Maksim Mrvica Live at Seoul

Maksim Mrvica, a world-class cross over pianist reigned over Seoul, March 18th 2009.

Concert lasted about an hour and a half, and played various songs from all of his albums, including new songs he have as his Pure albums.

I thought they would have some kind of phamplet, but they didn’t and I apparently wouldn’t bring a writing utencil to such concert; I couldn’t write down the songs he played and I barely remember the order…

But I clearly remember the concert had a grandiose opening with Nostradamus from New World, and he continued on with his other famous songs like Flight of the Bumblebee, Exodus, Croatian Rhapsody, Wonderland, Anthem, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Nathrach, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #1 Rhapsody from Theme of Paganini, and a few more I don’t recall, and lastly Requiem as an encore.

But I CLEARLY remember what Maksim didn’t play… I had been disappointed a little by short duration of concert, and he didn’t perform songs that I really wanted to listen it live, like New World Concerto, Cubana, Gypsy Maiden, and more of his songs from his unreleased-in-Korea Pure I and Pure II albums. Only new tune I heard was Liszt’s Ballade #2, which was so insane that it basically compensated for the miss. Also, Maksim did not speak at all, all he did was wave and bow after playing two or three songs in a row.

Still, it was simply amazing to see a person in live that I had admired for more than four years.

And it was significant in a way that it was a concert I went because I wanted to for the first time. Previous ones, my parents forced me to go to some classical music concert and I would usually fall asleep.

But I will have to say that he DID make (minor) mistakes  🙂 He played a wrong note in Flight of the Bumblebee like he was in this video (0:20), and for Wonderland, where he was supposed to play the loudest he could, he just messed up like Lim Dong Hyek messed his Chopin Ballade no.1’s pre-climax part around 7:40 during his Tchaikovsky Concour, but the video seems to be gone at youtube for some reason. Also, the piano and background music were slightly, slightly off often as well.

Although I had some hardships getting home (arrived home at 12:30 am) and still had to physics homework afterwards, it was a worthwhile experience that rejuvinated my passion. Maksim’s face expression was just too dramatic.

Overall I have to say that I learned a lot from the concert, especially how to look cool while playing the piano.