1959 Above the Crowd Harper's Bazaar

Above the Crowd Harper's Bazaar; Mar 1959; 59, 6;

Fou Ts’ONG came to England this winter

from Warsaw, accompanied by a good deal

of press brouhaha which somewhat over-

laid the fact that this young man is a

serious musician. For a Chinese to study

Western musicis not, after all, so astonish-

ing in this cosmopolitan world. But to

reach the international concert platform at

the age of twenty-four is a considerable

achievement. Mr. Fou has performed in

Shanghai, Prague, Dubrovnik, Belgrade,

Leningrad and Moscow. Over here, he has

already appeared on BBC television

and at the Albert Hall. On March 28th he

will give a Chopin recital at the Royal

Festival Hall.

Chopin’s impressionistic music provided

him with his first footing in Europe, when

in 1955,after returning to the studies which

the Chinese Revolution had interrupted for

five years, Fou Ts’ong won high honours

in the Polish International Chopin Com-

petition. This led to a scholarship at the

Warsaw Conservatoire and, simultaneously,

to a full concert programme.In these years,

he has built up a wide repertoire of classic

and contemporary work with the avid

capacity of youth.

Helikes to attack new pieces, finding the

challenge of the unknown a stimulus to the

work involved in preparing for a_per-

formance. He prepares like an athlete;

steadily at first, then with intensifying

concentration which may involve fourteen

hours in a day—a pace impossible to

maintain but which brings him to full

pitch for the occasion. When heplays, his

expression changes. The engaging smile,

the small hesitations, the enthusiasms of the

young man disappear. Their place is taken

by a look altogether moreof the East, plus

an ability and a confidence which should

stand this talented newcomerin good stead

for a career in the West.