< For the Music Genius - Episode 099 >
“You little bastard, are you planning on becoming a Go player?”
Chairman Wang narrowed his eyes as he glared at the Go board. Of course, it’s not like we can play Go for entertainment. By the way, in the time we haven’t seen each other, Mr. Wang Gureong’s Go skills have improved considerably.
“Grandpa, did you get any baduk lessons while I was away?”
“Why do you think so?”
“The momentum has changed.”
Isn’t it often said that baduk is a battle of momentum? In the past, it was a form of constant close combat with aggressive moves, but now it is a form of taking a step back and observing the opponent. Even though he induces a quick attack as if he is chasing an opening, Chairman Wang’s momentum remains unchanged. A thick baduk that focuses on unwavering practicality. He reads the moves with a spirit as strong as a mountain, like a stone Buddha. No way.
“Did you receive private tutoring from Lee Chang-ho’s team?”
Chairman Wang Il-sun’s eyebrows fluttered in surprise.
“Ahem, how long are you going to leave the violins with Grandpa? Not one, but two.”
Judging from the way he tried to change the subject, it seems he hit the nail on the head. The safe in Pyeongchang-dong has perfect temperature and humidity, so it is the perfect place to store old violins that are difficult to manage.
“Are you giving me a deposit?”
“I’m playing Go for you right now.”
“You always try to beat Grandpa, but you talk so well.”
Even though he says that, there is a faint smile on his lips. Didn’t Chairman Wang spend his entire life on the front lines of the business world? Perhaps that’s why he didn’t like playing Go in a casual manner. In that sense, I was the perfect fit.
widely-!
In just one move, the black stone was caught by the hemp. Chairman Wang frowned and then put the stone down with a ‘huh’.
“How come my skills improve so quickly from day to day? If you have a secret, please tell me. If I can keep up with you, I’ll walk that far.”
If you were to call it a secret, I had nothing else to say. I was pretty good at playing baduk in my past life, but not to this extent. Is it because of the advanced software? Hasn’t he become better at reading the moves than before? In the past, he could see ten steps ahead, but now, to exaggerate, he could see a hundred meters ahead.
“Hyun-ah, let’s have dinner together and go. We can look at the pictures we took together.”
“Is it a photo?”
What kind of photo are you talking about? But the look in the eyes of the King Serpent was strange, so I knew it was something I didn’t know about. But.
“I’m sorry, but I have a prior engagement today.”
“A pre-engagement? At this late hour?”
“It’s time to go to tutoring.”
Chairman Wang raised his head with a puzzled expression. His expression was one of complete incomprehension.
“Hyeon, who did you learn what from?”
*
“What do you think conducting is?”
Yuri’s eyes were extremely serious. The Berlin Philharmonic’s lion was considered the best among many orchestras. As a principal conductor, his reputation was in an unimaginably high place.
“I think of it as one instrument, Maestro.”
It wasn’t a wrong answer. However, Yuri opened her mouth to the child sitting across from her.
“Conducting is a huge sound. When a conductor stands on the podium, the eyes of many members turn to their fingertips. If they fail to immediately capture the hearts of the proud members, their fingertips will lose confidence and eventually lose their direction. That’s why conductors who are holding the baton for the first time often feel frustrated on stage and give up on the music.”
“Are you giving up music?”
“The melodies of numerous instruments blend together to create a loud and irritating sound for your ears. This is a violin, that is a cello, that is a timpani. It will feel like you are in the middle of a battlefield. There have been many cases since the time of Mozart and before that, when conductors were crushed by the pressure and ran out of the orchestra before they even made their debut.”
It must have been because an unimaginable pressure had engulfed his whole body. Moreover, it must have felt like his life as a musician had been denied, so how can I describe that sense of loss in words? As Yuri said, many conductors had run away before even getting on stage. What would happen if someone who lacks skill got on the podium? In the past, there were countless cases of famous orchestras kicking out conductors, so what more could I say?
“I don’t understand why you suddenly want to learn conducting. You seem like a perfect violinist to me. Just because you’re good at playing the violin doesn’t mean you’re good at conducting. It’s like a toddler who finds it hard to run. Why do you want to take the difficult path?”
Kang Hyun answered without hesitation.
“I really want to play it.”
Yuri nodded briefly. If you are a musician, you want to play the huge instrument called the orchestra at least once. However, in order to get on the conductor’s stage, you need to go through numerous verifications. Otherwise, if you get on the conductor’s stage, the melody of the many members will die with just one touch.
“What do you think is the difference between Spencer, Eden Simeon, and me, Yuri Dianov, violinist Hyun?”
“These are conductors with different colors.”
“The color is different?”
This time, Kang Hyun didn’t hesitate. He nodded as if he had been waiting for Yuri’s question.
“The three conductors have distinctly different personalities. Even when performing the same composer’s music, the musical notation clearly indicates andante, but in Maestro Spencer’s mind, Adagio appears, in Eden Simeon’s fingertips, Allegretto appears, and in Yuri Dianov’s eyes, Allegro appears. I’ve searched through every video of the orchestra’s performances.”
There was a look of interest in Yuri’s eyes.
“Then what do you think these three people have in common?”
“I think it’s a respect for the composer.”
“Respect?”
What are you talking about?
