Eric Xi Xin Liang

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1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 9

Eric Xi Xin Liang

PROGRAM NOTES

PASSIONS OF PUCCINI
Featuring original Piano Transcriptions by Eric Xi Xin Liang
Friday, September 19, 2025 — 7:30 PM PST
Vancouver Zion Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC, Canada

IN-PERSON and LIVESTREAMED on this channel.

www.eventbrite.ca/e/passions-of-puccini-tickets-16…

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1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 29

Eric Xi Xin Liang

Working on reducing Turandot, Act 1 (one of Puccini's most famous operas) to solo piano right now.
Trying to make sure everything is as close as possible to the sound of the original orchestration and vocal expression, and while it's surprisingly doable 90% of the time, I do have to perform some relatively insignificant trade-offs here and there to make it playable.

Anything you see in the LH (and sometimes RH) that looks impossible to play because there is a greater-than-10th interval is either arpeggiated, briefly interrupted (in the case of a sustained tremolo), or split by grace notes. All vocal lines are represented by diamond-notehead detached-beam notes. When I finish the act -- which is still very far from the case -- I'll fully colour-code adjacent vocals lines to make them completely stand out from the orchestration, since the vocal lines need to be much louder when played: this also makes the performance of this brutally difficult, but I've done way harder throughout my history of performance.

If there is anyone willing to reduce Act 2 concurrently with me with the same reduction paradigms with no deadline pressure, I'd be overwhelmingly willing to perform it. Besides "Nessun Dorma" from Act 3, this is likely the first time anyone is reducing this opera to piano with this degree of conservatism. But do expect that it'll likely take 100 to 200 hours. I'm only 20% through Act 1.

My process is:
1. Mentally transcribe all instruments separately to concert pitch.
2. Mentally filter out redundancies and low-contribution lines. Verify with recordings to make sure.
3. Mentally group rhythmically similar/compatible lines into up to 8 voices (since I'm using Musescore) across 2 staves.
4. Input each voice one-by-one into Musescore, making corrections and further necessary reductions along the way.
5. Visually stylize and organize the voices so it's as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

(If you try playing this on the piano so far, the reduction sounds amazing.)

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5 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 50

Eric Xi Xin Liang

While there are other candidates, which of these three most prominent operas by Puccini do you enjoy the most? And why? (genuinely interested in knowing)

5 months ago | [YT] | 7

Eric Xi Xin Liang

Update on things. It's been a short while.

1, big things have happening on my end which needed selective focus and attention. 2, while I love to share my musical discoveries with you all in my own way which leverages my emotional evocation at the piano at its fullest potential, I've also been facing "negotiations" involving trades with relevant parties who prefer I don't play and record pieces with the frequency I do since I "maybe disrupting certain core services". I'm writing about it now because it's nearing the end of the contract/agreement.

While vague in its original context, I do empathize with its implicated meaning. What wasn't detailed nor restricted was hosting some free, private (non-publicized), locally-sourced, charity-based performances in the meantime to audiences inherently willing to receive certain tailored repertoire, but once again on my own terms. This got me thinking though, what would your preference be in the long-term for how I deliver performances? (Assuming that -- and I have high confidence in this -- audio and visuals become exceptionally high quality eventually?)

5 months ago | [YT] | 12

Eric Xi Xin Liang

Which symphony by Anton Bruckner features a motif that is comparable to a motif found in Samuel Barber's "Piano Sonata"? If you guessed correctly, describe in the comments where the approximate matches are.

7 months ago | [YT] | 10

Eric Xi Xin Liang

Would you be willing to attend an in-person (and maybe live-streamed) performance by me of the solo piano transcriptions of Bruckner's 4th, 7th, and 8th symphonies?

8 months ago | [YT] | 17

Eric Xi Xin Liang

2024 Musicforever60 repertoire review in approximate chronological order + personal remarks:
"+" means recorded and/or posted. "*" means partially/completely learned, but not recorded/posted.

