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Joined: May 2001
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Are we going to need a Chopin Competition Megathread like we had for the 2013 Cliburn? When the time comes, sure.
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Joined: Aug 2012
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From the ones I listened to Yuliya Yermalayeva and Dmitry Shishkin were much to my taste. There were others I liked a lot but the names have escaped my mind...
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Joined: May 2001
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BTW, SWSNBN, had reached Stage III back in the 2010 competition.
Now, it is time for her to put her hat in front of her, and rethink her recent style since 2013.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1,746
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Apparently Ms. Dong didn't make the final cut. Interesting. Yes. I'm sorry to see that, and surprised but not shocked. I know that many people will nod in approval. I weep. 
- Schimmel Upright
- Kawai VPC-1 with Pianoteq
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Joined: Nov 2005
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OP
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I do, quite honestly. I really hoped she would go through.
Last edited by Mati; 04/27/15 01:24 PM.
Mateusz Papiernik https://maticomp.net"One man can make a difference" - Wilton Knight Kawai CN21 (digital), Henryk Yamayuri Kawai NX-40 (grand)
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Joined: May 2001
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I do, quite honestly. I really hoped she would go through. Okay. I listened to her session once more. This time only to the audio (so that I could disregard the theatrics). Her Nocturne, Mazurka and to some extent Scherzo, generally suffer from divided phrases. This is a habit some pianists (probably without being aware) employ, when they try to play expressive and impressive. But trying to emphasize every line, divides the phrases, when they shouldn't and disrupts the continuity of the music. On the technical side, almost all works suffered from it on differing levels. Op.10 no.1 had a number of slips and wrong notes and some cheating by taking a note with the left hand. Op. 25 no.6 was on the slow side but still had slips and was not convincing at all. Op. 25 no.10, again on the slow side, and generally over pedaled. The cadence in the op.27 no.2 nocturne had a slip. The Scherzo 4 was too on the slow side. Interpretatively, there were some wrong accents and I said before with to much emphasis on some notes it lost its light character. Overall, I was not surprised that she did not advance.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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I missed that cheat in Op 10-1! I will have to try it.  Your points make sense and I can hear the technical deficiencies but still, I like how she plays. I also liked Kanade Tsurusawa's performance whose approach may be more in line with the tradition and technically proficient.
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- Kawai VPC-1 with Pianoteq
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Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 10
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This is my first post. I am a piano teacher. I wanted to comment on the competition and Fei Fei Dong. I followed closely the Chopin 2010 competition and Cliburn 2013 competition. I was impressed some of Fei Fei Dong's playing at those times. I listened again to her playing the Chopin Rondo, very idiomatic, sparkling. I liked her Op. 22, and as I recall her waltz was good too. I don't remember having a negative impression. She looked like she was enjoying playing. I heard some of Chopin Preludes from the Cliburn, she played B flat minor prelude fast enough.
I recall from the Cliburn that the Liszt Sonata was somewhat slower than usually taken, but it had its moments. However, the Beethoven 4th concerto was very slow.
Mark H.
I listened her performances at the preliminaries, I was going to comment on it, but you beat me to it.
Yes, the tempos as a whole were slow, and the technical slips were obvious. The Nocturne had a labored quality at that tempo, and every nuance was dragged out. The Op. 10, 1 began to have slips toward the beginning, and never really recovered. She played the Op. 10, 1, the Scherzo, and the Etude op. 25, 6, at the Chopin Competition in 2010, they are on youtube, and she played them all better then. Not fast, but more assured, and not so labored.
She can play Chopin well, and fast, but she didn't do it this time. There are so many playing the same pieces faster and more accurately, that at a competition if you are going that slow you are expected to hit the right notes. Her playing lacked flow.
Did anyone else from the Chopin Competition 2010 try out this year? Did they make it or not?
Is it a mistake to try out again? Dong made it so far in the Chopin and Cliburn that if she didn't make it through the preliminaries it looks like a setback. The judges must know she was in it before, and maybe it is not an advantage.
I heard some performances from Aimi Kobayashi, Annie Zhou, both child prodigies, and have many videos on youtube already. They made it. Tiffany Poon, and George Li, also child prodigies.
On the whole I was very impressed the quality of the playing.
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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This is my first post. I am a piano teacher. I wanted to comment on the competition and Fei Fei Dong. I followed closely the Chopin 2010 competition and Cliburn 2013 competition. I was impressed some of Fei Fei Dong's playing at those times. I listened again to her playing the Chopin Rondo, very idiomatic, sparkling. I liked her Op. 22, and as I recall her waltz was good too. I don't remember having a negative impression. She looked like she was enjoying playing. I heard some of Chopin Preludes from the Cliburn, she played B flat minor prelude fast enough.
