http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-QxZQIO14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgp2a2M3LF0

Recorded live at a recital.

Bravo! You play beautifully. Thanks for giving us a front row seat.

That was just outstanding! The scherzo was exciting. Thanks for sharing

Wow... You are professional, right?

WOW......just got done listening to the Chopin.
I put a comment on the video.....here's a copy/paste from it:
.....This is TERRIFIC!! Sounds not merely professional, but excellent professional. Maybe it also helps that my wife and I just happened to hear a BAD performance of the piece this evening, and so this is a RELIEF!! :-)
This has it all: Great technique and accuracy, clearly well planned, yet with a spontaneous and personal feel. One can even forget how commonplace this piece is because of the freshness of this playing.
A real pleasure!

BTW.......WHO is this "Max" guy? Someone you know?

I sure HOPE he's a professional, or else I'm not even an amateur.

.....and now I just listened to the Haydn.
Again here's a copy/paste from what I put on the video:

Just heard the Chopin 2nd Scherzo and was eager to hear how he does with this other style, and guess what -- it's just as special. This guy is amazing!!
And BTW this is a relatively uncommon Haydn sonata, isn't it? I was completely unfamiliar with it.

P.S. I assume he IS a pro, or at least a budding pro. He's too good not to be.
But, BECAUSE he's so good let's look for *something* to criticize.
Let's split hairs.

The only thing I can come up with is......Maybe the Haydn could have had more dynamic range on the LOW side -- i.e. softer in the soft sections.
But not necessarily......I'm just reaching.

Let me get this straight - you're 11 and joined PW 5 1/2 years ago?

Am I missing something here......

Neither factoid in there is close.

Not you, Max.

OK......fair enough.
(I wondered because that post was labeled as being to 'me')

Assuming he's just 11, imagine what he could be some day.
Heck, it's hard to imagine even what he is right now.

P.S. I'm assuming that the person who posted isn't he. So, it doesn't mean we have a member who joined when he was 5 1/2.
{edit: I see that the poster actually joined 7 1/2 years ago, which would mean that if it's Max, he was 3 1/2)}

A bit of post viewing and I get it. James is taking member recordings literally. It's his recording, not him playing. Still, pretty big 11 year old. To be fair though, a prodigy if I've ever heard one. The Chopin is not easy.

Wow.
Imagine playing this Scherzo at 11.
And extremely well too!
Bravo!

I assumed there was at least some personal connection between him and the pianist, but yes -- I see that it could have been just a linguistic misunderstanding.

Ambiguous phrases can be cool.
I mean, it's too bad when things aren't clear, but it's also sometimes hilarious.
Here's the one that's sometimes given as an example:
"Visiting relatives can be a nuisance."

Just got back from a long trip and saw the reply posts/comments. My sincere thanks to all of you who watched, and those who commented with kind & encouraging words on Max’s playing.

1. I am James (a really old and balding guy), and Max, the 11-year old in the video, is my son – hope this clarifies all confusions regarding identity.

2. Max is not a “pro” (yet) but just a piano student. By definition a pro is a pianist who makes a living (or at least draws a large portion of his income) by performing. And he is too young to know whether he wants to be a professional pianist yet.

3. Max started to learn to study piano playing at the age of four and half – so he has been playing the piano for a while now. He is NOT one of those exceptionally talented/gift “prodigies”. In fact he had weak fingers, uneven touch, and other problems which he struggled for a long while. He does work hard to overcome his weaknesses, and seems to be succeeding.

4. The Haydn sonata is the Hobs 41 XVI: 41, movement 1 – kind of rare.

5. As a newly acquired hobby I enjoy taking audio and video of Max playing the piano. I have been adding increasingly better equipment on both audio side and video side. However I seem to always mess up something when I record him playing piano. The last two video recordings the video was out of focus – I used everything manual but it was too dark for me to see the focus.

