| It's amazing how much the human mind remembers. Reminiscing past memories when flipping through my no-proper-cover-label (aka burned) CD collection: Vienna 2002
TOSCA...!!! Everyone hating it except for me...Turandot was great too, though; wandering aimlessly in Viennese subway; getting drunk (not me of course...hehe); Subway in Vienna is bad, McDonalds have interesting burgers, and Hageen Daz is fabulous; the music store - hung in there for hours....bought the thick pack of manuscript paper that still remains a thick pack. BUTI - Tanglewood 2003
Candide - so genuinely Bernstein - incredible lyricism, he should have been a "real Classical" composer; kudos to all the Winds/Brass! Kakadu - bird calls! whee - we really do sound like birds of Australia; Sculthorpe book...that I never finished. Tchaikovsky 5th - excruciating last movement when my arms were about to break off; lovely chord progression of intro to second movement, followed by heartbreaking horn solo. Dissing the first conductor - who was "like a grasshopper" (I did not say that) Antinou - horns getting beaten up hard by conductor; muted trumpet tone is amazing Sibelius 1st - 4th movement, 2nd theme - WOW! Mahler 1st - fly off to fairy-tale-land; clever V-I symbolism Nachtlied - Schumann, master of deceptive cadences! Choir + full orchestra = nifty stuff, especially when the voices overpowers the orch. West Side Story - 2003
again, Bernstein at his very best - incredibly genius ensemble writing; pushing buttons and playing on fake keyboard; wearing cool headsets with microphones; power of music in a musical - envy those who sing! not getting a real spot on the program; one of the most gratifying experiences of my life I'll say. St. Matthew Passion
Bach is just amazing - he's like god (and I don't even believe in god); b-day present from Peter Sun....wonder where he is now.... Fantasie in f minor for piano four hands
Anchie - who never played it with me, going crazy over 4th movt, fugue-like passage - it's like I'm melting all over again; Flach - who finally played it with me over CNY break - funny, "Schubert rolling in grave and stabing us in the heart" - other piano four hands sight reading session - decrepit attempts: me, always playing in a key other than the right one; Flach, always playing in the wrong clef. "should've been recorded and called "Biggest Joke of Century." Spotlight CD
Oh, the 7 hrs in that room playing "Andante et Rondo" for a billion times. Editing was the solution...Jacqueline's "this is not jazz" to Mike Yang's oh-so-swung eigth notes. Trout - stealing cello out of TAS without permission; more editing; cutting piece in half (can't believe we did that); fishermen outfit...on...stage... Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23
2002 Winter Festival - with Frances!...because Anchie ditched me! but Frances was wonderful! my um...last solo piano performance; Second movement: GORGEOUS! Beethoven - Waldstein Piano Sonata
Anchie...ha...ha...my "why does this sound so sycopated...?"; decrepit sight reading because I suck and keep on playing in the wrong key; can't breathe...after cracking up for a full 30 minutes. Beethoven piano sonatas in general
incredible writing - Mr A once lent me his "Stuart and sons" collection of ALL Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos; I had them for 4 months, listened to them all several times, and finally felt bad about burning them, so I didn't. And now I regret it.... Yo Yo Ma's Obligado Brazil CD
actually very interesting combinations of styles - very good background music for a restaurante i think; was also my random gift to Flach; also another copy as my random gift to myself; and finally getting yet ANOTHER copy from Stephanie Leuders as another random gift. hehe Debussy - Cello Sonata
Oh what can I say about this one...except Flach faked those triplets! brings back memories of how hard he worked on the Prokofiev...and then the Shostakovich...and now I feel bad... Hindemith - Solo Cello Sonata
Winter break "solo meetings" with Reeves - which we never really accomplished anything; IASAS 2004 honors recital - Reeves thought I'd cry since octet didn't get to play and made Mr A say the most wonderfully-spoken encouragement I've ever heard, which goes something like, "you have achieved as a musician what people achieve at age 30, but people are not familar with the solo side of you, and now it's your moment to show it to everyone". it wasn't really the "crowning moment" but a performance I am proud of. Concertante - Nov 2003
an experience I'll never forget - conducting my piece seriously for the first time; being so naively confident about certain things and then learning helpful rehearsal techniques to prove myself wrong; throwing the baton (accidentally) into the pool of second violins...I think I hit Mike Wei? Feeling of having control standing on that podium - especially getting to conduct Reeves. hehe. but I actually think I wasn't ready for the 1 semester of rehearsing with limited blocks of time and then conducting publically in a performance - too young and naive....but nonetheless, it went better than expected - except the 2 people that I wanted to be in the audience to support me weren't there... Octet - IASAS 2004
3 weeks of brain-burning to suck a string octet out of me - composed for the sole purpose of IASAS which I could have not accepted...but glad I did anyway. the title was not perfect, but good enough; another successful performance after grueling behind-the-scenes work: actually quite stressful but not too bad having to plan rehearsals and stuff; string talk between me and Reeves; anger and disappointment at IASAS KL for messing up because we deserved to be on stage - every person, not just me. but then, was glad that the audjudication was recorded very nicely, just with a lot of non-essential creaking of chairs; again, i wasn't ready to do this either - too inexperienced; but it did gain me the contact of Charles Menghini who was supposed to take it to CSO, but never heard from him again...can't trust people now huh? But I shouldn't say that....because he's actually really nice. What can I say??? I am probably way too bored to produce all this... | 
