Volume 2 / Chapter 82

TL: LightNovelCafe

While everyone was silent in disbelief, Jo Hyung Joong spoke. As the person who had seen Jun Hyuk’s talent the most, he was surprised when he heard that Jun Hyuk could memorize all music, but he was not as shocked as the others.

“Teacher Hw.a.n.g. Let’s finish up the concert first. The day isn’t very long.”

“Ah, this… I was just so surprised… This is a pianist who catches us off guard.”

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min shook his head as he picked up his baton.

“There there. Let’s all get ourselves together and focus. At this rate, we’ll ruin the performance.”

Everyone positioned their instruments and looked at the conductor with his baton, waiting for the signal.

“Okay, then we’re trying this properly.”

The members of the orchestra held each of their instruments.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min checked to see that Jun Hyuk was ready in front of the piano and slowly moved the baton.

The 2nd part of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5 Emperor began.

The 1 minute 25 second elegant introduction came out through the strings, and the music started slowly with the weak and delicate piano solo that picked up the music from the strings.

A piano that was neither aggressive nor extreme. It was not trying to press another part down to win. It was going out slowly on its own. It was a performance that was being considerate so the people who would be joining soon would not experience difficulty.

Continuing, the woodwinds’ sad melody spilled over Jun Hyuk’s left hand piano instrumental. When Jun Hyuk was playing the chords of the 16th notes, the orchestra followed the piano. Soon after, they began to play 2 of 3 each. The 60 performers were much more comfortable with this song than they were with From the Sun to the Boy. It was not because they had practiced it countless times. It was because they could feel the piano’s intention to carry them along.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min began to open his heart. The orchestra was naturally following the piano’s lead. It was as though Jun Hyuk was conducting the orchestra while playing the piano as Beethoven did.

When the 2nd part was over, the performers were all smiling broadly. The Jun Hyuk who had criticized them so severely was nowhere to be found. They were sitting in front of Jun Hyuk’s piano that was as if it were saying it accepted their performance and to trust it and follow along.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min put his baton down to indicate that he had achieved his goal and spoke to the performers,

“This… This isn’t something we should just be smiling about.”

At this, the performers began to move their feet. Since both hands were holding their instruments, they applauded by moving their feet.

“Was it Argerich?”

Empress of piano, Martha Argerich.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min could understand where Jun Hyuk’s power in pressing down the orchestra during ‘From the Sun to the Boy’ came from. Argerich’s piano – a charisma so overwhelming that it could swallow a first-cla.s.s orchestra whole. They did not have the ability to withstand that.

“I see. You’re saying that you have the skills to perfectly reproduce Argerich’s piano within 2 years? I’m going to go crazy. How many G.o.ds of music are in your body?”

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min could not think of Jun Hyuk as anything but G.o.d’s mistake. Normally, G.o.d only allocated one talent. And one could be called a genius with just that one talent. But he could not begin to tell how many talents Jun Hyuk had.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min lightly shook his head and brushed off his thoughts as he looked at Jun Hyuk. That was enough warming up. They needed to go back to the mission song.

“Okay. Now should we try the mission song? Jun Hyuk, are you ready? Can you bring everyone along like you did with Beethoven just now?”

Jun Hyuk nodded his head vigorously.

***

After rehearsing a few times, Hw.a.n.g Suk Min looked at Jun Hyuk. Jun Hyuk had taken his hands off of the piano and was also looking at Hw.a.n.g Suk Min. When their eyes met, Hw.a.n.g Suk Min laughed and Jun Hyuk smiled.

The music director who had checked the sound did not have to worry about the live stage. He had no doubt that it would be the program’s best stage.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min put his baton down and spoke to Jun Hyuk,

“Let’s talk.”

The two people moved their seats to a corner of the stage.

“It’s the truth that you’re able to memorize a song after hearing it once, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure you’ve compared different orchestras playing the same song.”

“Yes, of course.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s fun. If you keep listening while comparing them, you can tell what the conductor is thinking and what his habits are.”

“I guess those differences are in the differences between each conductor’s music?”

“Yes.”

Even while playing the same song, the feeling was different by the person playing it. But it meant that Jun Hyuk could tell the difference by each of the instruments.

The ability to point out the subtle difference in a violin meant that he could reproduce the performances of master musicians now. It was a talent that any conductor would envy. While others had to listen to it hundreds of times to identify that subtle difference, he has the ability do it as soon as he hears it.

It was what students dreamt of. The dream of automatically memorizing a textbook or reference book. Then there would be no need to study.

Ultimately, it meant that if Jun Hyuk wanted to, he could take the baton and perform the music of the greats like Bernstein, Georg Scholte, Furtwängler, and Karajan.

Hw.a.n.g Sung Min could understand how the skill Jun Hyuk had shown on broadcast had been created over just 2 years. He would not have needed the process of learning to play instruments. It was just an issue of skill.

“By chance, in Beethoven’s No. 9… can you hear each of the sounds in the choir?”

“Yes because it just means that the number of instruments is increasing by the number in the choir.”

“The song is 74 minutes long. It’s tremendous if you combine the number of instruments and the choir…..”

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

The best work in the history of symphonies, designated as a World Programme Heritage. Conductor Karajan of the Berlin Philharmonic had decided that the 74 minute symphony needed to be recorded on a CD. When Philips, the developer of CDs, accepted this the standard length of CDs was changed from 60 minutes to 75 minutes.

A work that boasts of the highest level of difficulty.

It was hard to believe Jun Hyuk when he said that he had listened to a song like this and memorized it.

Hw.a.n.g Suk Min spoke with Jun Hyuk for a while. He did not just memorize the songs, he understood their interpretations. There is an incredible difference between memorizing and understanding. Hw.a.n.g Suk Min who had scrutinized Jun Hyuk’s talent felt as though he had found a treasure.

On the one hand, the broadcast production team felt as though they had picked up an entire treasure chest.

Jun Hyuk and the orchestra’s rehearsal was more dramatic than the stage that they would be showing on live broadcast.

Speechless performers, the orchestra collapsing at Jun Hyuk’s piano. Even the Beethoven that Jun Hyuk and the orchestra played together perfectly. They had filmed magical scenes.

The production team who had recorded all of this needed to think about how they would use it for the broadcast airing in 2 days.

There was also a person who thought for a while before grabbing his phone. This was conductor Hw.a.n.g Suk Min.