A supernova of the 19th century music world, Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a prominent pianist more than a composer. Each time he took to the stage, great numbers of fans swarmed him and threw flowers at his piano, so much so that at times it seemed as if it was raining flowers.

Last Wednesday, October 15, Seoul audiences were enraptured by two young pianists. The encore was repeated three times. The duo played "Three pieces from jeux d’enfants," by Bizet, "Le jardin Feerique," by Ravel and "Polka," by Berio, entertaining the eyes and ears of those present. Although the performance lasted for a mere two hours, the audience was left in lingering awe.

Arthur Jussen (left) and Lucas Jussen play the piano alongside each other.

The words "long line" simply don't explain the hundreds of fans waiting in line for a chance to receive an autograph from the brothers after their performance. As the Chinese proveb goes, "Do-lee-bul-eon-ha-ja-sung-hye," or, "桃李不言 下自成蹊," meaning, "Despite the wordless nature of the peach and plum (trees), the great and many bystanders are drawn to its beauty while paving roads on the way to visit them." It seemed as if those ancient words were meant to describe this scene.

The two pianists who drew such crowds were Lucas and Arthur Jussen, born in 1993 and 1996 respectively. Their father was a philharmonic timpani player for the Hilversum, a Dutch radio station, while their mother was a flutist. Music was like air to these brothers, born to a musician couple. The first artists from the Netherlands to be signed to Deutsche Grammophon, the two classical music child prodigies have grown up to become representative performers from the Netherlands. Early on, they shared the stage with the Netherlands' Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2012, and were invited to Princess Beatrix's 75th birthday celebratory concert last year, too.

Works of two composers, Beethoven and Schubert, were portrayed during the brothers' concert in Seoul. The Jussen brothers explained the reasons behind this choice, saying that, "Schubert and Beethoven come across most comfortably and boost our confidence. Their profound works are difficult, yet we learnt them naturally from our teacher Maria João Pires. We wanted to show that we were artists, not children."

At eight o'clock in the evening, the two started to play without hesitation. Beethoven's "Eight variations on a theme by Count Waldstein in C major, WoO. 67," opened the concert. As the performers became one with the piano, the audience held their breath and concentrated. Sometimes dolce, other times forte, pressing the keys with eyes closed, the two pianists themselves were an Adonis of classical music.

Lucas continued playing solo with Beethoven's "Piano sonata No. 21, Op. 53, in C major," also known as the, "Waldstein." Starting with a tap, tap, tap sound, like the knocking on a door, this piece has no frills, fitting the model form of the young musician. Intercrossing notes of extreme passion and tension gave no space for any slack.

After a break, pieces by Schubert followed. The two played "Rondo in A major, D. 951," the "Grand Rondeau," together. The consonance created by the two was perfect, reminiscent of the old Chinese phrase, "Yeom-hwa-mi-so," or, "拈華微笑." It's a Buddhist term referring to wordless communication.

Arthur followed with "Impromptus No.s 2 & 3, Op. 90, D. 899." Like the Chinese expression, "Nan-hyung-nan-jae," or, "難兄難弟," it was hard to determine the better of the two brothers.

For the grand finale, the two together played, "Fantasie in F minor, D. 940 for piano fourhands," to conclude their show.

Occasionally, we come across musicians who were once called a child prodigy or a genius. Most are then lost from our memory. No one knows what musical form they will come back to us in the future, which just adds to the excitement of the wait.

 
By Wi Tack-whan, Paik Hyun
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photos: Universal Music
whan23@korea.kr