Hi all,
Its my special day....my hard work has paid off....guess who is that person next to me ?

Oh, I'm jealous! Did you get his autograph?

In what context did you meet V.A.?

Pete, you are the man. I know many people viewed this and did not have courage to respond or ignored??.. But you did.

Heeeeee, that was on 17/11/07 racmaninoff concerto no3 played at sydney opera house. To take this photo with him and autographs was very very special to me. I have had worked hard for this special arrangenmet with him....with a slim chance. I got him. Picture was taken before that date...my secret...

I almost wanted to take the picture of his hands next to mine..but I was a little too embrassed...so I did not. But I can tell you guys outhere, he has a square hands, at end of his finger tip has a big lump on it(due to excessive playing on the keyboard over many years). From the photo and I shocked his hands twice, you can judge that his hands is almost the same as mine except fingers are little thicker...and PLAYED much better too.

I also took the picture of Garrick Osshlm(piano) at end of concert..a tall big guy almost twice of askenazy. Never mind, next time you come to sydney, I will have a picture taken with you too. and nailed down your hands too.

That wasn't very nice!

Just joking with you, John. Cute picture. I go to a lot of concerts and sometimes wish I could get up close and personal to these famous pianists like you did.

thank Monica, he is a very modest man as he got nothing to prove. I will speak to him soon.

i hate to be a newbie but who is this man? he looks familiar but I can't put a name to his face.

congrats John! I hope to meet a famous artist like him someday.

btw, just for my own bragging rights, i met Franz Mohr, Horowizt's personal tuner this summer...

woah..you beat me to it. Did you take the photo.....

FAMOUS MOVIE DIRECTOR -- MARTIN SCORSESE



What!!? You mean that was not Scorsese with you, John?

I've been listening to Ashkenazy play Chopin's post. C# minor nocturne for 2 days straight now.


I think his later recording of the second sonata is probably one of the most amazing technical feats I've ever heard....

Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Pete

yes, but it's somewhere at home. i got his autograph on his book, my life with the great pianists.

Thanks eveyone.

Nicole.....I have to say...you got a bad taste.....need new pair of glasses like mine mistaken identity. haaaaaaaa.

The maestro gave me the words of lots of encouragemet....I thank you for that......Gift from God.

at the same time did ANY of you noticed that we were wearing the similar shirts......my friends was saying..DID you lend your jacket to him....taht make me laugh all day.

Now his picture is framed on top of my grand for my role model.....iron fingers.....

And as much as he has iron fingers, I don't find him to be lacking in sensitivity at all most of the time. The biggest problem I have with his Chopin interpretations is too much liberty with the tempo, but I think we all know how hard that is to avoid with Chopin. If anyone's looking for a complete set of the Chopin solo stuff, his is really good (only 100 USD - not bad at all, for 13 CDs). But it's unfortunately got his early recording of the second sonata...the one he published later on the "Favourite Chopin" CD was the really awesome one. Talk about iron fingers...he hammered out the scherzo so fast, I'm surprised he didn't break a string or two.

Now that is extremely cruel... We're not that bad are we ?
Your shock treatment is bad already, but this really is a bit too drastic