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RE: Another sign of the (record label) times
Thanks, Tom. If I've heard this piece before, I'm not aware of it/it didn't make an impression. I wrote a response on Wednesday, but, at some point, "zigged" the mouse when I should have "zagged," lost everything that I'd written, and was too tired to try to reconstruct.
First some random observations of the overall picture: First, what a beautiful concert hall! I'm going to assume that it's been built since WWII, but has the look of centuries past, yet with very good (modern) acoustics. Second, (and I know this is weird) I really appreciate the look of what appears to be wooden music stands, rather than the "standard issue" black metal stands so familiar here in the States. (Beside the lack of visual aesthetics, I've wondered how sound bouncing off of those hideous metal stands doesn't impact the acoustics, thus overall sound of performance.) Third, speaking of "standard issue" (or lack thereof), how about that gold flute, which really stands out? While Rampal was known to never play anything but a gold flute (once he'd acquired his first) in general, they are not common. (I suspect they are quite pricey.)
Fourth, I'm puzzled about the purpose of the clear shells behind the back row woodwinds (see clarinet at 5:27 and clarinet and bassoon at 17:44). I haven't seen something like that before. Do they serve as a shield to buffer the impact of sound from the brasses and percussion behind them? Or does it help them hear themselves better? Or, or, or...inquiring minds want to know.
And finally, kudos to this audience for not even stirring during the break between movements (not a single soul clapped, nor did I hear coughing, throat clearing, etc.). That combined with an appropriate response for a solid, lovely but not astoundingly great performance, speaks volumes about the audience. (When I moved to Seattle, I had hopes to begin seeing signs of a more sophisticated audience [in other words no standing ovation for every single performance], but, alas, twas not to be.) This means, when a performance does receive a(n) SO, it actually has meaning.
OK -- so now on to the soloist... (and you think you can be long winded, Tom?). Here's what has been said about her: "Critics have praised her rich imagination, virtuosity and sensitive and mature playing.[4] In particular, famed pianist Martha Argerich noted that: "Khatia is a young pianist of extraordinary talent. I was impressed by her exceptional pianistic gift, natural musicality, imagination and her brilliant virtuosity. (from Wikipedia)
While I haven't heard of Martha Argerich before, I would agree with her assessment. The aspects of Khatia's playing that captured my attention was her fluidity of motion across the keyboard without a great deal of drama (her "drama" seems to in her "hairography" and I'm not sure whether that's purposeful or a result of how she "digs in" when she playing more forcefully) and how little motion of her fingers can produce sound, when she's playing extremely softly, which suggests to me, a tremendous strength in her fingers. This is demonstrated at certain points in the first movement (sorry, I can't point you to a specific time -- didn't write that down) and in her encore.
In regards to your ideas of how the orchestral sections/soloists seemed to "respond to her interpretations," I'd say maybe. Members of an orchestra respond to their director/conductor. The conductor and soloist need to communicate with each other to be "on the same page" in terms of interpretation. For all we know, this conductor chose Khatia because she could embody "his" interpretation of this piece.
Unlike popular music where it's considered a cool, fun, and, maybe, genius thing to take a familiar tune and place it in a new/different context, for the last 50 years (at the very least) new "interpretations" of classical music usually stem from recently discovered, (previously) unknown research about the composer, about the piece itself, and/or about directions the composer might have been pursuing. In other words (and I'm no Schumann scholar), I could surmise that, perhaps, the conductor/musical director/whoever makes the choices for the program has been delving into Schumann's life, psyche, etc, and, thus came up with a different perspective and found that Khatia's resume worked with what had been decided on for this program.
Thank you for bringing her to my attention, Tom. She's now within my circle of "listen to" folks.
And, finally, if you find other classical pieces you wish to share, the thread to go to is "Fine Music -Orchestra, Big Band, Classical & Such" which can be found under the broader classification of "Other Musical Subjects".
Thanks, again, Tom.
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