yesterday's concert was so awesome! i loved everything about it. this time my seat was in the stalls and although it was a tight angle, i could see the pianist's fingers. i scoured around before the concert for seats with better views and now i know roughly where to seat when there's another piano concerto performance at vch.

the pianist was john chen, youngest winner of the sydney international piano competition. by the way, lubey took part in the same year and won, too! (but john got 1st and lubey 5th, dammit!) but they also recorded rach 2 and 3 together so it's okay!

i got john chen's autograph!! but he didn't talk to me :( he talked to the person in front! he asked her if she were a musician and what songs she liked to play. damn! i wanted to tell him i was learning rach 3, haha! i should've asked about lubey though!!

well, for the encores, etudes op. 33 no. 5 and 6 were played. i immediately recognised no. 6 because it's on my mp3's list of rarely heard songs, haha... but i don't think it's there anymore. i wanted a third encore! when john left the stage i was one of the handful still clapping.

the next song was symphony no. 2! and it would last for 1 hour. the person beside me wasn't too keen. i heard her telling her friend, 'i don't know how to prevent myself falling asleep in the next 1 hour', or something along the lines. pah! then why were you there.

i think symphony no. 2 is one of rach's best songs! it's so beautiful. especially the 3rd movement! however, i still prefer his first symphony! i love the 3rd movement so much i'm going to arrange it for cello and piano after the o'levels :D

we didn't have anymore encores after that! i clapped my hardest, hoping that there would be one, and i didn't mind a short one! but when the concertmaster left i knew it was all over. then i heard the person beside me telling her friend 'we just sat through a 1 hour concert and you still expect an encore??!!'...!!!

it was a wonderful night! i even met a friend who went to france with me. turns out she likes rachmaninoff too!

i was so happy i spent some time strolling around singapore river and admiring the night scenery. it's an awesome photography location and i'm going back once i get my camera!

on another note, it was after i got john's signature when i regretted that i could've, but didn't, get boris berezovsky's autograph. stupid, i know. i don't know why i didn't bother. so from the next concert onwards, i'm going to get the autographs of all the soloists. and at the next rach 3 concert, if there is going to be one, i'm going to get the pianist to sign my rach 3 score. hopefully he'll be ashkenazy or lubiantsev. i'm crossing my fingers! if john could perform here, i don't see why lubey can't.