Roger Lebow wrote:
>Whenever I see the "new expressiveness" of our [ahem] finest artistes,
>I can't fail to recall the physical presence of, say, Heifetz or
>Piatigorsky, neither of them exactly slouches, who comported themselves
>with a minimum of fuss and bother (Piatigorsky, whose master class I
>attended, said that Heifetz used to play "with that face like a gefilte
>fish"), but whose playing contained all the passion one (or at least I)
>could hope for. Today's players, of course, don't trust us to divine
>the essence of the music without some visual cues. Sometimes, watching
>the mugging going on in performance, I marvel at the fact that there are
>people who are actually opposed to the use of high-powered attack
>rifles...
>
>I'll have the valet post this message now.
Your valet did post the message, you'll be pleased to know. So difficult
finding good help nowadays. The laundress quit last month, and I don't
have a clean thing to wear.
[I do distribute messages, I don't do laundry. Not even my own if I can
get away with it. -Dave]
I agree, Roger-Leila Josefsberg and Nadia Sonnenberg-Salerno drive me
crazy with their facial expressions and motion. It's so true, the oldies,
Heifetz, (love that gefilte fish line!) Stern, just played, gorgeously.
I think these new artistes feel they have to show us how hard they are
working. I always feel like standing up and yelling "Stop mugging, fer
Chrissakes! I KNOW it's hard work!"
The other end of the spectrum is Anna-Sofie Mutter (whom I ALWAYS confuse
with Anne-Sofie Von Otter), who just sways slightly, but has virtually
no audience contact at all. She evokes a "Hey, I sittin' here, lady!"
response from me. But she wears gorgeous gowns.
The first time I saw Tetzlaff, he seemed like a dead fish, just stood
there, no audience connection, a la Mutter. Then I saw him a few weeks
ago with the Met Orchestra, he bobbed and weaved and swayed, and danced,
but still not much audience connection. He did the Berg concerto, I
don't like it, but the audience loved him.
Bren
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