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I don't think anyone here has mentioned that the Queen Elizabeth competition is taking place, and it can be watched either live or video-on-demand. The finals start tomorrow.

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

Doubt I'll have time to listen to the majority of it. I recognize a few names (Bozhanov, Huangci, {one of the many} Kims,) and I'm interested in hearing them. Any other recommendations?

-Daniel

there're some threads about it at:

(Piano Concerts, Recitals, and Competitions)
https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/12/1/Piano%20Concerts,%20Recitals,%20and%20.html

there's another site to watch live:

http://radio.klara.be/radio/10_kew.php

where they also conduct some after concert interviews, in German(?) however, and hope someone can translate.

Very nice, thanks for reminding me...

Thanks signa, for the tip about the other threads. I'm not sure I even knew that "Piano Concerts, Recitals, and Competitions" forum even existed.

They are a sub-forum in the Fun Stuff! Section... I am not sure it is the best place, but at least we know now...

WR - Thanks for posting this !! A very "user-friendly" website. Its unfortunate that so much attention is given to someone like Lang Lang when there are so many extremely gifted young artists in the world. These young performers are really quite amazing !!

Been watching it since the beginning, some very nice performance (I was so happy that Claire Huangci chose the 2nd Scriabin sonata...) Is there any place where people discuss about the performances ?

You can discuss them here if you wish !!

Just watching this now. Are there other competitions besides the QEC where the pianist plays solo material followed by a concerto(on the same program)?

From what I've listened to, I'm quite impressed with the high level of quality of so many of the contestants. A few semi-final performances that I particularly enjoyed were Claire Huangci, Denis Kozhukhin, Hannes Minnaar.

Huangci's Scriabin was great. Her Chopin was good, but I can't put my finger on why I feel there's a little bit of Chopin's "sparkle" (for lack of a better word) missing.

I was blown away by Kozhukhin. Never heard of him, but definitely someone I plan to follow. If you only listen to one of the performances, I'd recommend this one.

I also listened to Bozhanov. His interpretations were interesting, just as they were at the Cliburn. I thought Da Sol Kim's Waldstein was noteworthy, as I believe it's one of those pieces that's impossible to play well, and IMHO, very risky to program for a competition. Kim's Gaspard was also insanely mesmerizing. He has technique to spare...

Anyone listen to Nepomnyashchaya's performance? I don't advocate speed speed speed, but her Brahms seemed uninspired to me. I kept thinking "sounds like she's in a practice room..."

-Daniel

I mostly agree with you Ridicolosamente ; Huangci is definitly my favorite, but she sort of bribed me with her repertoire choice.
She will also play the Waldstein in the finals ; a much smarter move than playing it in the semi-finals I think. Obviously, had they not all been really good, I'd say it's quite a gamble to play it...
I also liked Park's Waldstein, and his Schubert yesterday was very good in my opinion...
Interestingly, Huangci and Kozhukhin will perform on the same day, and both will play the Prok2. There will definitly be blood.

Several of those that didn't make it to the finals felt a little "flat" ; Nepomnyashchaya, I remember her Brahms variation on Paganini, it was really dull and, well, flat.
I also remember being disappointed by Hitomi Maeyama ; I missed the first part of her solo recital and tuned in as she was playing Rachmaninov Moments : her n°3 (the supposedly Andante Cantabile, which was neither andante nor cantabile) was in my opinion terrible - I know people often "oversentimentalize" it, and while it's not overly profound, it has some very lush harmonies and a very lyrical melody, so it definitly has to sing. I really don't understand that performance.

But overall they're all really impressive, I'd give a lot to have the technique of any of them, and the musicality of a few

Can someone tell me what (Eastern US) the live competition begins today?

What's with the overhead shots of playing? For me that's a silly view.

all concerts this week starts at 14:00 EST (20:00 Brussels time).

Saw Huangci play at the Yamaha showroom in NYC in a small setting about four years ago. Her family was there. She played all romantics, and the big piece on her program was the Chopin 3rd Sonata. She also played some showy transcriptions. I was very impressed but felt she could benefit from putting the showpieces aside and working on some more serious stuff. She was about to start studying in Germany at that point, and it seems like it has paid off.

