The Swan Lake

The most beautiful music in the world. (OMG)Breathtaking...

Love the violin part here..

Music of the Day

My favorite piece. So fun to listen to. It sent a chill down my spine.

Shostakovich Trio No.2 Mv.4 performed by my favorite musicians Argerich, Kremer & Maisky

Schedule for a Piano Lesson at TEN PIANO STUDIO

The Joy and Sorrow of Love

Originally composed by Kreisler, rearranged by Rachmaninoff for piano. Performed by Rachmaninoff.

Kreisler/Rachmaninoff, Liebesfreud (The Joy of Love)


Kreisler/Rachmaninoff, Liebesleid (The Sorrow of Love)

Inspiration from the legendary violinist, Niccolò Paganini's Violin Caprice 24

I think in our lives we do certain things everyday. It is the same everyday. But sometimes we don't realize the we can do the same thing differently. That is how you keep your creativity juice flowing.
In piano works, composers exercise their creativity by improvising on a theme. And detailed written-out improvisations on the same theme are always named "Theme and Variations"

Here is a theme originally composed by Paganini in his Violin Caprice 24. Amazing enough, he was able to exploit and improvise every aspect of the theme in each of the variation.

Can't get it out of my head after listening to the theme of Caprice 24. I guess the theme had also stucked in in the heads of Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff that they have to experiment with it and write it all out. Ha! Enjoy!

Jascha Heifetz plays Paganini Caprice No. 24, accompaniment part composed by Schummann. Thrilled by the double-stops.


Female violinist version (Hilary Hahn). Amazing double-stop.



LISZT's arrangement has darker color. Franz Liszt is an equivalence to Niccolo Paganini in piano world. This arrangement was performed by Daniil Tsvetkov, an amazing pianist with beautiful long fingers.


Brahms' arrangement is more romantic and has thicker texture.


Rachmaninoff's arrangement (Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini) has some mysterious, jazz flavor and has more tone color with orchestra sound. Performed by Stephen Hough with amazingly imaginative interpretation. If you watch the movie "Groundhog Day", you will recognize the reversed theme in the final variation.






Life is the same thing. We can do the same thing same way or differently and usually it turns out amazing. So, be resilient and practical. That will lead you to being creative, and you will have fun all the way through.

Reference to violin

Piano sound is not just piano sound. We can create a tone that resemble other instruments. By listening to other instruments, sometimes we can distance ourselves from our own instruments and thus be able to view a piece of music from a different angle and thus help us to breakthrough in interpretation.

Violinists and other string instrumentalists usually have very good phrasing. In general they have very spiritual quality. You can feel that especially when they play a baroque piece.

Here is one example, Julia Fischer contrasting her Paganini with the Bach.