Khatia Buniatishvili

[getitdone1]

Outstanding pianist.

You can give her a listen/look on YouTube.

Try her: Liszt Mephisto Waltz and Brahms concerto #2

She has signed a contract with Sony and only 23 years old.

Your response is very welcome.

Don

[ahinton]

Outstanding pianist.

You can give her a listen/look on YouTube.

Try her: Liszt Mephisto Waltz and Brahms concerto #2

She has signed a contract with Sony and only 23 years old.

Not for me.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

She has signed a contract with Sony and only 23 years old.

Judging by her performance of the Chopin Scherzo, the fact that she has signed a contract would appear to be the only proof that she has control over her fingers.

I will listen to a few more pieces, but at the moment, I remain unimpressed.

Thal

[richard black]

I was at her recent Wigmore Hall recital. Very fast, very loud. Some of the audience loved it but I was bored to tears.

[thalbergmad]

I just listened to her Mephisto.

Horrid, utter shite.

Thal

[ahinton]

I just listened to her Mephisto.

Horrid, utter shite.

You mean that she turned the piece (presumably the first of Liszt's four Mephisto waltzes) anagramatically into a sh*t Poem? Yes, I've heard it, too. No comment, except that being young and female is no excuse; I know that comparing a young female pianist with a ditto violinist is perhaps not the best illustration, but I've just been listening to Szymanowski's complete works for violin and piano on a Hyperion CD as played by Alina Ibragimova, who was barely older than Ms Buniatishvili when she recorded them - and the results are absolutely stunning - heart-stopping in places - and so accurate, assured and well-thought-out that comparisons with this well-and-truly unformed pianist would surely be more odious than bears thinking about...

Best,

Alistair

[ch101]

i did not enjoy it.

[getitdone1]

I'm the OP. 

Could some of you be more specific about your dislikes of Khatia Buniatishvili's playing?

[thalbergmad]

If I thought about it, probably yes. However, it is not worth the effort.

I think Alistair's use of the word "unformed" says about everything.

Her playing is 5th rate Cziffra.

Thal

[djealnla]

Here you can hear her butcher one of music's most sublime pieces with a load of horrible rubato, unforgivable crescendos and constant obfuscation of polyphony:

[thalbergmad]

I cannot listen to any more of this pianist.

I would rather listen to Schumann.

Thal

[djealnla]

I cannot listen to any more of this pianist.

I would rather listen to Schumann.

Thal

Well, try out this video, then: 

[kelly_kelly]

I liked the first two movements of the Haydn and the Prokofiev...  

[getitdone1]

Go to Wikipedia for an article on Khatia.  Near the bottom you will find Martha Argerich's opinion of her playing. 

OP 

[retrouvailles]

Who are you, her publicist? Allow people to have a negative opinion of Khatia. No pianist will satisfy everyone. As for my opinion of her, she is just another young pianist that was snapped up by a major record label in an attempt to capture lightning in a bottle, when, in fact, they got a pianist who is not quite there yet. I don't enjoy her playing either, but maybe she will get better with age. As for Martha Argerich's opinion, this is not exactly young Ivo Pogorelich we are talking about here, so it can go by the wayside, as far as I'm concerned. There will always be some famous pianist lauding a young pianist. It doesn't really mean anything.

[getitdone1]

O.K.

Appears Argerich and Sony are mistaken about Buniatishvili's ability.  Does that sound right?

Try Daniel Barenboim, same piece.  YouTube.  Your thoughts on this performance?

getitdone1

[retrouvailles]

I wouldn't even dare compare. Barenboim may be a mediocre pianist whose best days are behind him, but he is a great conductor who really understands music and has the experience to back it up, and he is still going strong in that regard. I am sure he plays it better without even listening to it. Not really a fair comparison.

[richard black]

Appears Argerich and Sony are mistaken about Buniatishvili's ability.

I'm not sure Sony is necessarily interested in her piano-playing ability, merely her ability to sell CDs and downloads. As for Argerich, she obviously heard something she liked in KB's playing at some stage. Who knows how lasting her enthusiasm is? As it happens, she (Argerich) and I have a close mutual friend - if I'm feeling very wicked I'll see if I can get him to ask.

[thalbergmad]

Sony are mistaken about Buniatishvili's ability. 

I am sure they are only interested in her ability.

The fact she is young, slim and sexy has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with their decision to sign her.

Thal

[ahinton]

I am sure they are only interested in her ability.

The fact she is young, slim and sexy has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with their decision to sign her.

So it's a "fact", is it? I have to admit that it sounds more like an opinion to me, whether or not - and/or regardless of how - it may have impacted upon Sony's decision.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Apologies m'lud.

I was only expressing an opinion.

Bollox

Thal

[ahinton]

Apologies m'lud.

I was only expressing an opinion.

No need for the "m'lud", since you are not being judged, but at least we agree on that then; it is not a fact but an opinion (to which you are, of course, perfectly entitled). To be fair, it's part fact and part opinion, really. You wrote of her as "young, slim and sexy"; she may be young, I've not seen her at sufficiently close quarters to be able to pronounce upon her girth and, as to "sexiness", that must be in the eye of the beholder (or not, as in my case). Sony's reasons for signing her are theirs alone and, since those reasons remain undeclared, one may only guess at what they might be.

Bollox

I wouldn't go quite that far about Ms Buniatishvili's playing, but such reservations as I do have are expressed above, so there's no need for me to repeat them.

Best,

Alistair

[getitdone1]

Here's yet another of Khatia's performances I like a very much.  Much virtuosity on display with this one! 

&NR=1

getitdone

[getitdone1]

Forgot to mention, her debut album for Sony Classical is due out sometime this spring. 

getitdone

[perfect_pitch]

Appears Argerich and Sony are mistaken about Buniatishvili's ability.  Does that sound right?

So much for...

Your response is very welcome.

Honestly, as someone who has played this piece, she has destroyed the tempo in many parts taking it way too fast and uncontrolled, and I feel her incredible surge in dynamic crescendos and diminuendos are her attempt to make the piece sound more emotional than her hands can control.

Other people have opinions... You don't like them - that's your bloody problem.

[thalbergmad]

All fingers, no brains.

Fluctuations in tempi were absurd and in some parts she was playing it faster than she actually could. Incredibly, I enjoyed the Xenakis vid posted today more than this.

No doubt she will sell CD's and might well be lauded by the Public. Perhaps one needs to be a pianist to see just how bad this is.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

Perhaps one needs to be a pianist to see just how bad this is.

That goes for so, so, so many people today. Just look at Lang Lang.

[ahinton]

All fingers, no brains.

Not so many fingers either, actually (at least in terms of intelligent use thereof).

Fluctuations in tempi were absurd and in some parts she was playing it faster than she actually could.

All too sadly true.

Incredibly, I enjoyed the Xenakis vid posted today more than this.

Yes, that is indeed pretty incredible.

No doubt she will sell CD's and might well be lauded by the Public. Perhaps one needs to be a pianist to see just how bad this is.

No apostrophe in "CD's" please - and one most certainly does not need "to be a pianist to see just how bad this is".

Best,

Alistair

[mr_james]

To revisit the 60s, "Make Love, Not War!"

What's with you guys? I'd give an arm and a leg (no wait, I need them for the organ) to play like her.

James

https://www.jamesmusicstudio.com

[thalbergmad]

I'd give an arm and a leg (no wait, I need them for the organ) to play like her.

But would you give your neck tie??

I think not.

Thal