<p>ZHANG Yunling</p><p>She is a well trained young pianist. In the Etude it’s quite unusual to show Chopin’s accents so clearly, but it is acceptabel this way. Some moments are very good: When she shows an important harmony with a special energy or when she starts a phrase in a such a convincing way that we just have to follow how it continues. In general there could be more sense of drama (when we are playing fortissimo, we should exactly know why). The way she is playing the melody in the Nocturne would be perfectly right in a bigger hall, when we can listen from a certain distance. Here (in the DVD recording) we are listening from very close, maybe that’s why the single notes of the melody seems to be more “sitting” than “flying”. The sound balance in the middle section is something to think about. The right hand tremolo sonds a bit too “busy” and active, later the melodic polyphony of the longer notes in both hands could be clearer. What about the timing of the first 2 and the last 2 chords in the Scherzo? How long should the fermatas be in the beginning? I think not quite as long, because it should still be possible to feel the harmonic/melodic connection between them (the motiv sol-fa), which is important for the whole piece. And the ritenuto in the end of the piece should be “conducted”, not in a different time space.  Conducting is the best way to learn more about timing – also in the ritenuto place on the 2nd page.  I have a little different ideas about the voicing and rhythmic articulation on the 3rd and 4th page (like thumbs instead of 5th fingers, dialogues , syncopations). It’s a bad tradition to play the middle section very slowly. So I was happy th hear a reasonable tempo in this recording. It can still be less static. Sometimes it’s the perfect tempo that helps us to discover magic sounds. I suggest to try the original pedal in the bars before the middle section (breathing rests).</p>