Does "beyond taste" turn out to be something positive? The critic, Anthony Tommasini, says "I and many others have long found Mr. Lang’s performances overindulgently expressive and marred by exaggerated interpretive touches."
What does it mean to feel the notes come from your heart?... That approach risks making the music seem mannered, even manipulated.... What does it mean to play expressively? Compare classical music to film. Film buffs recognize overacting in a flash, and won’t put up with it. Mr. Lang, I think, does the equivalent of overacting in music; his expressivity tips over into exaggeration, even vulgarity.Isn't nearly all pop music the equivalent of overacting? Why would classical music consumers retain a resistance to musical "overacting" when the whole rest of the culture has a taste for exaggeration and thrills. Look at our political discourse, and aren't the actors "overacting" these days? I haven't listened to Lang Lang, but for the purposes of reading Tommasini, I'm going to assume that Lang Lang is a man of our times.
He has won ardent fans for the sheer brilliance and energy of his playing. But many also respond to moments of deep expression, when he sure seems to be doing something to the music, almost always reflected in his physical mannerisms...Musicians have always engaged us visually with physical mannerisms.
Taste is, of course, a subjective thing. But there is reason to question Mr. Lang’s.... Mr. Lang plays the Romantic repertory with a great deal of freedom, especially rhythmic freedom — what’s known as rubato. Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations certainly invite flexible approaches to rhythm and pacing. But it’s a question of degree, style, taste....Tommasini dabbles in the risqué. Why isn't Lang Lang touching himself touching to Tommasini? That's the question I'm pondering at 5:56 in the morning!
It’s like he’s attempting to show us how deeply he feels the music, to prove that it’s truly coming from his heart. But as a listener I don’t care about his feelings; I care about mine. He has to make this music touch me, not himself.
AND: Here. You can listen and watch the notes coming softly out of the fingers:
ALSO: I wondered if "muchly" — a word in the NYT headline — is a word in bad taste. I looked it up in the OED and I see that as long ago as 1621 it was used to mean "Much, exceedingly, greatly," and it was in "later use" that it became a word deployed "with conscious humour." In 1922, James Joyce used in it "Ulysses": "Respectable girl meet after mass. Tanks awfully muchly."
पोस्ट्स
८९ टिप्पण्या:
Ok, hmm. I don't like post-modernism, in which all ground shifts under your feet and there's nothing true, only "someone's truth" of the moment. But... I also don't like snobs. The former forces me to admit that in order for there to be at criticism, someone has to be considered the (or an) arbiter. The latter makes me roll my eyes at a NYT critic criticizing art on the basis of "taste" rather than, say, demonstrating his or her bona fides (that which would render the critic an appropriate arbiter) by basing the critique on, say, mastery of technique, how that problematic rubato fits into the spectrum of rubato among noted pianists today, the evolution of performance styles through time, the likely mode of performance when Bach composed the work... And to say something goes "beyond taste" reminds me of claiming that you'll know obscenity when you see it.
But I should note that I didn't read the whole review, because I don't like those guys for many reasons and won't subscribe. So maybe the critic did use some more substantive measures than "taste" in the review, and they just aren't part of the pull quote.
The referenced pieces have a performance history. I play them.
What’s the point of merely playing them technically and rhythmically in strict observance of the text?
Interpretation is what makes these pieces interesting to play and to hear. Glenn Gould already played “The Well Tempered Clavier” almost perfectly. You can listen to it whenever you want.
“The Well Tempered Clavier” and “The Goldberg Variations” are so much fun to play, and so open to every type of interpretation. I play the pieces differently every time I play them.
Oh, and: since art in these times seems to be all about artistic self-indulgence (which the consumer of the art has to try to climb inside and appreciate, especially if the artist hails from an oppressed group and isn't sullied by Western colonialist patriarchal so-called "classical" technique), am I to conclude that classical music is the last bastion of non-PoMo non-masturbatory art?
If so, then yay classical music!
1. He’s the Elvis of the piano!
2. He doesn’t need sheet music!
I started taking piano lessons at 50 and discovered Lang Lang through a guest appearance on Mozart in the Jungle. He can be both inspiring and depressing by showing just how good a musician can be..and what a hopeless keyboard plinker I am by comparison.
How could the critic have an entire column about an idiosyncratic interpretation of the Goldberg Variations without mentioning Glenn Goild?
He's good on the fast ones. The slow ones are idiotic.
