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Re: J-Documentary: フジコ (Fujiko Hemming - Pianist)


class blockquote nchristi wrote:

I anxiously arrived at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, the year-old, 499-seat venue on the Santa Monica College satellite campus. Since it is so small, parking and walking distances are equally small scale. The outside grounds are lovely, with benches lining the grass and tree area.

Having purchased my ticket on-line, I went to the "will call" window to pick it up, only to learn there was some sort of huge glitch with all the "will call" tickets that were ordered via the internet. They had no records, no verification for these ticket sales, thus we were asked to step aside while they tried to remedy their dilemna. Fortunately, I had a printed copy of my on-line ticket purchase and confirmation number and handed it over to them.

In the meantime, a Japanese man with a bullhorn addressed the long queue of those holding tickets—announcements in Japanese only—and they began filing into the building. Having noted that none of the "will call" patrons had been okayed after about 15-minutes of waiting, I asked the man in charge of tickets, "What is the problem? Am I wasting my time waiting?" I had already accepted that maybe this was going to be a bust and I didn‛t feel like waiting around any longer if there wasn‛t much hope of gaining entrance to the concert. The poor guy very nervously said they were working on it and would I please wait just a little while longer. "Yes," I agreed—but by now I was no longer counting on seeing Ms. Hemming.

More time passed, everyone who was ticketed was already inside the lobby and here was a bunch of "will call" people outside twiddling our thumbs! The manager made a decision then, handed back my printed web purchase/confirmation document and told me to go ahead and enter by showing my printout to the ticket man at the door. He looked at the paper, looked at me, looked back at the paper. I guess he must have then noticed that I had paid a premium price for a ticket in the first 4 rows and he ushered me in.

In looking at the ‛herd‛ in the lobby (doors to auditorium not yet opened), I saw that a large majority was packed up near the left-side entry door (there are only left and right side entry doors—no center aisle). That made sense since most people want to see the pianist and her hands, so they seek the choice seats on the left-hand side. I decided to enter through the right side where the crowd was minimal. I learned later that they had announced (in Japanese, of course), that there was not going to be assigned seating, only admittance to the section in which the tickets had been purchased—sit where you want within that section. The mad race was on!

But not through the right side entry door. There was hardly anyone. I approached an attendant and asked where I should sit, since this was my first time at this venue. He carefully looked at my printout and said "Go to the front and sit anywhere you like in those first few rows." As people were climbing over one another on the left half of the auditorium, I walked down to the front row and sat just slightly to the right of center. Perfect!

The only thing I could not see were her hands, which was of little consequence to me—I‛m not interested in watching and learning her fingering technique. My position was perfect for hearing and feeling the sounds of the Steinway Concert Grand and for watching Fujiko Hemming‛s facial expressions and body language. I got a close-up look at her pedal work, her clothing, her hair—all the fine details of this fascinating, eccentric artist.

The concert was delayed for five minutes, the PA announcer explaining they were "waiting for some guests to arrive." The audience burst into laughter in disbelief! (Or was it Hemming herself who was late?! It was a Friday night and her ‛people‛ may not have been familiar with Friday night traffic, especially on the Westside.)

Taking advantage of the time, I did a quick Sherlock Holmes scan. There were less than a handful of non-Japanese in the audience—in fact, I only saw two ‛Anglos‛. Hemming‛s road manager was a really good-looking Yonsama type with wonderful, shoulder length flowing hair. (I laughed to myself thinking of our CJK world of J- and K-Hunks—what was going on in my head would be utterly unimaginable to this audience.) There was a "lady-in-waiting type" attendant for Ms. Hemming, dressed impeccably in a white with flowers kimono, sitting towards the left in the front row. (No other kimono in the house.) She could have stepped out of Dondo Hare. Perfect hair, perfect kimono, perfect manners.

Then a Japanese woman in her late 30s-early 40s came and sat down beside me. She was from Tokyo and had recently moved to LA with her two children. She had many questions for me about this area, where she could find thus-and-so, and so on. I was surprised she was so outgoing, as I had tried to engage an older woman on my right but it was like pulling teeth, though she spoke English as though she‛s lived here for many years, and was always smiling and laughing. I quickly gave up since I did not want to cross that line of offending Japanese reserve. But Kukiko was different. She was well-mannered and beautifully dressed, yet very friendly. She turned out to be a god-send.

The house lights dimmed, a bright spotlight on the empty piano bench. Ms. Fuzjko Hemming walked on stage to a roaring round of applause.

Image
(This is what she wore.)

She opened with Clair De Lune by Debussy. When I first saw that as the opener on the program, I was a little disappointed. But from the first notes, it was the most magnificent version of Clair De Lune I have ever heard! Truly amazing. What depth of feeling and power come through Ms. Hemming. It was stunning. She then played Debussy‛s Jardin Sous La Pluie ("Estampes"). She stopped, sat there a few seconds, then arose and walked off the stage.

