The Excitement Level Builds From Piano to Forte

The circular stairwell connecting the main level to the bottom floor of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena traces the pattern of a question mark. It’s an apt--if unintentional--symbol for the first Rachmaninoff International Competition and Festival, which finished its stint at the museum’s theater Saturday before moving to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Tuesday for the final rounds and an awards ceremony this Saturday.

The big question, of course, is who will win the top prize of $30,000 and a Kawai concert grand piano valued at $28,000.

Popular favorites emerged by the end of the week--Alessio Cioni, 23, of Italy, and Jan Krzysztof Broja, 29, of Poland.

“Cioni is the sun, Broja is the moon, and the rest of them are planets,” one fan said, speaking for many, while the audience awaited the judges’ announcement of the finalists Saturday night.

But other queries came up of over the course of the week while the 30 initial candidates from around the world--many of whom have been winners in other contests--were whittled down to 12 semifinalists.

Is this the best way to find talent? Talent for what? Winning competitions? There were previous Rachmaninoff competitions in Russia during the Soviet era. What relationship does this one have to them?

Less seriously, could anyone reasonably expect the judges--or audiences, for that matter--to survive 12 performances of Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata, a work mandated for each second-round contestant, within three days?

One of these questions, at least, was quickly answered.

This event has no association with any previous Rachmaninoff contest held in Russia, according to Armen Ter-Tatevosian, president of the competition. “Alexander Rachmaninoff, grandson of [composer-conductor-pianist] Sergei, has agreed to associate the name of Rachmaninoff only with this competition,” Ter-Tatevosian said in a prepared statement. “This is the inaugural year of the competition, which is envisioned to remain in the U.S. permanently. It is planned to take place at least every four years.”

The first round began March 22 with blocks of four 40-minute recitals. It took four days to hear the 30 contestants. For the audience, the only rule was to turn off cell phones and beepers, but even so, a few phones would go off in the coming days.

Without discussion, however, the audience--made up largely of pianists, music teachers and community members--decided that applause after pieces was inappropriate until the end of each recital.

Their silence immediately established a serious and intense atmosphere for the event, whether the 298-seat theater was half full or, increasingly during the week, sold out. Lines for the unreserved seating began forming an hour before the doors opened. Folks quickly began learning they had to rush in to get the seats with the best sight lines of the keyboard.

During the second round, which began Thursday with each of the 12 semifinalists playing for an hour, the audience’s self-imposed rule went out the window. People applauded after each piece. There were occasional bravos, and one young girl handed up a bouquet of flowers to the first contestant, Russian Evgeni Mikhailov, after he finished.

The 12-member jury sat sequestered in the balcony, which was off-limits to the public. (Because of scheduling problems, pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy will join the jury only during the final round this week.) Neither jurors nor contestants--all of whom often mingled with the crowd in the lobby outside the museum theater during the breaks--were permitted to talk about the competition. The contestants could sign autographs, however, and they did. Fans’, jurors’ and competitors’ voices mingled in a buzz of Russian, English, Japanese, Chinese and Tagalog.

“I always come to the semifinals because the most interesting pianists often get washed out at this stage,” said one experienced musician.

Why washed out?

“Because they’re individuals and they don’t conform to judges’ ideas of how a piece should be played. This is a very cruel ordeal. I saw one contestant worried sick, pacing back and forth in the lobby. I told him to forget about the audience and just play for himself.”

By Thursday, audience favorites had begun to emerge. Some people named Mikhailov or another Russian, Mark Maikov, 26. Others said, “Wait until you hear Ning An.”

“No, you have to hear Mizuka Kano.”

“You missed Broja? His Debussy was wonderful.”

The equation shifted dramatically Friday afternoon, however, when Cioni of Italy stunned the audience with his mature, brilliant, probing playing of Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata, Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B Minor and, to top it off, Prokofiev’s nonstop Toccata, Opus 11.

At the end, most of the audience jumped to its feet and yelled multiple bravos. The modest, handsome Italian, whose mop of hair makes him look a little like Evegny Kissin, was surrounded during the break by autograph seekers.

“You never know about juries,” cautioned an audience member. “You never know what they’re thinking.”

From then on, however, just about everyone who had heard him named Cioni as their first choice. Their second varied. (A $3,000 Audience Prize, donated by Old Town Music Company in Pasadena and based on audience votes, will be awarded Saturday.)

The jury returned its verdicts Saturday evening after a surprisingly short (less than a half-hour) deliberation. Executive director of the competition, Douglas Yoder, announced from the stage the six finalists who will play one Beethoven concerto Tuesday or Wednesday with the Pasadena Symphony, and one Rachmaninoff concerto Thursday or Friday, with the Moscow Radio Symphony, at the Pasadena Civic Theater.

In alphabetical order, the finalists are Feodor Amirov, 20, of Russia; Ning An, 25, United States; Jan Krzysztof Broja, 29, Poland; Alessio Cioni, 23, Italy; Mizuka Kano, 23, Japan; and Evgeni Mikhailov, 29, Russia.

They will not necessarily play in this order, and thankfully, they won’t be performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata.

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Rachmaninoff International Competition and Festival, final rounds, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, Tuesday-Friday, 7 p.m., $27-$120; award ceremony, Saturday, 6 p.m., $15-$100. (626) 449-7360.