Junyan Chen, Pianist
Review by Rose.
“All three pieces were played outstandingly as if she were the real composer.”
Initially, when I first went to this event, I was wary – I am not one for classical music, and the audience members were mainly older-looking adults. A small introduction before Junyan Chen began to play gave me some insight into the pieces. As soon as Chen began playing the first piece, I could feel the raw, heart-filling emotion powering the pianist through the piece, enhancing and emphasising the intensity as well as the feeling of the music.
From timid beginnings to powerful climaxes and dramatic endings, the piano playing moved me, and all three pieces were played outstandingly as if she were the real composer. Everything from the playing, to the surroundings, complimented each other perfectly. I felt the heaviness and the lightness in each and every note, as well as Chen’s head and the arm movements. How fast her fingers moved was just incredible. She is a very good player and deserves to be highly recognised and rewarded.
“She incorporated something I had never seen before in piano playing”
One particular piece which stood out to me was the ending piece. She incorporated something I had never seen before in piano playing, which made it even better than the pieces played previously in the performance. The action which made this piece stand out so much against the others was the movement of reaching into the piano and stopping the notes from being played, creating a sort of thud sound made by the hammer.