6. I have started uploading my recordings of Max only recently (Sept 09). Will continue to record and upload in the next couple of months, particularly now encouraged by the largely positively comments. Hope I do not mess up again though.

Thanks again for watching.

PS:

My previously attempt to record Max playing piano to be shared on this forum was a total mess-up: I took both video recording and still shots at Ori’s party on 13 Sept 09, only to find out that I had forgotten to put a memory card in the camcorder I was using. Thanks again Ori & Rebecca for your hospitality though.

Cool -- there IS a personal connection, as I had surmised.
(I'd say "son" is a pretty personal connection.) :-)

P.S. Your son is BEYOND FABULOUS.
His playing would be superb for someone of ANY age, and for a kid of 11, he's other-worldly.

And I have to respectfully disagree with you on one thing: He most definitely IS exceptionally talented and prodigious.
Maybe you've come across some other kids that you thought had superior gifts, but all things considered, I'm not sure how possible that is.

Which Prokofiev Sonata does he play in one of the other videos at his site?

Prokofiev Sonata #4, mvt. 3

James, your son is extraordinary. Very very special. While his technique is exceptional for someone his age, it is his interpretive ability that astonishes me. His sense of the structure of the compositions reminds me a little of Brendel. And at age 11! I eagerly await more videos.

I agree -- very well said.
That's what made me wonder if James is being overly modest in saying his son is "not one of those exceptionally talented/gifted prodigies."

Mark and Gutenberg,

Thank you both very much for your kind words and lavish praise. Perhaps I need to explain a bit what I said bout Max not being talented and gifted, by offering some background.

We have two boys, the oldest is already in college. The process of their learning to play the piano is a learning and humbling process for me as well.

My oldest boy is indeed exceptionally gifted/talented musically and particularly well endowed for piano playing: he has very powerful, fast, and most importantly EVEN fingers, very sensitive ears, and is an exceptionally quick learner. I can recall the first time he sat down at the piano, his scales and arpeggio sounded so good that others would take years to achieve! And he can learn a new piece of music in minutes as opposed to hours and hours that others normally do. Then he will say “I am done with this piece; it sounds perfect”, and refuses to practice more. The problem is that on stages (recitals and competitions) he often forgets his music, simply because he has not practiced enough. Based on his end results, nobody will believe he is gifted & talented at all. His gift and talent actually become his biggest burden in achieving better end results.

Conversely Max is born with weak and uneven fingers, weak and thin arms, and thin bone structure in general. Piano-wise he is “ordinary” in every way, and needs to practice a lot in order to make any progress. The only gift he has, if I can call it gift, is his natural tendency to work hard. And the end results simply reflect his efforts and belie his in-born weaknesses. Max is definitely the slow Tortoise as compared to his brother who is the Hare.
_____________________________________________________________________________
PS: I re-read some older posts regarding identity, and would like offer some explanation. For those of us who do not know, James Maxwell was a Scottish theoretical physicist. Among his achievements, he predicted, using math equations alone, the existence of electromagnetic fields and that they could travel through vacuum in the form of waves (incidentally, they have many similarities with piano acoustics waves). In honor of the greatest physicist mankind has ever had (at least in my books as I use/obey his equations every day in my daytime job), I took “James” as my middle name, and “Maxwell” as my younger son’s first name. By the way, can you guess my oldest son’s name (hint: the physicist’s full name was James Clerk Maxwell).

For those of us interested in more details about James Maxwell, here is the Wiki’s article about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell Quote: “His contributions to the science are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein”

If Max is the "slow hare" in the family I really want to hear the other kid.... I have never heard an 11 year old play with such mastery.

James, I agree with what others have said here... your son Max is beyond exceptional.

Amazing!

Exquisite!!

Bravo!

I once heard Pollini play the Scherzo as the conclusion to a recital....after playing all 24 Chopon Etudes.

For your inspiration here are some performances I like a lot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alGaVou6lfk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XaQyAh4Yqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzjRfwPRcc