At the beginning of the new year, Vietnamese pianist Deng Taishan first completed his solo piano recital at the Shanghai Symphony Hall. Two days later, he collaborated with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yang Yang and performed many pieces by composers such as Chopi

At the beginning of the new year, Vietnamese pianist Deng Taishan first completed his solo piano recital at the Shanghai Symphony Hall. Two days later, he collaborated with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yang Yang, performing many works by composers such as Chopin, Wagner, and Schumann. repertoire.

Back in 1980, 22-year-old Deng Taishan won the first prize in the highest level international piano competition, the Chopin International Piano Competition, becoming the first Asian to win this award. In the years since, his music career has spread all over the world and he has served as a judge in many major international music competitions.

At the end of last year, Master Deng Taishan’s studio was just established at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and he also became an honorary professor of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The new identity has further brought him closer to the city of Shanghai. Before the middle of January, he has already completed two consecutive performances in Shanghai. Chopin's works account for half of the

program list. The 66-year-old piano master chose to have a remote conversation with his young self, and intuitively explained to the audience why he can be called "one of the few who can." A performer who understands Chopin’s language. On the

social media platform, a video of a centenarian playing the piano at home has received 7 million views. Music fans who know the situation know that this is Deng Taishan’s mother.

In 1958, Deng Taishan was born in a literary family in Vietnam. His father could write poetry and his mother was a pianist. Under the influence of their parents, the brothers and sisters in the family are more or less able to play musical instruments, such as piano, cello, etc. Deng Taishan is the youngest child in the family. Originally, his parents thought the house was too noisy and did not want him to learn music anymore. But Deng Taishan has had a strong interest in music since he was a child and has shown a certain talent for music. From the age of 4, he began to study music without exception.

Not long after, Vietnam fell into war. The school moved to the mountains, and my mother, a piano teacher, moved the whole family there and stayed there for five years. "Instruments like violins are easy to carry, but pianos are not easy to transport. Transportation was difficult and the bridges were blown up, so we used buffaloes to transport an upright piano. It took several months on the road. When the piano arrived in the mountains , half of the keys could not be played, and the strings were broken. Many students shared the same piano. I was seven years old at the time and only had 30 minutes of practice time every day."

Deng Taishan still vividly remembers the hardships of those years, even though In the short half-hour he practices, he will also encounter bombing situations. Over time, he even learned to distinguish friend from enemy based on the sound of fighter jets, so as to decide whether to stop and avoid or continue practicing. "You see, a musician's ear is still very useful!"

In the mountain where he escaped from the war when he was a child, at nine o'clock in the evening, after a busy day, everything quieted down, and Deng Taishan's mother would Play her favorite Chopin works, mazurkas, nocturnes, etc.

"Those melodies intoxicated me, especially in that environment. The effect was completely different from what I heard in the concert hall. It was so poetic and that kind of music was indescribable." Deng Taishan's mother was once invited to Poland After observing the Chopin competition in 1970, I brought back the complete set of Chopin scores and records when I returned to China. I also told Deng Taishan many stories about the Chopin competition. It was as if it was destined that ten years later, he would become the winner of this competition. champion.

In Deng Taishan’s view, the technique of performing Chopin’s repertoire is not a big issue. The key is how to get close to Chopin’s soul. Chopin's life is divided into two parts, his youth and the subsequent era. He is frail and sensitive, pursuing beauty and poetry.

"I think his sensitive side is very consistent with my nature. Maybe it has something to do with my father being a poet. I like to pursue poetry and express Chopin's beautiful melodic lines, which is not suitable for playing Tchaikovsky and Prokofie. Heavy music like the husband. Another point is that Chopin's music is closely connected with his motherland, Poland. The reason why he went into exile in France was because his motherland was invaded. He wrote mazurkas and polonaises to express his longing for his homeland. My childhood There are also memories of the war, which makes it easy to empathize.When I competed at the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, I felt a sense of honor and hoped that the audience could hear my expression in the music. "

Before participating in the competition, Deng Taishan had never had stage performance experience, had never performed with a band, and did not even prepare a decent set of performance clothes. In the first three rounds of competition, he wore a suit Completed. When it came to the finals, when they had to play a concerto with the orchestra, Deng Taishan thought of dressing up with the musicians. "There were two days left before the finals, and the Warsaw city government hired a tailor to make clothes for me, so that I Just wore costumes and went on stage to compete. "

There is another legendary incident in that competition, that is, the pianist Argerich angrily quit the judging panel because the contestant at that time, Pogorelic, did not enter the finals. Since it was Deng Taishan who won the championship in the finals, Naturally, news spread in the industry that he was at odds with Argerich.

Deng Taishan clarified "the biggest rumor in the history of this competition" in an interview: "When Argerich quit, the champion had not yet been produced. She This is to support Pogorelic, not to have any opinions on the subsequent champion. When she learned that I won the competition, she sent me an official telegram from out of town to congratulate me. Years later, we sat next to each other as judges for the 2010 and 2015 competitions, which put those rumors to rest. ”

Later, Deng Taishan was not only an internationally renowned pianist, but also became a reviewer of the competition. In addition, he was also engaged in music education in many colleges and universities, and many students have won the championship in international competitions. For example, in 2018 Lu Yixuan, who won the gold medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition in the UK in 2021, and Liu Xiaoyu, the 2021 Xiao Piano Gold Medalist. Asian faces are rising in the

international competition, and Deng Taishan is filled with emotion. "Before 1980, as long as there were Asian players in the competition, The judges' eyes will light up. To a certain extent, Asian players will have a slight advantage as long as they participate in the competition. Now the situation has completely changed. Asian players have the upper hand in both quantity and quality. Of course, the competition will be greater. ”

Nowadays, Deng Taishan receives emails almost every week from people who want to come and learn piano from his teacher. He joked that this situation will probably continue until the next champion is born. Despite this, he still expressed that he is a teacher. Caution: "Teachers may destroy students' talents. I want to treat them as fairly as possible and make appropriate selections. In addition, what I want to convey to the students is that winning the competition is only a stepping stone to start a career. There is still a long way to go to become a great performer. "