Much snobbery in all that, Tommasini asserts that he's doing it wrong (Lang Lang that is). Why would Tommasini ever listen to more than one pianist play the music if the individual interpretations, that don't play it note for note exactly as he imagines it was written, upset him so? Feels like a contrived controversy!
I'm reminded of a scene in the movie "Amadeaus" in which the emperor critiques Mozart's newly performed opera:
EMPEROR: Well, Herr Mozart! A good effort. Decidedly that. An excellent effort! You've shown us something quite new today.
[Mozart bows frantically: he is over-excited.]
MOZART: It is new, it is, isn't it, Sire?
EMPEROR: Yes, indeed.
MOZART: So then you like it? You really like it, Your Majesty?
EMPEROR: Of course I do. It's very good. Of course now and then - just now and then - it gets a touch elaborate.
MOZART: What do you mean, Sire?
EMPEROR: Well, I mean occasionally it seems to have, how shall one say? [he stops in difficulty; turning to Orsini-Rosenberg] How shall one say, Director?
ORSINI-ROSENBERG: Too many notes, Your Majesty?
EMPEROR: Exactly. Very well put. Too many notes.
MOZART: I don't understand. There are just as many notes, Majesty, as are required. Neither more nor less.
EMPEROR: My dear fellow, there are in fact only so many notes the ear can hear in the course of an evening. I think I'm right in saying that, aren't I, Court Composer?
SALIERI: Yes! yes! er, on the whole, yes, Majesty.
MOZART: But this is absurd!
EMPEROR: My dear, young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Cut a few and it will be perfect.
MOZART: Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?
EMPEROR: Well. There it is.
I wondered if "muchly" — a word in the NYT headline — is a word in bad taste.
It's in the same category as "bigly," no?
As to the topic, it's similar to the issue of obscenity. The f-word has its place, but it loses its impact if used all the time. The highest quality writing and speaking can express strong emotions without resort to obscenity.
Gen Hirano a weightlifter plays Barber. The Japanese know how to do the feeling stuff.
Quit reading at muchly. Forced pretentiousness
Tommasini would choke on the word "bigly," He should have used it.
Guy has the piano equivalent of 'guitar face'.
I am unsure how much I object to his interpretations, but his overdone performance would annoy the crap out of me in concert. There is 'feeling the music' and there is PT Barnum level 'feeling the music'.
If the guy was Keith Jarrett level talent I would cut him a break on his silly stage routine, but he ain't that.
There's The Gourmet in the Magic Christian (better in the book), for feeling.
Plus, just WHAT is it about those damned Goldberg Variations? We have some accomplished keyboardists among our commenters, and I'd like to hear their thoughts. I can't help thinking about the eternal question over which Glenn Gould version you pick. Talk about your twentieth century obsessions among subcultures... I've had both on my personal sound track and still can't decide. Currently leaning toward the early version.
To me, Lang Lang is the kind of player non-musicians exemplify as a pinnacle of accomplishment. There is a well-regarded clarinetist that holds that position and is a wonderful guy to boot, but I can't stand to listen to him. He just makes a sound that I totally reject as a characteristic sound. Lang Lang gets this from other players, I suspect. I'm more inclined to reach for renditions from someone like Alfred Brendel, myself.
Never forget that writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
Bach is a great way to start the morning. But why the Beethoven tag? Is he your generic symbol for classical music?
Classical music is one of the last bastions of culture not ruined by the PC zeitgeist, though it tries. The truly knowledgeable listeners, of whom I am NOT one, know so much history and so many interpretations of individual pieces, that they sustain a kind of policing of the tradition. That is good, in fact, crucial. Because the PC creeps are working to get to music, too -- for example, the Philadelphia Orchestra has been yammering on about women for a few years, and periodically about POC. Lots of performances to cultivate that push, and a number of commissioned pieces.
But what people respond to in classical music is its emotional truth. You can't fake that.
There remains a strong band of listeners with very high standards, and, especially, that includes the musicians themselves. But there are always excesses in any endeavor, and Lang Lang (whom I have heard play several times) is definitely always on the edge of indulging excess. He can be fun. Or he can be irritating. Some people revel in pure emotion, and how can that trait not lead to excessive displays?
The review that inspired your post, Althouse, could sound fussy or pretentious. Or it could be intelligent and discerning. I don't read the NYTimes anymore, so I don't know more than you posted. But these discussions of taste are part of the self-policing of the music. I think drawing parallels to pop music, as you are doing, is tricky, because pop music is just plain different, in its appeal, in its quality, and in its endurance. Pop music isn't written to last generations, much less centuries, although occasional examples have managed to last a couple generations.
