Volume 5 / Chapter 183

TL: LightNovelCafe

[TN: This is 5 of 8! Inferno album and Amelia]

When the Inferno album was released in mid-June, another craze came and went. When it sold 400,000 in just 1 month, it was estimated that it would easily sell 2 million and could even go up to 4 million.

It is the result of hearing that it is an innovative song that opens the door to a new musical genre, even bringing in a customer base devoted to classical music.

Once there were only complaints in the Amazon reviews online however, it changed to an entirely different angle. The general view and anger that they had spent money to listen to noise started spreading through social media. Due to the severe criticism of the public, the sales graph plummeted starting with the 2nd month.

The classical single album with the highest recorded sales is Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, and Zubin Mehta’s live concert album, ‘The Three Tenors in Concert: Live in Rome, 1990’.

It reached 12 million in sales and people do not have to be classical fanciers to have heard the music at least once. These kinds of stars are necessary in making a classical album into a hit.

Even a person who has never listened to music conducted by Berlin Philharmonic’s Karajan can recognize a picture of him with a face full of anguish. With this level of awareness, he was able to record an incredible sale of 200,000 albums.

No matter how much critics give Inferno rave reviews, it could not win the one word ‘noise’ written on the internet and not even the jazz fans who had accepted Jun Hyuk were in favor of it.

The Inferno album was not able to surpass 1 million in the end, and was pushed to the corners of shopping malls.

Curiosity does not become a driving force for increasing sales. Inferno was forgotten by the public and was only discussed among maestros of their own league. The premiere is still left.

***

Amelia returned in the middle of July and was so shocked when she saw Isaac Stern’s apartment that she yelled. The apartment she had heard about from Jun Hyuk was not so luxurious.

She had attended many banquets held for people in the music world, and could guess what this apartment was used for. This is not the kind of apartment that they lend to maestros who come from different areas.

It must be one of President Stern’s several houses in New York, and a place used to hold parties.

She could tell how much special treatment President Stern gives Jun Hyuk from the way he gave the whole apartment to him.

She was also surprised by the piece he would be submitting to the Queen Elisabeth Competition. She had the same reaction that everyone else had

“Jun, anyone who sees this is going to say that it’s crazy. You’re saying you want to compare with Beethoven?”

She saw the whole score and could not stop admiring with ‘Oh my God!’

“Really? It’s that bad?”

“No. It’s crazy because it’s comparable. It would be normal for someone not to match up to Beethoven.”

Amelia placed kisses all over Jun Hyuk’s face and took the piano part of the score. She played the 2nd and 3rd movements, and got up from the piano.

“They’ll have to change the finals calendar around a lot.”

“Why?”

“They always give 1 week to practice the finals song. But how can someone learn this in 1 week? There’s no way.”

It is not a known song. The 5 piano and violin finalists are going to receive a tremendous and large song, and are going to have to show their ability. Amelia counted on her fingers as she spoke.

“I recorded Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the BBC Orchestra this time. I had already memorized all of Brahm’s concerto, practiced it hundreds of times, and it’s been included in my performance repertoires dozens of times. On top of that, we still went into rehearsal 3 times.”

Amelia shook her head and asserted,

“1 week? Impossible. I’m positive they’ll completely change the competition schedule.”

“They might not. It might look hard in the beginning, but they’ll realize that it’s easier once they get a little used to it.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell yet.”

“If you memorize the score, it suddenly gets easy. I kept the performers in mind and didn’t leave any margin for error.”

Mozart’s songs are not hard to approach in the beginning. Special techniques are not needed, and there are not severe changes. Just as there are a lot of famous songs in pop that use 3 simple chords, Mozart also created great music from simple melodies.

As one knows the piano more and more however, it becomes harder to express Mozart’s songs. There is a lot of margin for the performers. As difficult as Jun Hyuk’s piano part seems, there is no margin.

“And I need to win in order for the schedule to be changed or not.”

“Are you joking? That doesn’t even need to be said. Of course you’re the winner.”

The starting point of thought is different. While other competitors go up against each other, he is going up against Beethoven. This difference is bound to chase the other participants out.

***

Amelia was fascinated by Jun Hyuk’s special classes, which took place at home. She had never felt interest in anything outside of piano and music. Jun Hyuk on the other hand, kept asking questions and concentrated in his philosophy class to make it run over 2 hours.

“Jun, do you like studying that much? Doesn’t your head hurt enough from looking at scores?”

“No, it’s the total opposite. I can forget music when I focus on other things. It’s better the more complicated it is.”

“That’s how much the melodies don’t stop in your head?”

She is realizing it for the first time since she started living with Jun Hyuk. There is a new melody and rhythm in his head every waking moment.

When she first knew this, she could not hide her envy. But the second she figured that it might not be a blessing, she tried to help Jun Hyuk put his attention elsewhere as much as she could.

This was also a factor in her saying that they could not leave such a large house alone and started inviting acquaintances over for simple parties every week. Because she knows Jun Hyuk’s personality well, she did not invite people who are loud or boastful. Since she only invited conscientious people who know the paths that they are on, there were no loud parties that Isaac Stern suggested.

Danny was also in the off season and came to New York when he received Amelia’s call. He who had always gone around telling people that he is Jun Hyuk’s roommate and best friend, had changed a lot over 1 year.

After the Tchaikovsky Competition last summer, Danny had finished up the tour with the runner ups and had jumped into the world of professionals. He seemed like an entirely different person.

“Damn. I thought everything would work out if I made it into the top ranking of the Tchaikovsky Competition, but that was just the start. There are so many people running in front of me.”

“Is that so? Amelia’s been doing a lot of performances from even before the competition.”

“That’s different. Before Tchaikovsky, she was mostly active in her home country Argentina. I’m famous in Canada too. I came out on TV a bunch of times.”

However, Danny kept sighing.

“Amelia is of a different class from me. How many albums does she have out? And in Europe at that.”

There is no difference between Danny’s circumstance and in Colin who is going around clubs and small concerts in the western region to make a prospective rock band known. He had only performed with a famous orchestra in a big city twice in 1 year. Even that did not receive the evaluation that it was successful.

Instead, he is taking in a tight schedule of going around in small European towns.

“Anyway, I’m going to go out for the Long-Thibaud, Menuhin, and Queen Elisabeth next year and win all of them. I have a lot of experience now, so I’ll be able to perform without being nervous.

Jun Hyuk was about to say something when he said Queen Elisabeth, but he shut his mouth. Amelia had blinked at him.

For the sake of fairness, a win is canceled if the composer’s score and win are leaked. Even if they are friends, he cannot commit a misconduct. All of the participants are putting their lives on the line just as Danny is doing.

Amelia spent about a month with Jun Hyuk. Once the season starts in September, she needs to take in another packed schedule.