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Beautiful young tigress at large — Aimi filmed in what is likely a Tokyo recording studio at end 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2010 — Age 14¼ plus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: Studio recording session, Tokyo?, 25 December 2009. Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 4 (short version) Duration: 1:07 Posting details: realmusiq802, 26 January 2010. Comments: This well-edited clip with great sound looks like film taken during a recent recording session. Delightful informal vignette of Aimi at work. |
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Event/Date: Poznan, Poland, 21 February 2010. Piece(s) played: Part of Chopin Nocturne no. 20 in C sharp minor (encore) Duration: 2:41 Posting details: Adam Ciereszko, 21 February 2010 YouTube link (also on the Polish Press Agency website here) Comments: Part video, part stills, we hear brief excerpts from the performance of an encore that had the audience applauding even before it ended. The montage is by Adam Ciereszko. Sounds like Aimi in top form! |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Audio only clips from Poznan On YouTube: Waltz no. 14 in E min Op. posth. (posted by cristeny 13 June 2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: From Debut CD, released Feb 2010, recorded in New York June 2008. Piece(s) played: Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B min, Op. 20 (audio only) Duration: 9:58 Posting details: PTNA, 15 March 2010 Comments: A check of the tracks in an audio program convinces me that this is the CD version. Length is same to 1/100th sec, and individual waveforms are identical apart from some tiny differences, likely due processing by YouTube. Sounds the same too! |
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Event/Date: Extracts from NHK TV feature on Aimi broadcast 29 March 2010. Clip appears to be from a mangled rebroadcast by a TV station in Taiwan. Piece(s) played: n/a Duration: 1:36 Posting details: dad8184, 10 April 2010 Comments: Noisy Chinese commentary and overlays on bitty excerpts only give an idea of the original 10 min feature by NHK TV. That seems to have been based around the performance at the Art Space Gallery, Machida City, Tokyo, the day before the broadcast. Probably unique on YouTube for showing Aimi’s handsome dad. |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The interviewer asked him: “Are you proud of Ms Aimi?” He replied “No, I don’t think [of it] like that. Her life is hard. She has little time to do anything apart from piano. When one tries to accomplish something difficult, one has to sacrifice a lot. As parents we sometimes feel that our daughter’s life is hard.” In the earlier excerpt from a lesson, Mrs Ninomiya is saying that Aimi always expresses her feelings strongly but that sometimes she does it a little excessively, so she advises her to play with more restraint. She agrees with the interviewer that Aimi’s inner feelings are intense and that she has great power of expression. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: Marucube, Marunouchi Bldg, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, 2 May 2010. Piece(s) played: Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1, mvts 1 and 3 (string quartet version) Duration: Performance lasts for ca 28 min of this 35 min video Posting details: toonweb (To-on), 2 May 2010 Comments: Yes, this really is piano concerto no. 1, though for some reason without the second movement. It needs some dedication to listen right through as the sound quality is dreadful. Nevertheless, Aimi can be heard quite well, playing with verve and confidence. The camera is fixed, so at least you don’t get seasick watching. To-on has three still pics of Aimi at this event here (near end of page). There Aimi is reported as saying that she only began to “read” the concerto a month before: しかも譜読みを始めたのはヶ月前 which would have been the beginning of April. For comments (in Japanese) on this concert by someone who was there, go to this page, about half way down. The string quartet was QuartetN. Concert announcement is here (little detail). |
