Alanfraserpiano
I had the pleasure of visiting with Ilya Itin recently in Miami. He lives in New York but was down south to play a couple of recitals, including a stellar and highly individual performance of the Prokofiev 8th Sonata as well as Beethoven's Appassionata.
We discussed of course my previous comments on his playing here on this forum, and although he agreed with my "evaluation," he also told me, "But those performances are from long ago, you should take a look at something more recent." Whereupon we immediately went to YouTube where he showed me this:
and then this:
or this:
I was blown away. This was, if not a to the board completely now, no doubt about it! Not only his sound but also his musical thought has evolved light years. These performances are individual and bring out new aspects of the musical structure in a way that connects one to the heart of the composer's message.
I asked him what had led to this vast improvement of his pianistic and musical resources but he just told me he worked hard to improve... In any case, it is with the greatest satisfaction that I can now pronounce my old posts on Ilya OBSOLETE!
AFF