yay! liszt piano concerto no.2 rocks! but i only managed to cut it off at 1:34 cos it's already 2+ MB. nowhere else to cut to fit into 3MB limit unless i cut it in the middle of some phrase. which is "bleargh"...

the two pianofest concerts i went to were superb! gyorgy sandor was good... considering his age and his injured left hand. imagine being 92 and still performing with a bandaged hand! i dun think i can even manage to play slow passages, much less play running passages like him. okay la, some were too muddy and stuff but it's quite impressive he actually managed to run with a bandaged hand. he left quite an impression when he walked slowly on stage taking all the time in the world, oblivious to the audience. it's like he's sitting down at the piano to play for his own enjoyment. and his patience with the interview... people asking stupid questions and he gives such long answers that he doesn't sound irritated. and a bunch of kids ran up to him at the autograph session and asked him how to pronounce his name. "geeeorge... my name is geeeorge." hahaha so cute! i just started smiling! it just happens when i see curious little kids questioning patient old people. so sweet. the only bad thing was that he spoke so softly during the interview i think only one-third of the people in the concert hall could catch what he was saying.

paul badura-skoda was even better. he's very engaging and i think i see what my teacher calls class... the way he walks in and sits down and play. i guess he's younger than sandor so he's more energetic? really engaging... even with all the bad commments about how mozart's fantasy is a boring work, i still found it a little interesting. no need to mention that he played better than sandor... considering he's younger and not injured, it's already expected that he should fare better. but of cos all pianists make mistakes, even the professionals. what was really professional is that he can mangage to continue normally after his mistakes, play as if nothing happened and continue to engage the listener. if i made a mistake... everything will go downhill (though not much cos the hill won't be very high... maybe i should say "go down-slope"?) i will be distracted by the mistake, i will get nervous (what if the next one goes wrong too?!), and i'd be too cautious to sound nice.

anyway, thanx to the mepers for the cake and the pianist! =)