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Event/Date: TV Asahi Music Concert, broadcast 9 May 2010. Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude 10 no. 4 Duration: 2:13 Posting details: cristeny, 28 Oct 2010 YouTube link (complete édude now posted by Christina) Comments: Thrilling to see Aimi in action again — she’s really getting this étude nailed. The performance is from a regular concert series broadcast by tv asahi. This was removed by the original poster, so now Christina has put the whole étude up on her own channel — previously only the last part of it was heard/seen. Bravo. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Event/Date: TV Asahi Music Concert (continued), broadcast 9 May 2010. Piece(s) played: Chopin Nocturne no. 20 in C sharp minor Duration: 4:17 Posting details: cristeny, 28 Oct 2010; editskyline 29 Oct 2010 YouTube link 1 (360p) YouTube link 2 (480p) Comments: Well, we’ve heard this nocturne several times before, but every time Aimi plays it it seems to become more beautiful. Between the étude and the nocturne she was asked by the program host, Yutaka Sado, why she paused so long before starting to play the étude. She replied that she has to wait for the music to sound in her head before she is ready to play. At the beginning of this nocturne we see her briefly feeling her magic charm pendant, something she often does now before playing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: Interview after NiuNiu’s “mini-concert” at Ginza Yamaha Concert Salon, Tokyo, 26 May 2010. Piece(s) played: n/a Duration: Two clips. Clip shown at right runs for ca 4:30; second clip is ca 19 minutes. Real Player add-on required. Posting details: Music News, Japan, 26(?) May 2010 Comments: All in Japanese and Chinese. Once you’re on the MusicNews page that has the first clip you’ll find the second, longer clip under “Related Videos” on the right. Note that the interview was held after NiuNiu’s recital and not Aimi’s at the same venue on 17th April. Hence much of the conversation is with him. NiuNiu’s real name is Zhang Shengliang. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Event/Date: Crystal Café, RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka, Osaka, 24 October 2010. Piece(s) played: Chopin Etude Op. 10 no 4 (part) Duration: 0:45 Posting details: keizofritzhansen 24 October 2010 Comments: A frustratingly brief glimpse of how Aimi sometimes has to earn her living! |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Event/Date: NHK TV “Everyone’s Favourite Chopin” with Tokyo Junior Orchestra Society conducted by Toshiaki Umeda. Part of 4-hour live broadcast 31 October 2010. Piece(s) played: Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1, first movement Duration: 19:32 Posting details: cristeny, 4 July 2010 Comments: We hope that Christina is allowed to keep this posted as it’s the only decent recording we have of Aimi playing even part of PC no. 1. Aimi describes this concerto as “kakkoi”, or very loosely perhaps, “sexy”. Interviewed after the performance, she said: “This piece is more difficult to play technically and expressively [than concerto no. 2]. But I like it very much.” She plays it scintillatingly well, and the youthful orchestra is astonishingly good. A must watch despite the indifferent quality of the image. |
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2011 — Age 15¼ plus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: Trailer for film “Sleep” directed by Katsumi Sakaguchi (2011, 96 min). Piece(s) played: Piano soundtrack for film Duration: 1:24 Posting details: supersaurusjapan, 19 January 2011 YouTube link (WARNING: Adult content) Comments: Aimi never ceases to surprise. Here she is shown in a trailer for a movie that was chosen as the official Japanese entry at the 40th International Film Festival in Rotterdam. Aimi has a “cameo” role (a small walk-on part by a famous person), and it seems innocent enough. Details of the film here on the Rotterdam Film Festival site. Supersaurus is the production company. (See below, Dec 5th, for another clip) According to Aimi’s EMI pages, the film will be released in Japan in November 2011. For more info: Supersaurus page. For reviews, see Screen Daily and Film Business Asia. How Aimi got her part on Tokyo Hive. The film’s Japanese title, “Nemuri Yusurika”, means “Chironomid larvae” or “Sleeping Chironomid” and refers to a very resilient type of midge larva that can survive anything. There you go! |
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Aimi seems to be visiting someone in hospital here . . . She is reported as saying that she had no idea what the film was about when director Katsumi Sakaguchi asked her to play in it and that she was very surprised when she got the script! The Film Business Asia reviewer notes “a strong cameo near the end by . . Aimi”. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Event/Date: TV Tokyo “Late Night Concert” with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kimbo Ishii-Eto on 28 October 2010. Venue: Hitomi Memorial Hall, Showa Women’s University, Tokyo. Piece(s) played: Chopin Piano Concerto no. 2, complete; Nocturne no. 20 (encore). Duration: 1st movement, 14:10; 2nd movement, 9:25; 3rd movement, 8:51 (total, 32:26). Nocturne, 4:06. Posting details: HD-Video Collections (HDVideoCollections3), 18 Nov 2011 (reposting). Video resolutions: Up to 1080 px available. I recommend 720 px at full screen.
