Chopin competition winner Cho Seong-jin's record for sale
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Music lovers line up to purchase the first recording of pianist Cho Seong-jin’s live Chopin competition performance at a record store in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, early Friday morning. / Yonhap
Fans of Cho Seong-jin ― winner of the 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw on Oct. 21 ― queued for hours Friday to buy a recording of the young pianist playing in the prestigious competition.
The recording, by Deutsche Grammophon, includes four selections from the 14 piano works Cho performed in the piano competition. They are Chopin’s Nocturne, Op. 48-1 in C minor; Sonata, Op. 35 in B-flat minor; Polonaise, Op. 53 in A-flat major; and 24 Preludes, Op. 28. Cho, 21, won the special prize for best interpretation of a polonaise.
Comments by critics Park Jae-seong and Park Jong-ho and pianist Kim Joo-young are included on the album.
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Pianist Cho Seong-jin performs during the final competition auditions of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, in Warsaw, Poland, on Oct. 18. / EPA-Yohap
A long line of music lovers wanting the recording formed at dawn in front of classical music store Pungwoldang in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, the first to sell Cho’s album
Cho, the first Korean to win the first prize, competed against 78 young pianists from 20 countries last month.
Canadian Charles Richard-Hamelin won second prize and third prize went to Kate Liu of the United States.
Cho started playing piano at the age of six and graduated from Yeowon School and Seoul Arts High School before heading to France to study under Michel Beroff at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. He won third prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition last year and a bronze medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011.
Initiated in 1927, the Chopin competition is held every five years and has been a launching pad for many internationally acclaimed pianists, including Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Stanislav Bunin and Yundi Li.