Episode 3 Leeds International Piano Competition

This final will be one of the best in the history of the Leeds

competition. Six outstanding pianists will battle tor a life

changing prize. It is an open sesame to a concert career. It's

got to be something to shine. Only the most exceptional will win

gold. How high in this Olympic year Things are really hotting up here

at the Leeds International Piano Competition. Tonight we have

another blistering concerto performance from one of our

finalists. We also focus on the This year's competition has seen 59

pianists perform more than 100 recitals. Just six of them got

through to the final where they have to perform a concerto. The

performances have been wildly different, but they have one thing

in common: this amazing instrument. It is the work horse of the

competition, and some might say the With its moment in the spotlight

fast approaching, the Leeds Town Hall piano is given its now

traditional make-over by expert piano technician Ulrich Gerhartz.

The preparation of these pianoes is not something that is done in a few

hours. Very much like a 50,000 mile service of a car, you take the

whole thing apart. Clean everything, look at all the friction points.

Listen to the sound of the piano and make a plan with what to do

with the Hammers, whether they need to be softer or harder. What I have

been doing today is achieve a tone that is bright and cutting, without

being metallic and stringy. We are really trying to get the most out

of the piano. The main important thing it needs to do is be loud

enough to be heard, because they can play wonderful concerto, but if

they can't be heard it is no good. We want a piano that still projects

in very, very soft playing. The main thing would be to keep the

piano alive. And to also give every player for their performance a very

well-prepared piano. When you are a technician looking after it,

whether it is a piano, a high quality product, what satisfies you

is working with the materials and hearing the result and that is why

The concert grand is a spectacular instrument. It is capable of

holding its own against an entire symphony orchestra, it is the

equivalent of a Ferrari. It is precision engineersed and can be

very, very loud. The piano has come a long way since

it arrived back in the early 18th century. Then this was a genteel

instrument, designed for a well healed aristocrat or his young

daughter to play. How did those early prototypes evolve into the

modern pianoes we know today. The Royal Academy of Music is home to

hundreds of pianos. Work horses for the 700 musicians studying here.

The academy also houses a collection of historic keyboard

instruments, the ideal place to come in search of the DNA of the

modern piano. Resident keyboard expert Elena Vorotko introduces me

to the harpsichord. What does it do? It is basically a lay down flat

harp, with artificial nails, so to speak, little quils that pluck the

string. Would you like to try? It is a very odd sensation for a

pianist, because I am used to playing something and I can play

really loud. Or I can play really soft. It sounds exactly the same. I

can't get it to do what I want it to do. Stepping forward from the

18th century harpsichord, the next stage in the development of the

modern piano has a much more familiar sound to us in the 21st

century. What 50 years on from the harpsichord. It already sounds

softer, rounder, like you can have control over whether it is loud or

soft, it is a very different instrument. It is from 1815.

Instead of a jack that plucks the strung, you have a hammer. This is

the unstrument that gives you all the control you want. Almost. There

is loud and soft, but it is not as obvious still as it is on a modern

piano. I am going to try something. I can do something and I can make

it quieter. That does feel very much more like the kind of

instrument I am used to. But it's got things add today it that make

it more than a simple piano. There is a bell there. There is also a

drum. There is a drum stick inside the piano which is operated by the

very right pedal. Here is what it That is the craziest and best piano

I think I have ever heard, it is like the one man man band, this is

everything you would want in a musical instrument. It is crazy but

The great turning point for the piano came because one man in

Vienna was losing his hearing. As Beethoven grew more deaf he found

himself cut off from the world around him and from his own music.

He wanted desperately to hear the radical compositions he was

creating and the pianoes he had weren't up to the job. What was

needed was something new and to find it we have to come here to the

Out of sheer frustration, Beethoven would thump his vain knees piano so

hard, the hammers would splinter and then in 1817 this showed up. It

was a state-of-the-art machine, a gift made by John Bruedwood and

sons. They had it sent to Beethoven's home in Vienna and

overnight this changed his musical universe. I have wanted to see this

piano for years, because for me, this is the big bang moment for the

keyboard. It is on this piano that Beethoven writes newly explosive

dynamic, passionate music. This is the birth of the modern piano.

Today's modern piano is a triumph of craftsmanship and engineering.

It has 12,000 parts, it can take up to a year to build. And after all

that work, here is the finished item a 21 s century concert grand,

ready for action. Hoping to show us what he can do do with it, it is

the third finalist, it's Jayson Like many Australians, Jayson's

parents hail from the north of England. For him competing here is

a little like performing in front of a home crowd.

