Two hours passed and the concert soon came to an end.
After the last pianist played, amid applause, Naoki Ando walked onto the stage and shouted to the people present: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to the Asian Concert. I am the sponsor,
Naoki Ando.”
The applause from the scene rang out again.
"In the past two years, many amazing pianists have emerged in Asia..."
Naoki Ando listed many well-known pianists, including Lin Weiyin and Liao Yuan from China.
But the reaction of the audience was different. When it came to Lin Weiyin, as the first place winner in the Chopin International Piano Competition, Lin Weiyin's interpretation of Chopin's works amazed many pianists in the industry.
However, when Liao Yuan was mentioned, many people showed disdain.
"This man is just like Minamino Shunichi. He came out of some kind of emperor competition. He can only grandstand."
"You can't say that. Minamino Junichi immediately turned to classical music after the competition. His performance in classical music is still very good."
"Yes, Nanye-kun is much better than this Chinese!"
"I've heard of "War Rhapsody". In fact, Liao's ability should be pretty good."
"I don't agree. "War Rhapsody" is not really classical music. It has the blood of popularity flowing in its bones!"
After Ando Naoki mentioned Liao Yuan, the scene started to buzz with discussion.
Minamino Shuichi, the winner of the 2nd One Emperor and Four Emperors Piano Competition, turned around and looked at Liao Yuan who was sitting calmly in the back row for a while before sighing.
Last year, like Liao Yuan, after gaining great popularity, he participated in some gatherings of classical pianists. However, the exclusion and criticism he encountered at these gatherings made him extremely depressed psychologically.
Especially the higher the popularity, the farther one stands, and after communicating with more and more famous pianists, this kind of depression becomes more and more intense.
Soon, his depression gradually worsened, and he almost had to take sleeping pills to fall asleep every day.
If he had a choice, he would rather not participate in the One Emperor and Four Emperors Competition.
In that case, he can still write theme songs for animation works, accept invitations from major supermarkets and shopping malls, and perform pop music on-site as before.
Although I make little money, I am very happy.
But now, although the performance reward is ten times more, it is more than a hundred times.
But in order to maintain his worth and maintain communication with famous pianists, he must practice and play classical music all the time.
It's not that he doesn't like classical music, it's just that compared to pop music, it lacks a lot of creative joy.
At this time, the friend next to him sneered: "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, but if this Liao Yuan can turn back like a prodigal like you, Xiuichi, it's not too late."
Minamino Shuichi fell into silence.
On the stage, Naoki Ando kept smiling. After describing the newly emerging pianists from various Asian countries, he announced the start of the exchange meeting amidst a round of applause.
There is no theme in the exchange meeting. As long as you want to play, you can sit in front of the piano bench and show off your style.
However, the exchange meeting is not as simple as a rehearsed performance on the stage.
Here, every pianist who performs must be prepared to become a stepping stone for others.
After all, in the industry, various piano exchange meetings are always the best place for unknown people to become famous.
All around, reporters from many media outlets were watching with eager eyes. The scenes of "Enter the Dragon" and the "Enter the Tiger" were everywhere in their minds. After Shuichi Minamino won the championship last year, in order to squeeze into the high-end circle of classical music, he kept playing at one exchange meeting after another.
Therefore, Minamino Shuichi, who has performed well over the past year, has successfully stabilized his position in the classical world.
No one dared to mention that he came from a pop music background.
And this time, for the Asian special event, famous pianists from all Asian countries are present. As long as you perform well here, you will definitely be able to become famous in the entire classical circle instantly.
However, precisely because of caution, no one has come forward yet.
Each of these pianists pretended not to care, holding champagne and communicating with each other with smiles.
But in fact, everyone is glancing at the piano not far away from the corner of their eyes, wanting to see who will be the first to appear and tragically become a stepping stone for others.
Then they saw a young man in a suit wearing only a white shirt walking to the piano and sitting down, and began to stretch his muscles.
People's eyelids twitched slightly.
"Who is this?"
"Haha, another young man who is just starting out."
"He is Liao Yuan, the god in the pop circle."
"Oh~ So it's him! He's not overestimating his abilities!"
"Looking at how confident he looks, he doesn't want to play pop music, does he? This idiot!"
"If it were pop music, it would make people laugh out loud!"
"Actually, there are many talented people in the Chinese piano circle. Miss Lin Weiyin is the representative. Meng Han and Gao Feiliu are all leaders of the younger generation. They are much better than Liao Yuan!"
"Whether he is on the field, he is self-aware and willing to be a stepping stone for you and me, haha."
There was a lot of discussion throughout the exchange meeting.
When she saw Liao Yuan on stage, Lin Weiyin bit her lips slightly, feeling a little nervous.
Next to her, Fu Xiaoci also woke up from her drowsiness. When she heard the significantly increased chatter around her, she asked strangely: "Miss Lin, what are they talking about?"
Lin Weiyin said: "I'm talking about Mr. Liao."
"Oh, they must admire my brother Yuan very much!"
Fu Xiaoci yawned: "Yes, people like my brother Yuan are the fireflies in the dark night..."
Lin Weiyin couldn't laugh or cry.
At this time, the whole place was buzzing with discussion.
This situation is a great disturbance to the concert performers, which also shows that these pianists do not pay much respect to Liao Yuan.
Liao Yuan didn't pay attention. He moved his wrists and fingers slowly, then placed his hands flat on the keys, stepped deeply on the pedal, and began to play slowly.
Although the movement seems slow, when the keys are pressed, the crisp piano sound that bursts out instantly is like a waterfall.
It's like cold steel balls thrown onto the ice, each particle is distinct and penetrates the bones.
In the corner, there seemed to be green will-o'-the-wisps dancing slowly.
Everyone felt layers of goosebumps rising on their skin, and the swaying will-o'-the-wisp seemed to be moving quickly, rushing toward their eyes, nose, tongue, mouth, and ears.
There seems to be a shocking force in people's hearts, spreading to the top of their heads.
"This seems to be Liszt's "Will-o'-the-Wisp"?"
Some people recovered from the shock and said with numbness: "Why did he play so heart-stirring and shocking? Could it be that the "Wild Fire" I listened to before was fake?"