You will be transported. Yuja Wang plays the Waltz nr. 2 op. 64 from Frederic Chopin live at the Verbier Festival 2010. [HT: neo-neocon's Concert fashion]
Then again if you listen to Yuja above and then listen to Rubenstein below playing the same piece you will come to know the difference between a consummate professional (Wang) and a genius.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 22, 2012 6:20 PM
I love Chopin Erotica. She's as delightful to watch as she is to listen to. I'd pay to watch her and Khatia Buniatishvili take on Rachmaninov.
Posted by: Jewel at February 22, 2012 7:13 PMIt was said of Chopin as a performer that his sense of rhythm was mesmerizing.
I heard Rubinstein play at 84. A long line of people waited outside the green room to see him afterward, and he came out with his hands together in prayer to ask that an old man be let off to lay down and sleep. Everyone seemed happy to do that for him. He must have done that hundreds of times.
Posted by: james wilson at February 22, 2012 10:29 PMOk I listened to both, and to Horowitz as well. They are very good and I cannot tell the difference.
What can I say, I am nekulturny.
Posted by: Fat Man at February 26, 2012 9:15 PMNice contrast, Gerard.
Rubensteins music has ... 'soul'.
Its the pauses, the slightly softer, slightly louder emphasis on one group of notes verses another group that makes his a step up from Miss Wang. Now mind you, Miss Wangs music appears 'correct', but it seems mechanical and devoid of ... soul. For example, you can speaking the words "A rose is a rose is a rose" in the manner I have written. But devoid of ... something... even though it is 'correct'. But if spoken such as
A rose is...
a rose is...
a Rose,
it gets a whole different meaning from the same words. The Wang/Rubenstein comparison shows this kind distinction.
Perhaps the difference between what is 'correct' and what is genius is the difference between Cain and Abels offerings to God, I suppose...
Posted by: cond0010 at February 28, 2012 8:17 AM
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