Shanshan Chen
La Catedral
A. BARRIOS: La Catedral; Vals No.3. F. MARTIN: 4 pieces breves. F. TARREGA: Gran Vals. H. MIAKE: Itsukino-Komoriuta; Tohryanse. J.K. MERTZ: Fantasie Hongroise. A.LAURO: La Negra. H. VILLA-LOBOS: Etudes No.11. C. DOMENICONI: Koyunbaba Op.19.
ISRC CN-A64-00-343-00/A.J6
It's rather astonishing to receive a third CD from yet another student of Prof Zhi Chen from the Central Conservatory in the span of only a few months. Shanshan Chen was barely 16 when she won Second Place at the Tokyo International Guitar Competition last year, and this album contains several of the pieces she played at the competition.
Chen is a tremendously talented guitarist, there's no doubt about it. She has a natural inner drive and an ear for multiple lines in polyphonic texture. However, the production of this CD seems somehow to have highlighted some of her weaknesses rather than strengths.
Bass buzzes are unfortuantely all over the place, and some of these buzzes are left hand related. Chen uses one of the Smallmans that John Williams left in China but is unable to overcome some of the innate problems of this powerful instrument.
Despite those problems, there's still a lot to admire about Chen's playing. Her technique is mature beyond her age and hopefully we won't have to wait too long before she catches up with her "senior" colleagues, Xuefei Yang and Yameng Wang.