Comments: High-quality (though not flawless) video by TV Tokyo, this is a milestone in the presentation of Aimi on YouTube. With encore, runs for a total of 36 minutes. It’s a superb performance by both orchestra and Aimi, who was clearly on top form. Here are some comments posted on YouTube: “This is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” — pianoloverok, aka George Li. “Words simply cannot describe how special Aimi was, is, or will be” — sunnyphil. “Absolutely breathtaking. How is it possible for a child to give such a flawless performance?” — nickdjew. “Just speechless — as an orchestral musician and a pianist . . , I’m generally not too fond of Chopin’s piano concertos, but Aimi has (no surprise) blown me away! If she works on expanding her repertoire (which seems surprisingly small considering her talent...), her future is incredibly bright.” — lily763. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chopin no. 2 movement 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chopin no. 2 movement 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chopin no. 2 movement 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chopin Nocturne encore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NOTE: HD-Video Collections has been picking up copyright notices on these videos (by NHK), and the current set of links (Nov 2011) are repostings after the first set, posted in Feb 2011, was removed. So it is possible that you will find the Nov 2011 set disappears at some point. There is another set, posted by a PhilipCaruso01, but as my current policy is not to link videos that appear to be copied from other channels you will have to look for them yourself. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last blast: Aimi has reason to break into a smile as the orchestra plays out the last chord of the third movement — her performance was brilliant and inspired. Click for a large pic, taken from the 1080 HD version, which does show however why the video quality can’t be called flawless. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: Interview related to 2nd CD posted on a “Listen Japan” download page for tracks from Aimi’s new CD. Page and interview in Japanese. Piece(s) played: N/a Duration: 0:22 and 3:26 Posting details: Listen Japan website, date unknown but ca CD release (9 Mar 2011) Listen Japan link where you will find links to the two clips Comments: Sorry, I don’t know what she’s saying, but it’s fairly animated. The main part is accessed from the link on the right of the Listen Japan page. |
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Event/Date: Recital at Weill Hall (Carnegie Hall), New York, 3 April 2011 Piece(s) played: N/a Duration: 0:56 Posting details: sala570602, 5 April 2011 YouTube link (User’s channel closed due multiple copyright infringements) Comments: Short — only worth watching because it shows Aimi dedicating the Nocturne encore, in English, to the earthquake and tsunami victims.
Event/Date: Recital at Weill Hall (Carnegie Hall), New York, 3 April 2011 Piece(s) played: N/a Duration: 3:36 Posting details: www.fujisankei.com, 11 April 2011 Comments: An excellent montage of clips from a video of the event made by a Japanese TV team. Follows Aimi back stage, and perhaps especially interesting for showing how Mrs Ninomiya buoys Aimi’s spirits in those anxious moments before she goes on stage. In Japanese. For audience reactions to the performance and photos, see my NY Reviews. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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There’s a copy of this on YouTube (on editskyline12’s channel), but I am increasingly reluctant to link to postings that appear to have been copied without permission and may infringe the copyright of others — not least because they are liable to be removed. See the entry immediately above for the clip of Aimi at Carnegie Hall: that user’s channel was closed after three copyright complaints from NHK Television. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event/Date: TV Asahi “Untitled Concert” program broadcast 9 July 2011 Piece(s) played: Excerpt from Appassionata sonata, end of first movement Duration: 2:50 Posting details: hideki385, 9 July 2011; removed 12 July YouTube link (no longer available) Comments: A little inaccurate in places, but it’s good to see at last how Aimi plays this. The choice of excerpt is also good. Although the whole program lasts around 25 minutes, pianist Hiroko Nakamura did most of the talking and Aimi said very little. 12 July: Clip now gone, but I’ll keep this entry in case it reappears. |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Event/Date: Fifth Yasuko Fukuda Scholarship Auditions, Tokyo, 23-26 August 2011 Piece(s) played: Prokofiev Sonata no. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 Duration: 7:07 Posting details: PTNA, 1 September 2011 Comments: This is the performance on the last day, Augusr 26th. Very finely done too. Aimi won this competition. |
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Event/Date: Fifth Yasuko Fukuda Scholarship Auditions, Tokyo, 23-26 August 2011 Piece(s) played: Chopin Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 Duration: 20:36 Posting details: PTNA, 2 September 2011 Comments: The performance on the last day, August 26th. Aimi’s third piece for the competition was Appassionata, but she didn’t play this on the last day. |
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Event/Date: Short promo, October 2011 Piece(s) played: N/A Duration: 0:08 Posting details: JapanphilMovie, 7 October 2011 Comments: In eight short seconds Aimi manages to say: “I am so excited that I will have concerts with the Nippon Philharmonic Orchestra. Please come to the concerts.” She is talking about her performances with the Japan Phil on 29 and 30 October. The YouTube channel this clip is on is the orchestra’s. |
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Event/Date: Unknown, but probably late 2010 Piece(s) played: Soundtrack for film Nemuri Yusurika Duration: 4:46 Posting details: Supersaurusjapan, 5 December 2011 Comments: In a studio, recording for the film’s soundtrack. Aimi has a screen in front of her on which the film is played. Most of this clip is shots of Aimi having a conversation in the control room, though the audio of that has been replaced by a replay of the piano soundtrack. Probably recorded back in 2010 (when she was 15) as the clip released by Supersaurus in January already had the piano on it. The film was released in Japan in November 2011. |
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Page created 27 January 2010; last modified 6 December 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Her YouTube videos
and other recordings
listed in chronological order
Page Four: 14 years and on