I recall from the Cliburn that the Liszt Sonata was somewhat slower than usually taken, but it had its moments. However, the Beethoven 4th concerto was very slow.
Mark H.
I listened her performances at the preliminaries, I was going to comment on it, but you beat me to it.
Yes, the tempos as a whole were slow, and the technical slips were obvious. The Nocturne had a labored quality at that tempo, and every nuance was dragged out. The Op. 10, 1 began to have slips toward the beginning, and never really recovered. She played the Op. 10, 1, the Scherzo, and the Etude op. 25, 6, at the Chopin Competition in 2010, they are on youtube, and she played them all better then. Not fast, but more assured, and not so labored.
She can play Chopin well, and fast, but she didn't do it this time. There are so many playing the same pieces faster and more accurately, that at a competition if you are going that slow you are expected to hit the right notes. Her playing lacked flow.
Did anyone else from the Chopin Competition 2010 try out this year? Did they make it or not?
Is it a mistake to try out again? Dong made it so far in the Chopin and Cliburn that if she didn't make it through the preliminaries it looks like a setback. The judges must know she was in it before, and maybe it is not an advantage.
I heard some performances from Aimi Kobayashi, Annie Zhou, both child prodigies, and have many videos on youtube already. They made it. Tiffany Poon, and George Li, also child prodigies.
On the whole I was very impressed the quality of the playing. Mark -- Welcome to the site, and thank you for such a great first post. This is very interesting, and very helpful in understanding the decision. I think it is often a negative indication when someone plays the same pieces when returning to a competition -- and if he/she plays them worse, it is awful.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 282
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64. Ms Natalie Schwamová (Czech Republic) Just listened to her performance. Wow... and she is not even 16 years old yet. Really?? Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gduQV79M44U
Last edited by Midlife_Piano; 04/28/15 10:01 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 10
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I listened to Fei Fei Dong's preliminaries again. The Scherzo had some fast passages. She tends on the lyrical portions to drag the tempo down. Her playing lacked the sparkle I have heard before. I think what did her in is the Op. 10, no.1 Etude. Too many mistakes. The judges might have heard 20 note-perfect performances from other contestants. She might have thought she had a chance of winning this time. I don't notice any other contestants from 2010 trying out again. (?)
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Joined: May 2001
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Rina Sudo comes to my mind from 2010 competition. She retried and qualified this year too.
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Joined: Jul 2013
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I found her YouTube channel a while ago and have been amazed ever since!
Everyday is a great day.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 91
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I still remember when Blechacz won and all my Polish friends were so excited... He even looks like Chopin. Hard to beat him.
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 759
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I'm shocked about Ms. Dong not qualifying, given her very high level of playing in 2010.
I actually didn't have a problem with her tempo in the Nocturne Op. 27. Maybe it could have been a hair or two faster. However, her butt came off the bench, which is unnecessary. Twice! The butt does not need to become airborne for this piece. Unless you are so sweaty you need to get a breeze going under there. But four minutes into your recital, playing this slowly, your butt should not be sweating that heavily.
The problem with her recital wasn't just the mistakes, it was that everything was lackluster.
I was highly critical of some of her performances at the Cliburn, but at the 2010 Chopin I thought she did superbly. Her problems at the Cliburn were not mere technical issues, but technical problems paired with problems of interpretation. Phrasings, rhythm, accents and emphases, there were so many points where these were just askew. Then when she made it through to the concerto round it seemed like she was not prepared. It was weird. It was as if she had just learned those concertos...2 weeks prior or something.
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Joined: May 2013
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Watching more of the eliminacje round. Aimi Kobayashi. She is coming off the bench so much, a third of her recital is being played standing. By God's bones, I cannot imagine a Rubinstein, a Horowitz, an Argerich levitating from the bench like this! It must be so distracting for the audience.
More importantly, what are those nuggets affixed to the neckline and straps of her gown? Peppermint and cinnamon Christmas bonbons? Bobbins wound with thread?
I understand this youngun is a Youtube sensation. I had never heard her play before. Clearly she arouses strong positives and negatives, with 215 thumbs up and 52 thumbs down. She is also an actress who in 2011 "made her debut in the Japanese film Sleep..."
I listened to Osokins, who, it turns out, is a different Osokins than the one who made the Rubinstein finals and the Dublin finals. Must be a brother.
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Joined: Sep 2009
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my favorite is Qi Kong what a talented man plays chopin like old legends
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