Meng-Chieh Liu (1971- ) 劉孟捷
born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
第46屆十大傑出青年 劉孟捷
http://www.xici.net/b926768/d81144144.htm
http://pianogarden.myweb.hinet.net/new_page_72.htm
Monday night, April 26, 1993 three hours before he was to perform at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Andre Watts cancelled his performance due to illness.
“ And so Watts gave the opportunity of a lifetime to a 21-year-old pianist. His name is Meng-Chieh Liu.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGT2gH4-Vk&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGWy3mNlAm8
1.0
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1.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr9IB-iJSGw
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Robert Ward: Symphonies no 3 & 6, etc / Alan Balter, et al
1 CD / Albany Records / 2007-06-01
Works: Robert Ward: Symphony no 3; Dialogues; Symphony no 6; Lady Kate
Performers: Kim Yeesun; Kitchen, Nicholas; Liu, Meng-Chieh
Ensemble: Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra; Iceland Symphony Orchestra; Triangle Chamber Orchestra
Meng-Chieh Liu, pianist 劉孟捷
國際青年商會中華民國總會今天票選今年度十大傑出青年，效力美國職棒大聯盟紐約洋基隊的王建民，毫無異議的獲得全票通過，與鋼琴家劉孟捷成為全票通過獲選的兩位十大傑出青年。 (2008)
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Happy hands
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20090120_Happy_hands.html
Pianist Meng-Chieh Liu is back from a debilitating immune illness, glad to be so and confidence intact. Smiles and electric glances volleyed back and forth between conductor Christoph Eschenbach and pianist Meng-Chieh Liu as intricate chunks of the Barber Piano Concerto fell easily into place.That first rehearsal with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra Friday should have been tedious. And Liu should be jittery about his first Philadelphia concerto appearance, tonight at the Kimmel Center, since 1994.
Instead, the situation is particularly sweet, considering that any concerto would have been out of the question a decade ago, when his hands were all but useless.
"I was hoping this would happen a little bit earlier," the elegant 37-year-old said with pregnant understatement. "But as long as it happens, it's great."
Thirteen years ago, Meng-Chieh Liu (pronouced MUN-Cheh Lee-YOU) was the Curtis Institute pianist most likely to succeed. Managed by Columbia Artists, he was readying concertos for Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra engagements and serving as acclaimed last-minute replacement for an indisposed Andre Watts. One stormy night at the Mann Center, the Philadelphia Orchestra was told to stay home but Liu, then 22 (with 19 years of playing already behind him), arrived to find a decent-sized audience. So he played his scheduled Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2, filling in the orchestral parts when necessary, and then added Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.
A year later, Cincinnati was canceled and he was getting through a small-venue recital in Toledo thanks only to prednisone. Months later he was paralyzed. After his second cardiac arrest a year later, in 1997, he was down to 95 pounds and being fed by his mother, Pi-Hsia Hsieh, who took early retirement from her teaching job in Taiwan to care for him in Philadelphia.
His physical mobility deteriorated due to what would later be diagnosed as vasculitis - a term that covers a variety of conditions that, in his case, meant his immune system went into overdrive and declared war on itself. Vasculitis is somewhat similar to phlebitis; patients experience blood vessels so inflamed they threaten to self-destruct.
Recently, Liu was cleaning out old boxes in his apartment "and I found some medical records. I was in one of the isolated rooms [at Hahnemann Hospital] when it cost $20,000 a day." His mother, back in Taiwan since 1999, still breaks down in tears at the memory of her eldest son at death's door.
Ultimately, Liu was treated with chemotherapy, not for any cancer-related condition, but to get his immune system back to something approaching normal. Doctors aren't completely sure exactly what it is that worked.
Then began the slow recovery of his atrophied hands. Though Philadelphia has some of the best hand specialists in the world, their therapies, superb for enabling everyday tasks, were not about something as intricate as playing piano. He had to rehabilitate himself.
"When I first came out of the hospital, my hand wouldn't stretch at all. By 2000 I was playing the Rachmaninoff sonata [No. 2]," he says. "I was really surprised I could get through it. I learned that the more you work on it, the more it'll go where you want it to go."
His best source of strength, he discovered, isn't physical but mental. He believes many of the noted musicians who have been sidelined by seemingly permanent injuries are held back not by intractable physical matters, but by their own lack of confidence.
The happy ending - conductor Eschenbach, himself a pianist, uses the word amazing - now includes a career in Asia (and a good Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 to show for it), plus teaching positions at Curtis and Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Many pianists approach their art with musical intelligence in their fingers; Liu, in contrast, envisions the performance he wants and his fingers are able to regularly deliver 90 percent of that. This process, he says, also circumvents stage fright. Though one pinky finger isn't as strong as it might be, he's like other pianists who work with such physical ailments as arthritis.
What he now wants out of the keyboard is quite different from before. Though one might expect his interpretations to reflect the trouble he's seen, his playing has more exterior earmarks of emotionalism - rubato, for example - than what critics heard prior to his illness. It's more direct.
"When one is young, you indulge in emoting," he explains. "It's not bad, but if people notice that I'm doing rubato that's already too much. When I go to see a play, for example, I want to feel the actor directly transmitting the impact of his humanity on me, not just 'Oh, they're speaking louder here or acting wilder there.' If I notice that, I'm distracted from observing the real piece."
The most vexing part of his life involves career. There's a part of him that's happy to be alive and teaching at two prestigious institutions - the life of a touring pianist isn't nearly as glamorous as it looks. Still, encouragement came in the form of a 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant. And discouragement followed when two successive agents delivered hardly a single concert; his Asian engagements he acquired through his own contacts.
Then again, more successful pianists are likely to envy him for playing the Barber Piano Concerto. Most love it, but are confined to better-known repertoire imposed upon them by orchestras who want something safer in exchange for hefty star salaries. Liu loves Barber; this is his fourth outing with the concerto.
"I often wonder why I keep driving myself nuts, driving myself to play," he says. "It's just something I have to do. People ask me all the time: After such a traumatic experience, don't you just want to live a good life?
"But for me, living a good life is playing great music. We'll see where this takes me. I don't know what the market is looking for. But as long as I enjoy playing, that's all that matters."
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劉孟捷950530鋼琴大師班/DSC04089.JPG
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Recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Meng-Chieh Liu was born in Taiwan, and at age 13 was accepted by The Curtis Institute of Music to study with Jorge Bolet, Claude Frank, and Eleanor Sokoloff. He has been a member of The Curtis Institute’s faculty since 1993, the year he graduated. Meng-Chieh Liu has concertized widely in the United States as well as in Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Venezuela.
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Liu, a recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2002 Philadelphia Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award, was selected for the honor for his refusal to succumb to a debilitating disease and the perseverance he showed in his musical career, the judges said.
YOUNG START
Liu made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music when he substituted for Andre Watts in the All-Star Series at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
The concert earned high acclaim and was followed by a number of widely praised performances, including a recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
TRAGEDY
Liu’s career, however, was abruptly halted by a rare and debilitating illness that affected his connective tissues in 1995.
After being hospitalized and almost immobile for two years, a determined Liu underwent intensive physical therapy and embarked again on his concert career in 1998.
