so, Ching-Yun Hu. this is the pianist i heard play at the Yamaha Artist's Studio in Manhattan last week, April 5th. she was amazing. she's 24, she's from Taipei, and has won so many awards it's unbelievable. at her recital last week, there were maybe 50 people in attendance, and i sat in the second row, close enough to see how she moves when she plays. and this, for me, was a real treat. finally, the things my piano teacher has been trying to instill in me were made real for me to see with my own eyes. she's like a ballerina at the piano. sometimes moved by the music and her expression, and sometimes obviously just having fun with a Beethoven variation, and moving so beautifully. now i know what to aim for :)her programme included El Amor y la Muerte by Granados. that was my favorite. i showed the programme to my piano teacher last weekend, and when she saw the Granados piece listed, she said that it's something i could play now if i wanted to. i almost melted... another of my favorites in her programme that night were the Beethoven Variations in c minor, WoO 80. Beethoven was just a genius, and Ching-Yu did him justice that night.
i kind of missed the rest of her programme, as i was concentrating really hard on not coughing. i'd been sick since the previous weekend and, although the fever was almost completely gone, the cough was just settling in, and the Ricola cough drops i snagged from Carnegie Hall earlier in the week did not help at all...