You are Australia but have dual British citizenship. So you are our

only British finalist, you are our big hope. Please tell us you are

going to do it? I will try! I did consider plague for Team GB! --

playing tor Team GB, but I thought my Aussie friends and family would

kill me. You are going to be playing

Beethoven's fifth concerto, the Emperor. It is one of my favourite

piece,s it is important to choose something you really love, and it

has the whole gamut of different emotions and styles and I like the

Beethoven's rhythmic drive and energy. It is very positive, open

piece, which suits my style of You have done some work with Mark

Elder on the concerto. What did you discuss, what incites did he share

with you? He explained about his concert of the sound he wanted the

He seems centred as a musician, he makes a very strong, firm sound,

different from all the others. He plays Beethoven in a very open,

honest, secure way, with a sort of glow. You do have a ramp it up now

because this is the final, so it is a different kind of concentration

that you need. I find it more enjoyable, somehow, because it's

like I have friends on stage with me, helping me along the way, so I

am going to go on stage and enjoy it. Everybody we have spoken to

says they don't care about winning this competition. Nobody goes into

a competition not to win it. It's true. Of course you go in to win it,

if you don't you give them a run Beethoven's fifth has always been

known as The Emperor but no-one seems sure why. The title

completely conveys in three little sill bells what you are about to

hear. This is a piece of scale and majesty. It is also frankly a

little bit macho. There is a lot of musical muscle flexing going on but

that is Beethoven all over. The big idea of the piece is this and it

It is a catchy tune, but more importantly, it has this incredible

rhythmic energy, you can feel the punch of that music, that tiny idea

that drives things on. Beethoven wrote this concerto as Napoleon was

about to invade his home town of Vienna and it is easy to hear this

as a piece about politics and power. It is the soloist as a lone voice

against the orchestra. Beethoven is ask us a question, can the her owe

wism of a single person change our world for the better. That is the

So, how are rehearsals going for tonight's performance? Let's find

out from our resident experts, Noriko Ogawa and Tom Poster. Is

Jayson the man for you? I am very excited by what I have heard in the

rehearsal. His tone is really projecting to the back of the hall,

where we were sitting back listening. And he entirely

appropriately had the power in the climax. It is a muscular sound

without being forced or over- powered. I think he's an

incressably beautiful lyrical pianist. Really, really nice. This

concerto is the brightest and most gorgeous Beethoven concerto of the

five and he is conveying everything we need. Also, I have to make a

remark that the orchestra and Mark are so so kind to this young

pianist, because they spent quite a lot of time getting every detail

right. It is very much chamber music and of course we think of the

heroic elements, a huge amount takes place within piano and

painissimo. We have two emperor concertoes this year. How do you

put across a performance that has the right character, how do you do

a winning performance of The Emperor? I think having played all

the Beethoven concertoes, this is the most straightforward in that it

sweeps you along and carries you through. It is a wonderful work to

be part of really. We will talk Source of Leeds finalists have

taken this stage before him. Now Jayson Gillham prepares to give the

performance of his life. And waiting to make their judgment, 13

celebrated musical minds. Let's The overall standards of technical

perfection are so dizzying that kind of prowess alone does not

suffice to anoint a prize-winner. You are looking for something

unique, something with imagination, with stage personality. With great

ability to communicate that touch of magic, something individual.

That is what I am looking for, experience, a journey a dream.

there to feel music, to look for somebody who will touch me. Very

strongly. What I am looking for is someone I would want to travel 100

miles to hear again. You can hear the most regularly played piece and

then make it sound new and you think, OK, this is this is somebody

special. Pieces don't come more regularly

played than Beethoven's emperor concerto. Here to perform it now

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2351 seconds

Jayson Gillham. He is joined by Sir Jayson Gillham performing

Beethoven's concerto number five. Conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

Jayson leading Mark off stage. He looks delighted, perhaps a little

relieved with his performance in this final. I enjoyed it, yes. I

have enjoyed the whole competition really. I have enjoyed the playing

days more than the off days, which is amazing. That is what you are

here to do. I thought you played beautifully, always a lovely sound,

So the hall emptying out now after the performance. Listening with me

this evening, Noriko Ogawa and Tom Poster. This is the big heroic

piece of Beethoven, did he give us heroic Beethoven this evening.

he zI really enjoyed it. One thing that struck me is how compelling

the sound was. It really penetrated the back of the hall in a heroic

way. It was a really glossy sound all the way through. Everything

came through, I was able to hear every note of it. He really showed

us how Beethoven's fifth should sound. He could have been more

daring, in just a couple of the icy moments in the first movement, he

could have dared to be even more, but it is a tiny quibble in a

wonderful performance. You are saying this is the real deal, this

guy is a pretty complete performer, do you think he is in with a chance

of being the winner. I think he is really ready to go out to play

professional, I thought he had a couple of concentration snaps a

couple of times. We have all been there. Thank you. We have heard

from three of our finalists. We are only half way through, anything

could still happen in this competition. Here is a taster of

what we can look forward to next time in the Leeds International

Piano Competition 2012. I follow our competitors into the

suburbs with dozens of volunteers are hosting pianoes for this year's

Leeds. They come every three years and I look forward to it. Andrew is

here today giving me enormous pleasure. It is wonderful to get to