Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner International Chopin Competition Megathread

Let’s hear how Rao will sound.

Yes he opened that curtain.

It was just that very nervous Pacholec.

A definitely Maestoso opening from Rao.

More like you didn't like the fact he made the finals and you're still complaining about it.

Generally confident playing so far from Rao, but a few too many slips and smudges here and there already in the first movement. I doubt he'd medal at this point. Let's see how the rest of the concerto goes.

Wow Rao! Very very good.
I don't know about Pacholec, i just watched his last 30 seconds. I'll try to catch up later.

Yes he had a few slips but he played with passion and emotion and made me all ears from the first note. I enjoyed very much listening to him.

Very impressed with Rao. Thankfully he was not distracted by the awful phone ring and a chair slam in the hall. It was a great refreshment to hear the wit he played with. Now, Sorita.

We're just a few minutes in, but Sorita seems to be by far the most in total control and confident Finalist tonight. He has a commanding mastery of the instrument both technically and expressively, even at this most stressful stage. I'd be hugely surprised if he didn't win one of the top three prizes.

What a concerto performance from Sorita so far. At the very least he should take home the best concerto prize -- I could hardly a more confident performance.

I'm seriously impressed by what Sorita just accomplished tonight. I think he just bagged himself the gold medal -- it's highly, highly likely now.

Yeah. First movement has been spectacular. Technically perfect and full of artistry.

Sorita was very good. Wish he had not made those left hand accents at the final moments. Hope he does not lose points. Certainly a candidate for top three.

Sorita slayed it, yes. Clearly the best of the night so far. His experience playing with orchestra shows.

I've not seen someone so at ease at the final round since Blechacz. Sorita just seemed so natural at playing with the orchestra. And he clearly knew the piano part inside out.

He has his own orchestra in Japan. He created it. His conducting experience shows how comfortable he is with them.

For today, I'd say: Sorita, Armellini, Hao Rao, and Pacholec, with a big distance between Sorita and the others. There were a lot of things that I liked about Armellini's performance, but Sorita was just simply in command the whole time (and he was the only one who got cheers before the orchestra finished).

I'm on the fence here, Armellini had entirely different take on the concerto. Yet, the shimmering sound, clarity and depth left me speechless. Not as flashy as Sorita's, in a good way. He had exceptional command of the keyboard throughout though, no denying that.

I agree that from today's session these two were the clear front runners.

In the post-performance interview, Sorita mentioned that he had conducted the E minor concerto and knows the orchestral parts intimately. In fact, he had played the piece over 30 times, two of which were with the same conductor and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Those experiences must've been a significant advantage for him.

I never quite liked Pacholec even in stage 3 which I found rather flat. I was surprised he was qualified as I found other polish pianists better.

Rao played well, though he lacks some power and in he is not quite as good in lyrical passages. But he certainly played with a lot of passion.

Sorita played very well and he was in command, but I found that there was a certain lack of brilliancy which was also noticeable in stage 3 playing. All in all I found Armellini to be more in line with the virtuosic and brilliant side of the piece, in particular in the last mouvement, Sorita being more lyrical. Two very good performances in any case.

No, the audience broke in before the end with Rao too...although not quite as early. Says more about the problematic/rude audience than the performers.