Sophia Liu plays Mozart/Volodos Turkish March (Encore at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris)

[@alessandrodelmonte5765]

Grazie Sophia..😊

[@siutan6315]

I have been following all your lovely pieces since you were little. Well done Sophia . 👍👍👍

[@robertchallinor9816]

Remarkable. This is so often played just as a virtuoso piece but you also bring light and shade and considerable elegance to the playing. Thank you

[@ilyapetoushkoff8362]

Brilliant! I love this interpretation. It's more gentle and much better articulated, in my opinion, than the original (Volodos's).

[@ZichengWen]

how clear sound，impressive！

[@theaspiringpianist88]

wow!! 👏

[@ClarkWang]

Very nice Sophia!💘💋🌹

[@francoisgelinas7422]

Absolument époustouflant!!!

[@arpeggiomikey]

Brava! 👏😅🎉

[@Zympans]

🙃

[@JaseBach]

Sophia was playing this with all the seriousness and accuracy usually reserved for the Hammerklavier fugue. This piece is meant to be fun, tackled at a breakneck speed over the speed limit, with a few splashes and wrong notes thrown in like a car chase in movies. Sophia's approach is valid and respectable, but misses all the fun. Praiseworthy and impressive pianism, but what a tragedy for a teenager - too eager to impress and too fixated on getting all the notes right. She is better off sticking to the original sonata in A major and the Hammerklavier, where her excellent technique and unquestionable musicality and good taste are put into good use.

[@PianothShaveck]

Let her have fun in the way she likes it :)

[@pianolover8109]

Playing accurately and precisely doesn’t necessarily take away “musicality” or “expression”. If she perfectly has the ability to play with such precision, so be it. I don’t think composers wrote music for people to play them with “wrong notes thrown in like a car chase in movies.”

[@JaseBach]

The Volodos Turkish March is not a composition in the classical sense. It is the supreme contemporary virtuoso Arcadi Volodos having fun, in a long tradition of improvisation from Bach, to Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninov. The latter was accused by the audience of playing wrong notes when he improvised in his own compositions. Horowitz has a Carmen variations in the same vein. All for fun and spur of the moment, like jazz, maybe. The usual classical virtues of premeditation, practice, preparation and precision do not, need not, and should not, apply.

[@pianolover8109]

There is quite a big difference between wrong notes and improvisation. Wrong notes are accidents caused by a lack of technique, precision, etc. while improvisation refers to intentional differences the musician makes during a performance for perhaps a better effect. Wrong notes are, well, “wrong,” and should never be encouraged, whether in classical, jazz, pop, you name it. And by the way, I believe that Sophia brings out a certain charm and elegance like none other and is clearly “having fun,” if you must put it that way. Just my two cents.

[@JaseBach]

Your definition, and implied condemnation, of wrong notes is what made this 16-year old's performance so joyless. Think of the tension of world championship snooker, when one slip might cost you the championship, versus the fun of celebrity exhibition matches, when the champion might attempt a trick shot such as potting with the hands and cue behind the back. The notes in this jocular Volodos transcription are not sacred, unlike a Beethoven sonata. Besides, just like a Cortot or Schnabel performance, the wrong notes are just sun spots, essentials in any exciting performance living on the edge. In the present day, Pogorlich makes a point of playing Petrouchka and Feux Follets despite many slips, when he could have avoided them by programming easier pieces. Arrau occasionally played wrong notes not because his concentration faltered; rather, he was concentrating too much on the moment, thinking at the same as playing.