If you love a particular piece of classical music, it is because of the way it engages your emotions through your ears. Music is so special in its appeal, but I suppose the same can be said about painting. People know the pieces. They want to feel the things Beethoven or Haydn or Dvorak or Glass (not quite on the same level, but a modern) put into that music. If the musicians block the transmission of those emotional moments, no one will go to listen to them. And Lang Lang is still around. But there are doubtless music fans who would never bother going to a Lang Lang concert.
Well, he’s playing on a modern Steinway, not a clavichord, so...
I've seen Lang Lang in concert. I've thought his playing was beautiful and expressive. Vulgar would never occur to me. Often, I attend a performance of classical music or opera and I read the reviews. Often, I wonder whether the critic saw the same performance I did.
"Why would classical music consumers retain a resistance to musical "overacting" when the whole rest of the culture has a taste for exaggeration and thrills."
"Consuming" classical music is #Resistance. That's why.
Based on the clip, I agree with Tommasini's reaction, but he protests too muchly. Many great performers of the past "exaggerated." A lot of romantic music was meant to be exaggerated. And notes on the page were often suggestions--even for Bach?
Example: Richter playing the WTC. Exaggerated, Russian overacting--but great.
Needs a candelabra.
Muchly, bigly.
Could it be that the physical Lang Lang doesn't fit Tommasini's ideal of an Asian male? Is he exposing his racist side here?
I'm not big on watching Lang Lang perform either, but I love listening to him.
Talking about Bach's Goldberg Variations reminds me of the movie, "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould", which I saw years ago. It actually mesmerized me. Sometimes timing in life is what it takes for a movie to work for you. At the time I watched it, It caught me...muchly.
I dunno. I'm no James Joyce so I probably won't use it again.
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould"
I have several recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and every one brings a unique and special perspective. Lang Lang's version will definitely be a welcome addition.
Glenn Gould was excoriated for his idiosyncratic recordings and performances, including recordings. His 1955 recording of the Goldbergs created a sensation and is still the standard by which all others are measured. I suspect he would approve of Yang's approach.
RBG says Glenn Gould or bust.
Glenn Gould not only wobbles but he hums.
Mr. Lang's shtick takes music beyond smell.
YMMV
Bigly is an evolved variation of muchly?
The New Yorker lectures the peasantry on the badness of white people - Black Scholars Confront White Supremacy in Classical Music
"This world is blindingly white, both in its history and its present."
The nyt also enlightens the peasants: "I’m hoping that the people who are sharing this piece come to realize how white supremacy itself has been embedded into this genre. We need to make substantive structural change to how things are run in classical music."
Thanks, New York!
I'm always impressed by the degree to which Asians and those with Asian roots value Western classical music. I'm sure someone will say that's a relic of Western cultural imperialism or something, but I like it.
You can hear Gould sighing and humming, how's that for over-expressiveness. Whenever I hear elevated music, I think of Mark Twain: if base music gives me wings, why would I need any other? Mark Twain, though, thinks of Nye: this music is really much better than it sounds.
Per Twain, I could probably enjoy a Goldberg Variation. Maybe two. But not all at once!
"Don’t just ring, feel the notes softly come out from the rope and your heart. The canonical hours come many times, they must be played with different shapes, colors, characters."
Said Clang Clang, quoted in "Clang Clang: The Bell Ringer Who Rings Too Muchly/ People who live near the church say the volunteer ringer is starting to piss them off."
Alig G: What is the most popular thing in the world?
Trump: Music.
Ali G: No, ice cream.
LOL, I can tell who reads Sailer's blog.
Well, he’s playing on a modern Steinway, not a clavichord, so...
Clavier. A clavichord opens new possibilities for feeling, having the capability of adding vibrato. Also it's only about as loud as a box of pins dropping.
Dare I venture to suggest that it's nigh near impossible to ruin Bach? The value of his composition is in the structure, itself, which is perfection no matter how it's played.
---someone like Alfred Brendel [mezzrow]
Yes! Especially if he's not just like Brendel, but is Brendel. : )
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news
Lila Lake: All right now tell us the truth. I want you to pull out all the stops on this.
We know the performer. Who's the person? Who is CC Bloom?
