Author Topic: Is he insane? (Read 2141 times)

Vladimir · « **on:** May 22, 2012, 10:33:21 AM »

pianist Lang Lang:

The real laughs start around 50 seconds and last the whole performance.

lefebvre_fan · « **Reply #1 on:** May 22, 2012, 11:10:19 AM »

Ah, yes, Bang Bang...

If anyone is wondering why there is the perception among classical music aficionados that Asians are incapable of playing Western classical music with real feeling and are simply little more than brilliant technicians, this is exhibit A.

Of course, this doesn't apply to all Asians. For instance, there's Masaaki Suzuki, the great Bach conductor.....although he's a Lutheran, so I suppose he might have some innate appreciation for the great Christian classics. There's also the famous pianist and Mozartian Mitsuko Uchida.....who grew up in Europe.

Hmm, maybe I'd better stop there..... :wink:

Telesphorus · « **Reply #2 on:** May 22, 2012, 11:11:36 AM »

Quote from: Vladimir

The real laughs start around 50 seconds and last the whole performance.

maybe it tickles his ear drums.

Vladimir · « **Reply #3 on:** May 22, 2012, 11:31:57 AM »

Masaaki Suzuki is wonderful.

One Asian pianist that deserves much, much more fame than Lang Lang and friends is the Vietnamese pianist Dang Thai Son - the first Asian to win the international Chopin competition. His recordings of the Chopin piano concertos on a period piano with the Orchestra of the 18th century is remarkable.

And here is a performance on modern instruments:

jen51 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 22, 2012, 11:53:54 AM »

hahahaaa!! Those eyes, so expressive! He's so into it, lol. This had me giggling at first, but it quickly turned into straight up laughter for the duration of the video. This kind of stuff makes my day.

But seriously, I wish I could play like him. Wow. Minus the vivid expressions for me, though. That would be embarrasing.

Still laughing.

lefebvre_fan · « **Reply #5 on:** May 22, 2012, 12:28:20 PM »

The antithesis of Lang Lang: Wilhelm Kempff plays the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, No. 14 in C-sharp minor. Like one of the video's commentators says, I wish I could see what was going through his mind as he played this:

Raoul76 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 22, 2012, 02:40:24 PM »

Alas, most Asian classical musicians are clockwork dolls figuratively speaking with ruthless stage mothers and fathers pushing them to practice constantly. It's just depressing. Asian cultures, sort of like Germany, tend to exaggerate the work ethic to brutal and inhuman degrees. But most piano concertos and sonatas are overrated anyway, and that is primarily what they play, so it doesn't matter for me, who cares about another rendition of the Schumann Piano Concerto. There are probably fifty Palestrina masses left to record!

Yeah, Uchida is genuinely talented, much more unique than most Asian musicians, though a little wacky. The conductor Kent Nagano doesn't appear to be stereotypically machine-like.

lefebvre_fan · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2012, 04:37:12 PM »

Quote from: Raoul76

Alas, most Asian classical musicians are clockwork dolls figuratively speaking with ruthless stage mothers and fathers pushing them to practice constantly. It's just depressing.

Agreed. Unfortunately, with the success of Lang Lang and others like him, the problem is only going to get worse. Now every Asian parent is going to push their child (note the singular) into playing piano so that they can become "the next Lang Lang". :barf:

Quote from: Raoul76

But most piano concertos and sonatas are overrated anyway, and that is primarily what they play, so it doesn't matter for me, who cares about another rendition of the Schumann Piano Concerto. There are probably fifty Palestrina masses left to record!

I agree with the latter--record companies really need to get on that project. But to ignore music created after the Renaissance (if that is in fact what you're saying, and if so, you would sadly not be the only one I've heard this from) seems kind of silly. It would be like saying, "Shakespeare is overrated, everyone should read Dante instead" or "all of the painters who came after Giotto are worthless". You may rightly regard them as the masters of their respective fields, but to ignore everything that came after just seems so...uncultured. Not everything new is bad, after all.

But I guess there's no accounting for tastes!

Vladimir · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2012, 05:01:57 PM »

I've never really been interested in listening to solo piano sonatas for pleasure - only for getting new perspectives on interpretation of pieces I am working on.

I've recently gone through a major change, actually an expansion, in my musical taste. Before I was strictly Baroque and Renaissance with period instruments.

As a pianist, my ability to play music of that genre was severely limited so I've branched out into Chopin and now, Liszt, Brahms, and even Poulenc. And I'm really loving it.

It's a bit like eating. The more variety the better.

John Field's piano concertos are very refreshing. I think the best piano concerto is the Rach 2 - maybe even the best concerto period.

Here's one of Field's concertos:

lefebvre_fan · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2012, 06:42:22 PM »

Quote from: Vladimir

It's a bit like eating. The more variety the better.

Exactly! In my own case, I enjoy a wide variety of music and musical styles. I even (*gasp!*) prefer different types of music at different times and on different occasions! Go figure.

I guess this makes me weird. Oh well...