Reflective Writing and Poetic Musing by Condemiang + Stories About the World

  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched these performances by now. To be honest, I was never someone deeply immersed in classical music—not in the past, and not even now. But ever since I encountered this pianist’s performance, something in me began to shift. Even when the pieces weren’t immediately moving or familiar to me, I found myself overcome with emotion, shedding tears more than once while listening to music I once thought inaccessible. And I know—this emotion I feel is, in part, shaped by the visual stimulation of the videos, by the contagious admiration expressed by others, and even by my own self-image, swept up in that shared appreciation. Yet despite all that, his playing—so natural and expressive, so clearly flawless even to someone like me—is undeniably extraordinary. The power and passion, the response from the orchestra and the audience… it’s impossible not to recognize the greatness of these performances. Many of the works he plays are among the most icon...

When people think of the violin, they often picture Niccolò Paganini (born 1782). And when it comes to Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678–1741), many Koreans may recall the ski resort in Hongcheon named after him or his iconic violin concertos 1 , The Four Seasons . But as for me, when it comes to the violin, my unequivocal choice is Vivaldi. One might even say he feels more “Bach-like” than Johann Sebastian Bach himself. Vivaldi was born in 1678, seven years before Bach’s birth in 1685. If one were to name three composers who truly stirred the waters of Baroque music, it would undoubtedly be Vivaldi, Bach, and George Frideric Handel. It is not that Vivaldi’s music feels like Bach’s—but rather, Bach’s music resonates with the spirit of Vivaldi. Bach deeply admired Vivaldi and loved his compositions. He even arranged many of Vivaldi’s string concertos for keyboard instruments, performing them widely. Thanks to this, Vivaldi’s music became more widely known and gained greater fame. Vivaldi’...