Drama!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Yuja wang made Norman Lebrechts email to her public and called him out for Mysoginist bullying.

The email out of context isn’t Mysoginist, but the critic only picks on woman artists and especially Yuja Wang always having negative comments about her outfits.

So good for her.  That dudes an ***.  He’s like the archetype movie villain critic

[essence]

I agree. He is maybe typical of a certain kind of (old) British aesthete. Never found anything of any value in his criticisms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lebrecht

[thorn]

I saw the BBC have dropped him over this- don't know why it took her challenging him for them to suddenly care, his article attacking her appearance is years old now.

[dizzyfingers]

Yuja wang made Norman Lebrechts email to her public and called him out for Mysoginist bullying.

Why is this guy writing an email to Yuja Wang?
How about sharing it?

I agree. He is maybe typical of a certain kind of (old) British aesthete. Never found anything of any value in his criticisms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lebrecht

The Wikipedia page is thorough - and clear - he's not really a critic, he's a sensationalist writer, not even a journalist, gossip-oriented, fabricating stories for effect.
Saying he's of the old British guard is bestowing a pedigree he doesn't deserve (or have?)
Saying he's an aesthete is also too much praise - more of a bottom feeder.
Why has the UK establishment supported such a creep for so long??

[thorn]

Why is this guy writing an email to Yuja Wang?
How about sharing it?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/26/yuja-wang-accuses-radio-3-norman-lebrecht-misogynistic-bullying

The misogyny is from an article he wrote about her, not the email leak: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2021/spare-us-the-skintight-sonata/

Why has the UK establishment supported such a creep for so long??

All establishments support creeps. Old habits die hard.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I think it's really the consequence of this

https://slippedisc.com/2026/02/yuja-wang-the-30s-are-over/

Which reads, in entirety:

"The Chinese-born American pianist turns 39 today.

An onset of gravitas and cover-up clothes?

Dream on.

Happy day, Yuja."

I am not a fan of YW but she doesn't deserve that and Lebrecht is a muck-raking gutter prick.

[dizzyfingers]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/26/yuja-wang-accuses-radio-3-norman-lebrecht-misogynistic-bullying

Agreed.  Where the note does apply pressure, in an slimy kind of way, it's not really bullying.  Not misogynistic.
He'll probably reemerge somewhere, maybe at BBC, after the cool down.

Lebrecht's response:
“Yuja Wang had agreed with me a year ago to do a Lebrecht Interview for Radio 3. She kept putting it off until I lost patience and sent her an email that was perhaps a tad sharp. There was nothing bullying in telling her that I thought less of her than before, nor was it misogynistic: I would say the same to a male artist. She published the email, the BBC took a view and pulled my next series. I apologised to Sam Jackson and the BBC for any unintended embarrassment,” said Lebrecht.

Why would she agree to do an interview with him in the first place?
She realized her mistake too late.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Agreed.  Where the note does apply pressure, in an slimy kind of way, it's not really bullying.  Not misogynistic.
He'll probably reemerge somewhere, maybe at BBC, after the cool down.

Lebrecht's response:
“Yuja Wang had agreed with me a year ago to do a Lebrecht Interview for Radio 3. She kept putting it off until I lost patience and sent her an email that was perhaps a tad sharp. There was nothing bullying in telling her that I thought less of her than before, nor was it misogynistic: I would say the same to a male artist. She published the email, the BBC took a view and pulled my next series. I apologised to Sam Jackson and the BBC for any unintended embarrassment,” said Lebrecht.

Why would she agree to do an interview with him in the first place?
She realized her mistake too late.

The email isn’t Mysoginist but his criticism of her and history of being mean to her definitely is. 

What I think happened is probably someone on her team agreed to it not her personally.

[thorn]

I think it's really the consequence of this

https://slippedisc.com/2026/02/yuja-wang-the-30s-are-over/

Which reads, in entirety:

"The Chinese-born American pianist turns 39 today.

An onset of gravitas and cover-up clothes?

Dream on.

Happy day, Yuja."

I am not a fan of YW but she doesn't deserve that and Lebrecht is a muck-raking gutter prick.

I didn't know about that, what a c***! Perhaps Wang didn't see the older article (many don't read reviews) and she/her agent agreed to the interview in good faith, then after the above comment she told her agent to get her out of it.

Also on reflection I think we need to be careful how we define misogyny. It's not just remarks about her appearance, it's unspoken cultural stuff like how many times Wang, and all women, are assumed to be less serious, less hardworking etc than men. While I think Lebrecht as an individual is a twat who would treat any gender musician in this way, I wonder how many times Wang and other female pianists have to deal with that attitude.