“I have seen videos of the other two conductors, including the Maestro, conducting Beethoven’s symphonies. For example, the Maestro, who would normally express the flow of the music with his fingertips, followed the score as if he would not miss a single thing in Beethoven’s music. Maestro Eden Simeon tends to exaggerate the right hand when requesting legato in the second movement, but he does not do that in Beethoven’s music.”
Yuri couldn’t understand at all.
“Is it possible to see such detailed parts through video?”
“I watched it over and over again until the tape stretched.”
“Ugh.”
As a conductor, discernment was one of the most necessary virtues. Yuri couldn’t hide her admiration every time the boy in front of her revealed his hidden side one by one, like peeling off the layers of an onion. On the other hand, she also felt anticipation. How much more of him was left to show her?
* * *
Yuri was soothing her aftertaste by moistening her lips with a martini. It had already been a month since she had taught the strings. Every day was a series of admiration. Was this the feeling of the teachers who taught Mozart?
“I know the entire score.”
The conductor had to know the score as if he had memorized it. What instruments were used, what the musical notation was, and even what kind of feeling the composer had when composing the symphony. In that sense, Hyun showed incredible insight. Of course, he solved all the riddles of Eden in Chapel. The surprise didn’t end there.
– I think this part in the second movement was probably a mistake by the composer. It was probably due to excessive emotion. The audience may think of this part as joy.
It was a song by an unknown Italian musician. He wasn’t a very famous composer, so few people had seen the sheet music. However, Yuri tried to calm her surprise as she listened to Kang-hyun’s words. Because there had been someone who had said the same thing in the past.
– The way conductors express 4/4 beats is usually similar. It is important to convey the beat accurately from the bottom to the right, then to the left, and then to the top. However, the way they express the music is different. Some want to play the soft parts strongly, while others want to play the parts that need to be emphasized softly. This is especially true of Mozart’s music.
Unlike Beethoven, Mozart’s music has vague musical notations. Perhaps that’s why some say that Mozart’s scores are the most considerate of the performers. This means that his scores constantly stimulate imagination.
– I think all symphonies should be like Mozart. Rather than thinking of a dead composer, the music should be reproduced by the fingertips of a living conductor. Perhaps if Beethoven came back to life, he would say, “Why are all those guys trying to imitate me?” I apologize if I offended the maestro.
Yuri smiled faintly as she recalled Kang Hyun’s appearance, who was quickly lowering his head. Isn’t a born genius also rich in imagination? After all, the most necessary virtues for a conductor are boldness and creativity. After all, the audience doesn’t come to the concert hall every time to hear the same symphony. In that sense, Kang Hyun deserved a perfect score.
“Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred.”
In a James Bond-like order, Yuri asked the bartender for another martini. It seemed like she would have to stay up all night with a martini tonight. It seemed like she couldn’t shake off this deep aftertaste until dawn.
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‘Have I ever felt so excited about teaching someone?’
A faint smile appeared on Yuri’s lips.
*
“piano-!”
The piano, which was in charge of the basic accompaniment including the arpeggio, was startled by my shout and came to his senses. From the cello to the violin and even the contrabass. It was a chamber music-level composition. The auditorium was small and we couldn’t fill the entire orchestra, so we had no choice but to proceed in a small scale.
“Hyunseon, you have to be the accompanist, so your breathing is too fast. I can give you signals like this now, but not at the graduation ceremony. Don’t try to follow the melody of other players. The more impatient you are when you press the keys, the more likely you are to make mistakes.”
It was a small orchestra that was to be performed at the graduation ceremony. Most of them had participated in youth competitions and had decent skills for solo performances, but they were all awkward when it came to collaborations. It was inevitable since it was their first time playing with so many instruments.
“Jin-ho, you have to be in charge of the flow of the string group. But what if you get nervous from the beginning of the movement? If the violins can’t keep up with my fingertips, they’ll look at you.”
In a way, this child was the role of the conductor. The sight of him nodding his head with his lips tightly shut was truly tragic. At first, the children were hesitant, but when I pointed out each mistake, they opened their mouths and stared at me. It must have been hard to believe that they could find the mistakes in the numerous melodies like a ghost.
“Let’s take a short break.”
Even though they had been playing for hours, the children showed no sign of fatigue. Even during breaks, they looked at each other’s scores and exchanged opinions without stopping.
“Hyun-ah, can I ask your opinion on this for a moment?”
It was Jin-ho who took on the role of the conductor. He had been constantly asking me questions since the first day, and he was so delicate that he wrote down all my advice with a notebook and a ballpoint pen. It was the same even then. He came to me with a notebook and a ballpoint pen tightly in his hands.
‘Come to think of it.’
Who doesn’t that angular face and dark features remind you of? Mr. Dmitry, the conductor of the London Symphony. I tried hard to suppress my laughter and answered the conductor’s questions sincerely. Most of the questions were related to the flow of the performance, probably because the orchestra was unfamiliar to me. I think it’s a problem that will be solved naturally as time goes by.
match-!
The children returned to their seats at the sound of clapping. As soon as the break was over, their eyes turned serious again. I liked it. They were using the know-how they had learned from the Berlin Philharmonic without reserve here. Every time they played the huge instrument called the orchestra, my heart beat fast. As fast as they cheered.
“There’s not much time left until graduation. Let’s make it a grand finale.”
As my fingertips reach out to the sky,
Drumroll!
A huge tidal wave of melody arose.
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