こういう批評もある。まあ人それぞれということかな？

Tsujii, blind from birth and only 20 when he won last year, here sounds like
a musician of real depth. (These are live recordings from the 2009 competition.)
Kern, in a studio recording, plays the piano very well but sets no personal
imprint on the music.

Don't be put off by the awful sound of the Fort Worth Symphony at the start
of the Tsujii CD. The orchestra plays quite capably, and conductor James
Conlon shapes the music sensitively. He even coordinates securely with Tsujii,
no small challenge with a sightless soloist. But, although the piano sound is
clear and warm, the recording engineer seems to have stuck the orchestra at
the bottom of a boomy cistern.

The sound seems to improve as the concerto proceeds, or else one's ears get
used to it. Soon one is drawn into the unassuming magic of Tsujii's playing.

There's no grandstanding, no point-making, just a luminous tone and an utterly
natural feeling for the shape and direction of phrases. Those are assets far
rarer in the concert hall than you'd imagine.

Tsujii's performances of the Berceuse and Études are skilled and sensitive, too.
Even quite a brisk pace in the G-flat major Étude doesn't prevent graceful shaping.

By SCOTT CANTRELL