But… just brilliant. Quite possibly the best performance of this piece ever, in terms of its individual virtuosity, the timing and pacing and the superlative mix of the instruments — thank you, Maestro Slatkin. And Miss Khatia ain’t too bad, either.
The best 20 minutes you’ll spend all day.
Lennie has aged quite a bit since I “knew” him in St. Louis in the 80’s and 90’s.
Ex-wife is on a couple of his recordings, in the chorus.
He took the St. Louis Symphony and Chorus to Carnegie hall.
He’s a remarkable man.
Khatia… I’ve never considered Rhapsody in Blue to be an erotic piece. Until now.
She reminds me of a brunette incarnation of the fictional (and erotic) Edda Burber.
Yes, 20 minutes well spent. And led me down another video rabbit hole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBsl7D9i6aM
Another great performance, and that dress….. I’ll be in my bunk.
Concur with your comments, Kim. Awesome rendition of that piece. Smokin’ hot pianist as a bonus! Thanks for the link.
I disagree with our Esteemed Host.
I participated in the linked video for all of two minutes.
I think the orchestra is under-used… and under-prepared.
The word ‘green’ seems appropriate.
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I think the gal on keyboard is klunky and relies on juvenile staged ‘flair’ rather than mature skills.
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And the choice of costume suggests an earlier part of her ‘career’ involved a brass pole and single dollars tossed near her feet.
Opinion.
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One reason I settled near Eugene, Oregon is the Music School at the Eww.
For decades, I enjoyed recitals of all types of music — jazz, opera, pop, percussion, dance, etcetera — by highly skilled and deeply motivated students of all ages.
Some of these students are in their seventies, often mistaken by visiting scholars for the instructor.
This is the level of dedication I expect from musicians.
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An aside:
Every Eugene-area coffee-shop and cafe has a performer section for impromptu urges to share their love of great music.
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In all those years, I experienced only two horridly awful recitals.
One was a French horn by a stoned dingbat, the last was two homosexual females relying on politic-correctness to bluff their waste of my time.
The other several hundred were significantly more thoughtful than the linked video.
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The phrase ‘phoning it in’ comes to mind.
Oscar Levant did it better, but was not as pleasing to the eye.
In American in Paris, his performance was aided by multiple takes to play up his intense musician persona in the movie. Not bizarrely like Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls; Oscar could play the piano, exactly in the way that Dooley Wilson could not in Casablanca.
I’ve been a fan of hers since I ran across her several years ago. Here’s a video of her at age 10 or 11 taking lessons from a French pianist. She has amazing talent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIKkwaLx77o
Hottie on the keyboard but unfortunately I have a brother and his wife who both have PhDs’ in music(UF). She is in fact passionate about/during her playing but did have a couple of mis-strikes during the piece. But still fun to watch and listen to; agree with askeptic re: Levant.