<p>ZHANG Yunling</p><p>Chopin Op/10/12: Nocturne Op. 15/1 (F major); 1st Scherzo</p><p>Etude was very assured and technically strong. RH strong – sounding just a little vertical, and needing better shape, though overall there is a strong sense of energy. Diminuendo on last page could have been much better handled, both in control of touch and pedal. LH can sound too marked on each beat (Especially at start and on final page. Accents should be more musically in context.)</p><p>Nocturne was very proficient playing, but lacks sympathetic treatment of the beauty in the melody, which was somewhat stilted and syllabic. Middle section had the right sense of drive - RH somewhat too prominent. Careful but not yet really idiomatic in style.</p><p>Scherzo was technically accomplished, and played with some temperament. With so many repetitions in this piece, try to do more to give some variety - there is scope for different voicing and for variation in pedalling. (And the delay on each of the three LH starts at beginning at the return to tempo (3rd page?) was so exactly the same every time.) Less good was the B major section, which tended to have misjudged - or unaware - small stops at end of most bars. This sounded very pedestrian, lacking a sense of long phase lines. Coda rather metronomical and stilted. </p><p>As yet, a capable pianist, but not yet one with a clear identity to her music making.</p>