But she couldn‛t find the door—you know how well-camouflaged they can be—and finally slipped through the space between the sound panels and the wall at the front of the stage. Since I was in the front row, I could see through that space myself at the absolute panic going on behind stage! It was a good 10-minutes until the house lights over the first couple rows were brought up. My guess, this was to lessen the bright contrast effect of one of the spotlights on her.

Ms. Hemming returned to resounding cheers and applause. She addressed the audience in Japanese, an apology of sorts, I suppose. As she was speaking she looked at the front row and her eyes fell upon me. Then she said in English, "Thank you for coming to see me." Those were her only words in English that evening and I appreciated it greatly. She sat down to resume her concert. But whatever was bothering her had not been remedied and she once again left the stage.

This time, it was a longer delay. Technicians scurried about, looking up at individual lights. A fellow with a control box of some sort came out and sat on her piano bench, working on various light levels. A piano tuner came out and checked the upper register of keys on the piano. It was obvious there was a bright reflection blinding her, distracting her to the point of not feeling confident about her ability to perform at her highest level. And something was off with the piano.

When all of this was resolved to the best of the technicians‛ abilities, Hemming reappeared and in Japanese again addressed the audience, which laughed and applauded heartily. Kukiko translated the remarks in my ear that there was ‛fighting going on back stage over the lighting and that the piano was not good.‛ Hemming sat down to play again, looked up at the offending light, scrunched her face into a disapproving expression, shook it off and began to play.

The rest of the program was selections from Beethoven (5), Chopin (5), Bach (2), and Liszt (5). She concluded with her signature piece, La Campanella, which she seemed to play more perfectly than what we heard on the 1999 UTB documentary on her life.

I recall in the documentary that she said she enjoys people when they are ‛falling apart.‛ The emotion with which she can play as an older person is more important to her now than technical perfection and that is why she feels okay with making minor mistakes in her performances. There were a few of those on Friday evening. Several times towards the end of the concert, she would drop one or the other of her hands in her lap. I wondered if it were a matter of fatigue. She is quite elderly and doing an hour and a half concert must be especially tiring at her advanced age.

At the end of La Campanella, the audience burst into a spontaneous standing ovation lasting several minutes (if not longer). She returned to the stage and was visibly touched by the audience response. She played an encore of two short pieces. Applause brought her back to the side stage, where she bowed and blew kisses to the audience. A most memorable occasion.

During intermission, Kukiko had bought six of Fjiko‛s CDs in the lobby. After the concert, she insisted that she wanted to give me one of them. I kept refusing, or that I must pay her, but she insisted that she wanted to give it to me as a gift. I accepted one. When I got home and played it, I saw that it is Hemming‛s "La Campanella" CD, from her 1999 concert in Tokyo! I must say that as technically superior as it sounds, I much prefer what I heard in this 2009 concert. Perhaps it is because I rarely get to sit so close to the piano itself during a concert. I kept thinking of George Sand beneath Frederick Chopin‛s piano as he played. It felt that powerful being so close. What a glorious evening!

As for the logistical stage problems, all I can say is Ms. Hemming's road crew didn't do their job. Stage and sound checks are their responsibility way in advance and then another pre-performance check before the audience comes in. On the other hand, I'm glad we experienced all that. There was something more intimate and bonding in watching Ms. Hemming handle the problem, her integrity to her music, and her respect for and chat with the audience. She is such a fascinating woman—one I would love to hang out and talk with for a while.

The details of her clothing were just as we saw in the documentary. Little idiosyncratic touches here and there... feathers in her hair, patterned fish-net stockings, things tied around her neck and falling down on her shoulder, making her stop and tie the darn thing up behind her neck once. LOL! As I sat so close I was fascinated by those stockings. During intermission, she had changed into a white accented with green and orange kimono type cape and at one point, her wraparound skirt sort of slowly unwrapped on one side and slide off—exposing her right leg from toe to upper thigh. As I'm looking at those striped and patterned stockings, I notice she has cut the foot and rolled them up to her ankles! On her feet, little black cloth shoes—sort of Kung Fu meets Mary Jane.

One last thought. It was amazing to think that here is an exceptional artist who has lost a great portion of her hearing. One forgets that fact. I kept noticing, though, being so close to the piano, that more often than not she would release the foot pedal before the note was finished sounding. The note would be very, very near to finish, but not quite. A sliver off. I wondered at that. Perhaps she cannot hear at that very low level, thus ends a tiny bit prematurely. It is of no consequence and I'm not making a criticism. I was privileged to see and hear the concert of my lifetime. (My second concert of a lifetime was seeing Van Cliburn.)


