Kevin Kenner Reacts to his 1990 Chopin Competition Silver Medal | Ep. 4 The Chopin Podcast
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- Опубликовано: 20 ноя 2024
- Chopin Foundation: chopin.org
The Chopin Podcast: chopinpodcast.com
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0:00 Introducing Kevin Kenner
1:02 Reacting to 1990 Competition: Cartoon & Scherzo No. 3
10:55 Angels and demons in Scherzo No. 3
14:46 Performing Chopin on a Pleyel
17:23 The sense of loss in Scherzo No. 4
21:57 1990 Miami Competition & meeting Harold Schonberg
24:07 What happened in Warsaw in 1990?
Hosted and created by Ben Laude.
This video is part of my partnership with the Chopin Foundation of the United States, which presents the National Chopin Competition every 5 years. The partnership was forged on the eve of the 11th National Chopin Competition, to be held in Miami in January 2025.
Tickets to the final rounds of the National Chopin Competition are now available:
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The Chopin Foundation is a national non-profit organization founded by its President, Blanka A. Rosenstiel in 1977, and inspired by the first US Chopin Competition she presented in Miami in 1975.
Support the Chopin Foundation: chopin.org/donate
Steinway & Sons is the National Chopin Piano Competition's Preferred Piano Partner.
Access the full 53-minute interview with Kevin Kenner: / benlaude
/ chopinpodcast
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Special thanks to Abby Tilton and Mark Rau for their assistance in the production of this video.
You're possibly doing more for piano than anyone in the world. These are incredible conversations with legends.
Imagine winning, but not being declared the winner! Kevin was robbed, and it was interesting to hear him talk about the psychological effects it had on him.
I remember listening to a radio broadcast about the 1990 contest shortly after the announcement of the result, featuring some of the winners. I was a student at Geneva Conservatory at the time. I was struck by the individuality and poetry of Kevin’s playing, clearly setting him apart, and could not believe that no first prize had been awarded. His modesty and humbleness with regard to the feedback he mentions having received speak to his strength of character and resolve. His continued successful career thereafter simply confirms that he did not need the accolade of the gold medal to be considered a great musician.
The Steinway Mr. Kenner is using in that 1990 video has an absolutely OUTSTANDING tone!
Steinway were simply better back then.
You know that when your future self smiles at something your past self played, you really did well.
In the mid 1970s, the Leventritt competition caused controversy when it passed on awarding a first prize. There's a documentary from 60 minutes on RUclips about this ("Finding the Next Horowitz") that is worth watching. A jury consisting of some very eminent pianists (Serkin, Firkusny, Fleisher, Graffman, Claude Frank, Gita Gradova…) thought no one merited the first prize. The audience booed this maneuver, and at the end of the documentary, Serkin attempted to explain it. Mitsuko Uchida and Santiago Rodrigeuz were two of the competitors. If I'm not mistaken, both Kevin Kenner and Santiago Rodriguez are professors at the U of Miami music school. I don't know how they teach, but their playing is absolutely stunning. I cannot fathom how they weren't awarded the first prize in either of these competitions. This third Chopin scherzo was breathtaking.
I also had a top prize in a competition that wasn't awarded 1st prize. I was only 16-17 years old and it wasn't easy to digest... The good thing was that the prize for my award was Liszt's 3rd concerto Full score that was very little known at that time. I only got to ear it about 15 years later... Anyway, moments like that really make you twist your mind in order to keep going and not being afetcted. I was listening to Kevin Kenner and remiding me of all i had to breakthough in my mind after that competiton too. Since then i participated in competitons in Chamber music and large ensembles (winning one of them) but never again as a solo pianst.
The main problem for us artists is that we call competiton to what is an "Artistic Casting". There shoudn't be winners or loosers but carrer offers that get better if you really please the Jury... We at least should start calling these events as Festivals and not competitions. The term "competition" can really trigger the mind of a young artist who doesn't "win", wich by the way are all of them except "the chosen one".
What an exceptional, extraordinary video converstation! I have learned so much listening to this Chopin series. Hearing him talk about criticisms resulting in tremendous growth as a musician was a lesson for us all. Kevin seems like such a great guy. Very sincere and personable. Thank You Ben.
1990 was the year when I was born. As a piano lover myself, I am trying to imagine what it feels like to watch my own play 34 years back. Such wonderful is life with music!
Fantastic videos❤❤
Congratulations, Ben, for this work, that’s a gift for us
I completely agree with him. Witholding 1st prize because no one is perceived worthy of that title is just silly. Jasiński's comment that he should practice more is also ridiculous.
If Kevin's playing was worth a 2nd prize it was certainly worth the 1st. Also the excerpt of the 4th scherzo - really beautiful! An example of a marvellous pianist who for some reason didn't have a "really big" career....
Jasiński is a great teacher, I think calling him ridiculous is naive at best.
@@walterprossnitz3471, Doesn't the audience, at least to some extent, decide about a pianist's career through ticket sales?
@@wojtekdobrowolski8084 Yes and no...Ticket sales are very much dependent on how much promotion is done for a particular concert. Bigger artists get more and better promotion, etc.
It's a vicious circle unfortunately.
Exactly. It's a ridiculous standard. Imagine not giving gold medals in Olympic because athletes didn't beat previous record?? Besides, it stinks because in essence the smug judges just put themselves above contestants and audience. "You are not worthy" from elite jury rubs really the wrong way. Btw, this elitism, snobbiness, and silly level of high standard (for friggin playing the same tune like a robot to laymen's ears) are reasons why many people disdain classical music and consider classical music enthusiasts quite off putting.
Back in 1988 I watched Kevin Kenner in the Gina Bachauer competition in Salt Lake City. I was 18 years old and my family had gotten me tickets to all the competition rounds as a birthday gift--so I went to every event and took notes on every performer. To be honest, I remember simultaneously liking and disliking Kenner. He would play something refreshingly different and beautifully new, but he was also gangly and quirky. I wanted to like him but he was also awkward in some ways. An artist can hone his craft and change a lot over time, and Kenner has been an inspiration to me in the ways he has grown and refined his onstage demeanor as well as his amazing interpretive skills. I still admire his playing and am so touched by his generous heart.
Amazing performance of the scherzo. Taut, energetic, and even at times mystical.
I'll say wow, Mr. Kenner did a damned fine job on that 3rd Scherzo. The quiet, trickl-y, broken arpeggiated thingies were so clean and also well shaped and the diminuendos were awesome. I would say most pianists sound like mud on those!
Wow, that's a gorgeous sounding Pleyel (masterfully played, of course). I'll need to check this recording out, along with more Chopin on period instruments.
Kevin’s CD from the competition appeared many, many years ago in London. It even had the price sticker in Zloty still stuck on the back, so I reckon the shop manager had bought a suitcase full on a trip! Anyway, it’s a recording I treasure, the atmosphere apparent from the very beginning. Quite indispensable.
I have heard Kevin Kenner perform a few years ago and he was magnificent. Very touching and intimate. You never know what judges are thinking during a competition, but I don’t think anyone would have been outraged or even mildly upset if he had been chosen as the winner. Nice guy too.
So smooth
That excerpt of the 4th is interesting - i like it! Brings something new to the piece for me
Great interview! Minor feedback: when the guest says something like “originally my playing lacked sensuality, then I practiced and solved that,” can you press him for what had to change? That will give takeaways to your pianist viewers
15:19 I love his perspective on period instruments, and his characterization of them as more "human". Lately I've been feeling the same lure with older pianos and period instruments, but have been unable to articulate why. The decay of sound is a great point and the recording does make the piece sound more "raw" or unsheathed. For me, also the tone of sound from older pianos sounds more "earthly" or "of this world", whereas modern pianos produce sounds that are out of this world - almost artificial.
Anybody reaching the finals of the Chopin Competition is an exceptional pianist. There are several great names amongst the finest pianists of today who did not win gold. Vladimir Ashkenazy won silver in 1955. Arthur Moreira-Lima won silver in 1965. Mitsuko Uchida won silver in 1970. Daniel Trifonov won bronze in 2010. There is absolutely no dishonor in not winning gold at this so extremely grueling contest.
Peter Donohoe and Nikolai Luganski are two others who finished top (or joint top in Peter's case) at the Tchaikovsky. Ridiculous decisions. But it shows the company you are keeping. I've heard Donohoe and Luganski live multiple times, and I look forward to the day I may hear you. Donohue once played Rach 3 in Dublin, then after the interval the orchestra played the Respighi orchestrations of Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux. Then, as a special treat, and very late in the evening (after 10pm) Donohoe came back out and played a selection of the Études -Tableaux on piano!!! Silver medal Michéal.
What a great recollection! Thanks.
@@1922peter You're welcome. It was a unique experience. When the concert was over, an announcement was made that the evening's programme was complete, but Mr. Donohoe was going to come back on to play selection of the Études-Tableaux. The audience were welcomed to stay but those who wanted to leave were politely asked to move along. I couldn't believe some people actually wanted to go home! Donohoe came out and played 5 or maybe 6 etudes, including my favourite, No. 6. I was sitting in the front row centre. Every time he bowed he leaned right over the stage and was looking straight down at me, his head only a meter away from mine - which was an unexpected but humorous element.
@ I remember seeing Peter playing the ET at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, on a Fazioli piano. That may have been his last time with the instrument, as although it sounded wonderful in the bass register especially, the pedal squeaked throughout the first half. It was sorted in the interval thank goodness. I cannot recall the date but I’d guess late 1990s.
Subjectivity is the key (no pun intended) word in the world of music
Great video!
13:15 a very poetic idea/interpretation
@ChopinInstitute should just go ahead for once and give Kevin Kenner the gold medal he should have won and even go ahead and declare it 1990 gold medallist on all media. Just recognize it wasn't fair and a bit ( or a lot) snobby. If he was the best, he deserves gold, period.
You have a very good active vocabulary, I understand and know these words you use, but I am unable to use them in everyday conversation so fluently. I know it's nothing to do with the video but it's something I have admired about Ben through his fantastic series of videos.
Ben has a doctorate degree. Academics cut their teeth writing and discussing using 'these words' as part of their profession.
@@jisyang8781@jisyang8781 I study too, maybe not at that level, and cannot find the opportunity to apply these words in everyday speech as I can't find anyone intelligent enough to talk with, or anyone for that matter, to socialise with.
Not awarding a first prize is such a backhanded, pretentious decision. He deserved gold, no question.
Hello ben laude! I have requested for u to do a video about alexei sultanov in the chopin competition because he is somewhat underrated pianist in my opinion. I would love to see more about that pianist!!
@@chrismc1834 I hope to at some point!
It's exactly the 1990 incident of not awarding a gold that would have triggered a Gouldian response in some pianists. Just record. What a loss for the audiences of the world.
Easily the greatest performance of Scherzo no 3 ever, and it's not even close(yes, better than Argerich). Just everything about that performance is remarkable. A shame he didn't get first prize.
*edit ofc this is my opinion feel free to disagree
I'm sorry but I think this was political. They could not accept to give yet another first prize to an American (after Ohlsson). Absolutely egregious. And to add insult to injury he was alone as the top prize winner, unlike in 95 where there was also no 1st prize, but the 2nd prize was given to two competitors, which made the absence of a 1st prize a little more palatable, if not acceptable.
So when you're competing in the Chopin Competition, you're actually competing against everyone who has ever competed in competitions in the past?
Such bullshit. He should have won.
Fair point. They should have awarded Sultanov too. But didn't. The competition of course would prefer every edition to be the 1960 or 1965 one which is impossible. But from 2010 on it has been in general more reasonably run by the management. The scoreboards being made public afterwards from 2015 on was crucial. Less and less Polish jury members is another step I'd love them to take, but in such nationalistic country still it seems unlikely in the nearest future.
If he had cut his hair he would have won. That's because the Poles are like that... that's why Sultanov didn't win either.
Good point. Ridiculous decisions