Self-described perfectionist and uncompromising purist, Li Yundi has now found his niche with a new record label and a busy touring schedule.

"It takes time to really understand a piece of music," says Li Yundi, who won the prestigious Chopin Competition when he was just 18. [China Daily]

 

People that enjoy fine wines know that 1982 is one of the great vintages for Bordeaux. It also proved an exceptional year for Chinese classical music, as two piano prodigies, Lang Lang and Li Yundi, were born and both were to become international stars some 20 years later.

Their common instrument and the fact that they achieved both international recognition at almost the same time has inevitably led to comparisons between the two, and suggestions that an intense rivalry developed when they both signed for Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

Today, one of them, the wildly popular Lang Lang, is a household name throughout the world, especially among the younger generation, while the other, Li Yundi, resembles a fine red wine appreciated only by those who know it.

One of Yundi's few hobbies is collecting fine red wines and he says that he feels "lucky to be born the same year as the great vintage".

To Yundi producing a fine wine is similar to playing a good piece of music, "both take time, experience and a feeling for it."

"Wine and music have much in common. People classify a wine by the region and year it was produced, while the music written in different times, by different composers from different countries display different characteristics," the usually reserved pianist becomes extremely eloquent when sharing his love and knowledge of wine.

This year musicians around the world are commemorating the great composer Chopin's 200th birthday, and Yundi, who won the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2000 - the first pianist in 15 years to be awarded the First Prize and, at 18, also the youngest - is no exception.

In January, he left DG to sign an exclusive recording contract with EMI. The contract embraces recordings of Chopin's complete solo piano works and the first disc, issued in March, is the complete Nocturnes.

Yundi tells China Daily while preparing for his first recital at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on Saturday, that it's "normal for a pianist to change recording label."

He adds that while he made a number of well-received recordings for DG over the past eight years and DG planed to renew his contract, EMI came up with a much better offer, "almost the best among all the EMI classical artists."

Whatever the reason DG clearly encountered some problem promoting Yundi. Soon after he signed with DG in 2001, his fans were amazed to see DG market him with a forced androgynous look.

"But I am comfortable with my new style now. The image on the new EMI album is much closer to my own personality," he says.

Interestingly he is now known simply as Yundi. From the look to the name, it seems he wants a total change.

"I suggested to EMI that they use the name Yundi. My friends all call me Yundi. It sounds intimate," he explains.