After Seong-Jin Cho’s Performance of Chopin’s 24 Preludes
The imperfection comes
not from the perfection of the playing.
For perfect playing does not invoke
conflicts in emotions,
nor bring about pain and sufferings.
Sensing perfection,
one naturally gives up the rein,
passes control to the higher authority,
lets the guide reveal
one mystery after another,
and at the end applauds the marvelous journey,
the pleasant surprises,
while safely touched down on earth again.
This imperfection, therefore,
comes from a judgement,
a prejudice against the representative of a country:
the downward points of his upper lips
the single syllabic sound of his name
are reminders of the rape
in a summer night,
in the innocence of my youth
in the safety of a college dorm.
It is through this imperfection
that I write about a perfect performance
when memory has served its purpose of reminding.
But in the flow of music
it is nothing more.
*
Photo from opera plus.cz
