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Classical Celebrities

Alex S

Alex S

carbon based lifeform
I hope this isn’t too lowbrow but I’m interested; just musings really. Nigel Kennedy springs to mind and he’s done some interesting stuff. Lang Lang and Nemanje Radulovic are talented, quite a few others. I approach such things as ‘Piano Album’ with caution although Steven Hough made a good one. Do others here embrace or reject?

On a separate but related note, I think it’s ridiculous that any female classical musician pretty much needs to be beautiful to succeed. DG are the worst with many of their female stars semi naked on the covers.
 
Reject. Reject. I find it very sad that music is promoted like this. Image is everything now. My brother rang me about three years ago to let me know that he was going to see Lang Lang in London and when I groaned he told me not to be so cynical. Give the guy a chance. Turned out he was was worse than expected. The visual theatrics alone made it impossible to enjoy the Mozart he was supposed to be playing. It was very much the Lang lang show rather than the Mozart show. Yuja Wang is another.
I used to know a well known British pianistic who was pretty successful and played in many Prom concerts. He left the country in the 70's and when he came back he knew his career was over. He returned to a world of semi-clad ladies draped over cellos.
It saddens me to see what is happening with a certain young cellist who won the BBC YMY two or three years back. He's overhyped by the BBC for that and also his image and background and he's now making recordings as if he's the finished article. He's not and will perhaps not get the chance as the managers and marketing people are milking him while they can.
 
I know which cellist you’re referring to.

Interestingly, Weilerstein who is already close to the finished article IMO at least has mainly clothed covers.
 
I have seen Nicola Benedetti playing classical and jazz many times. She is really authentic, investing time in teaching youngsters and getting involved in the finances


 
Can't say a word against Yuja Wang, just because she likes fancy dresses doesn't mean she isn't a great pianist. Saw her on the Berlin Phil concert hall app doing Prokofiev's 2nd with Paavo Jarvi, just incredible. Of three recordings I have of Prokofiev's 8th sonata, hers is the only one that makes sense to me.

Agree about Lang Lang though... I shudder at the thought of Beethoven or Schubert from him.
 
I don't rate Benedetti's playing as highly as one or two others but she is really genuine and her teaching set up is remarkable. I'm a fan for what she is doing in the community.
 
I haven't heard much of Weilerstein. I bought her recording of the Elgar concerto a few years back and thought it's ok but too robust for my taste in that particular work.
 
BBC Proms presenter and violinist Clemency Burton-Hill has been having a rough time of late after a massive brain haemorrhage. Thankfully it sounds like she’s on the mend, but just terrifying stuff. I hope she is able to resume her playing and presenting role in time as she has such an infectious enthusiasm for music. BBC.
 
Surely, there is no greater celebrity than Bernstein - I mean, has any other 'celebrity' even came close to owning the stage in the most inimitable manner he did? As they probably don't say in Germany: Ich don't think so!

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Tony L said:
BBC Proms presenter and violinist Clemency Burton-Hill has been having a rough time of late after a massive brain haemorrhage. Thankfully it sounds like she’s on the mend, but just terrifying stuff. I hope she is able to resume her playing and presenting role in time as she has such an infectious enthusiasm for music. BBC.
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Thanks Tony L, I had noticed that she had gone quiet. I am shocked but at least Ms Benedetti is on the job!
 
Tony L said:
BBC Proms presenter and violinist Clemency Burton-Hill has been having a rough time of late after a massive brain haemorrhage. Thankfully it sounds like she’s on the mend, but just terrifying stuff. I hope she is able to resume her playing and presenting role in time as she has such an infectious enthusiasm for music. BBC.
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Wow, that’s a shock, I didn’t know she was unwell. Here’s wishing her a full recovery.
 
k90tour said:
Lang Lang ... Yuja Wang
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Agree 100% about the former. A fraud who can play fast imo.

But not the latter. She's gorgeous and her dresses leave nothing to the imagination, but she's also an extraordinary musician imo. A technique Horowitz would have envied, and real musical integrity. I know concert artists who believe her to be the finest pianist alive. On the evidence of her Barbican recital last year, I can't disagree.
 
I've only heard her play Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. Lots of notes. It would take Beethoven or Mozart to convince me.
 
As an aside, almost, I've been listening to Rachmaninov third concerto this week. Larzar Berman and Tamas Vasary recordings. I hadn't heard it for years, when I was learning it. Sort of. Managed to play up to the cadenza at half speed and then gave up. (you can get lots of RSI injuries trying to play that stuff without appropriate technique) . Going back to it after all those years I found it rather uninspiring. Perhaps I've worn that piece out. Following a listening session of the Brahms D minor concerto, it sounds shallow by comparison. I'm going off flashy music as I get older.
 
k90tour said:
As an aside, almost, I've been listening to Rachmaninov third concerto this week. Larzar Berman and Tamas Vasary recordings. I hadn't heard it for years, when I was learning it. Sort of. Managed to play up to the cadenza at half speed and then gave up. (you can get lots of RSI injuries trying to play that stuff without appropriate technique) . Going back to it after all those years I found it rather uninspiring. Perhaps I've worn that piece out. Following a listening session of the Brahms D minor concerto, it sounds shallow by comparison. I'm going off flashy music as I get older.
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Agreed re-Rach 3. It has its moments but also contains some terrible music imo. The second, first and fourth are all better to my mind.
 
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