A "first-class talent" (Philadelphia Inquirer) possessing a "superstar quality" (Jerusalem Post), Taiwanese American pianist Charlotte Hu 胡瀞云 (formerly known as Ching-Yun Hu) has built an illustrious career as a soloist, educator, and entrepreneur. Winner of top prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition, she's been praised by audiences and critics across the globe for dazzling virtuosity and magnetic stage presence.
Upcoming album, LISZT METAMORPHOSIS, will be released worldwide by PENTATONE on July 19, 2024.
www.charlottehu.com
Write to Charlotte: charlotte@charlottehu.com For all professional inquiries: mia@charlottehu.com
Good controlled performance. I first heard this played by Van Cliburn in Ostend in 1959. I wanted to play it myself but never got a good sound that I blamed on not having the large hands of Prokofiev or Cliburn. You have destroyed my excuse.
Thank you for your kind words, Robert! I'm glad you enjoyed the performance. It's incredible to hear that you first heard this piece played by Van Cliburn in Ostend in 1959!
@@charlottehupianist One other memory of the Kursaal Oostende. We were on holiday. I was not wearing a tie. I had to hire a tie to be allowed in to hear the concert. The movement of the sonata I really struggled with was the second - those big jump down arpeggios for the left hand. The third movement waltz is such a delight.
Dear Maestra Sister Charlotte, your performance of Widmung brings tears to my eyes and chills up and down my neck and back. Thank you for sharing your talent, augmented by your hard work and study, with us!!! I will look for your Liszt album. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💖💖💖💖💖
Indeed, I could give a parallel life story, especially Liszt transcriptions which were truly a psychedelic experience for me. Odd resonance between me, an old western man, and you a young oriental woman. The Liszt resonance, I always felt as if I was talking to Liszt when playing his music. I will certainly pre-order. Best wishes.
Thank you so much for supporting my new album! Liszt truly brings out the emotional and spiritual resonance in both listeners and performers. I feel so fortunate to be able to perform these works!
Thank goodness for Liszt Transcriptions, that over a seven year period he gave over a thousand concerts, traveling through every hamlet in Europe and Russia, performing everything from Bach to Chopin, to those who never had the opportunity to go to a concert or see a Opera.
What a pleasure to hear this performance with no over the top expression. From the many things I have read by and on Liszt I think this would have been his style. Sigh ❤
Amazingly lovely performance!!! Your loving, warm expression really got to my heart!!! Fantastic playing!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💖💖💖💖💖
Beautiful. People often use Liszt for display and miss the music. Even via RU-vid it was a crisp, clear rendering where I could hear every note. Nice balance in rubato.
Thank you, Robert! I completely agree. Liszt's artistry goes far beyond his virtuosity. This work truly resonates with me. While seldom performed, it is the most nuanced and emotionally powerful piece in the set.
Thanks so much for sharing this, I just tried this on all my difficult passage work and it is solving almost all my technical issues that I’ve had for years!!! This is so life-changing for me and my musical career, and I’ve never played with such ease, relaxation and speed. I can’t thank you enough!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
After watching carefully, I suspect that my hands are about the same size as Ching-Yun's. She says that she can play a 10th, but pay attention to how she achieves that. Her hands are completely flat, wrists level with the keyboard, fingertips carefully catching the edge of the keys. This is not the same as your average-to-large-handed pianist, being able to casually plop their hand down on a 10th from above. I don't have 180 degree flexibility in my hands. If I did, I suspect that I would also be able to reach a 10th. With my current level of flexibility, I can comfortably play octaves from the edge of the keys but not from straight above. I can also reach an open 9th from black-black or white-white in the left hand only. I learned to play the piano as a small child and took lessons for 11 years. My teacher selected my repertoire very carefully as I grew to ensure that I was never forcing my hands into positions that they were not ready for. Thanks to her, I never felt frustrated or held back by my small hands and I actually loved playing pieces with large chords, when I was finally allowed to try them. I stopped playing after highschool. When I came back to the instrument 15 years later, I finally appreciated how flexible and strong my hands had been. The first time that I tried to play again, I could barely reach an octave, I had lost all of my 8th chords, and the 7th chords were extremely uncomfortable. If I had been an adult, learning the piano for the first time, I would probably have believed that I could barely reach an open octave, and that was never going to change. I wasn't a beginner though and I knew what I had previously been capable of. Regaining my reach was a process that took about 8 months of daily stretching, and relaxation exercises, targeting progressively more difficult chords. I still can't play 9ths most of the time, that is probably not going to change. But I can comfortably handle everything in my octave span without fatigue or strain, which allows my little hands to function on the same level as the hands of much larger pianists.
10:06 Can I please get a fingering that you used here? (ToT) I am struggling so bad right there... Also the next 10:34 part too.. if you don't bother.. thanks (／。＼)
What if clothing came in only one size? You should *not* have to mutilate your body to get into a tall person's clothes. Stretching to fit a keyboard is like stretching your hands to wear the gloves of a giant.
You helped me pass a very hard exam for Kantor in Germany. Key was to HIDE MY FLAWS. You could not formulate this better! THanks a lot . I failed once in the entrance exam at the MDW in Viena at the piano and never got right why i did totally break down in the Chopin Etude. It was this: I was not humble about my limits and the fact that we ALWAYS play worse live, unless we played the piece many times live! That piece i did not. I was attached to the "beauty" and expression of the programm. But this time i passed the exam because my program was JUST ENOUGH to be played FLAWLESS and just keep and hold the opnion of the comission, that was already high because of my CV. . While others would probably do mistakes (as I did in the MDW).
