Great musicians are born, not made. True. Yet in reality there is more to it than genius and the muse. Temperament, hard work, luck and publicity also play a part. Even the most gifted draw on years of practice which could mean up to 10 hours a day in the rehearsal room. At the highest level there is also an indefinable essence which further divides the elite soloist from outstanding performers who settle into life as part of a symphony orchestra and may never become household names. A vital step towards an individual concert career sustained by recitals, important engagements and the all-important recording contract lies in success at a major competition. Whether viewed as challenge or ordeal, it can determine a career.
The classical music fan in the street, as much as the serious performer or teacher, may well express disapproval. After all, some observers may feel competition is best left to the sports field, while recording contracts are vulgar bones best fought over by rock stars. Marketing, however, is increasingly having its say in the promotion and establishment of leading classical musicians and singers. The necessary profile may be acquired by winning what amounts to a high-class talent contest. And like them or not, competitions are also exciting.
Last weekend's newspapers featured Akiko Ono, winner of the senior prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists. Aside from winning, the young Japanese violinist has also secured an engagement with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. At 21, she is on her way. This Friday, the opening rounds of the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition 2000 begin at the RDS Concert Hall. More than 60 emerging pianists, including five Irish finalists, will commence battle to decide this, the fifth Dublin competition. What does it all mean?
Quite a lot, far more than the £10,000 winner's prize money and the Kawai grand piano. The Dublin event, this time sponsored by the world's largest insurance company, is now ranked among the four top piano competitions in the world. Victory should open the way to the future for the pianist who emerges from the field; survives the preliminary rounds and semi-finals, and on reaching the final six, impresses the judges in the finals held on May 17th and 18th.
Co-founder and artistic director of the competition, John O'Connor has always believed that competitions are good for musicians; "They are a showcase leading to concert engagements. Every young musician enters a competition for the confidence it gives. We become musicians to play and competitions give newcomers an opportunity to play." Having listened to more than 300 international submissions, O'Connor selected 66 finalists, of whom 62 are competing. Many of them have already won competitions, most of them have competed at the very least, at national level.
Generations of Irish musicians, including O'Connor, Bernadette Greevey and Ann Murray, have made their way in the international music scene via the Feis Ceoil, which has encouraged classical performers as well as traditional musicians and dancers. Ireland's Barry Douglas is a former winner of the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, while the international careers of artists such as Radu Lupu and Murrary Perahia gained momentum at the Leeds International Piano Competition.
This year's jury of 14 members includes Phillipe Cassard of France, who won the first competition in 1988, as well as Fanny Waterman from the Leeds International Piano Competition and Irish pianist Hugh Tinney. The 1997 winner, American Max Levinson, will also be present and performs Bartok's Second Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall on May 12th.
Levinson, now 28, is a good example of a player who has changed his mind about competitions. "I had always thought that they weren't for me. They don't always do a good job of finding and rewarding talent - too often they seem to be looking for efficient pianists rather than interesting musicians." Having overcome his views, Levinson entered the famous Leeds competition in September 1996. Although he didn't win, his playing impressed O'Connor who approached him saying, "I have a competition in Dublin" and suggested Levinson consider it.
Part of Dublin's attraction is that so much of the repertory is free choice, and this "freedom of choice" innovation has since been adopted by other international competitions. So Levinson duly followed previous winners - Cassard, the Russian Pavel Neressian (1991) and Italy's Davide Franceschetti (1994). If Dublin has been good for him, he has certainly been good for the competition; as the first non-European winner, Levinson has raised its international profile and has given a great deal in return, having been back nine times to give recitals across the country.
Earlier this month, he conducted a master-class at the National Concert Hall in which the five Irish competitors, Maria McGarry, Isabelle O'Connell, Peter Tuite, David McNulty and Conor Linehan were put through their paces, each performing a movement from their chosen competition concertos. Not only did it give these competitors valuable pre-competition experience playing with an orchestra, it also gave them a taste of what it is like to play well, be applauded and then have their performance dissected by a performer, not a critic - and all before a live audience, an audience which in turn was given an insight into a jury's reading of a performance.
Most of the interested spectators that night were students and teachers. Levinson is a gracious, intelligent character possessing immense instinct. He also has an easy manner, polite, though direct. Neither an exam situation nor a recital, a master-class for all its value can also be an exposing experience. As expected, the atmosphere was tense.