Example from his article:
"She got her first break in March 2007 when Martha Argerich flunked out of a Tchaikovsky concerto in Boston and her second two years later when Claudio Abbado fell out with a famous soloist at the plutocratic Lucerne Festival and called for a pliant replacement". Note how the woman "flunked" while the man had artistic differences.

[essence]

Those prejudices go deep.

Chinese-born. Yuck, just an automaton
American. Yuck, a ding-aling
39. Yuck, too old
Lack of gravitas. Yuck, she should change repertoire to the classic Germans.
lack of clothes. well, just yuck, nobody swooned over a male pianist, ever.

It's funny, Aristo Sham is presented as a Hong Kong pianist, but in reality he was educated at Harrow (a leading British private school, traditionally at the same level as Eton, and Churchill went there). He later was at Julliard and New England Conservatory. His Harrow education would have been broad and intense, as evidenced by his later BA in economics from Harvard.

At Harrow, his piano studies were directed by Colin Stone, who taught/teaches at Royal Academy, Royal Northen College of Music, and Harrow.

At primary school he went to Diocesan boy's School, which was an Anglican school in Hong Kong which had very strong British connections.

In summary, he was heavily influenced by western cultural values.

So I would tend to say he is a British or British/American pianist.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Also on reflection I think we need to be careful how we define misogyny. It's not just remarks about her appearance, it's unspoken cultural stuff like how many times Wang, and all women, are assumed to be less serious, less hardworking etc than men.

This.

For anyone reading this and still doubtful that Lebrecht is really "all that bad," I'll just add on that he said this at one point:
"What is needed right now is ... [a] J.K. Rowling who will stand up for truth."

He also probably believes in the great replacement conspiracy theory:
"Florence Price said of herself: 'I have two handicaps — those of sex and race.' Both have now become distinct advantages in wide awoke classical music."

Both of those quotes are from this article (internet archive link to give the guy less clicks):
https://web.archive.org/web/20220429224659/https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2022/bring-on-the-big-beasts/?fbclid=IwAR1x-InRsr-KF5C7pn1HOobk4m8yIwMMOU7RgRYSPbIjLYdUknGy8pdXOKA

[essence]

Saying he's of the old British guard is bestowing a pedigree he doesn't deserve (or have?)
Saying he's an aesthete is also too much praise - more of a bottom feeder.

I was saying that with a tone of derision and contempt!

In contrast, Michael Tanner was not a performing musician, but wrote in The Spectator for many years, and was a Wagner expert, also wrote on Nietzsche. He was a fellow at my old Cambridge college and taught philosophy and English. He would not have liked to be called an old guard English aesthete!

https://slippedisc.com/2024/04/spectator-mourns-music-critic/

Michael Tanner had regular illustrative session with students on Wagner. He also loaned out from his vast record collection to students - I borrowed a complete box of all Brahms chamber music, and learnt to love it all.

https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/dr-michael-tanner-15-april-1935-3-april-2024

Maybe what is interesting is the distinction between being described as an aesthete, and teaching aesthetics.

[moonlight88]

Why has the UK establishment supported such a creep for so long??

how long did it take for them to go after prince andrew again
and holy sh*t is it really so hard to treat people of the opposite sex with the same level of respect you treat your own. why do so many people (most of them guys) have such a problem with this

[dizzyfingers]

I was saying that with a tone of derision and contempt!

As you wish -

In contrast, Michael Tanner was not a performing musician, but wrote in The Spectator for many years, and was a Wagner expert, also wrote on Nietzsche. He was a fellow at my old Cambridge college and taught philosophy and English.

sounds like a wonderful don
speaking of philosophy at Cambridge, was he old enough to have met L. Wittgenstein (d. 1951)?

[essence]

speaking of philosophy at Cambridge, was he old enough to have met L. Wittgenstein (d. 1951)?

I doubt it very much, plus he was interested in different areas of philosophy.

I remember a conversation with one of Tanner's later PhD students when dining with a mutual friend. Tanner wrote on Nietzsche, but did not have a high regard for Deleuze, who was one of my interests. One might have thought Tanner would be interested in Deleuze's work on aesthetics.

Oscar Wilde is one of the very very few people whom I would describe as an aesthete, but who was also admirable. The term aesthete was used satirically by others, such as Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell - nowadays it is almost entirely used satirically (in England) , as depicting a decadent and self indulgent caricature, devoid of any intellectual rigour. Fits Mr Lebrecht very well.