Chapter 126
Soo-hyun tilted his head.
Today he was going to teach them the watercolor painting techniques he learned at the art studio, but Mr. Rachmaninoff took him to the piano outside the house for the first time.
"Professor? Aren't we going to draw today?"
"…"
Rachmaninoff walked towards the piano in silence.
Now, Soo-hyun, who didn't look like a dwarf even when standing next to him, said,
"I learned watercolor techniques to teach you, master."
"…"
Rachmaninoff, who had quietly approached the piano, gestured for the audience to sit down.
After arriving at this house, Soo-hyun sat in front of the piano for the first time and felt awkward in front of the piano for the first time in his life.
"Starting today, I'm going to change my exercise method. I'm going to focus on weight training."
"Huh… Didn't you tell me not to say anything because it would cause growth problems?"
"That's enough for now."
"I'm still smaller than you, master."
"That's enough. Don't go over that."
"Would it be a problem if I was bigger?"
"It's a problem."
"What's the problem?"
"…"
Rachmaninoff swallowed the words that Chopin might die once more. He handed over the sheet music without a word.
"Starting today, I will increase my piano practice time again. Six months is enough rest, so you can stop working at the art studio right now."
"I'm finally starting to have fun…"
"Stop. If you really want to do it, do it at home as a hobby."
"But even though I don't know about art, running has become a habit now, so if I don't do it, my body…."
A cold sweat ran down Rachmaninoff's back. He quickly changed the subject and more strongly evoked a word from the usually quiet and polite Chopin than Beethoven's scolding or Liszt's grabbing of the neck.
"Did you finish your school assignments?"
Fortunately, Soo-hyun reacted.
"Yes, sir. It's a chamber quintet. Two violins, a viola, a cello, and a piano."
"That's right," Rachmaninoff said, but his expression didn't change and he spoke seriously. "The etymology of chamber music comes from the Italian 'Musica da Camera'. 'Camera' refers to the reception room of a royal palace or a nobleman's mansion, and sonatas from the Baroque period are mainly performed there. The basic structure is the four-movement sonata."
'It feels like it's been a long time since I've heard an explanation like this. Professor Gruber is still watching Soo-hyun.'
"Chamber music is the art of the ensemble. Its charm lies in the intimate atmosphere in which the performers communicate and cooperate delicately. Did you say you were doing a quintet? The most famous quintet piece is Schubert's Die Forelle."
Soo-hyun nodded.
"Yes, my teammates also suggested that we try that song."
"Is it decided?"
"No, we decided to think about it for a while until next time. But, master, can I really go for a run?"
The topic that we just changed came up again. Rachmaninoff, sweating profusely, pretended not to hear and hurriedly made a suggestion.
"It's very common to play Die Forelle in a quintet. Have you ever thought of trying something different?"
"What kind of attempt?"
"Brahms, Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115."
Soo-hyun's nose wrinkled slightly. It was the first time he had heard this music, but the problem was in the title.
"Professor? Isn't that a clarinet quintet?"
Rachmaninoff nodded slowly.
"That's right."
"But there's no clarinet in our instrumentation."
"I was seventeen when this piece came out. At that time, I was very shocked. I knew that Brahms, who was 57 at the time, felt the limits of his creativity after completing his String Quintet No. 2, Op. 111 and stopped composing for a while, even considering retirement."
'Did Brahms ever do that? I only heard that he lived a great life of composition until the end of his days… He had his trials too.'
"Then, during his visit to the Meiningen Palace, he met the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld and fell in love with the unique and beautiful sound of the clarinet. Afterwards, he composed four pieces for the clarinet, of which only one, the Op. 115, was suitable for a quintet."
'I understand that, but it's a clarinet piece, right, sir?'
"When we say there are five instruments, we mean there are five tones," Rachmaninoff said, reading the doubt in Soo-hyun's expression. "Don't be limited. If we stay as we are now, we will never be what we want to be. The only limitations we have are the ones we create ourselves."