For those interested, Domo Music Group currently has a special on their Fuzjko Hemming Box Set (5 CDs). Regular price $64.90, reduced to $49.98 (23% off).
I'm so glad that thru all that waiting, you received the green light. As I looked at my calendar that evening, I thought about you going to see her. that's great that she also address the english audience as well. right now I'm listening to La Campanella in the mind.(just give me a moment here!). As I read your take on this, she played extremely well. I was disapointed regarding the crew. they should have fix that problem before she came here.

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Re: J-Documentary: フジコ (Fujiko Hemming - Pianist)


Nchristi, thank you so much for posting your experiences at Friday's Fuzjko Hemming concert! I haven't seen a pianist live in concert before, so I really enjoyed reading your comments and descriptions. Thanks!

It's a good thing you had your confirmation print out with you at the concert hall. My friend had a similar problem once -- she had gone to a concert and wasn't admitted because she had purchased her ticket online and their computer systems were down. She didn't have a print out with her, so she was turned away! It's a great thing you had the print out with you. And you didn't have to enter through the busy left-side entry doors! You could get a perfect seat on the right-side.

Yeah, I wonder which 'guests' were running late? Maybe Ms. Hemming was stuck in Friday night 'rush hour' traffic on the 405! emoticon

It's great that you were able to meet someone like Kukiko! Especially since she could translate some of what was being said in Japanese during the performance. How nice of her to give you one of Fuzjko's CD's as a gift. But I can imagine how much better her concert version of La Campanella sounded than the 1999 version we heard on the documentary. It's probably so different to hear it being played live in the concert hall and also in such close proximity. Watching the pianist play the piece must add a whole new dimension to it, too. What a great experience.

The concert sounds like it was great too. I remember from the documentary that Ms. Hemming's mother's favorite composer was Beethoven, so Fuzjko grew up listening and learning Beethoven's pieces. We heard her play some Liszt and Chopin during the documentary also, but it's interesting that she played some Bach and Debussy during the recital also. And she saved her best and signature piece for last -- La Campanella!

I agree, it's too bad that Ms. Hemming's stage crew didn't do a very good job with fixing all the stage problems before the performance started. I hope that they were much better prepared for Sunday's performance. But you're right, the stage problems allowed for Ms. Hemming to actually chat with the audience. It's really great that she saw you sitting down in the audience and also said something in English in addition to her words in Japanese. She definitely seems like an interesting person to meet and talk with. She's had a very sad but fascinating life -- her experiences studying in Europe, her recitals, etc. I remember in the documentary, she was discussing one recital or audition where she played in the very same room that Beethoven had once played in. I forget if she used the same piano, but she must have felt so special as a pianist at that very moment.

Thanks again for posting about your experiences at Ms. Hemming's concert, Nchristi! It sounds like it was a great and memorable experience. I hope Ms. Hemming returns to Los Angeles in the future for an encore recital! Looks like she enjoys a lot of popularity here.
I hope to also see her someday! Image
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Re: J-Documentary: フジコ (Fujiko Hemming - Pianist)


I've been reading more about Ms. Hemming. When she first walked out on stage, I found my mind going to her past and my eyes filling with tears at the life she's endured and how happy I am for her now. She had a brilliant beginning in life, then she fell into poverty for many years in Europe, even working for survival as a janitor in a psychiatric hospital. It is really only the last ten years (beginning at approximately 65 years of age) that she found her place again, returning to Japan and re-entering the stage of life in the realm she loves—music.

Public records list her birthdate as December 1934, so she is approaching 75 years of age. In 1999, she performed in Tokyo and an album was released from those performances. She has sold over 2 million copies of her CDs worldwide, an unheard of figure for classical music in this day and age.

Ah, I just found the LA TIMES review of her concert...
Music review: Fuzjko Hemming at the Broad Stage
7:41 PM, July 25, 2009


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Fuzjko Hemming gave the first of two piano recitals at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica on Friday night. Her appearance was heavily promoted on Japanese television, and the audience appeared to be mostly Japanese. Ticket prices were high – $60 to $100 – but both the Friday and Sunday concerts sold out. The 74-year-old pianist has sold more than 2 million CDs in Japan over the last decade, but the Fuzjko phenomenon hasn’t yet crossed the Pacific with the general public. I’m not so sure that it will. But I could be wrong.

Her full name is Ingrid Fuzjko von Georgii-Hemming, and she has a compelling story. She was born in Berlin to a Japanese mother and Swedish-Russian father. She grew up with her mother in Japan in poverty. A child prodigy, she learned on a broken-down piano. At 16 she lost hearing in one ear from an infection, but forged ahead, studying in Tokyo, Berlin and Vienna.

