I saw her perform last night with the National Philharmonic of Russia. All I can say is, Wow! She is so good! So powerful. She played Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and just really blew my mind. Then afterwards, she played two solo pieces, didn't hear the name of the first one, and then Rach's transcription of the Bumblebee. Man, is she fast. I know, other top-notch pianists can play this too, but not any better than she. The orchestra was fantastic. I'm still reeling. One of the best concerts I have ever seen. If Kern comes to a concert hall near, you should go see her. This was the second time I have, and I will surely go again and again and again.
I completely agree! I saw her once in the in Kansas and among other things, she played Islamey better than I've ever heard it before.
I saw her live in Akron, Ohio maybe a year ago and I was blown away, too. I love her strength and her attachment to Rachmaninov--he's sort of 'my' composer too, if you know what I mean. I borrowed a video of the Van Cliburn competition that she was in and it sort of took a behind the scenes look which was VERY fascinating. My favorite part with her was when she told about her dream: When she was 17 she had a dream that she met Rachmaninov and he said, "Oh, you have to play something," so she played the Barcarolle. He told her that she had to play it without pedal, though. She thought that was nonsense so she kept playing it with pedal until recently she was looking at recordings, and listened to one of Rachmaninov playing the Barcarolle--and he played it without pedal.
I have seen her performance of Rach3 for some competition, which she won. She had totally won over the audience, and me too, I holded my breath. She gave the concerto the perfect russian touch and anger.
I heard her Friday at a packed house at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. Mixed feelings about the musicality of most of her program, but her Chopin Funeral March knocked me out. A very personal interpretation between impersonal (though, to be sure, extremely well executed) ones.
