Recently , before my sister went back home. We went to times square for a visit. No, not  the one in  U.S.A.

Brunei Darussalam apparently has a shopping centre named times square.I’m not sure what It’s supposed to mean or how its suppose to relate . Its a fairly small shopping centre HOWEVER, it is definitely way much more better than The Mall in Gadong. The book store here, is just a little above average. I bought a book, by Zig Ziglar.

Titled Life Lifters. Its a pretty nice book, all of you out there if you do seem to be missing some sort of “spark” in your life, or complaining that the world owes you a living. YOU SHOULD BUY IT. Or read one chapter atleast.

A little back ground on Zig Ziglar here. He’s an American author and motivational speaker. And the tenth out of the twelve children in his family.

In his books, he would add humor and vivacity to the way he interprets life. It gives you some sort of a whole new perspective. I don’t know much about him yet but he once said.

There is not a hopeless situation, but hope lost at the face of the situation – Zig Ziglar

Its almost come to an end to my holidays. What’s left in it is the celebration of christmas, followed shortly by the coming of the new year. This year, came by rather quickly. Zig Ziglar once said ” In the end, you would either say ‘I should have’ or ‘ I’m glad I did’. “. This year is full of that. I should have just maybe add a little more to my working power. And I’m also equally glad I did a lot and made a lot of achievements this year. I’m proud to say I’ve achieved my first step to becoming the pianist I see in concerts.

The highlight of my holiday had been the arrival of my sister. She came two weeks ago. When I was finished with the party at the prom, I was surprised to see her at the door way of the Polo Club. I greeted her with a big hug and my whole family , along with my youngest sister’s friend, went for supper just nearby.

Today, it was time for her to go home because she had important things to attend to back at Sibu,Sarawak. It will be a long time before my whole family get to see her again.

Within the time frame from two weeks ago, till today. We had been to the beach. Had large dinners. Went shopping. Played x-Box. Went sight seeing. Visit relatives. Went bowling.

Sometimes I wish that some parts of life went slow, some parts of life went fast. School is resuming in a short period of time, its now time to look ahead, and drive safely.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was a very figurative composer and pianist. One of the best of his time. Being from Russia he had fine technique. He was famed for possessing a flawless, clean and inhuman virtuoso piano technique. His playing was marked by precision, rhythmic drive, an exceptionally accurate staccato and the ability to maintain complete clarity when playing works with complex textures. (I don’t want to mention the obvious. Forgive me for saying this. Rachmaninoff DOES look like adam sandler to me. )

He’s currently one of my favorite composers and pianist. My personal favorite work from him is his 3rd Piano concerto in D minor. Which I’ve tried studying once. And as one might expect, it is far too complex and difficult for me to handle.

So I’ve moved on to his much more simpler work. His Prelude in G minor.

Rachmaninoff has done many transcriptions, arrangements and recomposing other musical pieces. One of his notable arrangement is the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Features Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin and some similarities to Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and another classical theme “Dies Irae” or “The dance of the Dead”.

The 18th variation of this orchestral work of art is by far the most famous. Its one of the pieces I’ve put into my solo recital. Its basically the A minor theme played upside down in the key of D flat major. I’ve never noticed that but for pianists, surely its intriguing.

Rachmaninoff was not only known for the deep marks he left in musical history. Many of us know that he had an uncanny physical attribute which most of us don’t have. He had HUGE hands. Ones that can stretch a compound major 6th! Those of you who don’t know what that means . It consists of playing the C to A in this span :- [ C D E F G A B C D E F G A ]. His tall figure and slender nose suggests that he has Marfan’s Syndrome. A trait that Paganini also has. You may wonder why their pieces are often so hard. Perhaps the reason is that because that they wanted to make full use of their advantages. Well having Marfan’s Syndrom is definitely NOT an advantage.

It is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue. Meaning, you get bruises, broken bones, disfiguration, and other problems related to growth ; way much more easily than a normal person may.

Now , Rachmaninoff was also a good friend of Vladimir Horowitz. Another great Pianist. The difference is that, he doesn’t compose. Horowitz was an outstanding pianist that Rachmaninoff particularly admired. The two can be compared in terms of technique , but when dealing with such at times abstract, at times deeply structional subject like music.Its best not to.

Horowitz was not a man of all work. He was very loose and lightly stressed in his career. However, when he performs. Thats a totally different story. As we can see here….

MOZART’S Piano concerto in A major. His 23rd. This is one of my favorite pieces all time. This particular movement is my favorite. I love how Horowitz articulate this piece.

In the month of November. I’ve come to a productive holiday. Although I had very little time to do everything else(I regret to say I can have the time to play xBox) .

So on the 25th November. I performed for Expression Music’s Recital. The three pieces I played were.

Franz Schubert , Impromptu Op.90-2

Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme By Paganini The 18th variation

Frederick Chopin, Etude op.10-5 “Black keys”

These were actually pieces I learnt before, but never actually completed. So after my Grade 8 exam, I had the time to complete it and perform it for the recital. Due to the lack of preparation, certain elements weren’t present in the performance.

Speaking of exams. I have just received my results. Which Is  A distinction.