A much better lesson last Sunday. Low GI food all through the day and twenty minutes of meditation before leaving home did the trick.

Chopin Ballade No.4. : Another page learnt so this week it will be the second part of the fugal section (around page 8 or so for memory). The melody needs more cantabile still but was better. Memorizing some of the tricky passages helps.

Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 2. : Played this at the end of the lesson and despite significant practice it fell apart. I have an actor friend who said that amateurs practice till the performance will probably be alright, professionals rehearse till they are certain it will be alright - good advice.

Rachmaninov Op 32 No 10.: The L'istesso tempo section needs more work in the right hand. Experiment with the sound in the chordal section - more depth, quality of forte sound.

Rachmaninov Op 23 No. 5: In the fingers now (yay!) accuracy getting there. The Un poco meno mosso section needs to be even quieter still.

Got to get started on the Brahm's Rhapsody.

Learnt that the mother of a fellow student and professional colleague (CM) had died in a car accident. Sad ++.

My ticket for Stephen Hough's concert on 26th September arrived. Seat Q3. Should be ok - it's at the Conservatorium theatre and the acoustics there are great.

Found the David Bar Ilan CD at Audiofon in Miami, Florida - Arthur is on the case.