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Date: | Mon, 26 Aug 2002 15:04:54 +0100 |
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Dear All, Did anyone else see the Kirov / Gergiev Prom on TV (BBC2)?. It
was a real experience.
First of all I have not heard of the pianist on the Prokofiev 3 - Alexander
Toradze. To be honest it was uncomfortable watching him as with the TV
lights and lack of air conditioning in the Albert Hall he went a very red
colour around the neck and was sweating buckets. In closeups his hands
were clearly sweaty and perspiration was dripping from his forehead onto
the keyboard. I wonder why he he wore a black closed neck jacket in these
circumstances. And why he did not try better deodorant.
The performace pulled about the tempos in a way I am not used to and was
very athletic. This rather large man was lifting himself off the stool
and almost standing to put more weight on the keys at times.
The the end the announcer said the Toradze / Gergiev recording of P3 was
chosen as the best version amongst 70 odd versions by International Piano
Quartlery. I always thought it would be Kappel with Stokowski or Dorati
(I wonder how they stacked up the survey). Gramophone gave the 2 CD set
of the 5 concertos by Gergiev / Toradze a middle of the road review. They
said too much was often wrung out by the pianist. However, the review did
not mention P3 as an individual performace(!).
The announcer on TV BBC2 made my teeth grind. He was very 'enthusiastic'
and 'chatty' in a quite falsely animated way. Perhaps this is all part of
the drive to make classical music 'with it'.
All the best,
David Harbin
Nottingham, UK
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