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In Reply to: RE: Ivan Hewett's opinion on great recordings posted by Jay Buridan on December 16, 2016 at 20:45:50
I should have stopped in my tracks when I saw that he picked Barenboim for the Ring Cycle! Instead, I plowed foolishly ahead. ;-)
Follow Ups:
I pity the readers who bought on his advice :(
So sez Audiophile Audition.
Lang Lang is a very talented pianist. One can certainly question many of his interpretive choices. But to make the blanket claim that *all* of his recordings are trash is ridiculous.
But MOST of BB's recordings are trash! ;-)
I think most is probably fair but when he's good he's really good.
Of course, he studied at Curtis and speaks fluent American English. But it's easy to forget he was born into a non-Western culture -- the world's largest, and one of the oldest. The post-Mao Chinese have embraced Western music, but imo it would be naive to pretend, even with today's worldwide internet, that their own cultural background no longer has any impact on their musical tastes, even when it comes to Western classical music. This is especially true since China's opening to Western culture is so much more recent than that of India or even Japan.
This impact may not be so significant on Lang Lang himself, but it may be for his Chinese audience, which is his largest fan base. He may intentionally be tailoring his music as well as his famous mannerisms and visual presentation (which puzzled Gary Graffman, his teacher at Curtis) to his Chinese audience.
We Westerners tend to be very ethnocentric in our cultural tastes, and may regard Asia simply as another market for Western music. That may be true to some extent, but not entirely.
None of the other Chinese classical musicians do what he does on stage. I think he's just a ham on stage. And the last time I saw him he had toned that down quite a bit. So I don't think it's a cultural thing. I think it's a Lang Lang thing.
He achieved real stardom with his young firebrand act, especially in China. As you say, we can expect him to tone that down a bit and go for a more dignified approach as he gets older. He's an intelligent guy, and you can't begrudge him some shrewd self-marketing. As I suspect you already know, not all classical musicians are bent on winning over the AA demographic, much less AA inmates themselves, or are even aware of the existence of AA.
I've mentioned some of the more "out there" posts here to musicians for humor value, but the reactions are typically amazement, bewilderment, and even annoyance.
Humor is a strange thing - especially on that series of tubes, popularly known as "the internet"!
(See, you'll only find that funny if you get my reference - and probably not even then!)
Right after I praised you as a reviewer, too! It does take a special sense of humor to appreciate some of the repartee here.
Alas, when I tried to turn my bewilderment and annoyance powers to their maximum, you responded with polite amusement, but others gently pointed out I was out of my depth. The best can do it without trying.
I look forward to your year-end reviews. Happy holidays.
So, with all the "really bad choices" in this list, the one that you singled out was Barenboim's Ring? You really have a hang-up on ol' Danny boy.... :)
I'm sure all the inmates here who admire only 78 rpm versions of pieces will be happy with all those "stuck in the past" selections.
Based on the rules he cites his picks are pretty much inevitable.
Matthew Passion with Mengleberg? Seriously, in 2016?
Some very bad piano choices, boring chamber music...... snooze.....
Love those GIGANTIC ritards he makes at the ends of some choruses and arias! ;-)
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