Queen of the tutu

Well I am surprised just how many tutus there are out there on the piano stage.

First up was Aimi Kobayashi, a wonderfully musical prodigy from Japan. Such a natural, heart-warming, sunny talent.

But now battle has been joined by Abigail Sin, who shows staggering concentration and supple virtuosity in Dutilleux's taxing Sonata. She definitely deserves more listeners.

The Jury is out on the battle for Queen of the Tutu: Miss Sin - more uploads please!

Nikolai Kapustin

I have been listening widely to this amazing Russian composer. Jazz influenced, he studied with Russian pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser, and videos of Kapustin performing show that he amazing fluency and a biting rhythm. Over 100 opus numbers to his credit, hats off to him... Would love to know more about him, and how he survived all these years as a composer before being 'discovered' only recently.

His Concert Etude which I have been learning recently is tricky, but yields to practice.
There seems to be an inverse law, that pieces which sound difficult really do become easier the more you practice (Liszt, Kapustin), but pieces which sound easy (such as some Mozart and Bach) seem to become harder and harder!

Congratulations!

To my pupil Alla Garside, congratulations on winning a music scholarship at King Edward VI school! Keep up the good work!