She also won the US Chopin Competition qualifier as far as I know ; so her Chopin better be top notch !

it's good to hear some rarely played concerti today: Saint Saens 5 and Prok 1 (which i never heard before). the conductor said to Sato after, "it's a little slow but superb." didn't know what it means.

Anyone catch Kyu Yeon Kim's Prokofiev concerto? The tempo of the 1st movement was slower than I think it should be, but after I got used to it I found it worked very well. I really liked what she did with the cadenza as well. She started slow, but brought out things in a very interesting way never heard before. Overall I enjoyed her concerto performance.

-Daniel

Prok 1 is what got me into the composer. It was on a massive compilation I bought a long time ago. Used to hate the piece, but it slowly grew on me. Now I love it and everything else he wrote. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to listen in to the QEC.

I'd like to think I called it.



-Daniel

Can anyone explain why Huangci did not win anything????

I am completely baffled by the results.

I received a report about Horowitzian's sign. He can't actually see that information about you, it's just information that gets passed along from your browser to whatever site you're looking at so the server knows how to handle the request.

That being said, the moderators CAN see the ip address you're posting from, and we can look up your location using a whois server:

http://ws.arin.net/whois/

A none Korean result by a likewise jury perhaps?

HAHAHAHA this place really is something else sometimes

The results make very little sense to me.. Sure, Kozhukhin was very good, but how in the world did Huangci not place..??!? Bozhanov's second is also beyond me. Rach2 is one of my favourite concertos EVER, but it just seemed to drag and as much as I hate to say this, it was a little tiresome to listen to. Also, I think Da Sol Kim deserved a lot more. I was completely mesmerized by Haydn especially. It was one of those "THIS is the answer I've been looking for" revelation moments...

I had flashbacks to Dong-Hyek Lim.

Not to pull this thread any further off topic, but thanks for doing that Kreisler. I will repeat. I ONLY see my own info when I view the sign.

Kreisler's comments about the moderators are spot on too.

just compare her Prok 2 with Denis's and you can tell why. her Beethoven was also boring.

That thing is highly disagreeable, Horowitzian.

You ought to take it off, turn it off, whatever.

No, I won't. It's a joke...and if it annoys certain people, well too bad.

I don't see what's funny. It's agressive and rude. You want to make people uncomfortable? Nice guy.

get back to QEC, that's a much better subject, don't you think, or is it already too long ago?

+1



Why should it make you uncomfortable? I can't see your info, but the webmasters/admins of EVERY SINGLE site you visit can see it, and what's more, they can determine where you live with a whois server as Kreisler pointed out. I guess you should get your butt off the internet if my sign makes you uncomfortable. Or use a VPN service.

If the mods/Frank say I can't use the sig, fine. But you aren't a mod or an admin, so quit telling me what to do.

Nice guy.



And mature.



Sure, you click on the thread to see what people have to say, and get this practical joke in bad taste thrown at you.

Look who's talking? But I digress.

I agree. I am a Huangci fan, and I think her Chopin was good, but not great. Her Waldstein was well-played as far as notes go, but no stellar performance, plus there was something un-Beethoven about her sound/tone quality IMO. Comparing Prok concertos, I thought Kim's was very memorable even if it wasn't perfect. Kozhukhin's was great. Huangci's was good, but IMO, just another "good" performance, like we get a hundred times a year.

And it seems many people had similar opinions about the Rach 3 performances, which could explain why none of them placed in the top 6 either.

-Daniel

This is really belated, but I finally got around to his Prokofiev 2nd concerto. If it weren't so good, I wouldn't bother posting anything about it, but it is extraordinary. It is musically so far beyond the usual 'check out my cadenza' competition performance of this music (or even most professional performances) that it puts almost all of them to shame. I haven't heard anyone play this piece with such commitment and musical character in many years, probably since I heard an absolutely demonic live performance by Horacio Gutierrez on a radio broadcast, and I think that was at least twenty years ago.

One of the great things about watching this performance (especially after watching some others from the same competition) is that you can sense how musically energized some members of the orchestra are by what the soloist is doing. They seem to be involved in really making music with this guy, rather than just accompanying yet another competitor. I love it.

It's still online until September, in case anyone is interested.