Most of Levinson's comments underlined the essential difference between giving a recital and playing with an orchestra. "It's no use making a beautiful sound" he reasoned, "if you can't be heard over the orchestra." This issue of balance rose again and again, as did the need to communicate with the conductor; and of the difference between playing and performance. The contrasting styles of the five Irish pianists proved extremely interesting, as did their mixed response to Levinson's often funny, always useful criticisms.
Maria McGarry from Ballyhaunis has already experienced the Dublin International Piano Competition, having won the John Field Prize at the 1997 event. Playing the first movement from Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1, she proved poised and self-contained. Her response to Levinson's observations on technical points was thoughtful as she played and re-played a short sequence several times, achieving subtle improvements in sound. Isabelle O'Connell's performance of the first movement of Ravel's graceful Concerto in G had immense confidence and she seemed disappointed when Levinson corrected her posture, urging her to sit back and suggesting she play with her whole arm not just the wrist and hand. Make use of all the strength from the shoulders down, he urged.
Almost immediately it became obvious that Levinson's approach to performance embraces technique, interpretation, detail and immense practicality. "Personally I'd use more pedal" he later suggested. According to him, listening is vital to the soloist, "the most important element is listening".
When assessing David McNulty's finely measured playing of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, he said, "Soloists need ego. It's a case of approaching it with an attitude of `wait till you hear this'. After all, this is Beethoven, every note he wrote was pretty much great." Also insightful was his comment, "No one can hear what's going on in your head." The problem of sound dominated his criticism of Conor Linehan's approach to Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, the same piece Levinson had himself played when winning the 1997 competition. "There's a lot of notes in that piece," he began, "that might sound great by itself but it won't do with an orchestra" and he concluded, "just because it's Rachmaninov doesn't mean it's supposed to sound beautiful."
Levinson's awareness of tone shifts goes some way towards explaining the subtle, romantic and often daring sound he achieves. Linehan left the stage without speaking. Of the five, the player who most established a rapport with his critic was Peter Tuite, who took on Grieg's Piano Concerto with a beautifully relaxed, open performance. "Fantastic, really, really great enthused Levinson, "anything I'd have to say would be nit-picking, nevertheless I am going to nit-pick." Stressing it is a concerto of enormous contrasts, he said, "try to get something a little more sinister going here, I don't want to see gnomes." Tuite, one of Ireland's most exciting young musicians, rose to the occasion and interestingly, of the five, he was the only one to join the audience. After his session, he sat in the empty balcony in the guise of an eager student, intently watching as Levinson put McNulty and Linehan through their paces.
And what of Levinson, who has matured enormously, receiving excellent reviews for his Out of Doors - Piano Music of Bela Bartok, including the Out of Doors Suite which he played in the first round in Dublin, while another recording is a superb selection of Brahms, Schumann, Schoenberg and Leon Kirchner? His most immediate ambition is to perform all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas.
By the age of 10 he decided he wanted to be a concert pianist. Born into an ordinary middle-class Californian home, in west LA, Levinson's story is not one of privilege. His Harvard education came courtesy of scholarships, and he studied English. His decision not to go directly to a conservatory was to ensure he would have a more rounded liberal view of life. At Harvard he mixed with friends who were to become lawyers and doctors. "They listened to music because they liked it and were moved by it, not because they wanted to argue about the way a particular note had been played." As a student, Levinson experienced real poverty - such as paying the rent and not being able to use the heating - and he also developed the knack of adding a little soya sauce to the rice diet he existed on.
The competition has grown. This year Annette Andrews, who seeks out pianos to borrow for competitors to practise on, has had her job made easier as Steinway has loaned 20 pianos.
And so to the piano itself. Competitors have a choice of playing either a Steinway or a Kawai. By this Thursday evening, all of the contestants will chosen their instrument. Three years ago, I watched as this selection was made in the RDS library. It must be said even at that stage Levinson impressed, as did Corrado Rollero, who played beautifully, all the while talking to himself. It was then I picked him as the eventual winner, only to narrowly lose my money. The pianists had 10 minutes on each piano. For some it was a difficult choice. I still haven't forgotten the Israeli entrant who stood anxiously outside the hall; went back in and announced, "I went for the Kawai. I think I have made a mistake. Can I go back and change my choice?" She was having trouble with an octave. Back she went, opting for the Steinway, only to change her mind again. It is as exact as that - and as exciting.
All the emotion, technical skill, musicality, detail and nerves which are at the heart of music as expressed by an emerging generation will be on show in Dublin over the next two weeks.
The AXA Dublin International Piano Competition 2000 begins on Friday, May 4th at the RDS Concert Hall.