'The limits are created by ourselves. There is nothing that cannot be done. But this mission is not something you do alone, but with your teammates.'
"Won't my teammates object?"
"It's not your opinion that people reject."
"Are you sure?"
"It's not about opposing others, it's about supporting yourself."
"What is that...."
"There is no easier way to persuade someone than to convince them yourself. There is nothing more fascinating to an artist than something that interests them."
Rachmaninoff took out Brahms' sheet music and stared at Soo-hyun.
"Remember, the person you will spend the most time with in your life is yourself. So keep offering yourself fun things so you don't lose interest."
A few days later at Studio H.
Ella, the team leader, stood up first and spoke to her team members.
"I thought about it for a few days, and I don't think there's any song we can sing as well as Schubert's Die Forelle."
Mia raised her hand and said.
"I agree. What about Abna?"
"I was thinking of Dvořák," Abna said. "The Quintet in A major, a work that richly incorporates elements of Czech folk music. I chose it because I thought that performing Die Forelle was too common."
Ella and Mia nodded at the same time. Ryo gave his opinion.
"I… I thought it would be good to play Die Forelle normally."
The team members frowned. It was fine that they gave their opinion on the trout, but the problem was the choice of the word "normally."
"What do you think, Soo-hyun?"
The team members looked at him with shining eyes, as if to say, "If it were you, you'd have some unique ideas."
'Master Rachmaninoff said that when you try to persuade someone, you have to throw them a piece of gum. And at this moment, Chopin's teaching of gentle persuasion also comes to mind. To persuade others, you must appeal to their interests rather than their intellect.'
"Do you know how many teams have been given the mission to form a quintet?" Soo-hyun asked.
"I heard there were six teams," Ella, who was the team leader and frequently communicated with other teams, said.
"Let's think about it. Among the teams that received the quintet mission, wouldn't there be a team that plays Die Forelle?"
All the team members closed their mouths. Mia raised her hand.
"But here, Abna is the winner of the ARD Viola Competition, and although it's a little embarrassing to say, Ella and I are the winners of the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition. And Soo-hyun is the winner of the Chopin and Beethoven Competitions, right? And Ryo is…"
"I won the Paulo International Cello Competition," Ryo said with an embarrassed face.
"If you play the same song but play it perfectly with your skills, wouldn't you be able to get a good score?" Mia said.
Ella listened quietly and then shook her head.
"No, if the quintet orchestra plays Die Forelle every time it goes up, it will be difficult for the listeners. It may not matter if they come up early, but it's worse for us as they go on."
"How about we play Dvořák's piece?" said Abna, who had a different opinion from the beginning.
"Well, maybe?" Ella and Mia nodded in agreement. "Soo-hyun, are you going to vote for Dvořák too?"
Soo-hyun stood up from his seat without a word and sat down in front of the piano.
"Do you know this song?"
Soo-hyun played a song that evoked a lively but very peaceful rural landscape. The piece, which began not too fast, like a waltz, gradually became faster and finally surpassed the speed that humans could reach. The faces of the team members were horrified. Even Ryo, who rarely showed emotional changes, swallowed and muttered.
"Pastoral (Country Poems)…"
"Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, 'Pastoral', transcribed for piano by Liszt," Ella and Mia said at the same time.
"It is said that Liszt, an admirer of Beethoven, arranged his symphonies for the piano, expressing all the notes of the orchestra through the piano. It is a piece of enormous difficulty… A piece like that could be composed so easily…" Abna said with a blank expression.
Soo-hyun, who didn't have to play to the end because he wasn't participating in a competition, stopped playing and looked at his team members with a smile.
"It must have been so much fun for Liszt to compose this piece, putting all the orchestral notes into the piano."
The eyes of the team members who had no idea what Soo-hyun was talking about gradually widened. They realized what Soo-hyun meant.