CC Bloom: Oh, Lila, I can't tell you how many times... I've asked myself that very same question.
First and foremost, I would have to say... that CC feels things deeply. CC is a deeply feeling person... and, because of this, is deeply emotional. Do you understand? Can these two things exist separately?
Lila Lake: Well, Id-- Id love to explore this duality... but Im afraid we've just run out of time. But thank you so much
for joining us...
CC Bloom: My pleasure, my pleasure.
Lila Lake: And thank you for joining me on Star Talk. And until next week, this is Lila Lake saying... Dont judge, keep sharing.
Muchly sounds like a fake word I would make up.
Why the quote marks around "goldberg"?
Looks odd. First time I recall seeing something like this.
If I've seen quotes at all they are around the entire name.
John Henry
He probably wouldn't like this version of Bach's 'Joy', either. The guy on the left really seems to get into it. He is actually a bit subdued from his normal playing. The man is full of energy!
https://youtu.be/NdmY3bCvY0U
"I and many others have long found Mr. Lang’s performances overindulgently expressive and marred by exaggerated interpretive touches.”
I was going to say the same thing yesterday about Janis Joplin, think “Summertime,” but still I like to listen to her stuff when it comes on. Anybody who reaches a certain level of proficiency is tempted by this demon, and I am betting most people who are able, do it when they are playing alone.
"Needs a candelabra.”
Liberace playing “Chopsticks." is on YouTube and it’s pretty cool.
"The review that inspired your post, Althouse, could sound fussy or pretentious. Or it could be intelligent and discerning.”
Good one.
Is there a young, modern day pianist who doesn't mug while playing? Ingolf Wunder, Yulianna Avdeeva are both muggers, but also both magnificent. I am obsessed with Avdeeva's playing of "Pictures An An Exhibition" recently, watching it again & again on Youtube. Her physical style of playing, almost athletic, is part of the fascination. Over the top? Perhaps, but still marvelous to hear.
"Isn't nearly all pop music the equivalent of overacting? Why would classical music consumers retain a resistance to musical "overacting"
Because there is a disconnection between the context of the composition and the performers over emotive effects.
This guy is over the top and needs more subtlety to nail the maestro for me.
If you enjoy good Bach, here is my grand teacher playing the chaconne from bwv 1004(a pinnacle of western aural art).
J.S. BACH Chaconne Violin Partita No. 2 BWV 1004 — Andrés Segovia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcGt9AFlIPY
Lewis Carroll, of course, used, "much of a muchness".
Fashions change. Starting about 1930 the big thing was "play the notes exactly as written". The traditional Romantic approach was tossed on the ash heap of history, it was bad, bad, bad. Heroes arose, Schnabel, Backhaus, true acolytes of the new religion. And now we live in the musical desert they left behind. Give me that old time pianism, it's entertaining.
I completely agree with the NYT reviewer, much to my chagrin. Lang Lang exhibits the same fake sincerity every single Chinese pianist I’ve ever watched — and I’ve watched more than a few, mostly youth as my daughter competed against them — and it repulses me every time. This is the Chinese way: to steal Western culture, fake authenticity, and then take over.
I trust that some of you will recognize this as "cultural appropriation".
A true classic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_8Oe_8kj4 even a little Angus. From the Sydney Opera House.
Since you ask ...
I am a serious classical music listener. I have been classical music director of two radio stations. I own over 5,000 classical CDs.
And I don’t like musical over acting.
I don’t feel I am in the minority either. I do think we pay more attention to the abstract aspects of music, such as complex counterpoint.
It might also be because, in the age of recordings, we listen to the same performances repeatedly. The most celebrated Chopin interpreter for example was Rubinstein, famous for “cooling it down”.
Perhaps, in the days before recordings, the hyper emotional approach was more common though; Rubinstein stood out in his youth.
But Lang Lang is a bit much.
For the Goldbergs I recommend especially the 1980 Leonhardt recording on a harpsichord, but we are hip deep in splendid recordings these days, all very different.
For a “Romantic” piano version Wilhelm Kempff is hard to beat.
Shouting Thomas plays Bach! He has redeeming qualities after all!
And he is right that every performance is, and should be, different.
The pianist so nice they named him twice.
The most celebrated Chopin interpreter for example was Rubinstein
I remember buying Rubinstein's recordings of the Chopin concertos back around 1960. What a disappointment! Give me Novaes :)
Why isn't Lang Lang touching himself touching to Tommasini?
