I stumbled upon Yeol Eum Son performing Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” and I had to keep replaying it. Her phrasing, fluidity, nuances, palette of colors, and wide dynamic range all added up to a divinely inspired reading. On a physical level, she had flowing arms, supple wrists and breathed through phrases with rolling crests and varying densities. The playing was warm and passionate.
But words cannot truly express what transpired in Seoul Korea in this riveting encore performance.
Private piano teacher, recording artist, composer, piano finder, freelance writer, film maker, story teller: Grad of the NYC HS of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, NYU (Master of Arts) Studies with Lillian Freundlich and Ena Bronstein; Master classes with Murray Perahia and Oxana Yablonskaya. Studios in BERKELEY and EL CERRITO, California; Member, Music Teachers Assoc. of California, MTAC; Distance learning
at POWHOW: http://www.powhow.com/classes/shirley-kirsten and Skyped instruction available plus exchange videos: SKYPE ID, shirleypiano1 Contact me at: shirley_kirsten@yahoo.com OR http://www.youtube.com/arioso7 or at FACEBOOK: Shirley Smith Kirsten, http://facebook.com /shirley.kirsten TWITTER: http://twitter.com/arioso7
Private fund-raising for non-profits as pianist--Public Speaking re: piano teaching and creative approaches
I just discovered your website ~ it’s a treasure chest for anyone interested in the piano and piano music. I don’t know how you can even manage such an amazing blog!
I also found Yeol-Eum Son’s “Embraceable You” beautiful. Here are some other videos on YouTube I’ve found and thought you might enjoy watching them:
(1) Rachmaninoff’s Prelude op.23, n. 4 played by Lazar Berman & Grigory Sokolov. I really like John Browning’s interpretation, but it’s not on YouTube.
(2) Rach’s Prelude op 23, n. 6 played by Sergio Fiorentino and the real Joyce Hatto. One plays so fast and the other, slow and dry ~ I like both versions. (I say the “real Joyce Hatto” because she was knowingly or unknowingly involved in the great piano scam. In case you are not familiar with the story, here’s one link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSaGMaA3eA4, fascinating to watch.)
(3) Here are two non-piano videos because they play beautiful music. The first one is possibly the most beautiful singing of Schubert’s Ave Maria. The second video features the most popular Brazilian choro song Carinhoso by Pixinguinha. I was able to obtain the score for the piano solo free through one of the sheet music exchange sites online.
I can’t seem to find the reply I sent you last night.. maybe it’s at the site. I’ve listened to Berman and Fiorentino–impeccably beautiful phrasing from both. I’ll have to go further and check out more of their postings. Yes, I am quite familiar with the Joyce Hatto epic and all the publicity at the time surrounding it in the NY Times, and elsewhere.
I wrote a blog that referenced her in a satirical manner.. having to do with one of my you tubes that suffered a synch problem (hands and music not together).. It looked like I was dubbing someone’s else’s C# minor Waltz. (Chopin)
Ave Maria is gorgeous..
Thanks for your kind feedback and for sharing your love of music through these attachments. SK
Hi Shirley,
I just discovered your website ~ it’s a treasure chest for anyone interested in the piano and piano music. I don’t know how you can even manage such an amazing blog!
I also found Yeol-Eum Son’s “Embraceable You” beautiful. Here are some other videos on YouTube I’ve found and thought you might enjoy watching them:
(1) Rachmaninoff’s Prelude op.23, n. 4 played by Lazar Berman & Grigory Sokolov. I really like John Browning’s interpretation, but it’s not on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBjR0MjiG-E
(2) Rach’s Prelude op 23, n. 6 played by Sergio Fiorentino and the real Joyce Hatto. One plays so fast and the other, slow and dry ~ I like both versions. (I say the “real Joyce Hatto” because she was knowingly or unknowingly involved in the great piano scam. In case you are not familiar with the story, here’s one link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSaGMaA3eA4, fascinating to watch.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06MN10j2Xg
(3) Here are two non-piano videos because they play beautiful music. The first one is possibly the most beautiful singing of Schubert’s Ave Maria. The second video features the most popular Brazilian choro song Carinhoso by Pixinguinha. I was able to obtain the score for the piano solo free through one of the sheet music exchange sites online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vp2y_Doe4w
[I am not putting my website down below because it's a spiritual blog, not one on music.]
Cheers,
David
I can’t seem to find the reply I sent you last night.. maybe it’s at the site. I’ve listened to Berman and Fiorentino–impeccably beautiful phrasing from both. I’ll have to go further and check out more of their postings. Yes, I am quite familiar with the Joyce Hatto epic and all the publicity at the time surrounding it in the NY Times, and elsewhere.
I wrote a blog that referenced her in a satirical manner.. having to do with one of my you tubes that suffered a synch problem (hands and music not together).. It looked like I was dubbing someone’s else’s C# minor Waltz. (Chopin)
Ave Maria is gorgeous..
Thanks for your kind feedback and for sharing your love of music through these attachments. SK