14 year old girl playing Reminiscences de Don Juan perfectly...???

[sv3nno]

just check this out...

i've always admired how well she played this piece and this has always been one of my favourite interpretations of this piece...
but then, i checked the video description...
she is 14 years old.

i don't want to play the piano anymore.

[birba]

Never heard of her.  But I'm sure we will soon.  Another yuja wang.  Did you listen to the ondine?  Simply incredible.

[teran]

It hurts to live, I know.

But really though, I think it's great that people of such talent exist to give us the joy of brilliant playing.

Just sucks it can't be me.

[le_poete_mourant]

yes she has good technique. at this point pianists like this are a dime a dozen.

*yawn*

let me know in a few years if she actually has something interesting to say musically.

[thalbergmad]

I can never watch something like this without wondering what kind of early childhood someone has had in order to do this.

Thal

[thecomposer10]

yes she has good technique. at this point pianists like this are a dime a dozen.

*yawn*

let me know in a few years if she actually has something interesting to say musically.

Agreed.

[nanabush]

Wow the Ondine was actually really damn good! 

I think calling her out and saying she has "no musical depth" is about as annoying as someone pointing out a wrong note in one of Horowitz's recordings.  She's 14, has worked her butt off clearly!  And it sounds really damn good.

[birba]

Agreed.

[lighthand045]

Don't wan't to look like a hater here, yeah, she plays good, imagine what she could reach by the time she's like 20 or 30.

But as with many pianists, i'm not particularly fond of her facial expressions, maybe that's just me.

Modern pianists, like 90 or 99% of them focuses on technique, and I like awesome technique, but I like more... qualities that make someone outstand on another area of piano playing(like tone quality, voicing melodies in between a cascade or notes, etc.)

Everyone has their likes, and model their piano style the way they want(unless you had a very strict teacher that wanted everything his way).

[quantum]

Listened to the Barcarolle recording from when she was 13.  Quite good. 

[le_poete_mourant]

Wow the Ondine was actually really damn good! 

I think calling her out and saying she has "no musical depth" is about as annoying as someone pointing out a wrong note in one of Horowitz's recordings.  She's 14, has worked her butt off clearly!  And it sounds really damn good.

That's a really stupid comparison because Horowitz, despite how people may feel about him, always had something interesting to say.  What's more annoying than pointing out that she has no musical depth -- which is true, because she's 14, and I don't expect any 14 year old to be super deep -- is seeing people go gaga over "prodigies" because they're so young and they're playing difficult things.  Who cares? I'd rather listen to somebody interesting who misses notes but doesn't make me feel like I'm wasting my time listening.  People get distracted by how young these kids are and how amazing their technique is, but that is not really what music is about at all.  So, yes, she's worked her butt off, but whether she ends up having something to say in 6 or 7 years is what I actually care about. 

[birba]

I don't know.  I've heard lots of child prodigies in my life. Some more astounding than others.  But i was actually listening to her as a  pianist and musician.  And i thought in the ondine she had "something to say".

[nanabush]

Ya same.

I'm not listening to her and suddenly dismissing every other recording of the piece - I'm listening to her Ondine and noticing interesting things she is doing with the piece (all the while actually executing it very cleanly).

I find that age should not factor in.  If it was a 28 year old playing it the same way, I wouldn't suddenly say "well there are younger people who play the same piece..."

There is a girl who destroyed the local piano competition where I live, year after year.  She played BEAUTIFULLY though.  It was an open category, and a bunch of us were between 19-23, and she was 12.  It wasn't biased at all, and I'm scared to say that she seemed to understand what she wanted to do with her music more than we did.... some of us would struggle with a hard section of a piece, or play it "how we heard so and so play it"... but she played Chopin's 4th Ballade and the first 8 Etudes from Op 10... and they were stunning.  I'm not drooling because she is a little kid playing "hard pieces", I was in awe that they were thought out, well executed performances!! 

