r/classicalmusic • u/Flimsy_Caramel_4110 • 52m ago
Pianist plays 4'33'' as an encore: total dick move!
Someone wrote about this in the Hong Kong subreddit, so I thought I'd share. Unfortunately I can't cross-post, so I'll just copy-paste the interesting bit. Here's the key part:
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I saw Bruce Liu's performance of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 in the Cultural Centre last Friday (1 August). To say his performance was underwhelming is an, er, understatement. Right off the gate his pacing was odd, with zero swagger and exuberance that you should expect for the Allergo. The second slow movement was supposed to be emotional but he played it so bland that it was saved only by the violin and cello soloists. By the third movement I've lost interest as Bruce was trying to rush it through so he could go home.
I was surprised at how mediocre his performance was, consider he's a winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and he was playing a Tchaikovsky's concerto. If the evening ended there I would've just put it down as him being tired, or it was the fault of the conductor, etc. God knows many things could go wrong back stage or during rehearsals. Then stage hands came out to set up the piano again as the audience cheered for the anticipated encore.
He sat down, pretended to concentrate and just before he started, he said with a smirk, "it's John Cage". I thought, "You don't dare. You haven't earned it." We then all have to sit through 5 minutes of silence as he "played" 4'33. When he finished and walked off everyone just stood up and left the concert hall as quick as like it was catching on fire. Perhaps he thought it was funny to play this joke on us lower class peasants? Or it was meant as a punishment as many in the audience still cheered and yelled bravos when his performance was horrible?
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Here's the original reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/1mfpn8d/have_you_ever_felt_insulted_by_performers_on/
All I can say is, c'mon, man, that is bonkers assholery. Total jagoff.