We haven’t posted much classical music hear over on Earmilk but anyone should be able to recognize genius in any genre. Nobuyuki Tsujii is a blind Japanese pianist who recently won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009. He’s so good that he receives a 2-min standing ovation after his performance. Perhaps its his blindness that gives him such a good ear for classical music or perhaps its just his genius but nevertheless he’s amazing and even if you aren’t a fan of classical you have to recognize the amazing skill involved in his playing. Check out how he overlaps his hands and how fast he can actually play. The piece he plays is “Étude No. 3″ by Franz Liszt.

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We get letters from all sorts of artists here at Earmilk, but this one particularly stood out to me for some reason. Maybe it was because I saw the words “Orchestra” and “11-Piece”. Either way, when I checked it out, I was nothing less than stoked on my new discovery. Emanuel and The Fear bring a new vibe to the Polyphonic Spree/ Sufjan/ Arcade Fire feel, and I can’t get enough of it right now. I think I even hear a little Cursive influence in there. I had never heard of the band before, even though they released their self titled debut album back in January. This makes me think they aren’t getting the credit they deserve. I listen to a lot of music, and I can’t even believe I haven’t heard of these guys until now.

With a sound that derives itself from composers and songwriters across the board, Emanuel & the Fear is an extraordinary 11-piece orchestra-rock band that focuses on intertwining the modern day pop song with extravagant and complex composition. Drawing from romantic and modern composers like Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Glass; and then fusing in a modern rock sound like Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, Daft Punk and Sufjan Stevens; Emanuel & the Fear displays a true understanding of sound all-the-while capturing audiences with their climactic electro/orchestral arrangements and quivering, poetic lyrics.

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This is Sungha Jung. He’s from South Korea. He’s an amazing guitarist and he’s…wait for it……12 years old! Obviously this kid is a prodigy but he really is amazing. And not just for his age. He’s amazing as a guitarist period. His dream is to someday become a famous guitarst or as he says on his myspace:

My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself two years ago. I just turned eleven in September, 2007.

Now Sunha Jung has alot of videos online and they are all pretty amazing. But the one below is a rendention of the song that was completely composed by him. The song is called “Hazy Sunshine”. The video shows his impressive guitart abilities in regards to style and technique. You won’t believe your eyes or you ears. Enjoy:

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Here’s a fragment of video that shows the amazing skill of pianist Valentina Lisitsa. Whether you are a fan of classical music or not; you must appreciate the skill involved in doing this piece. The piece is entitled Totentanz (Dance of Death). Unlike a lot of other pianist who are machine-like; you can really see the emotion that Valentina has when playing this piece. Check out the video:

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