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It may have escaped your attention (if, for instance, you have just returned from an extended hibernation in a disused Siberian mine), but the Olympic Games are back. I always think it\u2019s a bit sad that participation in the Games is confined to sporty types. <\/strong><\/p> Suppose there was an Olympics for classical music. Which countries would top the medals table? And before you answer, remember that the Olympic authorities tend to disqualify competitors who are dead. Which means that a country such as Austria wouldn\u2019t be able to call on the likes of Haydn<\/a><\/strong>, Mozart<\/a><\/strong>, Schubert<\/a><\/strong>, Bruckner<\/a><\/strong> and Mahler<\/a><\/strong>. No, this is a fantasy competition to judge present-day musical prowess, not illustrious traditions.<\/p> One of the bookies\u2019 favourites would surely have to be South Korea<\/strong>. I once covered the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia, and was startled to find Koreans sweeping the board in the vocal categories (even though singing in Russian was mandatory), and the violin<\/a><\/strong> section as well. A dazzling young Korean should have won the piano competition too, in my view. But the Moscow public is so terrifyingly partisan that the judges might have been lynched if they hadn\u2019t given first prize to her Russian rival.<\/p> Let\u2019s not have any of that old racist nonsense about the South Koreans being \u2018technically good but lacking in feeling\u2019. No, this new generation has it all: technique, style and passion. How do they do it? <\/p> The iron discipline nurtured by their parents and teachers undeniably plays a part. Western children, by comparison, have it far too easy. Korean singers also seem to have a physical capacity to sustain high-register passages with much less strain than their Western counterparts. <\/p> Then there\u2019s the Korean language, in which pitch determines meaning. Little wonder that a highly acute sense of intonation is far more prevalent among Korean children than in the West.<\/p> Here is the brilliant South Korean violinist Lim Ji-young winning the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition with her performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto:<\/p>Who would be at the top?<\/h2>
South Korea: perfection and passion<\/strong><\/h3>
‘Western children, by comparison, have it far too easy’<\/h4>