When I hear her recording of Chopin Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor (Op.31), I thought it was a man playing. The sheer strength coupled with the most delicate musical lines...I felt ashamed (as a pianist and a fellow woman) to realise this very fact - women, even with their smaller hands, can play just as well. There is no excuse for bad playing.
Here's an article that really inspired me.
An extract from it :
"The best way to develop control over a piece is to start practicing very slowly, keeping fingers close to the keyboard. Be strict with time and tempo; play purposefully, entirely without pedal. Play all the way through this way, playing legato with the indicated or implied dynamics. When pedal is added later, performance will be easier. Listen analytically for problems and fix them. Later you can loosen up and add rubato.
I ask students to imagine feeling the notes with their fingers before playing them; this is muscle memory. Fingerings should be chosen for smoothness; for example, in a right hand octave passage use 5-4-5 instead of 5-5-5. Volume and articulation will clarify the difference between the melody and accompaniment; a pianist should be very clear in differences, even small dynamic changes. I have students play lines of music and bring out the character of each line; I show them how to feel the tension within a piece and ways to express it so the music flows and drives forward. A pianist should have something to say in each piece and bring this our in performance."
I really want to play like her.
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