2008 — Age 12¼ to 13¼

Event/Date: Concert in St Petersburg with Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov, 15 February 2008.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 (complete) + Chopin Scherzo no. 1 and Schumann Widmung encores

Duration: 54:39

Posting details: Google videos

Google Videos link

Comments: This has been up for a year as of Feb 2010 and I didn’t know about it until someone tipped me off. It’s only moderate quality and, like the short clips from this video, plays at the wrong aspect ratio. But heck, yes, it’s the complete Beethoven concerto and the two encores played in St Petersburg!

This is the St Petersburg video pic shown at 16:9. To get it to play like this you have to download the clip and use a player like Streamclip to show at the proper aspect ratio.

Aimi was clearly on good form at this concert, and from the start she shows all the qualities that make her such a phenomenon. The cadenza to the first movement of the Beethoven is simply astonishing, and some of the audience break into applause and even a cheer when the movement has finished. Anyone who wants to see what it is that makes Aimi so fascinating will find it all in this video — the assurance, the maturity, the beautiful elegant fluidity of her movements, and of course the music, which you almost feel is a thing of its own that flows seamlessly and so expressively from the tips of those incredible fingers.

I’ve always felt, watching previous short clips from this concert, that it was something about Vladimir Spivakov’s personality that brought out the best in Aimi at this event. There is a small, fuzzy photo of them sitting together on her fan site — tiny little Aimi tucked into Spivakov’s side, his arm around her waist, her head inclined against his, and she is clearly relaxed and happy.

April 30, 2011: Google had a notice up saying that this video would be removed on April 29th, but it’s still there!

Someone has recently uploaded the complete Beethoven concerto to YouTube, and this is linked immediately below. For the encores, see the two entries after that.

Event/Date: Concert in St Petersburg with Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov, 15 February 2008.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 (complete).

Duration: 38:54

Posting details: yundiful, 14 March 2011.

YouTube link

Comments: Just sad that the poster has not done basic surgery to show this in the correct aspect ratio. Otherwise, thank goodness that this inspired and beautiful performance will continue to be available on YouTube.

Event/Date: Concert in St Petersburg 15 February 2008 (continued).

Piece(s) played: Cadenza (1st movement) to Beethoven’s 1st piano concerto.

Duration: 4:23

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 20 January 2010; LVB1770, 5 April 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: Words fail one. This is totally fantastic playing by Aimi. She wrings sonority from the piano as if it were a whole carillon of bells, even standing up to do it, and then astonishes by instant transitions to the softest, sweetest playing imaginable. All done with complete cool — despite stirring the St Petersburg piano to its foundations, there isn’t a trace of shake in the quieter passages that immediately follow. A tour de force. Listen with headphones or good speakers to enjoy the sonority and ignore the unfortunate aspect ratio of this extraordinary video. My thumb is de-anamorphosed.

9 July 2011: I got so fed up with the squashed versions that I’ve put up an enhanced (but unlisted) version on my own channel: Aimi’s cadenza unsquashed.

Aimi is no shy flower when she wants to make a piano sing out — here she’s seen standing during the Beethoven cadenza.

Event/Date: Concert in St Petersburg 15 February 2008 (continued).

Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B min Op. 20, played as encore.

Duration: 7:07

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 20 January 2010.

YouTube link

Comments: The concert was a huge success, and Aimi was called back for two encores. Here she continues to play like one inspired. Someone who was at the concert describes her as playing like “a little demon”. I suspect she was doing it for the genial Vladimir Spivakov, with whom she seems to have struck up a real rapport.

Sharing applause with Spivakov after the Beethoven concerto. Click for the encore.

Event/Date: Concert in St Petersburg 15 February 2008 (continued).

Piece(s) played: Schumann, Widmung (Dedication), arranged/transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt, played as encore.

Duration: 5:15

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 11 November 2009

YouTube link

Comments: Fabulous. The words of the Lied (song) are: “You are my soul, my heart, my ecstasy and my pain / You are my world in which I live, / My heaven in which I am suspended, / My good spirit, my better self.” Aimi says it all from the piano.

After the second encore. The orchestra is now joining in the applause.

Event/Date: Interview with Vladimir Spivakov, 15 February 2008?

