# Artists, Entertainers?



## herblison (Aug 10, 2015)

Sorry if this topic has been covered previously. I've been wondering recently
about Yuja Wang, Lang Lang and others who add some visual sparkle their live 
concerts, at times reminiscent of Liberace. Although I often enjoy their 
performances, I find that the visual effect tends to distract from the music itself. 
By contrast, the music speaks to me more directly with an artist like Claire Huangci, 
whose recent recording of Scarlatti sonatas is one of my favorites.

Strange as it may sound, I greatly enjoyed Liberace's performance of Tchaikovsky's
Piano Concerto No. 1 on YouTube (



). Atypically, he is
dressed in a very conventional concert artist style.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

This is the ages-old question: are they artists or entertainers? I would almost always say both. The comments you have about pianists are the same I have about conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and others whose podium characteristics tend to draw attention away from the musicmaking. Yet he has legions of loyal followers.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

There are many ways to draw attention to oneself or demonstrate bad taste. I have seen Yuja live and can say that, once she sits down and starts playing, her appearance is not really distracting at all. She conveys ease and elegance but apparently others see what they want. She doesn't have pages to be turned, she doesn't rock her head and body, and unlike Jeffrey Kahane, she doesn't scoot her butt sideways to reach both ends of the keyboard. Nor did she bother us by talking about non-musical topics.

If the difference between artist and entertainer is a matter of presentation, personality, or appearance, whether conservative, flashy, outspoken or not, etc, then either the definition of artist could be too narrow or they aren't really mutually exclusive terms.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

herblison said:


> Sorry if this topic has been covered previously. I've been wondering recently
> about Yuja Wang, Lang Lang and others who add some visual sparkle their live
> concerts, at times reminiscent of Liberace. Although I often enjoy their
> performances, I find that the visual effect tends to distract from the music itself.
> ...





larold said:


> This is the ages-old question: are they artists or entertainers? I would almost always say both. The comments you have about pianists are the same I have about conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and others whose podium characteristics tend to draw attention away from the musicmaking. Yet he has legions of loyal followers.





philoctetes said:


> There are many ways to draw attention to oneself or demonstrate bad taste. I have seen Yuja live and can say that, once she sits down and starts playing, her appearance is not really distracting at all. She conveys ease and elegance but apparently others see what they want. She doesn't have pages to be turned, she doesn't rock her head and body, and unlike Jeffrey Kahane, she doesn't scoot her butt sideways to reach both ends of the keyboard. Nor did she bother us by talking about non-musical topics.
> 
> If the difference between artist and entertainer is a matter of presentation, personality, or appearance, whether conservative, flashy, outspoken or not, etc, then either the definition of artist could be too narrow or they aren't really mutually exclusive terms.


I, too, have seen Yuja live*, but never Lang Lang. I can say, I suspect I will always prefer to see Yuja rather than Lang. Not necessarily only for musical reasons.

I do wonder, though, what "podium antics" or "ways to draw attention to oneself or demonstrate bad taste" really have to do with music interpretation as I generally experience it, which is by way of recordings. I have quite a bit of Lenny Bernstein in my disc collection (including both the two volume DGG Collection set and the two volume SONY Edition set, well over 250 discs there alone!), but when listening to any of this music I'm never distracted by podium antics. And I find Lenny's interpretations often exciting, interesting, and sometimes definitive.





























I've seen many videos of Glenn Gould performing, and he's somewhat annoying to watch. But, again, my disc collection is filled with Gould piano discs, and I listen to them in stunned awe. Never noticing a single distractive element in his posture or his odd little chair, by way of my stereo equipment.









So, carry on all you want, musicians. Since I take in the large majority of my music hearing via recordings heard in the privacy of my listening room, I simply don't care -- as long as the music sounds good on my end.

* A Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert, the season finale, in June of 2013. Manfred Honeck conducted the PSO in the Tchaikovsky Concerto No.1 with Yuja playing, and then featured the Shostakovich Fifth. It was a great day at Heinz Hall, that concert.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

I'm not that crazy about Yuja's repertoire and wish she'd play more serious music and less of the empty calorie showpieces, but she's a real artist, of amazing clarity and delicacy. The only living pianist I prefer over Yuja is Sokolov.

Lang Lang is a real artist too, although a lesser one than Yuja. I find I prefer him in short pieces where his beautiful playing can be appreciated without worrying whether everything flows.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Well it really depends on what sort of music you are playing. If you don't perform Liszt's virtuoso pieces with a little theatricality you are doing it wrong. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with a visual factor in most music, a vocalist will use gestures and facial expressions to further the meaning of what they are singing so maybe it shouldn't be seen as a huge problem when it comes to instrumentalists. Obviously there is a question of taste, and I for one am hesitant to lay a scintilla of praise on Lang Lang's musical abilities, despite his occasionally impressive technical ones. 

But art shouldn't be taken too seriously, it dampens the passion and a charismatic performer will often push the music to greater effect rather than distract from it. Obviously still dependent on repertoire but that is something that comes under tastefulness. In all honesty it would be nice to see the charisma of some instrumentalists on the current operatic stage where you certainly need to 'perform'.


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