# Gorgeous Russian Pianist-Lola Astanova



## toughcritic

I've recently heard such a wonderful piano recital! Rarely you get to hear such passion and emotion combined with fiery energy! I could not be indifferent and had to share with fellow music lovers! I really love Romantic music and the way she played Chopin and Scriabin really touched me! I am definitely going to be on a look out for more shows by this artist!


----------



## Frederik Magle

Very interesting. Lola Astanova surely is beautiful (see attached picture ). But of course from a musical perspective what matters is her musicality, interpretations and skill. I have to admit I have never heard her play. Any recordings you can recommend?


----------



## toughcritic

I heard little selections from her upcoming album on the radio. I think it was Beethoven's Tempest which I loved, but I don't think the album is out yet.


----------



## Topaz

Let's hope Lola's career takes off. Should it be a failure I can't imagine what else she might do. I'm stuck for ideas.


----------



## toughcritic

Well, don't let her looks mislead you. I think she is an incredibly profound artist. Knowing how things are in the classical music, looking young and pretty can actually be a disadvantage for an up and coming musician. I think if she keeps up the good work she is going to become what Anna Netrebko is in the Opera world.


----------



## Manuel

toughcritic said:


> Well, don't let her looks mislead you. I think she is an incredibly profound artist. Knowing how things are in the classical music, looking young and pretty can actually be a disadvantage for an up and coming musician. I think if she keeps up the good work she is going to become what Anna Netrebko is in the Opera world.


Or Hillary (Hot) Hann.

Or what Anne-Sophie Mutter once was.


----------



## toughcritic

Hann hot? Not so much IMO


----------



## opus67

With the pace with which she plays, her violin might be. 

(My comment's basis lies in a sample clip I heard, which made me rip my headphones off of my head. It was Bach's violin concerto)


----------



## toughcritic

Rip your headphones off your head? Was it too fast? Then, you should definitely hear Lola. In general I think younger artists have passionate hearts and virtuoso ambitions and are a lot more exciting to listen to and look at!


----------



## opus67

toughcritic said:


> Rip your headphones off your head? Was it too fast?


Fast, soulless/emotionless... Bach's first violin concerto was something I loved when I started listening to classical music. And while sampling CD's at amazon, I came across Hahn's disk. After hearing Perlman play, Hahn certainly made me take the headphones off.


----------



## captaintim

she's stunning huh! Hope her playing is just as high a quality as her looks!! Damn


----------



## toughcritic

Wow, I read today that Lola Astanova and Valery Gergiev are performing a Tchaikowsky concerto No. 1 as a part of the Fantasy Gift that will cost $1,590,000!!! I should start saving haha! I finally found her records on Itunes though! I knew she is really going to make it big! Bravo Lola!!!


----------



## Gladiator

captaintim said:


> she's stunning huh! Hope her playing is just as high a quality as her looks!! Damn


Well, here is what I found on youtube. She is too good and seems so down to earth. Does anyone know when is she performing with Gergiev?
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lola+astanova&search=Search


----------



## Guest

Frederik,

One item that matters that's not on your list (musicality, interpretations and skill), repertoire.

Monica Timofticiuc is also young, also pretty, also plays Mozart and Beethoven and Chopin.

But Monica plays music by people who are still alive, too, like Iancu Dumitrescu. (And she scores very high on your three items, too.)

Michael

(http://festivalspectrum21.tripod.com/monica.timofticiuc.html) This is not a very good picture of her, and her repertoire is much broader (and more current) than the list on this page. I think she's just being diffident.


----------



## Gladiator

some guy said:


> Frederik,
> 
> But Monica plays music by people who are still alive, too, like Iancu Dumitrescu.


Hallelujah! Finally, my prayers have been answered and no longer do I have to live in misery without being able to find a pianist who would play the music of Iancu Dumitrescu! So all those letters I wrote to Santa since early childhood begging him to supply me with this music actually got to him! I think I know what I am going to find under my X-mas tree this year! 
LOL....


----------



## Guest

Hey Glad,

You haven't um by any chance ever actually _heard_ any music by Iancu Dumitrescu, have you?

Some


----------



## Gladiator

some guy said:


> Hey Glad,
> 
> You haven't um by any chance ever actually _heard_ any music by Iancu Dumitrescu, have you?
> 
> Some


Guilty as charged, nop Some, I haven't. Don't mean to be rude but you must admit this joke was so natural in this particular case.
Btw, I happened to be in NY when Kirov/Gergiev performed at Carnegie Hall, the concert was great and I think I saw Lola Astanova there too, gosh she is so striking! Knowing the story of Anna Netrebko I immediately thought Did Gergiev find another Netrebko?


----------



## Guest

Hahaha, we are agreed, the joke was perfectly natural.

And we are also agreed that Anna Netrebko and Lola Astanova are a couple of hotties.

Now go listen to some Dumitrescu, dammit!! (Oh, it's fun.)


----------



## shorteybear

LOLS... Gladiator, is your name by any chance Iancu Dumitrescu???


----------



## shorteybear

(that comment was based on your "perfectly natural" comment on page one). 

a funny man you are


----------



## Gladiator

shorteybear said:


> LOLS... Gladiator, is your name by any chance Iancu Dumitrescu???


You mean is Some Guy's name Iancu Dimitrescu? If you read my perfectly natural comment you'd see that I was the one to make fun of this composer. But yeah, I am rather funny, that's what my mom thinks anyway... 
Ok, Some guy if you agree with me on the subject of Netrebko/Astanova hotness I am going to go to youtube and try to listen to something.


----------



## Guest

Glad,

Unfortunately, the web has not picked up on Iancu much, yet.

Partly that's my fault. Eventually my site will have dozens of clips of his and Ana-Maria Avram's music. But not yet.

So far, I have only a two minute clip (it looks like it's four, but it's only two) of the same thing you can find on Amazon.

So go to Amazon for one minute, or Asymmetry Music Magazine for two minutes. That's all I know about after about ten minutes of searching.

Michael


----------



## Gladiator

Hi Michael, It took me a while to get to it. His music is not very generic asymmetric music. I found things I liked, but in general it's not the music that I would frequently listen. 
I saw a recent Steinway magazine, did you know Steinway apparently makes watches? Not sure when they started, I guess it makes sense. Fascinating articles and profiles on young and established people, in particular interesting article about Leon Fleischer, I love his Beethoven interpretations and, of course, they did a profile on Lola. I am more and more intrigued by her


----------



## Aksinya




----------



## toughcritic

I think the playing here is technically impeccable, glad to see classical artists turning to the old tradition of using popular themes for variations. Too much for purists to take? ( I consider myself one, somewhat...)


----------



## pianozach

It seems that there are two threads on Lola Astanova.

Perhaps they should be merged?


----------