+ Nikolai Medtner: Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op.5, 1st + 3rd Movement
* Nikolai Medtner: Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op.5, 2nd + 4th Movement
+ Kaikhosru Sorabji: "XI. Fuga IV [Dux Primus]" from Opus Clavicembalisticum
+ Kaikhosru Sorabji: "XI. Fuga IV [Dux Quartus]" from Opus Clavicembalisticum
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: "VIII. Fuga III [Dux Tertius]" from Opus Clavicembalisticum
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: "XI. Fuga IV [Dux Alter]" from Opus Clavicembalisticum
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: "XI. Fuga IV [Dux Tertius]" from Opus Clavicembalisticum
+ Kaikhosru Sorabji: "I. Preludio-Corale" from Toccata No.1
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: "II. Passacaglia" from Toccata No.1
+ Nikolai Medtner: Sonata-Idyll, Op.56 in G Major
+ Nikolai Medtner: Sonata-Triade, Op.11, No.1 in Ab Major
* Nikolai Medtner: Sonata-Triade, Op.11, No.3 in C Major
* Nikolai Medtner: Sonata in G Minor, Op.22
* Nikolai Medtner: Sonata in A Minor, Op.30
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: Villa Tasca (~60 min)
+ Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No.1, Movements 1, 2a, 3
+ Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No.2, Movements 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Complete)
* ??? (~15 min)
+ Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Act 1, Solo Piano Transcription, Part 1
* Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Act 1, Solo Piano Transcription, Part 2
+ Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme, Act 1, Solo Piano Transcription, Part 1
* Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme, Act 1, Solo Piano Transcription, Part 2
+ Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3, 1st Movement
* Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3, Movements 2, 3, and 4
+ Maurice Ravel: Une Barque sur L'Océan
+ Maurice Ravel: Jeux D'eau
* Percy Grainger: ???
+ Fartein Valen: Piano Sonata No.2, 1st Movement
* Fartein Valen: Piano Sonata No.2, 2nd + 3rd Movement
* Fartein Valen: ???
+ George Enescu: Piano Sonata No.1, Movements 1, 2, and 3 (Complete)
+ George Enescu: Piano Sonata No.3, 1st + 2nd Movement
* George Enescu: Piano Sonata No.3, 3rd Movement
+ Fartein Valen: Intermezzo
* Kaikhosru Sorabji: ??? (large-scale)
* Johann Sebastian Bach: ???
+ Sergei Prokofiev: String Quartet No.2, 1st Movement, Solo Piano Reduction
+ Béla Bartók: String Quartet No.2, 1st + 2nd Movement, Solo Piano Reduction
* Béla Bartók: String Quartet No.2, 3rd Movement, Solo Piano Reduction
* ???, String Quartet -> Solo Piano Reduction x 4

(sightread through a ton of other repertoire as well not listed)

Some of the entries marked "*" I would still consider recording, so I want to keep them a surprise.

Alongside all this, this has been a huge huge huge year for work and my main career in Computer Science as a Software Engineer (equally or vastly exceeding that of the above), which has also been in complete alignment with my goals and interests. I have worked exceedingly hard, often with great weariness, to pull off some incredible feats both in music and at work. By always following my instincts, being my authentic self intellectually and emotionally, being strategic and relentlessly goal-driven, and never settling for deceptive falsehood, exploitation, or populist trivialization, I inspire myself to journey forward with full self-actualization. Maybe take this as inspiration, but do not assume it as a free privilege for you to acquire: it is the culmination of an entire life's worth of thinking, connecting, doing, erroring, suffering, growing, and persevering. This, I am grateful for, and am glad to be sharing with you all.

9 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 40

Eric Xi Xin Liang

Samples of the score I made only for the Bartok transcription recording I posted yesterday, so you gather some reference point as to what I was playing.

https://youtu.be/XHYRJ6pF_DM

(No, I will not be releasing it, at least not anytime soon.)

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10 months ago | [YT] | 27

Eric Xi Xin Liang

I'll likely be back mid- to late-December with something unexpected and unprecedented. No, it's not Sorabji, he's currently unalive.

11 months ago | [YT] | 24