The Healing Life of a Music Genius - Chapter 141



Only Noblemtl

141 Performer on stage

.

.

.

Following the fourth song of ⌜Mirror⌟, the performance of the last song of the suite begins.

⌜Valley of Bells⌟.

This song was composed by Ravel, inspired by the bells of a Persian church in Paris.

Usually, when relating ‘bell sound’ and ‘piano piece’, Liszt’s ⌜La Campanella⌟ comes to mind first.

People are easily fascinated by the fast yet cheerful melody of ⌜La Campanella⌟.

Thanks to this, it is very popular and is often used as an encore song at concerts.

Meanwhile, Ravel’s ⌜Valley of the Bells⌟ gives a completely different feel from ⌜La Campanella⌟.

A slow yet quiet melody.

Still, it’s an ambiguous chord.

As you listen to ⌜Valley of Bells⌟, you will be able to understand what the sound of bells ringing in a quiet space sounds like.

A bell moving alone in an empty church.

The old bell announces the time at certain times.

Even if there is someone listening.

Even if there is no one listening.

Maintain a constant beat.

Ravel instructed that this piece be played very slowly (très lent).

I was a little grateful for that.

The concert that continued in my imagination went very smoothly.

A simple melody without any accents on the notes.

The contrast between low and high registers creates a three-dimensional effect.

Various chords and transparent colors encompass this space.

I raised my head.

A beach on an uninhabited island.

Before I knew it, sea water was rising beneath the grand piano I was playing.

The sand tickling my feet was clearly imaginary, but it felt real.

A fading sound coming from afar.

And the little bells I’m playing on the piano.

At some point.

Everything in sight disappeared.

In my imagination there was only emptiness and darkness.

But the music coming from far away continues.

It never loses its transparent color.

I smiled.

Because I knew where that performance came from.

Now I know.

so.

So I opened my eyes.

In an instant, reality fills the place where fantasy disappears.

The Isaac Stern Auditorium stage came into view.

Slightly dazzling lighting.

The air that settles down.

I have never stopped playing here.

The performance I heard, coming from afar, was my performance.

It was a performance that was inside me.

This sound was the melody I had.

At the split second when the comma stops playing.

I raised my left hand and clenched it into a fist.

and.

I played it out on the keyboard.

Gorgeous extended chords extend far into the distance.

So that it can be heard beyond the sunset.

It pours out precious notes.

There was no need for the sound to be loud.

Because I am a person who just needs to focus more on the light that resides within me.

That’s what I learned from Uncle Miller.

Press the keys slowly.

Try pressing the keys a little more slowly.

Lightly.

More delicate this time.

Focus on the sound inside me.

The melody originating from ⌜Valley of the Bells⌟ fades away with the echo of the preceding performance.

That sound.

That delicate yet subtle sound.

It was resonating loudly within me.

After the performance of ⌜Mirror⌟ is over.

I took a deep breath.

I let out my breath and prepared for the next performance.

As it was, I couldn’t stop playing because I was so absorbed in my feelings.

I am a pianist.

I came on this stage as a pianist.

so.

We will show the audience what a pianist looks like.

Like many performers on this stage.

I created a performance.

* * *

The child’s beautiful performance continues.

After ⌜Mirror⌟, pieces by Brahms and Schumann were played, continuing the lingering feeling of the previous part of the performance.

The only piece of advice Kang Yu-han gave to Han Seo-jin.

So that you can have a little more time playing.

So that the audience can accept the performance more deeply.

A little resting place was provided in the structure of the performance.

‘If this part wasn’t there, I might have really been suffocated.’

The child’s ⌜mirror⌟ was that powerful.

A child who understands silence and knows how to express it.

Going one step further, the child stimulated people’s emotions through a huge internal mirror.

While composing the suite ⌜Mirror⌟, Ravel also mentioned Shakespeare’s ⌜Julius Caesar⌟ line.

– The human eye does not see things as they are, but what is reflected, what is seen by something else. –

This means that the act of seeing requires some kind of medium.

This means that even with the same object, each person can see it differently.

Even if we look in the mirror, we don’t see the same thing.

I raise my left hand, but the mirror’s me raises my right hand.

In one word, isn’t it symmetrical?

then.

In the unique performance that was projected onto that child…

What should I really see?

beauty. pleasure. happiness. longing. Affection. love.

The same emotions that others must have felt upon hearing the performance.

Can I say that I, who are called that child’s teacher, saw and felt it?

Kang Yu-han wanted to know more about the child’s inner self.

Only then will I be able to give advice to that child.

Only then…

A ⌜mirror⌟ of a child with a slight sense of sadness.

I will be able to understand more deeply and provide comfort as a teacher.

Kang Yu-han looked at the stage and was deep in thought.

The child was already playing Beethoven’s ⌜Moonlight⌟.

This is the song I listened to when I first met Seojin at Korea University.

The child’s ⌜moonlight⌟ had become deeper over the past year.

The title ⌜Moonlight⌟ originated from critics’ comments after Beethoven’s death.

The ⌜moonlight⌟ shown by the child clearly depicted moonlight.

At first glance, the theme of today’s performance seems to show the contrast between Impressionist and Romantic music.

Music with similar titles was selected, and the differences are clearly shown through performance.

Kang Yu-han thought so too at first.

When such a contrast is presented in a performance, it is fun for the audience to compare and learn about it.

This is the performance structure chosen by quite a few performers.

However.

When I listened to the current performance, it didn’t seem like the child had considered such ‘contrast’.

I didn’t know that when I watched the practice.

It was only now that I began to get a glimpse of what the child was truly trying to say.

The scene slowly comes to mind.