I am amazed this needs explained, unless the query was meant as rhetorical. I do surreal much better than rhetorical. But OK, here goes:
The reason is the same as how pornography works, or doesn't. Watching someone touching himself is arousing to you, or not. And usually it is much better to be touched by another yourself, than just to watch the touching of another. Ugh. That felt unpleasant. Hope it helps.
Give me Itzhak Perlman and Brahms Violin Concerto Itzhak Perlman any day, despite the argument that both the violinist and the composer were way, way too sentimental.
In college, I once was shown on a piano where middle C resides, by the lovely and talented girlfriend of another guy. She was trying to show me how Beethoven's sonatas worked, I recall. Then he showed up and the music lesson ended.
I used this tidbit of knowledge to jump start a delightful date later, when another music-oriented female asked me if I knew how to play piano. I replied quite honestly, "I know where middle C is." And did so demonstrate, reaching over her shoulder and plonking the key quite definitively on her piano.
That apparently was enough for the young woman, who proceeded to demonstrate her own, extensive piano skills to me, and later several others she had. I don't think I overplayed my one note repertoire, but I certainly didn't expect the results obtained by playing it.
"Amadeus" is a near-perfect movie.
Exactly accurate? No, but it entertains extremely well.
Nearly as good is "Topsy Turvy", about Gilbert&Sullivan, lots of fun.
And so is this Lang Lang fellow, he entertains.
I would tell the complainers to stop being so picky. This is entertainment, no matter how high-toned. We boorish groundlings are necessary to this music business, else there would be no business. Just be glad we dont throw fruit and nuts.
I am not really a fan of Lang Lang's style when listening, but the effect for me is almost completely reversed when I watch him play. The exuberance he shows is infectious, like COVID.
daskol said...
Alig G: What is the most popular thing in the world?
Trump: Music.
Ali G: No, ice cream.
No, breathing.
"I don't think I overplayed my one note repertoire, but I certainly didn't expect the results obtained by playing it."
Less is more.
My three favorite YouTube pianists are Lang Lang, Valentina Litsitsa, and Khatia Buniatishvili (who is just stunningly beautiful).
The New Yorker lectures the peasantry on the badness of white people - Black Scholars Confront White Supremacy in Classical Music. .... The nyt also enlightens the peasants: "how white supremacy itself has been embedded into this genre. We need to make substantive structural change to how things are run in classical music." [posted by Ferdinande]
Right. The yahoos' assault on excellence goes into every part of the world. Despite their passionate intensity, my money is on centuries of talent, skill, knowledge, dedication and high standards. In this one single case. Because there are so few activities left where excellence is (still) the measure.
Buwaya observes: "Amadeus" is a near-perfect movie.
In large part because Milos Forman directed it.
I chanced upon a concert from Vienna last summer, featuring Huya Wang on Rhapsody in Blue (part of the PBS Great Performances series).
Talk about kitten on the keys . . . and Dudhamel matches her in laying it on.
Which isn't to say I didn't quite enjoy the concert!
As a non-musician classical-lover and lifelong listener, it seems to me that classical performance practice is rawer and edgier than it was some decades ago. I think the authenticity trend has collided with the expectations of modern audiences for showmanship.
Watch Johannes Moser thrash on Shosty's Cello Concerto No. 1 for instance.
Narr
Later dudes
Give me Itzhak Perlman and Brahms Violin Concerto Itzhak Perlman any day, despite the argument that both the violinist and the composer were way, way too sentimental.
Give me David Oistrakh playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D for sheer exquisite perfection.
"The Count don't play nothin', but it sure sounds good."
I think the authenticity trend has collided with the expectations of modern audiences for showmanship.
It's returning to its roots. The premier of Beethoven's violin concerto:
During the first performance, violinist Franz Clement, to whom the Concerto was dedicated, practically had to play the notes at sight. Additionally, Clement inserted his own spontaneous cadenza – complete with upside-down violin playing – between the first and second movement.
IIRC, Clement was also known for playing barnyard sounds on the violin.
A clavichord opens new possibilities for feeling, having the capability of adding vibrato. Also it's only about as loud as a box of pins dropping.
I don't know about the clavichord, but Sir Thomas Beecham wrote that a harpsichord sounds like "two skeletons copulating on a tin roof."
My only complaint about Amadeus is that people take it literally and think (a) that Mozart was an idiot savant and buffoon, as opposed to an incredibly hardworking and gifted musician who (like most in his day) enjoyed a bit of off-color humor now and then; and (b) that Salieri killed him, or at least hated him.
