“Music criticism should be to musicians what
ornithology is to birds.”—Tweet by classical pianist Yuja Wang, quoted in
Vivien Schweitzer, “Talented, Eye-Catching, Unapologetic,” The New
York Times, April 8, 2012
Somewhat like David Helfgott, the pianist whose life
was chronicled in the 1996 film Shine,
25-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has become famous as much for non-musical
reasons as for technical skill. In Mr. Helfgott’s case, the question became whether
his technique would have brought him attention if he had never been afflicted
with mental illness; in Ms. Wang’s, controversy has swirled around her attire.
(In fact, as you begin to type her name into Google, one of the first choices
seen is, “Yuja Wang dress.”)
Look, there’s a simple test for this: Play a piece
performed by Ms. Wang with your eyes closed. Don’t look at her photo on one of her CDs (if you
can even find one these days). Or promptly close your eyes as soon as this YouTube performance of her playing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 begins. Did you enjoy it? Okay, then.
In the meantime, it’s nice to see classical music
getting any kind of notice these days, isn’t it? Maybe some of the people eyeing Ms. Wang’s miniskirts might look instead at the program notes
for her performances—and actually learn something. Just listen to the music, okay?
No comments:
Post a Comment