Piece(s) played: n/a

Duration: 2:30

Posting details: www.tvkultura.ru, 15 December 2008

www.tvkultura.ru link (plays video)

Comments: Sadly all too short. The part about Aimi begins at about 00:57. You see her saying that she learned the Beethoven no. 1 a year ago and has already performed it in Japan. Spivakov is then seen commenting on the difficulty of the concerto, and how surprising it is that Aimi can enter such musical territory at her age.

A translation of the part about Aimi is given here. Russian speakers will find the originating page for the video here.

Event/Date: Public solo recital in St Petersburg? 16 February 2008?

Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B min Op. 20

Duration: 10:35

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, ???; LVB1770, 18 February 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: No details are given of where or when this recital took place. It is, of course, the same piece she played as an encore at the concert on 15th February, but clearly here she plays a repeat, making the clip two and a half minutes longer. The encore version is certainly more dramatic, but this performance holds its own very well.

Event/Date: Private recital in Moscow, ?? February 2008.

Piece(s) played: Four movements (Allemande, Courante, Gavotte and Gigue) from Bach French Suite no. 5 in G major, BWV 816.

Duration: 7:39

Posting details: cristeny 3 July 2011 (first posted by Patrick Tabet)

YouTube link

Comments: The French Suite no. 5 has seven movements in all. As she is evidently about to continue with another at the end of this clip, it seems she may have played them all. What is interesting about this recital is that she plays two pieces we never hear her play on any other occasion.

Event/Date: Private recital in Moscow, ?? February 2008.

Piece(s) played: Liszt paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto

Duration: 7:51

Posting details: cristeny, 3 July 2011 (first posted by Patrick Tabet)

YouTube link

Comments: Is there nothing Aimi cannot do? I urge you not to pass this over as it is a strange piece for Aimi to have played. So different from anything else she’s performed (schmaltzy!), but she does it brilliantly. Wonder if she’s heard the opera . . from the way she plays you feel she must have. Perfectly done . . and fascinating.

Event/Date: Private recital in New York, June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Sinfonia from Bach Partita no. 2 in C minor, BWV 826.

Duration: 4:33

Posting details: cristeny, 4 July 2011 (first posted by Patrick Tabet).

YouTube link

Comments: According to Patrick T, this and the next two pieces were in fact performed privately a few days before the Passion of Music event held on June 12th by the AADGT at Carnegie Hall.

Event/Date: Private recital in New York, June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Waldstein sonata, complete.

Duration: See after the links.

Posting details: cristeny, 4 July 2011 (first posted by Patrick Tabet).

YouTube link part 1: First movement (9:13)

YouTube link part 2: Second and third movements (14:07)

Comments: It’s wonderful that we have this complete Waldstein by Aimi. In reposting it, Christina has stitched it together properly so the performance runs without interruption from the 2nd movement to the end. Again, from a private rehearsal/performance a few days before the Carnegie Hall recital on June 12th.

Event/Date: Private recital in New York, June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B minor, Op. 20.

Duration: 9:49

Posting details: cristeny, 4 July 2011 (new post — not seen before).

YouTube link

Comments: We have had the EMI posting of this scherzo for some time (see below), and now here is Aimi playing it at the AADGT event that preceded the recording sessions at Merkin Hall for her first CD.

Event/Date: Private recital in New York, June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31.

Duration: 10.12

Posting details: cristeny, 4 July 2011 (first posted by Patrick Tabet).

YouTube link

Comments: This is simply wonderful. Aimi seems to have shed her nerves and gives a stupendous and very moving performance. That abruptly struck note in the left hand (shown in the pic) sends shivers down my spine — how does she get that eerie, unearthly sound! The lyrical passages are exquisite. From the private event a few days before the Carnegie Hall recital on June 12th..

Event/Date: Recording, Merkin Hall, New York, 16-18 June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 4 in C sharp minor

Duration: 2:19

Posting details: SoundTown (EMI MusicJapan), 18 November 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: The étude is not included on the previous (private) version of this CD produced by Global Equity and apparently will not be on EMI Japan’s release either. But here is Aimi playing it very confidently in 2:05 exactly, so enjoy! See also the clip just released of her playing the étude in Korea, below in the 2009 entries.

Event/Date: Recording, Merkin Hall, New York, 16-18 June 2008.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B minor, Op. 20.

Duration: 9:36

Posting details: SoundTown (EMI MusicJapan), 18 November 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: EMI Music Japan has now posted these two video clips on YouTube. They mark the announcement that her long-awaited CD really is going to be released (on 10 February 2010. There are audience noises during the videos, so I don’t know what sort of recording session this was!

Patrick Tabet wrote (on YouTube) of this clip: “I don’t know many renowned pianists in the world who can bring so much passion to this work as Aimi Kobayashi. She is not a prodigy anymore, she is simply a fantastic pianist. She will soon be a Star.......”

Event/Date: Zelazowa Wola, Poland (Chopin’s birthplace), September 2008

Piece(s) played: Part of Liszt transcription of Chopin’s The Maiden's Wish

Duration: 3:08

Posting details: cristeny, 3 July 2011

YouTube link

Comments: Well wrapped against the chill, Aimi plays on a modern piano at Chopin’s family home in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. She’s playing for a small, private audience that includes Elena Rossman, head of the AADGT. Not the most perfect performance, perhaps, but you try playing when your fingers are cold!

Event/Date: Poland, various, September 2008

Piece(s) played: A concoction that includes part of Liszt’s transcription of Chopin’s The Maiden’s Wish and Aimi playing the piano part of Chopin Piano Concerto no. 2 for a small group in Warsaw. See breakdown below.

Duration: 7.52

Posting details: Aimipiano, 9 November 2009

DailyMotion link

Comments: A clip assembled by Jacques Cinelli to fill a gap when almost nothing about Aimi was appearing on YouTube. Now only available on DailyMotion. See below for details.

Stanisław Leszczyński takes Aimi's hand after she has finished playing Maiden's Wish.

This is what's in the video:

0.00-1.58 In Zelazowa Wola, the small village where Chopin was born, playing Liszt’s transcription of Chopin’s Maiden’s Wish on one of the pianos in the Chopin family home. 1.58-3.20 At the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw, practising part of 3rd movement of Chopin concerto no. 2. Seated in foreground is Janusz Olejniczak, pianist and professor at the Music Academy in Warsaw; behind him, Tadeusz Strugala, director of the Krakow Philharmonic; seated behind Strugala, Elena Rossman, head of the AADGT; and briefly seen at left, Monika Strugala. 3.20-7.51 Stanisław Leszczyński, director of the Chopin Institute and of the Chopin and his Europe Festival (2009), listens to Aimi playing Maiden’s Wish. The two women seen towards the end are Elena Rossman and Monika Strugala.

The clips were all filmed in Poland in September 2008. Aimi was there to perform with the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra (13 September), when she played Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 1 and Chopin concerto no. 2. It was soon before her 13th birthday.

(Thanks to Tom Wierzbicki for identifying Zelazowa Wola and Prof. Janusz Olejniczak)

2009 — Age 13¼ to 14¼

Event/Date: Bunkyo Kasuga Shunki (Spring) Step, Bario Hall, Tokyo, 2 May 2009. Details (in Japanese) on this ptna page.

Piece(s) played: Mozart Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor K466, 1st movement. Conductor is Youichiro Maeda.

Duration: 14:24

Posting details: PTNA, 8 May 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: I couldn’t believe my luck when I found this on the PTNA channel, where it’s described and tagged in Japanese. My guess is that this is Aimi having a first shot at the concerto with a chamber group. She played the third movement at this event (not posted on YouTube) but not the second.

Event/Date: Warsaw, Fifth International Music Festival, “Chopin and his Europe”, 25 August 2009. Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century conducted by Frans Brüggen.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Piano Concerto no. 2, audio only, in 4 parts.

Duration: n/a

Posting details: mimiporu, 11 January 2010.

YouTube links Removed by the poster 31 Jan — this is permanent

Comments: Sadly these four audio clips of the complete concerto have had to go for the usual copyright reasons. (27 Feb: see below for a download link for audio files of both concertos played at this concert. The other one was Mozart no. 20)

Meanwhile, I will keep one YouTube comment on the second movement to give some idea how the performance struck listeners to this excellent recording.

Patrick (Aimiklingsor93) wrote of the 2nd movement:

<< The miraculous beauty of this interpretation surpasses all that I have heard in my long life devoted to music. Aimi’s talent (or, should I say “genius”), goes far beyond all the greatest Chopin specialists of the past and the present. Nobody is able to understand, let alone explain, how a fourteen year old girl can deliver so much emotion, such maturity and experience. Her touch, her phrasing, her supreme variety of colors create a sublime musical poem.... Unforgettable performance..... >>

Stop press 27 Feb 2010:

You can download mp3 files of the Mozart and Chopin concertos from here on this Russian site. Click on download link no. 3 (translated into Latin characters the name of the file is Aimi Kobayashi.rar). This single 119.5 Mb file unpacks into two mp3 files, one for each concerto. The Chopin concerto was played before the Mozart.

