Rufus Choi Pursues the Magic of the Moment
BUENA PARK, Calif. Music offers a limitless bounty. Yamaha artist Rufus Choi knew this as far back as age four, when he first pressed a finger against a key on the piano at his family's home in Los Angeles. But all that has transpired since then training at The Juilliard School of Music, an advanced degree from the Musik Hochschule in Hanover, recitals in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, concerts throughout Europe and in the Far East has only strengthened his belief that these rewards diminish if they aren't enriched by the connection between artist and listener.
"No one needs to hear another Beethoven sonata played the same way that everybody always plays it," he insists. "To me, it's not enough to just play like everybody else, with the 'right' notes and tempo and rhythm. Worse than that, it's boring. We all need to hear something new, even in the pieces that everyone plays. That's why, if my audience doesn't feel anything, I believe that I've failed."
Couple his passion to communicate with the technique that he developed through study with virtuosos like Vladimir Krainev and Yamaha artist Oxana Yablonskaya, and it's easy to see why Choi's repertoire leans toward Romantic blockbusters, particularly with a Russian flavor: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev. Not surprisingly, he'll be performing in 2006-07 in Russia, with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and touring Germany with the Russian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra as well.
But the spiritual essence of Mozart and Beethoven also attracts Choi. For the same reason, he performs Busoni transcriptions of Bach, which he believes enhance the purity of the composition with the intensity of bravura performance.
"I love Busoni's arrangements of Bach precisely because they are not literal," he explains. "He wrote for the piano the strength and color and nuance, which is why even though I'll add a few notes here and there, maybe a couple of octaves, I let his ideas speak for themselves."
This self-described "risk taker" has always seen practice as more than mechanical preparation; ultimately, it's about preparing to express emotion more effectively. Beyond the music itself, this process of learning involves, for Choi, connecting to the composer. "Liszt, for example, was really interested in the legend of Faust, the Devil/Mephisto, lust, the struggle between good and evil," he points out. "So when I play his 'B Minor Sonata' I try to feel what he felt as he wrote and to share that when I play."
This would be a challenge under any circumstances, but certainly more so if Choi had to worry over whether his instrument would be up to the job. "That's one reason why I'm a Yamaha artist," he explains. "Yamaha pianos are consistent. They sound great too, so when I play with an orchestra I never have to force the sound out of the piano; it's big enough to come out on its own. The best thing, though, is the action. Because I play quite a demanding repertoire, I need a great action, and the Yamaha is never difficult to play."
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9926, or email infostation@yamaha.com.
About Yamaha:
Yamaha Corporation of America manufactures a complete line of musical instruments, professional audio products, customer-driven support products and computer-based products targeted to both the amateur and professional markets.
 Pianist Rufus Choi performs at Yamaha Artist Services in New York City. |
Couple his passion to communicate with the technique that he developed through study with virtuosos like Vladimir Krainev and Yamaha artist Oxana Yablonskaya, and it's easy to see why Choi's repertoire leans toward Romantic blockbusters, particularly with a Russian flavor: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev. Not surprisingly, he'll be performing in 2006-07 in Russia, with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and touring Germany with the Russian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra as well.
But the spiritual essence of Mozart and Beethoven also attracts Choi. For the same reason, he performs Busoni transcriptions of Bach, which he believes enhance the purity of the composition with the intensity of bravura performance.
"I love Busoni's arrangements of Bach precisely because they are not literal," he explains. "He wrote for the piano the strength and color and nuance, which is why even though I'll add a few notes here and there, maybe a couple of octaves, I let his ideas speak for themselves."
 Pianist Rufus Choi |
This would be a challenge under any circumstances, but certainly more so if Choi had to worry over whether his instrument would be up to the job. "That's one reason why I'm a Yamaha artist," he explains. "Yamaha pianos are consistent. They sound great too, so when I play with an orchestra I never have to force the sound out of the piano; it's big enough to come out on its own. The best thing, though, is the action. Because I play quite a demanding repertoire, I need a great action, and the Yamaha is never difficult to play."
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9926, or email infostation@yamaha.com.
About Yamaha:
Yamaha Corporation of America manufactures a complete line of musical instruments, professional audio products, customer-driven support products and computer-based products targeted to both the amateur and professional markets.
 |
| © 2010 Yamaha Corporation of America. All rights reserved. |