The cat's pyjamas

Exquisite, quintessential French sensitivity in Faure, sung by Pierre Bernac accompanied at the piano by Poulenc.

 
French musical perfume in a jar!

Click here for the words in french and english:
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=3163

Me and Jo-chieh playing Percy Grainger duet on YouTube

 Country Gardens, recorded 19th May 2014 at my teaching studio in Tienmu, Taipei.

Scaramuzza, teacher of Argerich and Gelber

"Raw pasta is like overly tense fingers. So...it's no good. Nor is overcooked pasta!" Some great analogies from Scaramuzza, teacher of Martha Argerich and Leonardo Gelber. "Rhythmic clarity and accents are necessary to organize virtuoso passages, but not for cantabile (singing) phrases. Otherwise the singer becomes a drummer!"

Quoted in an interesting and free PhD dissertation about Scaramuzza, 

The Pedagogical Legacy of Vicente Scaramuzza: The Relationship Between Anatomy of the Hand, Tone Production, and Musical Goals
Marcelo G. Lian University of Nebraska-Lincoln, mglian@hotmail.com

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Congratulations to my (former) students!

Congratulations to my former students Emmy and Mike Huang on their recent successes in Southampton (UK)!

Emmy Huang came 1st place in the Chappell Challenge and also won a medal in the Baroque or Classical Junior Piano, 14 years and under class, Mike Huang won the Southampton Piano Teachers’ Challenge Cup, and the Whitwam Trophy, awarded to him for being the most promising junior pianist.

www.kes.hants.sch.uk/news-stories/creative-arts/southampton-music-festival

Bruno Leonardo Gelber

Bruno Leonardo Gelber - definitely one of the top ten pianists alive. He may bear a certain resemblance to the late Michael Jackson, but sadly Gelber suffered from polio as a child. However, he plays the piano like a classical piano God. If you have not heard him before, please listen to him on YouTube playing Chopin Sonata 2, or on the videos performing Rachmaninoff concerto 3 (which I heard him perform in London around 1980). Soul, passion and technical wizardry - awe-inspiring. His nearest comparisons would be the late Roberto Szidon, or Nelson Freire, or Martha Argerich, all also from South America, but perhaps overall out of the four my money would be on Bruno. He lives in Monte Carlo and judging from his photos has a taste for very natty shirts. Bruno - please come to perform in Taiwan! 10/10