Beatrice Rana

[birba]

I just listened to the most obscene performance of the chopin preludes and the ravel valse by the second prize winner of the van cliburn.  My ears are still hurting.  I mean there are literally hundreds of orientals out there who can play just as fast and brilliantly.  What the hell makes her so special?!  Because she can pound the hell out of a steinway?  That does not make for exciting pianism.  Cannot figure it out.  Anyone else heard her?

[visitor]

i saw her competitor profile video from the cliburn kids on a tv spot special where they interviewed her, filmed her playing, her background story blah blah. unimpressed. i would need to listen to the performance you speak of, but i suspect it has to do w/ the overall slick marketing they aspire to/for.  put a young one on stage, if they are not unattractive, all the better, can they play loud, can they plan fast? great. sign them them up. pretty much where most things go. I guess as often as the standard cannon is churned out, you might need to digress a bit to get something 'different' out there, not that 'different' is better, but until they start exploring more courageous lit, and venture of the traditional path to some of the [just as] worthy beautiful but less performed composers/works, we're going to probably see more and more of this. It's a shame, there's more good music than there are pianists capable , unrealized opportunities   
 .

[kypiano]

The Cliburn Competition is probably one of the most difficult to get into. But after the Screening Round, things get..um.. a bit messed up

And don't call dem "orientals". Dey must be veeery insulted Besides, there's quite a few good "orientals" who can easily win the Cliburn as long as the judges don't get jealous

[kypiano]

I just listened to the most obscene performance of the chopin preludes and the ravel valse by the second prize winner of the van cliburn.  My ears are still hurting.  I mean there are literally hundreds of orientals out there who can play just as fast and brilliantly.  What the hell makes her so special?!  Because she can pound the hell out of a steinway?  That does not make for exciting pianism.  Cannot figure it out.  Anyone else heard her?

Or maybe they just don't want to give the prize to an oriental, so instead they give it to her. (hey, same as Harvard right? Same as most other Ivy League schools. Right?)