i think thats her only redeeming quality. pianistically, i see other asian girls with the same amount of talent (or slightly more) as her all the time. shes just another pedestrian pianist. the fact that she plays ligeti isnt anything special, really. well, not anymore, at least.
when i hear her play i don’t hear the interesting ideas and musicality of chu fang huang for instance, but her technique is pretty amazing from the little i’ve seen. that’s partially the reason i’d like to hear this disc. and i don’t think it’s “amazing” that anyone plays ligeti. it’s not really a feat per se. any modestly talented pianist can play that stuff if they are willing to sacrifice the time.
heard some insane stories about her when she was a young prodigy at aspen, like memorizing Pag vars (brahms) in 3 days and shit like that. If that’s true, she’s just ridiculous.
However, she filled in for Berezovsky for the Tchaik 1 (god dammit) and it was the most boring playing I had witnessed in a good while.
We sure have come along way in the world of world-class pianists,
from Hoffman, Rachmaninoff, Schnabel, and Friedmann to Lang Lang, Yundi Li, Andras Schiff, and Alfred Brendel.
according to some chinese interviews she’s done, she has over 20 concertos in her rep and memorizes a new one in about 2-3 weeks. she does have a prodigious talent even if the music isn’t there (yet?)