This is a studio recording I made in November 2004, which I used as my audition recording for several colleges/conservatories. All these are pieces I'd been playing for several years, and comparing them to live recordings of the same pieces from my younger days (not that I'm very old), my interpretation of these pieces have definitely matured over the years.

I confess that these recordings are edited, in the following sense: I recorded every piece two or three times over the course of two days (I only recorded the Prokofiev on the second day), then spliced together sections that I liked most from each take. All splices were taken from complete takes, so I believe that the result is a true representation of what I'm capable of, both technically and interpretationally (if that's a word).

The piano I used was a Yamaha baby grand, and the reverb was added digitally.

P.S. I learned from my mistake, and this time, the files are in the correct order! Yay!

Admin edit: Attachments removed, recordings up the site.

Here are two compositions of mine.

I wrote the "Symphonic Rhapsody" in 1999 (I think), for piano and synthesized orchestra. It's a piano concerto of sorts, in a Romantic style — I'm sure you'll hear the influences of the likes of Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Tchaikovsky in the piece. This is a live recording from the 2001 Yamaha Asia-Oceania Junior Original Concert in Malaysia (my home country) — I played the piano part (which was, unfortunately, recorded at too low a volume relative to the orchestra part), and was accompanied by my friends on synthesizers and percussion (yes, the percussion was real, including the timpani). Unfortunately, I have yet to actually orchestrate it for a real orchestra, though I would very much like to, soon (and also write a piano reduction for the orchestra part).

I originally wrote these two Preludes ("Dawn" and "Midnight") as part of a set of three — the second, called "Dusk", didn't quite work (and was also too difficult technically) so I've never played it. This is a studio recording from 2001 — I transfered it to my computer from an audio cassette, and the sharper-eared among you may notice that the pitch is slightly lower than it should be, something I could easily correct on my computer but never bothered to.

The remaining recordings that I post here are not to be considered for the main site, mostly because the audio quality leaves a lot to be desired. Most of them are sourced from either audio cassettes or from VHS tapes that were originally from videocams . . . you get the idea. I'm posting them just in case there's any interest in them, but I will delete them if asked to.

Before posting any comments/criticism on these recordings, please remember that these were made many years ago and don't reflect how I would play them now. Hopefully my musical sensibilities have matured since then.

Here's me in the first two rounds of the Vladimir Krainev International Competition for Young Pianists in Kharkov, Ukraine in 2000.

The final round of the same competition, in which I played the Grieg concerto. I had a horrible memory lapse in the first movement, which I think kept me rattled throughout the rest of the piece. Needless to say, I didn't win a prize. Lesson learned: Never neglect the concerto while preparing for a competition!

This is the final round of the Malaysian National Piano Festival in 2001, in which I won First Prize. I also won a prize for the best performance of the commissioned work, "Alternating Current", by Malaysian composer Adeline Wong.

After winning the National Piano Festival in 2001, I went on a concert tour to several different states in Malaysia. Here's one of the concerts.

I should probably explain that "Getaran Jiwa" is a Malaysian pop song (though my Rachmaninoffesque arrangement — or perhaps more accurately, planned improvisation — probably sounds like anything but Malaysian or pop). And the Hungarian Rhapsody is essentially Horowitz's version with an abridged "Lassan" section and several intentional changes (since I learned it by ear, there are undoubtedly many passages where I play different notes than he did, but hopefully accomplished the same effect).

Finally, these are recordings I made at home in 2001, with an extremely primitive set-up — a microphone hooked up to a tape recorder. I think I only had a Yamaha upright then (one that sounded really good for an upright), so that would be what I played on. You may notice a brief unnatural silence in the middle of the Carmen — I don't remember exactly what happened, but I'm guessing I rewound the tape to that spot and re-recorded that point of the piece onwards. Or something.

Do listen to the last time the famous theme comes around in Stars & Stripes — you will notice that I completely rewrote that section of Horowitz's transcription (in addition to some less significant changes in the rest of the piece).

Wow! This will keep busy for some time . I will listen and put all of them up on the site. I have begun the work with the other post right now but it will take some time before I am done.

Haha, I'm sorry for the posting overkill.

I'd consider only the recordings in the first post to be fit for the main site — possibly those in the second on account that they are original compositions. The others I posted just for other forum members to listen to if they're interested, but the sound quality is pretty bad (not to mention that I was such a reckless player in those years).

But of course if you think they're good enough to put up, I wouldn't object. Except for the Grieg. That was embarrassing.

why was the grieg embarressing

Because I didn't prepare the concerto well enough before the competition. Though I have to say the recording doesn't sound as bad as I thought it was while I was playing it.

Sheesh.... Power poster !
That'll keep me busy for a week with my slow Internet at home. So glad Robert promised to put them all up I am sure they are all more than good enough. Will listen and comment, if not perhaps all of them.

Hi wmgan,
I have listened to both versions of the Mozart k330 - 1st movement. You play it very well. I could detect nothing wrong. I noticed that you did not take the repeats on both takes. To me that's fine, because I don't like all the repeats in classical music all the time. I'm wondering what the other members have to say about this so I'm going over to the General area to post the question.

If I played it today, I'd probably take the first repeat but not the second.

So, I have downloaded them all but also read about your comments. I'll let you know what I put up.