<p>2 JI Yusen</p><p>Hard to believe that he is only 12 years old. Certainly a real talent! But we have to judge THIS performance of THESE pieces.</p><p>In the Etude there are excellent moments in the beginning, some of the most difficult places are even the best, then he seems to get a little tired, and so the performance isn’t as controlled as it should be. But I can already imagine, how well he will play this etude in a few years from now. My advice: he should listen better to the melodic connection of the bass octaves which sound a little seperate now and practise the piece reducing it to a simple choral. This would give him a better feeling and understanding for the harmonies. At this age it’s a good time to start studying theory of music and to do lot of ear training.</p><p>The Nocturne is a bit too “pesante”. This should be a more melancholic espressivo. The left hand should be more even, false accents should be avoided, we don’t want to feel the barlines. I think there is too much weight of the arm in single notes. Even in octaves I suggest to use more the energy of the fingers than of the arm, if the music is quite slow, not loud and molto cantibile.</p><p>Debussy is too virtuosic for my ears, too exciting, the Prelude too similar to the Toccata. We have to find a solution for the pedal point (la) in the beginning of the prelude. Actually it should be a longer pedal. The Sarabande starts too slowly. Grave, but with elegance, and the typical character of a Sarabande (the second beat!), this is what we have to keep in mind. The Toccata can be fast, although it’s only vif, not really presto. Here it’s too fast, just too difficult to control.</p>