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http://www.kh.edu.tw/performing/showpage.php?page=4059
劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會-舒伯特奏鳴曲系列(三)(四)
日 期:2007年10月06,7日 下午 7:30, 2:30
地 點:高雄市文化中心 至德堂
Meng-Chieh Liu’s Piano Recital - Schubert’s Sonata
主辨單位： 劉孟捷 票別： 售票
連絡電話： 07-2288899
表演日期(時間)： 2007/10/6( 19:30) , 2007/10/7( 14:30 )
節目名稱：劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會-舒伯特奏鳴曲系列(三)(四) Meng-Chieh Liu Piano Recital
演出地點：高雄市文化中心至德堂
演出日期： 96 年 10 月 6 日及 7日
演出時間： 19：30（6日）14：30（7日） (24小時制)
演出單位：劉孟捷
入場方式：售票(分售票、索票及特定對象等三種)
票 價：300、500、800、1000、1200 兩廳院之友9折
套票優惠：凡同時購買兩場次票券可享85折優惠(最低票價除外)
文宣文稿：(須依備註事項填寫)
(一)藝文月刋：「在今日煩亂緊張的社會裡，舒伯特的音樂帶來平靜充實的信息，引發人性的善良及真情，教導人的耐心堅忍及愛心。如果音樂可激發人性的真善美，則我希望能藉音樂將我真誠的祈禱帶給大家，希望能給這動盪不安的世界帶來一些寧靜。」~~~劉孟捷
(二)網路資料：劉孟捷舒伯特奏鳴曲鋼琴獨奏會
從2006年的演出 期待2007年的盛況
2006年6月3日及13、14日劉孟捷分別在台北國家音樂廳及高雄文化中心至德堂各演奏了兩場舒伯特奏鳴曲鋼琴獨奏會，兩場曲目分別是：
第一場：舒伯特 B大調 第五號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D575
舒伯特 a小調 第八號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D784
舒伯特 A大調 第十四號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D959
第二場：舒伯特 a大調 第六號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D537
舒伯特 G大調 第十二號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D894
舒伯特 c小調 第十九號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D958
在音樂會之前，大家都懷疑這次音樂會安排的曲目有問題。劉孟捷的頭殼是不是壞了呢？怎麼兩天曲目全部安排舒伯特的奏鳴曲？觀眾怎麼聽得下去呢？不會太單調 無味嗎？當音樂會一結束，大家豁然釋懷，劉孟捷有能力把舒伯特彈的絲絲入扣，精彩絕倫，不僅不會讓觀眾覺得乏味，而且一曲接一曲彈得更引人入勝，讓觀眾欲 罷不能，大家這才佩服劉孟捷的演奏能力。
中山大學音樂系陳盤安教授，聽完劉孟捷的演奏會說：『我今晚真正享受了一個美好的舒伯特之夜！劉孟捷彈得太精彩了，劉孟捷如果有宗教信仰，第五號鋼琴協奏曲D575第二樂章就更能入木三分。』
劉孟捷的啟蒙恩師李金里老師說：『劉孟捷可以正式宣告掙脫病魔的夢魘！劉孟捷台風穩健，技巧純熟，對舒伯特的詮釋在台灣無人能出其右，劉孟捷真的太棒了！』
中華表演藝術基金會會長譚嘉陵說：「看見他神態自若﹐用布滿縱橫疤痕的雙手在琴鍵上飛舞﹐真令人感動不已﹗」
以下節錄三位網友在聆賞過劉孟捷演奏舒伯特奏鳴曲後的感言，也可概略的顯示劉孟捷獨奏會的魅力與績效：
Gereld網友：