As to violinists, give me Hilary Hahn any day of the week. An amazing talent, even if she looks like she could be working the cash register at Walmart. Check out her Brahms concerto on YouTube.
I agree Temujin.
My favorite short film: Hamburg
Bach's music is big enough to allow for a lot of variation in interpretation.
If Bach had today's modern instruments, I think he would have written music that would push them to their limits, just as he did then.
Lots of room for faithful reproductions of baroque style, and lots for all manner of modern interpretations, too.
Walter Carlos's (later Wendy Carlos!) synth Bach record, "Switched On Bach" was a big hit when it came out 52 years ago.
Glenn Gould liked it, but what would he know? And it won three Grammys.
But Gould's interpretation still seems to be considered the gold standard, against which everyone is measured after all these years.
ref mezzrow and Kai Akker:
J.S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903
James K: Hilary Hahn will be remembered as one of the all-time greats.
Her reach isn't limited to great performance... she's actually pushing to expand the repertoire, and create opportunities for new composers.
And by all accounts, she's an all around great person to be around.
Check out Hilary's Ling Ling challenge on Two Set Violin!
While we're on the subject:
Greatest performance of Bach's Chaconne in D minor - I nominate Lara St. John's, the performance from her first album, recorded when she was still a teenager.
Itzhak Perlman. He refused to play North Carolina.
Red China and the Soviet Union are totally hunky-dory, though.
Love his Klezmer tributes, though. Especially "Kale Bazetsen" (The Seating of the Bride).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSY-0ZgGz2I
"Especially if he's not just like Brendel, but is Brendel. : )"
Now we're talking, fellow deplorables. Though I don't think he ever did the Goldbergs, did he?
"J.S. BACH Chaconne Violin Partita No. 2 BWV 1004 — Andrés Segovia"
Yes, great -- but another musician who "doesn't just play," but, feels "the notes softly come out from your fingers and heart. The main melody comes many times, must be played with different shapes, colors, characters." Which is fine, within reason.
WTF... I had bad intel... I had thought Lang Lang was a talented panda pianist.
I'm always impressed by the degree to which Asians and those with Asian roots value Western classical music.
I think of Japan being closed up for centuries while their music consisted of plinking string instruments, gongs, drums and finger cymbals.
Then here comes 90 piece orchestras with everything from a triangle to a double bass and instruments galore. Must have blown their minds. (and it certainly delighted them)
Call it white supremacy or chauvinism, but what other music that has arised comes close?
I worry about the return to live performances. Pre-covid I was going a few times a month, and the audience skewed geriatric. The last people who will return. If someone like LL can attract a younger audience that will be great for the arts economy. I attended a recital of his over a decade ago and can still recall it, while subsequent recitals by top notch pianists have faded.
My music history teacher, Richard Klausli (RIP), used to say "The greater the art, the greater the artifice." Or, on alternate Wednesdays, "The greater the artifice, the greater the art."
Thanks for that JE. Usually the best reason for perusing comments.
mockturtle, I had a very modest record collection growing up and a recording of DO's Beethoven that I strangely purchased in USSR was one that wore out the needle.
Readering: Glad we share something in common! :-) I listened to it again just last week and was newly delighted. BTW, I know every note of that recording and it's hard not to hum along. ;-) IMO, Oistrakh was the best but there have been many excellent violinists for us to enjoy on CD forever.
I'm always impressed by the degree to which Asians and those with Asian roots value Western classical music.
Then there's my former guitar teacher, Marty Friedman, returning the favor! :-)
Performers 'mugging' is a fashion, I suppose; given the age's self-indulgence and metastasizing decadence I'm surprised it's not worse. Have watched lots of performances from the European festivals in the last two or three months and, oh my, such grimaces of feeling and contortions of sentiment on the pianists' faces! Any number of times I thought of Oscar Wilde snarking about Little Nell's heart of stone.
I don't follow Lang Lang but so far as I know at least he keeps his clothes on during his recitals and concerts.
Oistrakh was the best
I like the story of Oistrakh arriving in (NZ?) and being greeted with a Russia phrase that roughly translated as "F*ck your grandmother" or some such. Turns out the hosts had asked a visiting Russian pianist, a notorious joker, to provide them with a greeting for the famous violist. Gary Graffman tells the story in I Really Should be Practicing. And if I could find it I could check my memory.
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