Password: Revisiting

Funny.

Very good!

Yuja Wang is incredible guys! Extraordinary technique, in my opinion currently one of the best in the world if not the absolute best.

Magnificent! ....there are no other woRds. ...

If I'm not mistaken and if it were correct, please correct me... many other female pianists with the same versatility of style. Generally, arrangements and even jazz-style improvisations have always pleasEd male pianists more! Am I wrong?

Bollaniana

It depends on the spirit with which you listen to or view a concert. For example, I am not even remotely interested in an encore like that; sure, she played beautifully and the piece is well-written for what it is meant to express. But it is (in my opinion), forgive the term, an incredible tacky mess. If I listen to a piece of this type, what am I supposed to appreciate besides the pianist's indisputable skill? Musically, it tells me nothing, but it is probably not even intended to say anything other than, fundamentally, to entertain and amaze the listener. I believe Fazil Say played something similar.

Between her playing this as an encore and Pires playing a bagatelle as an encore, it's Pires for life, but as always, tastes are tastes.

micamahler wrote:

It depends on the spirit with which you listen to or view a concert. For example, I am not even remotely interested in an encore like this; certainly, she played beautifully and the piece is well-written for what it aims to express. But it is (in my opinion), forgive the term, an incredible tacky mess. If I listen to a piece of this type, what am I supposed to appreciate besides the pianist's indisputable skill? Musically, it tells me nothing, but it is probably not even intended to say anything other than, fundamentally, to entertain and amaze the listener. I believe Fazil Say played something similar.

Between her playing this as an encore and Pires playing a bagatelle as an encore, Pires for life, but as always, tastes are tastes.

Well.... I think it's a bit of a joke... that it should be taken as a game and a playful moment. Sometimes it can even serve a propedeutic purpose to bring newcomers closer to the genre

Without a doubt! After that, my opinion remains the same

Great technique, great mental stamina ...but ..mmmmmm I'm not convinced by the fact that I experienced the whole piece as if, like a child, you wound up the toy car too much and move away from the fear because you can no longer stop it... I don't know how to say it... an automaton that executes everything that comes its way. I am not giving a negative judgment nor do I think that is all there is to say... but in my opinion, music ...is another thing.

fabio73 wrote:

but in my opinion music ...is
another thing.

Don't hold it against me, but you have to explain this one to me!

That the operation performed by the pianist doesn't convince you, that's possible, but frankly the last part of your speech seems wrong to me. This too is music or ... music.

My opinion, Daniele. The meaning is between the lines. Anyway, to explain myself better, I think that a great virtuoso, a great charmer, a great poet, a great entertainer, etc. etc. etc. to infinity... will never be great musicians.

A true musician, pianist, or instrumentalist in general must have a little bit of everything, and from this little bit, they will create their own whole, just like in a good dish.

The idea is not complex but rather, very simple and obvious. But unfortunately for us, it is precisely simplicity that is the most difficult thing to achieve.

This is what I meant.

I do not believe that one can judge a pianist by their clothes (as was done in another post) or, as in this case, by a virtuoso interlude deliberately performed to entertain the audience. I have heard excellent things about Wang... See Rachmaninoff's piano concerto performances, see Mendelssohn's, see Scriabin's studies and the preludes that I want to attach. She has reached excellent artistic maturity, although she is much less famous than Lang Lang, in my humble opinion, if he were to hang him on a keychain or put him in his pocket whenever he wanted. In my opinion, she is a great pianist, improvable in some repertoires, but truly of great depth.

Open content (youtube)

Indeed Simone. I agree. In fact, I was hoping for something better. But you know... I am old school (meaning in my mindset) and for some reason, I demand a certain rigor from an artist. Sometimes these flourishes tend to slightly undermine the true qualities of an interpreter simply because they cross the line into exhibitionism... after all,

this was also done in past centuries... the Liszt recital etc etc... anyway, I will listen to it carefully and then we can talk about it again if necessary.

Thanks for the post.

Funny.

Personally, I even like it more than the original. But why would it be "bollanian"?

pianistically and musically, hats off and a red carpet.....

I see nothing strange if every now and then they try to charm the audience with straightforward virtuoso displays; it is different for a Lang Lang who has only that as an objective and less musicality and the expression of music...

but in Yuja Wang I much less appreciate the recourse to another kind of performance...the physical one. even if she can afford it without problems, I consider it a gesture of little feminine elegance. something I would say even if it were another context...elegance is not an armpit cleavage or a bare décolletage!! but I distinguish the two things....and pianistically I like her. I would have only preferred a more refined stage presence!

I don't feel like criticizing "flying fingers"; every now and then she acts like a prima donna and I don't see what the harm is, she certainly wanted to have fun, and to entertain, nothing more.

Yes Nancy, indeed.. sometimes from the way people present themselves, you can also understand their thoughts intimately.

Allevi, in fact, presents himself with a fourteen-year-old's t-shirt to seem a bit more like a "genius" after all.

Today these things are part of marketing and I assure you they have an... incredible effect... on us Italians.

Appearing is... practically everything for us.

Even because of this factor I hadn't had a... great impression... but I emphasize... also...

Anyway, I reserve the right to study her better in order to post something more concrete.

LucaCavaliere wrote:

Funny.

I actually like it even more than the original.

In reality, that is exactly what I thought when I listened to it.

ps: regarding the pianist's way of dressing, I already said back then that for Chinese people and their culture - which is not steeped in sinful Catholic dictates on the matter -, it is perfectly normal to dress in that manner. A cousin of mine who frequented China in the early 60s was already amazed by their way of being and thinking even then.

Forgive me, but it seems to me that insisting on this topic is a bit puritanical, especially considering that we are in 2017.

And that puritanism can also be extended to those who do not appreciate more or less modified classical pieces. I think that many taboos have already been widely overcome by now.

danielescarpetti wrote:

In reality, that is exactly what I thought when I listened to her.

ps: regarding the pianist's way of dressing, I already said at the time that for Chinese people and their culture - which is not steeped in sinful Catholic dictates on the matter -, it is perfectly normal to dress in that manner. A cousin of mine who frequented China in the early 60s was already amazed back then by this way of being and thinking.

Forgive me, but it seems to me that insisting on this topic is a bit sanctimonious, especially considering that we are in 2017.

And that sanctimony can also be applied toward the "purity" of a classical piece: I see nothing wrong with proposing a classical piece by revisiting it. Certain taboos should be amply overcome.