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Yuja Wang, Khatia Buniatishvili and Interpretation
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JohnGavin
Jul 7, 2014, 10:55:39 AM7/7/14
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I am linking these 2 pianists together only because I first saw Buniatishvili on this video, playing the Brahms Hungarian Dance #1 with Yuja Wang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRFgRm1BYE
What I am going to say is nothing more important than one listener's subjective opinion:
I have come to admire Yuja Wang more as time goes by and Khatia Buniatishvili less. I realize that many will have the reverse opinion. If I were to put into words what it is that I like very much about Wang, it is that her playing always seems guileless and uncalculated, without affectation, without faux profundity.
I am completely aware that others will hear these qualities and feel that they constitute a sort of emotional emptiness. Perhaps many people look at a Japanese painting and feel nothing, or a void, while others feel a serenity and satisfaction.
I would guess that in many debates and arguments regarding interpretation, what seems to be continually discounted is that the listener is a participant in the overall result. The interpretation reflects and refracts off the listener's consciousness as well as the interpreter's - thus the wide differences in musical tastes and preferences.
I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings, her personal ideas and expressive devices. It reminds me very much of the way people fill the rooms in their houses. Some people love the simplicity of spaces, of minimalism, while others see space as something to fill in with as many objects as possible, or else somewhere in between the extremes.
But these preferences can only be discussed in a context of relativity, and never of absolutism. Respecting this principal will automatically prevent argument, and keep the discourse on the plane of discussion instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRFgRm1BYE
What I am going to say is nothing more important than one listener's subjective opinion:
I have come to admire Yuja Wang more as time goes by and Khatia Buniatishvili less. I realize that many will have the reverse opinion. If I were to put into words what it is that I like very much about Wang, it is that her playing always seems guileless and uncalculated, without affectation, without faux profundity.
I am completely aware that others will hear these qualities and feel that they constitute a sort of emotional emptiness. Perhaps many people look at a Japanese painting and feel nothing, or a void, while others feel a serenity and satisfaction.
I would guess that in many debates and arguments regarding interpretation, what seems to be continually discounted is that the listener is a participant in the overall result. The interpretation reflects and refracts off the listener's consciousness as well as the interpreter's - thus the wide differences in musical tastes and preferences.
I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings, her personal ideas and expressive devices. It reminds me very much of the way people fill the rooms in their houses. Some people love the simplicity of spaces, of minimalism, while others see space as something to fill in with as many objects as possible, or else somewhere in between the extremes.
But these preferences can only be discussed in a context of relativity, and never of absolutism. Respecting this principal will automatically prevent argument, and keep the discourse on the plane of discussion instead.
Bozo
Jul 7, 2014, 2:31:26 PM7/7/14
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>On Monday, July 7, 2014 9:55:39 AM UTC-5, JohnGavin wrote:
Vinnitskaya's playing may lie somewhere in between, if that would be a virtue :
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/pianist-anna-vinnitskaya-new-york-recital-debut/
Vinnitskaya's playing may lie somewhere in between, if that would be a virtue :
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/pianist-anna-vinnitskaya-new-york-recital-debut/
HT
Jul 7, 2014, 4:16:47 PM7/7/14
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> I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings, her personal ideas and expressive devices. It reminds me very much of the way people fill the rooms in their houses. Some people love the simplicity of spaces, of minimalism, while others see space as something to fill in with as many objects as possible, or else somewhere in between the extremes.
It's perhaps not only a matter of the number of objects as well as of the kind of objects. Not the profuseness of KB's feelings, ideas and devices but the quality thereof is not to my taste. YW, on the other hand, is very easy to listen to.
As to Vinnitskaya, I never expected this very young girl, who played elegantly but very unevenly when I first heard her, turn into the musician she seems to have become now. I wouldn't put her in the same league as KB and YW yet - as I do Beatrice Rana.
Henk
operafan
Jul 10, 2014, 6:06:50 PM7/10/14
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On Monday, July 7, 2014 4:16:47 PM UTC-4, HT wrote:
> > I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings,
Also, judging by some of her unedited youtube videos, technically she is sometimes a mess, and her musical ideas aren't interesting enough to overlook the sloppiness. Yuja Wang is technically outstanding and has (in my opinion) interesting musical ideas that don't overwhelm what the composer seemed to want.