I find that people give the 'you are not tall enough to ride this ride' treatment to younger people...going back to the 14 year old... she played the hell out of the Don Juan; sure, in comparison to the .1% of pianists who are complete gods, it might not be as "good", but I find that's a dumb pressure to put on anyone, regardless of their age.  I don't understand how someone can label any of her performances as "boring".  I just find it incredible that people can be that hyper-critical.  Wait until she goes into competitions, when the intention is to be completely criticized for her work haha!

[le_poete_mourant]

I don't understand how someone can label any of her performances as "boring".  I just find it incredible that people can be that hyper-critical. 

It's simple: I label her performances "boring" because I am bored.  It has nothing to do with being hyper-critical.  It's just how I feel. I listen to it and I am not interested. I'm not analyzing this or that detail. I just am not captivated.  That's a very subjective thing, I suppose. 

I find that people give the 'you are not tall enough to ride this ride' treatment to younger people...going back to the 14 year old... she played the hell out of the Don Juan; sure, in comparison to the .1% of pianists who are complete gods, it might not be as "good", but I find that's a dumb pressure to put on anyone, regardless of their age.

I disagree -- I don't have a bias against people who are young simply because they are young.  There are kids who I could listen to and enjoy, just as there are 40-year-olds who i could listen to and be totally bored and even disgusted. The Cliburn, for example, four years ago -- I found several of the finalists completely boring, even though they were technically flawless. I heard Yuja Wang play Prokofiev 3 a couple years ago and it was not exciting the way it is when in the hands of somebody else.

I also think that there are many more people than just ".1% of pianists" who can play the Don Juan fantasy much better.  Perhaps you just haven't heard them, but they're out there without a doubt.  And why would I listen to somebody I find boring when I could listen to a bunch of other people who I find engaging?

[nanabush]

Ok!  That's fine 

You made it clear you aren't labelling her performance boring simply because she's young; I had kind of gotten that impression from your earlier post.  I agree with you on the fact that anyone (even the 'greats') can have unexciting performances.  I just like seeing the distinction being made between a young person playing vs. a boring performance haha!  I also notice that there are a ton of young people playing hard pieces just because they are difficult, but [for me], I found that there was a little more to her playing than other people her age who take on rep like this.  I noticed much more clarity in her Prokofiev Toccata than Claire Huangci (that video circulated here a while ago), who played the same piece when she was ~14-15.  Hers was more of a marvel because it was so much damn faster than anyone else who plays it, but this girl actually kept the really nasty bits coherent (for my ears).

I'm not arguing a different point, I just like the way you worded your opinion in your last post.

[le_poete_mourant]

I also notice that there are a ton of young people playing hard pieces just because they are difficult, but [for me], I found that there was a little more to her playing than other people her age who take on rep like this.  I noticed much more clarity in her Prokofiev Toccata than Claire Huangci (that video circulated here a while ago), who played the same piece when she was ~14-15.  Hers was more of a marvel because it was so much damn faster than anyone else who plays it, but this girl actually kept the really nasty bits coherent (for my ears).

I'm not arguing a different point, I just like the way you worded your opinion in your last post.

I'm glad that cleared things up. However, I find it kind of odd that you use the Prokofiev Toccata to say that there is "more to her playing" because all that the clarity of her playing proves is that she has, once again, good technique, which nobody is disputing. Your points only speak to her technical ability to play coherently and honestly the difficult parts.  However Don Juan and Prokofiev Toccata don't say anything about her musicality.  For myself, I looked to her Chopin playing hoping to find something there that would disprove me, but from the Barcarolle, Ballade and Nocturne that I watched, I found nothing that made me think -- she's actually not boring.  I think she is exceptionally well trained, but at this point that is all there is.  I went through most of her recital from Juilliard. God that was a massive program.  But I failed to see anything unique about her, besides her technique.  I watched the Ondine too, and I just don't get it.  Props to her teachers, though.  It is exceedingly well-taught and very detailed.

[emill]

i've always admired how well she played this piece and this has always been one of my favourite interpretations of this piece...
but then, i checked the video description...
she is 14 years old.

i don't want to play the piano anymore.

hehheeeee  

"If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
                     for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

I often tell myself .... but can't help it!!