God's Song

[TN: Hump Dayyyy! CONDUCTOR JH! Impressing professors everywhere!]

Over 10 professors who were acting as judges came to realize that what the students had told them was true. Only 17 people came on stage with Jun Hyuk as conductor.

When they confirmed that it was true, their faces were not much different from that of the orchestra members the day before. They had a lot of questions, but they heard the response with music.

Jun Hyuk and the orchestra greeted the judges and started performing right away.

They played Symphony No. 40 at a molto allegro (very fast) tempo from the introduction without losing tension. With a breathtaking dire viola as the start to the appearance of the treble and bass as though drawing a parabola, it was so fast that they could not feel that 7 minutes had gone by.

It is a song from the 18th century, but it broke down existing forms so much that it is as though Mozart left the song for the 20th century.

When Jun Hyuk finished performing and looked toward the judges, someone spoke,

“Orchestra, please wait backstage.”

The star of the audition is the conductor. There is no reason for the orchestra to listen to what they think about the conductor.

“Jun, can you tell us the reason why you created a 17 member orchestra?”

It is the first question he had expected.

“It was just a measure I took to bring out the best music.”

“A measure for the best music?”

“Yes. You presented me with young students with individuality and only gave me a day’s time.”

They had expected for there to be a special reason, but Jun Hyuk’s response was simple that it was due to a shortage of time.

“A day is too little to tune and match tones for 60 students with varying skills of different schools. How can you make extreme changes to Mozart’s symphony? Not even a conductor at the top can accomplish this.”

“Are you saying that’s why you reduced it?”

“Because we can prevent the same instruments from conflicting at the least.”

“You didn’t have the thought that the sound might weaken because there is such an extreme reduction in the instruments?”

It was hard to distinguish which professor was asking the questions because the seats were so dark. Jun Hyuk looked where he heard the sound coming from, and responded,

“It is okay. Since the seats are completely empty anyway, all of the factors that would absorb the sound are gone..... Professors, aren’t you sitting in the very front seats? Even if the sound is weakened, didn’t you all hear it precisely?”

“Then this is the last question. Your performance sounded like the tempo and sense conflicted a bit. Please explain the reason for that.”

Jun Hyuk could tell that the question was from Professor Hirani by the voice. He laughed slightly because he remembered how Professor Hirani had asked him his interpretation of songs countless times.

Jun Hyuk expressed his interpretation of the song in brief words,

“It was because it is an uneasy race.”

There was the sound of low lamenting to Jun Hyuk’s answer.

“An uneasy race.....”

“Yes. Mozart wrote this song 3 years before he passed away. He was suffering under extreme poverty and he did not even guard his wife’s side. He wrote the song with that feeling so even though it’s a fast-paced song, it doesn’t have to be light-hearted.”

“Then that’s also the reason why you chose Mozart’s 1st version?”

“Yes. I prefer a Mozart under pressure over a light Mozart. The version with the clarinet has a light feeling to it.”

After a short silence, someone notified them that the audition is over.

“Hm... I understand. You did well.”

When Jun Hyuk bowed and gave his greetings, a new voice held him back. It must be a professor from another school.

“Wait. Sorry, but can you perform again? We can call in the orchestra waiting outside.”

The other professors must not have expected this because they began to whisper. Jun Hyuk could not figure out a reason to listen to his performance again either.

It is not a problem though because it is a short part and not the entire song.

The 17 performers came out with puzzled expressions and played the song again with Jun Hyuk’s conducting.

“It was an unreasonable demand, but you did well.”

At the end of the 2nd performance, there were no longer any questions. When Jun Hyuk and the performers quietly left the stage, the professors’ evaluation started actively.

“What do you think?”

“His stance on music is different. The first candidate only focused on not making mistakes... I feel like the 3rd and 4th will be the same.”

Jun Hyuk’s wishes to bring out the best music possible had left the greatest impression on the professors.

“He even considered the seats in his organization. That’s not something we expected.”

“His interpretation of the song is outstanding. It’s also impressive that he can perform to that interpretation.”

Professor Hirani could not help his curiosity and asked one of the professors,

“Oh right, Professor Neill. Why did you have them perform twice? Is there something that you had missed?”

“No. The performance was great. I only wanted to check the time.”

“The time? You didn’t do that for the first candidate.”

“I didn’t need to check the first candidate to know. It isn’t necessary when he isn’t trying to deliver the song and is just trying not to make mistakes. There wouldn’t be a difference in the results even if we heard it twice.”

“So how did the times of the two performances come out?”

“Both performances were exactly 6 minutes and 56 seconds. There was not even a 1 second difference.”

Even a folk artist singing his own song twice with just an acoustic guitar would have a 1 or 2 second difference. Controlling multiple performers while matching the time is not an easy feat.

It meant that the conductor had made the song entirely his own by fighting with the score, and that he had interpreted it perfectly.

“We had not expected for a perfect concert in just a day either, but to think that he came up with such an extreme method... I’m speechless.”

“I also found it surprising that he did not think of us as judges, but considered us as part of an audience.”

“The desire to reduce the amount of mistakes as much as possible and the desire to present the best music. The difference between these is like a river that you cannot cross.”

They knew which student Maestro Bruno Kazel had praised even if the Clayton professors did not tell them.