> > I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings,
Bozo
Jul 10, 2014, 7:55:07 PM7/10/14
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>On Thursday, July 10, 2014 5:06:50 PM UTC-5, operafan wrote:
> Yuja Wang is technically outstanding and has (in my opinion) interesting >musical ideas that don't overwhelm what the composer seemed to want.
Listen to Vinnitskaya's recital I linked for much of interest, especially in the Prokofieff 2nd Sonata and Chopin Ballades.
> Yuja Wang is technically outstanding and has (in my opinion) interesting >musical ideas that don't overwhelm what the composer seemed to want.
laraine
Jul 12, 2014, 12:11:52 PM7/12/14
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On Thursday, July 10, 2014 5:06:50 PM UTC-5, operafan wrote:
> On Monday, July 7, 2014 4:16:47 PM UTC-4, HT wrote:
>
> > > I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings,
>
Well, I think that's the idea. She's going for an excessive Romantic interpretation, which takes risks.
>
> > > I don't care for Buniatishvilli's playing because she fills in all the spaces in the music with her profuse feelings,
>
>
> Also, judging by some of her unedited youtube videos, technically she is sometimes a mess, and her musical ideas aren't interesting enough to overlook the sloppiness.
> Yuja Wang is technically outstanding and has (in my opinion) interesting musical ideas that don't overwhelm what the composer seemed to want.
I've noticed that both Wang and Buniatishvilli are both capable of being either subdued or technically overwhelming.
B's Chopin album, for example, is actually relatively subdued.
Heard Yuja Wang's Fantasia album, thinking it would be a rousing set of encores, and it was very quiet in general. Took me a few listens to get used to it, and now I like it in general.
Has no one commented that she looks a bit like a moth on the front cover (and I do like moths). I know we're not supposed to discuss that sort of thing, but how can one not notice... part of the Fantasia theme, maybe.
C.
smo...@hotmail.com
Jul 12, 2014, 2:18:11 PM7/12/14
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More likely she is supposed to look like a butterfly? However, for some reason I thought of a dragon...
I also like the album (but not the cover).
Soeren
I also like the album (but not the cover).
Soeren
rmar...@me.com
Jul 16, 2015, 1:39:59 AM7/16/15
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What rubbish, this talk.
I'm sure you wouldn't know which of these highly accomplished musicians was playing at first hearing on a CD - no video.
It is obvious that both of these ladies enjoy the way the look and they want us to enjoy their presentations.
I love listening and watching them both. Thank heavens for diversity.
I'm sure you wouldn't know which of these highly accomplished musicians was playing at first hearing on a CD - no video.
It is obvious that both of these ladies enjoy the way the look and they want us to enjoy their presentations.
I love listening and watching them both. Thank heavens for diversity.
Bozo
Aug 31, 2015, 7:41:50 AM8/31/15
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>On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 12:39:59 AM UTC-5, rmar...@me.com wrote:
> I love listening and watching them both. Thank heavens for diversity.
Yuma Wang plays the Bartok 2nd Concerto with MTT at 2015 Proms , I have not heard yet :
> I love listening and watching them both. Thank heavens for diversity.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0680mq2
Bozo
Nov 9, 2015, 2:40:43 PM11/9/15
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>On Monday, August 31, 2015 at 6:41:50 AM UTC-5, Bozo wrote:
> Yuma Wang plays the Bartok 2nd Concerto with MTT at 2015 Proms , I have not heard yet :
I failed to hear her Proms Bartok, but here's another 2nd just recently :
> Yuma Wang plays the Bartok 2nd Concerto with MTT at 2015 Proms , I have not heard yet :
Yuja Wang, RCO / Gimeno, Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto, Oct.29,2015,Concertgebouw,Amsterdam.
http://www.radio4.nl/luister-concerten/concerten/5631/welkome-gasten-bij-het-koninklijk-concertgebouworkest
NO applause after the first mov. !?
The piece is worth hearing only for the 2nd mov., very well done here , unabridged if my aural memory is accurate.
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