리지에는 여기 기타매니아 칭구뿐만 아니라 요즘 외국인들 한테도 차츰 인기가 많이 있군요. 제홈에 올려진 리지에의 동영상을 본 외국 기타인들이 제게 이멜로 문의가 많이 옵니다. 몇일전에는 도데체 Domeniconi's Koyunbaba , Andrew York's Sunburst 를 연주한 연주자가 누구며 그에 관해서 알려주라는 내용이었습니다. 오늘 또 다른 사람한테서 멜이 왔는데 Paganini's Caprice No.24 를 멋지게 연주한 기타리스트에 관해서 꼭 알려주라는 내용이었습니다. 저도 리지에에 관해서는 잘 알지못해 검색을 해봤습니다. 영어 이름도 그녀 음반을 보고 알았습니다. 야후 에서 Li Jie 를 검색해보니 의외로 Li Jie에 관해서는 많이 안알려져 있어서인지 웹사이트에 내용이 그에 관해서는 거의 못찿겠어요. 딱 한군데서 발견한 기사가 있어서 함께 올립니다. 더 많이 유명해져서 연주회 유치하기가 힘들기 전에 아직 학생시절의 애띤 모습때의 리지에를 한국에 한번 초대하여 기타 매니아 칭구들을 위해 연주회를 여는것도 좋을것 같습니다.

 

GIA Guitar News 2000/1

Shenzhen, China: Classical Guitar Recital with Yameng Wang and Jie Li

27 May 2000, 8 pm, Shenzhen, China

From left: GIA Vice President Chung-Sze Ho, Yameng Wang, Jie Li

Jie Li and Yameng Wang are both students of Prof Zhi Chen at the Beijing Central Conservatory. Li won Third Prize at the 1998 Second Hong Kong Guitar Competition and had performed for many major artists who had come through Beijing over the years.

Wang has already garnered international recognition by winning and placing in several prestigious international competitions, cut a CD with GHA, and appeared on the cover of Classical Guitar.

The two shared the stage as Li took the first half and Wang the second. The program was impressive: Li did Malats' Serenata Espanola, Andrew York's Sunburst, Barrios' Estudio de Concierto No.1, Tarrega's Gran Jota, Paganini's Caprice No.24, and Domeniconi's Koyunbaba. While Wang tackled Barrios' Un Sueno en la Floresta, Domeniconi's The Bridge of Birds, Regondi's Reverie, and Sor's Gran Solo.

Li had the unenviable task of breaking in the audience, which was difficult even for a seasoned performer, let alone a "novice" stage performer like Li. Cell phones constantly went off. Someone was always mumbling and hushing because someone else was sitting in his/her seat. And a lot of the audience never had a second thought about talking in the middle of the performance.

All that was compounded by the fact that Li does not have a big tone--the acoustics of the hall isn't bad--but she was never able to capture the audience's full attention. Inexperience showed--Li never waited for the audience to settle down before she started a piece.

Despite all that Li's talents were obvious, as much as one was able to hear her under those circumstances. Her technique is fluent and she was more than competent with her program, but unfortunately people can't help but make comparisons between the first and second halves.

Yameng Wang's second half showed why Classical Guitar raves about her. Her tremelo is among the best in the business, which comes in handy with Barrios' Sueno. But most importantly was her command on stage--the way she captured the audience after a few bars of music. The comparison between Li and Wang was rather obvious as both used the Smallman guitar, the two instruments John Williams left behind after hearing Xuefei Yang and Yameng Wang in Bejing a few years back. Wang was able to get the full potential of the instrument, an aspect that Li is still struggling with.

Domeniconi wrote The Bridge of the Birds, according to Prof Zhi Chen, after he heard Wang in Germany. The music evokes images and makes use of gestures of the Chinese zither, the qin. Wang was very thorough with the delivery but one was left with the impression that maybe more colors and layers could be unearthed in this music.

Both the Regondi and the Sor are present on Wang's CD and the delivery was again impeccable.