In interviews Hemming speaks of getting support from such great musicians as Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, pianist Shura Cherkassy and composer Bruno Maderna. She says she was known as an old-fashioned romantic who played freely from the heart. She also painted fanciful depictions of cats. But she was poor, lived without heat and got another ear infection, which left her deaf.

Triumph over adversity was long coming. She moved to Sweden, continued to study music the best she could and worked as a janitor in a psychiatric hospital, where she also played for the patients on an old upright. Slowly, she regained 40% of her hearing in one ear, and that, she found, was the bare minimum necessary to relaunch her career. She returned to Japan, where a 1999 television documentary made her famous.

On stage, Hemming comes across as eccentric. She was dressed Friday in a flamboyant gypsy ensemble of scarves and sashes for the first half and something colorfully kimono-like for the second. She opened with two Debussy favorites: “Clair de Lune” and “Jardins sous la Pluie.” But before beginning the next work, Beethoven's "Tempest” Sonata, she took a long look at the keyboard and then got up and walked off stage.

After a longish pause -- for the lighting on the keyboard to be adjusted, we were told over the loudspeakers -- she returned, examined the keyboard and walked off once more. After another pause, she again carefully scrutinized the keys and then began to play. I couldn't see any difference in luminosity from my balcony seat, but videographers were in boxes on both sides to provide an official record for posterity.

Beethoven’s sonata was the only substantial work of the evening. The rest of her program consisted of short, well-known, generally early pieces by Chopin, Bach and Liszt. Her recordings are devoted to much the same repertory.

I have saved her playing for last because I can only assume it is not as a pianist that Hemming has won her devoted following. She was not, on this occasion, a pianist who can be judged by professional standards.

She played everything loud and insistently. She revealed little sense of a long phrase. She tended to end pieces in an anti-climax as if surprised by the fact that the piece was over or having simply lost interest. She didn’t seem to know where the beat was in Bach’s Aria from the “Goldberg" Variations or how Baroque decorations worked. The “Tempest” was a wayward storm of choppy tempo changes.

Hemming undoubtedly once had technique. In Chopin and Liszt etudes, she rushed up and down the keys with moderate confidence. But that unvaryingly big and bold sound of hers, impressive in its own right, made it difficult for her to keep a simple melody simple or smooth. In fact, one of her main traits this evening was is to make everything sound so very difficult to play.

My sympathy for Hemming only goes so far. In interviews she has defended her erratic style of playing by dismissing other Japanese pianists as mechanical. On Friday, she and her promoters did not supply a single word about the music in the program book, despite the fact that this was clearly a non-classical crowd.

But maybe everything is only supposed to be about her. Or maybe a crisp $100 bill only gets you so much these days.
 
-- Mark Swed

Photo: Japanese pianist Fuzjko Hemming performing at the Broad Stage on Friday night. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Los Angeles Times
_____________________________________


Well, I have only a couple remarks after reading this review. Much of this review is accurate. Elite critics can be very tiresome and hollow. Mr. Swed also has an insulting edge to his delivery of bile. Are we not to believe her background and early association with the musical heavyweights such as Bernstein? Swed's juxtaposition of the comment "she also painted fanciful depictions of cats" is a not so clever dismissal of her as a crazy old 'cat' lady. Please.

Mr. Swed can stick to his 'form.' In this case, I'll take the 'substance.' The banner on Fuzjko Hemming's official website sums it all up nicely: class ul INGRID FUZJKO HEMMING
Superlative performances that soothe the heart


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Re: J-Documentary: フジコ (Fujiko Hemming - Pianist)


Yeah, that's true about Mr. Swed -- he sure does have an insulting way of dismissing Ms. Hemming's performance as "erratic" and "choppy". I also didn't like his comments about Ms. Hemming's personal appearence as being dressed in a 'flamboyant gypsy ensemble'. Good grief. Nchristi, you're right -- I think 'tiresome' and 'hollow' are the perfect words to describe these elite critic-types like Mr. Swed!

But I'm really happy that despite all the difficulties and hardships she's faced in life, Fuzjko Hemming has found her place and is now enjoying a great amount of popularity playing the piano on stage again. It's remarkable that she's sold 2 million CD's after returning to Japan in 1999. I hope that she continues to be successful and will perform here in Los Angeles again in the future.
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Re: J-Documentary: フジコ (Fujiko Hemming - Pianist)


I was watching the Fuji TV news on Channel 18.2 (the one that comes on at noon) and at the very end of the program, they made an announcement that Fuzjko Hemming will be preforming in the United States again this summer. She'll only be here in Los Angeles for one performance: on Thursday, July 5th at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown. She'll also be performing in San Francisco, Dallas, and New York throughout the month of July.

Here's a website with more information. It appears that this is a charity concert to contribute to the earthquake/tsunami relief fund.

Fuzjko Hemming Concerts, July 2012


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