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When I saw that Tonebase instructor Garrick Ohlsson was performing at Stanford's Bing Concert Hall in February, I immediately jumped on those tickets! He performed a dual piano concert with Kirill Gerstein. The dual pianos were magical! And Bing is a beautiful venue, for any of you close by. Pieces played include:
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Symphonic Dances, Op 45 (completed by 1720)FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866-1924)
Fantasia Contrappuntistica, BV 256b (1910/21)In April, Tiffany Poon came to San Francisco, her first visit to the west coast of the US. She was such a pleasure! She even gave autographs and selfies in the lobby after the concert.
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The last concert was a solo piano concert with Daniil Trifonov at the RCM Koerner Hall in Toronto on Feb 21, 2020. https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/event/royal-conservatory-music-daniil-trifonov/
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Today I went to hear a wonderful young pianist play at our very own Truro Hall for Cornwall. Recorded live on Radio 3 for the BBC Proms, we were blessed to see and listen to Alim Beisembayev.
He played: Scarlatti's Sonata in G major (k13), Sonata in C sharp minor (k247) and Sonata in C minor (k22). Then, Liszt's Transcendental Etudes No. 3, No 4 and No. 5. Then, Chopin's Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, op 35.
I loved every moment. Truro is such a small city, and we don't have many opportunities to hear such wonderful music live, so when we do it really is a BIG deal!
What a fabulous day!
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About last night... We had Yuja Wang in Oslo!! I've been looking forward to see her live for a very very long time, and finally I got to witness the spectacular virtuoso pianist. From excellent seating with clear eyes on her fingers, I must say she lived up to the very high expectations, and more so.
She has this aura of being in total dominance of the instrument, and she has a way of leaning in on the instrument that I've not seen before. It seems that her special way of maneuvering from side to side on the keyboard comes from those very high heels she plays the piano with. Her left foot switches back and forth from staying on the left pedal to support on the ground, to go behind the right foot when leaning to the left.
She played the Liszt piano concerto nr 1, and two encores; Carmen variations by Horowitz (and Bizet), and Gretchen Am Spinnrade by Liszt (and Schubert). All spectacular, but also sensitive with a very delicate touch.
I must also give huge credit to our fantastic orchestra The Oslo Philharmonic. They are a world-class orchestra, and we are so proud of them. And of course our brilliant Chief conductor Klaus M盲kel盲, 26 years old, and taking the world by storm.PS: They will perform the exact same program on The Proms this Friday (12.aug) in Royal Albert hall, so I guess there'll be possibilities for seeing it online.