, and that's true whether or not Yundi Li acted in poor taste himself.

Well, I think you've covered everything. I guess that settles the matter.

Who cares

Because if we expect the pianists of today to be anything other than human we're simply delusional.