Comments

Congratulations, Buri! But first, I have to say I’m 100 % happy to see you back again with reservation that you might disappear again. Don’t for a moment thinking v.com is carrying on without you business as usual; it’s not the same without you and that I'm 100% sure without reservation. Well, I talked to the lady today, and she reduced your marks across the board to 85 because you have neglected us. So there Mr. World Traveler. >The judges included a well known Japanese contest pianist who in her comments said that she had given us 100 percent across the board for all judging criteria, but with reservations.

Very funny. And loved your later reply.

No need for the broken heart. She's smilin' not laffin'. Congrats! which competition was it? what did you play? EDIT: which beethoven did you play, i mean Welcome back.
I missed you. Greetings,
Jim- you gotta see the smile...
Nicholas- Beethoven C minor. Very frustrating piece for two reasons. First finding a unifyinf pulse in the first movement. Its marked con Brio and I find most recordings including Stern (who I regard a sa master chamber player) lacking this quality. But the second subj3ect and lyrical parts seem to need to go soooo much slower. Perrsonally I don`t worry too much about tempo shifts in Beethoven since i belive that was the practice in his time. But todays judges and listeners seem so brainwashed by the metronome and soemthign perhaps called `muscial discipline` that it seems out of fashion to play a beautiful melody at a slower tempo.Second, sionce the work is pretty much a piano cocnerto with string accompaniamnet intonation has to follow the piano exactly most of the time. Not fun for me!
Yixi- back after the summer vacation and abusing the school computers. Lets rock and roll.
Everyone- still the collest site on the planet.
Cheers,
Buri Isn't life in Japan adventurous? You can't read a thing and the best response you get at times is a very polite smile.
I am living here now for over one year as a violin maker and any string player who is lost in translation is welcome to contact me!
I left this feeling of floating in the 'where-do-we-go?-world' behind me because I learned Japanese. Then all of a sudden everything looses the surrealistic touch. (Sometimes I think it was a mistake to learn Japanese...)

Cheers

Andreas Preuss

Buri,

Have you read Dave Barry Does Japan?

Greetings,
yes. He`s much funnier than me. Besides, I am never sure if I am doing Japan or the reverse.
Cheers,
Buri You need to get ahold of this album:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_On,_Tune_In,_Drop_Out_(Timothy_Leary_album)

and pay special attention to Side A, track 5. We'll get you this smilin' chick.