It's now mid-July, and it has been a busy summer so far!  I just finished performing the Faure C Minor Piano Quartet along with the Mozart G Minor Piano Quartet - actually only about two weeks ago, yet it seems like a couple of months already.  I am looking forward to Kyle Orth and Rachel Arcega Orth performing on the Cobb's Hill Series on the 2nd of August.  And just a month after that is a solo recital, in which I'll perform Rachmaninoff Preludes from opus 32 along with Beethoven's 32nd Sonata.  The two “32”s are coincidental, but I'll roll with it.  

Although I just finished up performing Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in May, and working on it fiercely for the month before that, no matter how much Rachmaninoff you've worked on, it is always challenging.  Working on the Preludes, I'm reminded that there are always passages that fit easily in Rachmaninoff's giant hand that just don't fit as comfortably in mine.  One has to watch out not to get injured in the middle of the hand with wide stretches, and use alternative fingering as necessary.  

Composition wise, I dabble on adding a variation or two here or there to my G Minor variations for piano.  I still have to concoct a good ending to it.  It's hard to live up to the great sets of variations composed by others, but I don't want to copy Brahms and end with a fugue, like in in his Handel Variations.  Over the last couple of weeks, I learned the Bach-Busoni Chaconne to explore an example of variations.  That, too, is a masterpiece, so kind of a daunting example to compare to some of the best variations ever written for the piano.  There's potential in the variations.   But with so much going on, I really need to find the time to just focus on the composition.  It's not enough to have time either – I have to be inspired enough to write something worthwhile.  

Add to that the tinkering with the website, looking for more venues at which to perform, and editing videos, and my days are kind of full.  But I did find time enough to visit Tanglewood last weekend, and will again this weekend.  Last weekend I saw Seong-Jin Cho perform the two Ravel concerti, and this weekend will see Yuja Wang perform Prokofiev second piano concerto.  Should be fun!