Audio clips of two encores played at Warsaw now on YouTube:

On top of two piano concertos, Aimi gave three encores, all Chopin pieces. Two can now be heard on YouTube —

Scherzo no. 1 Op. 20 (posted by cristeny 14 June 2010)

Etude Op. 10 no. 4 (posted by cristeny 13 June 2010)

Event/Date: Recital at Nagoya, Japan, 25 October 2009.

Piece(s) played: In this clip: parts of Chopin’s Polonaise héroïque, all of the mazurka in C sharp min Op. 63 no. 3 and waltz no. 14 in E min Op. posth.

Duration: 7:29

Posting details: romillyh, 14 December 2009

YouTube link

Comments: Posted to show what a delightful person Aimi is away from the piano. See her performance of the Waldstein sonata in the entry below.

Event/Date: Recital at Nagoya, Japan, 25 October 2009.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 21 in C major, Op. 53, “Waldstein”

Duration: 26:35 (all movements)

Posting details: mandpstea, 22 September 2010 (unlisted until 1 Dec 2010)

YouTube links: First movement; Second movement; Third movement

Comments: Playing on a very warm autumn afternoon that made her thirsty, and with interruptions from late arrivers, Aimi nevertheless put in a very respectable performance. Our camera views were not ideal, hence the frequent use of the back shots seen in the pic here. This means that one sees a lot of how Aimi uses her left hand, which I actually find rather interesting.

Event/Date: Recital at Nagoya, Japan, 25 October 2009

Piece(s) played: Chopin Polonaise héroïque

Duration: 8:23

Posting details: mandpstea, 15 June 2011

YouTube link

Comments: This is not a flawless performance, especially near the beginning where Aimi is still getting into it, and we hesitated before making it public on YouTube — it’s been hidden on Paul’s channel for 6 months now! Nevertheless, once she gets under way it’s a spirited performance, with all the Aimi touches that you’d expect. It remains the only public performance of the Polonaise by her that I know of.

Event/Date: Recital at Nagoya, Japan, 25 October 2009.

Piece(s) played: Mazurka in C♯ min Op. 63 no. 3 and Waltz no. 14 in E min Op. posth.

Duration: Two links: 5:47 (4-cam) and 5:35 (single-cam)

Posting details: mandpstea, 7 and 11 January 2011

YouTube link: 4-camera version (this is the main version, linked from thumbnail pic)

YouTube link: Single camera showing face only

Comments: Beautiful, sensitive playing of infinite delicacy. Aimi at her best.

For more on this recital, see the Nagoya 2009 page in the Reviews section (opens in a new tab; click the page away to return to this Video Catalog page).

Event/Date: 1st Asia-Pacific International F. Chopin Piano Competition, held at Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea, 27 October to 12 November 2009.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 4.

Duration: 2:12

Posting details: PTNA, 13 November 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: Aimi tied first in the Junior section (with ShiYu Yang of China) in this new competition in Korea. 1st Asia-Pacific International F. Chopin Piano Competition website (Korean and English). Announcement on PTNA website (Japanese).

For time-clockers: played in 2:05, exactly the same as in June 2008. In Nagoya (October 2009) she played it in 2:00 — quite a quick performance of this ferocious piece.

Event/Date: 1st Asia-Pacific International F. Chopin Piano Competition, South Korea

Piece(s) played: n/a

Duration: 0:58

Posting details: PTNA YouTube News vol. 36, 13 November 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: Short PTNA news item about the competition with a few still shots of Aimi and Mrs Ninomiya. Notable for showing Aimi in a fetching pair of black culottes.

Event/Date: Miscellaneous (mazurka excerpt is from the Korean Chopin competition)

Piece(s) played: Part of Chopin Mazurka Op. 63 no. 3

Duration: 0:56

Posting details: PTNA YouTube News vol. 41, 18 December 2009.

YouTube link

Comments: PTNA news item announcing that Aimi had been chosen to play in the PTNA Teenage Pianist series to be held at Hamarikyu-Asahi Hall, Tokyo, on April 3rd, 2010.

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Page created 26 April 2009; last updated 23 July 2011

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