The image of nature reflected on the pianist catches my eye.

That child…

A scene was portrayed through this performance.

Kang Yu-han slowly closed his eyes.

A quiet scenery is depicted according to the melody of the piano.

Light is expressed, darkness is expressed.

Seojin spoke endlessly through lyrical and beautiful melodies.

Finally, the last song begins to play.

A total performance of about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Chopin concludes the performance, which was carried out in one sitting without any intermission.

Chopin – Barcarolle, in F sharp major Op. 60.

Chopin’s ⌜Boat Song⌟.

In his later years, Chopin was bedridden due to deteriorating health.

This song was composed while promising to go on a trip to Italy with his beloved lover, Jourdes Sand, imagining the song the Florentine boatman would sing, and imagining a peaceful scene.

A long melody in 12/8 time begins to flow smoothly.

In a gently shaking boat, the pianist’s left and right hands continue the conversation.

Above the sea, on the surface of the waves.

A ray of light falls and swims.

There, a child is talking to someone in a small floating boat.

A small piece of land visible at the end of the wide ocean.

Leaving the place where grasshoppers sing and birds chirp, the boat moves further and further away.

The story is finally complete.

The performance started with ⌜Mirror⌟ and went through numerous small pieces to reach ⌜Moonlight⌟ and ⌜Boat Song⌟.

However, one scene.

The child was expressing it on the piano.

That scene was so vivid.

Kang Yu-han entrusted his whole body to the child’s performance.

The child was trying to show hope.

He was smiling brightly.

With someone.

We were talking happily.

That appearance…

It felt very warm.

Suddenly, I remembered my past self.

When Kang Yu-han first performed here at Carnegie Hall.

When you play in front of your loved ones.

I thought of the teachers, friends, and many people who supported me.

A memory that suddenly comes to mind.

Kang Yu-han admires the warmth shown by the child.

To the story and comfort the child conveys.

Reminiscing about happy memories.

I smiled deeply.

* * *

The playing time of ⌜Boy Song⌟ is not very long.

At my playing speed, it’s about 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

This completes the stage I wanted to show.

The chromatic scale progresses delicately, and we encounter a melody with double notes.

Twinkling notes embrace me.

This performance is both short and long.

Long passages played in one breath come together to express a sea shanty.

The extended chords running at 16th notes show off their splendor.

On the endless waves.

The ship barely maintains its balance.

I stepped on the piano pedal.

At that time, Uncle Miller left me his last greeting in a very shameful way.

I would have had that opportunity too.

Without even waking me up from the heat.

That’s how my uncle said goodbye to me.

With so many sparkles planted within me.

Leaving behind the huge mirror of the soul.

He left suddenly.

‘You too… You think it’s cruel now.’

I thought about the song from back then.

The song that I sang and my uncle sang was included in ⌜Boat Song⌟.

This ⌜shanty song⌟ was a small answer song.

I poured out all my sadness in the ⌜mirror⌟.

now.

The person I am now is playing happiness.

my story.

My happy story.

Everything inside me.

I showed it to everyone.

The uncle told me.

Musicians have been around since ancient times.

You should be able to show everything about yourself to the audience.

I did what I said.

The passionate melody of the ⌜shanty song⌟ is reminiscent of a cadenza.

Like the instruction dolce sfogato left behind by Chopin.

I played as if I was singing freely.

A story that is the basis of my happiness.

Boldly.

Just as raw.

I play the music that lives inside me through the piano.

My narrative…

‘My own narrative.’

revealed to everyone.

* * *

The piano chords are played like an explosion.

The strongly struck low octave suddenly meets the high octave to create a romantic melody.

People held their breath.

I am completely immersed in the boy’s performance.

The ⌜shanty song⌟ enters the coda and expresses passion.

103 words.

104 words.

The performance progresses in a split second.

Here, Chloe Laurent, who was looking at the stage from the audience, clenched her fists.

A performance that gives you goosebumps.

His playing is so precise that it gives you goosebumps.

Laurent cheered.

‘okay. Everything you wanted to draw… It reveals everything. Because that is the first task a virtuoso performer must do.’

A dazzling, soaring melody.

In that high scale.

The moment when everyone is focused on the scale going down for an instant.

“······.”

From a boy.

A short, almost imperceptible hum came out.

Although it was instantly drowned out by the piano’s powerful performance.

Laurent, who had much more sensitive ears than other people, could definitely hear the sound.

‘What was it?’

Is this a sound that came out instinctively?

Like Glenn Gould, the legendary Canadian pianist?

Unless it is.

‘Is this humming for someone?’

The boy’s performance ended before Laurent’s questions could be resolved.

At the same time, everyone gets up from their seats.

“bravo!!!”

“Waaaaaa!!!”

“It was a great performance!!!”

“It was the best performance of my life!!!”

The birth of a genius.

Among those who heard the boy play, no one had a different opinion.

Laurent decided to forget his doubts for a moment.

For now, they just cheered for the boy along with the audience.

“Pianist Seojin Han! bravo!”

The pianist on stage slowly gets up from his seat.

He looked at each member of the audience and greeted them.

A group walks hurriedly along the first floor hallway of Carnegie Hall.

A child going up on stage following the guidance of an official.

A girl holding a large bouquet of flowers walks briskly.

The girl seemed slightly frozen, perhaps nervous in front of a large audience.

The boy wondered what he was thinking, and while holding the bouquet, he got down on one knee and hugged the girl tightly.

and.

Recalling the advice I heard from someone…

I patted the girl’s head.

Then the boy’s younger sister, a girl, smiles brightly.

The boy also smiled immediately.

A pianist who plays healing and happiness.

He was now on stage at Carnegie Hall.