There are some jobs that are a lot harder than others, and one job nobody wanted Saturday night.
Eight judges listened to six final competitors of the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition and had to come up with a winner.
Most of these pianists, children ages 11 to 13, traveled thousands of miles and memorized tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of notes in preparation for this contest. As the jury deliberated, the finalists paced and chattered nervously in the backstage area of the Assembly Hall at Temple Square.
All had performed well throughout the entire week, which began with the preliminary round Tuesday and ended with the finals Saturday night, and their cumulative performance was the deciding factor in this crucial moment.
Zuo Zhiang, an 11-year-old from China, emerged as the winner. Although her rendition of Mendelssohn's "Molto allegro con fuoco" from the Concerto in G minor in Saturday's final round was somewhat disappointing, her consistently outstanding performance during the week carried her to first place.
Perhaps an important consideration in evaluating the finals round was the addition of an accompanist for the concertos, Michael Sushel. In light of his credentials, Sushel's accompaniment was dreadful. He frequently played louder than the solo piano and sometimes in slightly different tempos. He was completely insensitive to the competitors' interpretation, and this may have affected some of the performances.
Eleven-year-old Nareh Arghamanyan from Armenia came in second with a dynamic performance of the first movement from Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. Strong, as usual, on the fast passages and particularly good on the cadenza, she played this perennial favorite with style.
Pauline Yang, 13, of New Jersey, finished third after a dazzling performance of the andante sostenuto from Saint-Saens' Concerto No. 2 in G minor — by far her best showing all week.
Shostakovich's Concerto for piano was a perfect match for Kuntaro Deguchi's energetic and strong playing, which earned him fourth place. The 13-year-old Japanese pianist lacked the bitter edge felt in so much of Shostakovich's music but replaced it with a youthful strength and vitality.
Oleysa Vishnevskaya, 13, of Ukraine, played with heart on Saturday and every other performance this week. Her feeling added an extra dimension to an already good performance. While the allegro con brio from Beethoven's Concerto in C major didn't receive quite the power and zest it could have in Saturday's final round, her other powerful showing throughout the week undoubtedly helped her secure fifth place.
The sixth-place winner this year was 12-year-old Sun-A Park of New Jersey. Although her rendition of Bach's allegro moderato from the Concerto in D minor was a little rushed on Saturday, clean contrapuntal lines and a musical style showed why she deserved to be among the finalists.
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com