1999 — Age 3¼ to 4¼

Event/Date: PTNA? July/Aug 1999?

Piece(s) played: Two short pieces by Soe and Bartok.

Duration: 2:44

Posting details: cristeny 11 June 2010 (first posted by klingsor93, 5 November 2007).

YouTube (cristeny)

Comments: According to RainyTaro in a (YouTube) comment, “The M.C. introduces the former piece as ‘Robata no Furui otogi-banashi’, literally ‘An old fairly tale by the fireside’, composed by Soe? and the latter as Etude by Bartók. I can’t confirm who is Soe. it may be Shuzannu Soe — but I don't know the spelling.”

Unfortunately this clip is from behind the keyboard and does not show the hands. As PTNA competitions are held in July and August, Aimi would have been nearly 4.

2000 — Age 4¼ to 5¼

Event/Date: PTNA? July/Aug 2000?

Piece(s) played: Two very short pieces — the first a minuet by Leopold Mozart. The second remains unidentified

Duration: 0:58

Posting details: cristeny, 11 June 2010 (first posted by klingsor93, 5 November 2007).

YouTube (cristeny)

Comments: Very stylish! Again, if this is a PTNA event, Aimi would have been nearly 5.

Event/Date: PTNA? July/Aug 2000?

Piece(s) played: Clementi Sonatina in C major Op. 36 no. 3, first movement.

Duration: 3:30

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 8 November 2009; LVB1770, 6 March 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: For me, this is where Aimi first shows some of the qualities that make her so fascinating. Apparently the age here (4) is correct, at least according to the information about the clip on Aimi’s EMI Japan pages. The event remains unknown.

Event/Date: PTNA? July/Aug 2000?

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Six Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento” from Paisiello’s La molinara.

Duration: 5:16

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 9 November 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: Drop dead gorgeous playing, with individual notes placed as if they were favourite dolls. I like Erlurker's comment: “I doubt that Mozart or Beethoven played any better at that age. She certainly is a virtuoso and she plays with complete abandon. Phenomenal!” ‘Abandon’ is not such a bad word for the confident freedom Aimi shows in her playing.

2001 — Age 5¼ to 6¼

Event/Date: PTNA? July/Aug 2001?

Piece(s) played: Two short unidentified pieces.

Duration: 1:19

Posting details: cristeny, 11 June 2010 (first posted by klingsor93, 5 November 2007).

YouTube (cristeny)

Comments: These pieces are too short and simple for Aimi to really show what she can do. Age here is uncertain — Christina thinks she was four.

2002 — Age 6¼ to 7¼

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 26, July/Aug 2002

Piece(s) played: Four pieces: 1. J. S. Bach, Two Part Invention no. 9, BWV 780;

2. Beethoven, Sonata no. 20 in G major Op. 49. no. 2 “Leichte Sonata”; 3. Johann Friedrich Burgmüller “La fileuse” (The Spinner), Etude no. 18 Op. 109; 4. unidentified.

Duration: See after each link.

Posting details: cristeny, 13 November 2009 (reposting in 4 parts)

Bach 2-Part Invention no. 9 1:45

Beethoven Leichte Sonata no. 2, 1st movement 2:59

Burgmüller La fileuse 1:07

Unidentified piece 1:51

Comments: Listed here in the order Aimi played them. The event, and therefore her age (6¾) are now established from information on Aimi’s EMI Japan pages. The two-part invention is the first Bach we hear from her.

2003 — Age 7¼ to 8¼

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 27, July/Aug 2003

Piece(s) played: Bach Three-Part Invention (Sinfonia) No. 2 in C minor BWV 788.

Duration: 2:00

Posting details: EMI Japan, December 2009; cristeny (YouTube) 11 June 2010.

EMI Japan link (direct play, needs Windows Media Player); YouTube (cristeny)

Comments: A new posting (i.e. not seen before on YouTube) from Aimi’s Artist pages on the EMI Japan website (link). All the other videos on that page are linked elsewhere in my catalogue here. Now also available from Christina’s channel on YouTube, which makes life simpler! Event info from EMI pages.

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 27, July/Aug 2003

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 10 in G major, Op. 14, 1st movement, Allegro.

Duration: 4:39

Posting details: klingsor93, 5 November 2007; LVB1770 5 January 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: Aimi’s first real Beethoven sonata (if you except the Leichte sonata). Unfortunately the close-ups are poor quality, with compression artefacts around Aimi when she moves, but the sound is good. Love the way she does the staccato in the left hand between about 1:50 and 2:10. It’s a shame we can’t hear movements two and three. (Assumed to be PTNA 2003 on basis of dress)

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 27, July/Aug 2003

Piece(s) played: Schubert Impromptu Op. 90 no. 2.

Duration: 4:24

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 8 November 2009; cristeny 11 June 2010.

YouTube (Aimiklingsor) 480p version available; YouTube (cristeny) 360p only but richer colour.

Comments: Event info from Aimi's pages on the EMI Japan website.

2004 — Age 8¼ to 9¼

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 28, July/Aug 2004

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 5 in C minor, 2nd and 3rd movements

Duration: 10:46

Posting details: klingsor93, 1 April 2008; LVB1770, 11 May 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: The second Beethoven sonata we hear from Aimi. This is just too beautiful, and it’s a must watch despite the wretched colour. Her playing is now on a new, completely adult level, and she is making many of the movements one sees over the next 6 years. It's almost as if she’s some kind of divine musical pump — one is left with the impression that she’s using her whole body to produce music in a way that one sees with no other pianist. When she was “auditioned” by Christoph Eschenbach in November 2007, this is the first piece she chose to play. The first movement of the sonata used to be on YouTube; tragically it has been removed.

Event/Date: PTNA Competition no. 28, July/Aug 2004

Piece(s) played: Chopin Nocturne no 20 in C sharp minor (Op. posth.)

Duration: 3:52

Posting details: cristeny, 11 June 2010 (first posting by klingsor93, 5 Nov 2007)

YouTube (cristeny)

EMI Japan link Needs WMP plugin..

Comments: The video still on the right shows the amazing Aimi in what appears to be a state of rapture as she plays the closing notes of this mysterious piece. Listen and you will be enraptured too! My goodness, she’s discovering how to play expressively. There’s another performance of this nocturne on the next page. Event info from Aimi's EMI Japan pages.

Event/Date: Unknown, 2004

Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude Op. 25 no. 2.

Duration: 1:44

Posting details: siocanon, 1 December 2006; LVB1770, 5 January 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: A torrent of music from a nightingale. Ages given for the piece are uncertain and vary from 5 to 10! On the basis of the “edelweiss” skirt Aimi is wearing I’m placing this and the Beethoven sonata here, in her eighth year.

Some time when she was eight (between August 2003 and August 2004), Aimi was taken on as a pupil by Japan’s foremost piano teacher, Yuko Ninomiya (although she and her family didn’t move to Tokyo until February 2007. To have her lessons with Mrs Ninomiya, Aimi had to shuttle regularly by plane between Ube and the capital). To mark this development in her career, my chronological listing continues on the next page.

There’s a short but informative summary of Yuko Ninomiya’s career (as of 2004, when she was a member of the jury) on this website page of the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians.

Next page: YouTube video catalog page 2

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Page created 25 April 2009; last modified 12 June 2010.

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