『6月3日，我參加了劉孟捷先生的演奏會，連趕了兩場，一共六首舒伯特鋼琴奏鳴曲，其中 D784、D894 兩首甚至是我第一次在音樂廳現場聆賞。劉孟捷先生是 Jorge Bolet 在 Curtis 音樂院的入門弟子，想是已得到浪漫先生的秘傳。劉孟捷的舒伯特，是帶著淡淡幽香、浸透過人情的故事。劉孟捷自己也有不尋常的故事，我由一位行醫的朋友處得知這位鋼琴家，他有過一段很恐怖的瀕死經歷。重生後，他帶著植入鋼釘的手指、殘破的身形，面對全新的樂譜。
當我聽了他的演奏之後，卻絲毫不覺得有不足的地方。劉孟捷的音樂堂堂皇皇，指下呈現的音色很飽滿，他的每個音符彷彿都充滿自信，從容自在地連繫出合理完整 的樂念。我深受感動，這是舒伯特，是舒伯特的一顰一笑，沒有妝點的單純風格。這樣圓熟的音樂裡並沒有掺和著帶有宗教意味、莊嚴的《病癒者的感謝》，我不需 要去聯想那多年前曾發生在音樂家身上的多發性皮肌炎、血管炎，雖然我對這個疾病知之甚詳 ─ 它，也曾帶走了我的一個好友。
現場的劉孟捷，現場的舒伯特，有著很不一樣的感受。我不用直接面對音符，音符繞過耳畔，從背後輕撫，像一陣暖風。演奏者的眼神，鍵盤上飛舞的手指，親暱的 氣氛在這裡交織著，此刻，我們都是《舒伯特黨》（Schubertiad）成員。於是，我知道舒伯特原型不是個 Pattern，不適合在扁平的錄音罐頭裡循著偽裝害羞者的音觸 ─ 想像著作曲家時代的維也納，漫無目的的踱步。或輕揉，或強觸，鋼琴前活生的與者，最能期盼將與舒伯特美麗的靈魂交會。』
Patrik：「在這之前，我準備去聆聽一場我沒有聽過的鋼琴家的獨奏會。說實在話，我並不認識劉老師，在看到文宣之前，我根本不知道有這麼一個鋼琴家， 想說是週六晚間給自己一個沉澱的機會，只是沒想到, 帶給我的震撼卻是無法筆墨。我也是個愛彈鋼琴的愛樂人，一直以來，我的右手也因車禍的後遺症所苦，無法很精準的彈出自己喜歡的曲子，我在音樂會之前, 只是存著一顆好奇的心，劉老師之前得的病這麼嚴重，他還能彈出怎樣的曲子。在那一晚， 我得到了解答，能當鋼琴家，技巧方面是不容置疑的，但是老師的舒伯特，讓我真的聽到了用"心"的聲音，整晚的舒伯特層次分明，每個樂章都讓我有新(心)的 發現，也許這就是失去所有之後，才能有的深刻體認吧！也希望劉老師繼續加油，能帶給我們更多好音樂。」
李先生：「他的音樂表現很好，第一首曲目的第二樂章（舒伯特B大調第五號鋼琴協奏曲），演奏的很有夏天的午後小朋友吃冰棒啖西瓜的純真氣氛，第二首曲目的第一樂章觸鍵我很喜歡，該怎麼說呢？是一種不沉重卻穩健的步伐。」
綜合以上之評論，可以肯定劉孟捷演奏舒伯特奏鳴曲是成功的，令人回味無窮，也為台灣音樂史寫下了創舉。以劉孟捷精湛演奏實力，從「心」詮釋舒伯特的多首鋼 琴奏鳴曲，讓觀眾聆聽最直接、最振撼人心的生命樂章。這也是百年難得的組合，因為劉孟捷的境遇和舒伯特最為類似，所以劉孟捷可以用他自己親身的體驗去抓住 舒伯特優美旋律的靈魂。換句話說，劉孟捷可以用「心」和舒伯特交「心」演出，那當然就激出觀眾共鳴的火花！
2006年劉孟捷以演奏舒伯特的鋼琴奏鳴曲做為多年演奏生涯的代表性里程碑，所以今年的獨奏會，劉孟捷仍然固執地選擇了舒伯特奏鳴曲作為他兩場獨奏會的曲目：
第一場：舒伯特 降E大調 第七號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D568
舒伯特 C大調 第十五號鋼琴奏鳴曲「傷逝篇」，D840
舒伯特 a小調 第十六號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D845
第二場：舒伯特 A大調 第十三號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D664
舒伯特 D大調 第十七號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D850
舒伯特 降B大調 第二十一號鋼琴奏鳴曲，D960
舒伯特的作品有獨特且無以倫比的音樂美感，在他的鋼琴奏鳴曲中，穩定、沉靜、浪漫、纖細，充份表現出「樂中有詩，音中有畫」的境界。國際鋼琴大師劉孟捷的 人生經歷，以扎實的演奏技巧，兼具充沛的音樂性，再掺和對音樂的「心」體驗，兩者的結合，必定是所有喜愛音樂的樂迷們，期待已久的盛會。
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