'Competitions are for horses, not artists' - Béla Bartók. 

Today is the last day of the final stage auditions of the Wieniawski Competition. We've already heard 5 out of 7 finalists: Richard Lin, Ryosuke Suho, Veriko Tchumburidze, Luke Hsu and Bomsori Kim. They had to perform two violin concertos during one evening with Poznan Philharmonic. All of them decided to play Wieniawski Violin Concerto no. 2 op. 22 and besides, they performed Brahms, Beethoven and Shostakovich concertos. 

I would like to comment on two great, but extremely different performances of the Shostkovich concerto. This piece had been finished by the composer in 1948, after the Second World War, but it had to wait 7 years so that the censors allow it to be published. David Oistrakh, for whom it had been dedicated, called this concerto a 'shakespearian masterpiece'. It's an unbelivebly dark, even demonic, epic story with a famous composer's DSCH sign in the 2nd movement (Scherzo). It requires a 'complete', mature artist, without any technical barriers, capable of produce dozens of kinds and colours of the sound.  

Veriko Tchumburidze, who played Shostakovich on Thursday, aroused the first standing ovation during the 15th Wieniawski Competition. Her interpretation was very emotional, even aggressive. She played as she were haunted by Shostkovich's ghost. A mysterious beginning (actually, not perfectly in tune, but it doesn't matter), daring Scherzo, melancholic Passacaglia and wild Burlesque provoked a vivid discussion about the limits of the being non-academic. Her performance reminded me to a literary style in Spanish literature called esperpento - beyond the limits of grotesque and inclining into the direction of being absurd. 

Bomsori Kim is 7 years older than Veriko. She also aroused a standing ovation, though her performance of Shostakovich was totally different from the previous one. She proved that she's a complete artist, who understands each note (and each break!) of the music. Her Shostakovich didn't have to be out of the control to get wild and exuberant. She didn't change being grotesque into being absurd. The 1st movement - Nocturne - and the 3rd - Passacaglia - were even darker and dimmer than in the Veriko's interpretation, because she seemed so peaceful. So disturbingly peaceful. At the same time, scherzo was as vivid as it seemed to be like an image of carnival in a battlefield full of dead people. Her Shostakovich was like an epic story about the biggest atrocity of the 20th century. Or at least about how we imagine its cruelty.

I admire both of them because they fulfilled the most important aim of the art - they moved the audience and they didn't let it be indifferent. They've already won. 

http://wieniawski2016.tvp.pl/27415244/veriko-tchumburidze-gruzjaturcja-4-etap-wystep-2

http://wieniawski2016.tvp.pl/27427132/bomsori-kim-korea-poludniowa-4-etap-wystep-2