Sunday, May 22, 2005

A little of this, a little of that - Cliburn Chatter

A round-up of highlights from this morning's chatter generated by the Van Cliburn Competition. No real big surprises --least not here.

Of WTB's favorites to watch: Franceschetti's turn at the keyboard was a highlight for many. Confident and warm playing. But not extraordinary on balance. Conventional Wisdom: He'll advance to the semi-finals. We agree, but still find his playing erratic. Cabassi gave a commanding performance and he's still our favorite to win this thing.

Happy to report there was indeed some buzz for Stephen Beus who, despite a plodding start, managed to light some fires with his performance of Barber's Piano Sonata and to ought to make it to the next round. We hope he does.

You can find more about Beus via "From the Top here ("From the Top" is hosted by Chris O'Riley, see prev. post). Beus, who is a Mormon served on a church mission abroad and the break from full-time practice didn't hurt him a bit. Following the From the Top link, you can hear him give a very nice performance of the fugue from Barber's Piano Sonata recorded for From the Top

A pleasant surprise: Soyeon Lee, who reportedly enjoys pilates and power shopping. More about her here. Other surprises of a sort: Alexei Grynyuk managed to pull-off a respectable performance, at minimum he managed to keep himself from sticking his tongue out while playing. On the other hand, Elizabeth Joy Roe was described as appearing to be in constant torment. Her playing was reportedly pinched sounding. Whatever. Our auditors guess: Grynyuk and Roe are done.

Thus far WTB expects Franschetti, Beus, and Cabassi to continue on...

But ya just never know.. Stay tuned.

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