Comment on Qi Zhang's playing

Wow! It is such a cool organ concerto! Musically and technically demanding! I like Qi Zhang’s playing very much.

Without doubt, her organ playing techniques are very virtuosic. She can play every sound of the orchestra with only 2 hands and 2 feet. This is truly amazing! I enjoy her instant change of mood with the music very much. For example, at 1’20”from the clip, her transition from a fast flowing string tune to the playful, Mozart-like woodwind tune is very clear and significant. Besides that, her musicality is strong as well. She did not treat this music as notes on the page only. She tried to express them musically through her playing. She put in many appropriate nuances and dynamics to make the music sound different! Her body movements change accordingly to the music as well! For me, it shows that she enjoyed what she was playing. As a live performance, what she did visually is essential. Audiences enjoy seeing performer move with the music more than just sit or stand straight in front of the instruments and play.

There are only 2 little things I don’t like about this video. They are not about her playing. Firstly, I do not like the electrical music instrument sound. Moreover, this organ did not react naturally in music sense! For instant, at 1’12” of the video clip, the sound of clarinet just chopped off. It would sound better if the clarinet sound can sustain slightly longer while the string sound came in. Besides that, I was wondering why the camera man never shoots anything of her feet. Both feet play an important role in organ playing!