And if London burns I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar

This is a revised version of the post I did last night for Crooks & Liars Late Night Music Club.

As a long-time classical guitar player, I'm always interested in seeing what other players are doing, especially outside the mainstream.

This is how I discovered the wonderful young Chinese women who all study under Prof. Chen Zhi at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. More about these amazing players can be found at Alma Guitar.

The most well-known and accomplished of these young women is Su Meng. Here's is a video of her playing Paganini's Caprice #24. Metal shredders will weep in humility after seeing this woman play. (this is a better video than the original, thanks to C&L commentor Ian)



And just in time for Christmas, here is a quartet of Wang Yameng, Su Meng, Chen Shanshan, Li Jie playing the Overture to the Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite:



For those who made it this far, and especially for those at C&L who questioned Su Meng's musicality, check out this video of her giving a clinic demonstrating the opening bars of the Caprice at increasingly faster tempi and varied rhythmic stylings: