# Interested in a critique on this pianist



## Desafinado (Apr 13, 2014)

Over the past year I've started attending live classical shows, so I'm mostly a newbie when it comes to them. Last night I attended a solo piano show of a girl by the name of 'Anastasia Rizikov', who is 15 years old, and who has apparently been performing since age 7.

With my new-found eyes, the show had me amazed, but unfortunately I wasn't able to give it any kind of critical assessment. According to some research she's been winning some big piano competitions, so I imagine she's got some skill, but I'm curious what members of this forum think. Here's a recent clip from 2013, she would be 14 or 15:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Yvgeny Kissen, age 12, live performance of both the Chopin piano concerti in one evening.





The push to push these younger advanced pianists into performances is a 'newer' phenomenon.
Her playing is fine, certainly advanced for her age, but nothing so musically exceptional to put her in the league with the young Kissen, or the small handful of others more like him.

Yes, she is winning prizes, and of course should continue, but this putting them up often in performance (for publicity, money - some of which does help pay for their further training) is more some kind of kiddie circus affair, and more often than not _and most importantly_, it is completely detrimental to the young artist's development.


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## Desafinado (Apr 13, 2014)

PetrB said:


> Yvgeny Kissen, age 12, live performance of both the Chopin piano concerti in one evening.
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> ...


I can see why this might be true, but could you elaborate?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Desafinado said:


> I can see why this might be true, but could you elaborate?


I was at_ about_ her level ca. age 12-13. At age eleven I gained entry to a very demanding music camp. (One of my audition pieces, I recall was _The Chopin Scherzo in Bb minor_.) Once at that music camp, I was with dozens upon dozens of young instrumentalists and pianists, some much younger than me who were further advanced, some of the older ones that much more advanced while having been as advanced as this young pianist in the link you posted. People age 11 or 12 had more fluid and consistent technique, and far greater command of musicality in interpretation than this young lady in the clip.

This was literally another generation or two ago, late fifties, early sixties. At that time, neither teachers around the globe, or the students, or the parents, dreamed of presenting any of but the absolutely most exceptional of that lot of "Gifted Youth" to the public on any kind of regular basis -- then not much or often, or to present and promote them as a miracle child.

Since then, especially from the 1980's and afterwards, classical music began to be promoted like pop music or, say, with the same approaches and strategies of the most aggressive PR techniques used to sell running shoes. Grade level exams sprouted up overnight, along with many more small local and larger new and 'important' piano competitions (many of them are actually small beans as far as cash prizes or other benefits to the winners; many are not 'important' at all), and what all previous generations knew of as best (not pushing these _gifted youth_ into the fore, to publicize, make money off of, and basically treat then as dispensible, i.e. if child one failed, the agent has ten more like in queue to also promote) has since been incrementally abandoned at an increasingly fast rate.

Now we have a fairly regular parade of technically advanced 'gifted youth,' who are _used_ this way. Many who are in these circuits now being presented will fall by the wayside, a good number of those causally directly linked to too much, too soon, without the proper time to develop _and mature as human beings as well as 'artists.'_

Within that number of so many gifted youngsters, _this one is not anything terribly special or remarkable. The technique is advanced, the playing still rough compared to some other advanced youngsters, ditto the depth of musicality rendered_.

She may, or may not, go on to develop both technically and musically -- but if she is put through this performance circuit on too regular a basis, she could psychologically burn out before she ever had a chance to see if she could become a concert pianist, or divert her attentions from a more complete development which is vital if she is to have a later chance.

There is also this: this level of technique and musicality are not yet worth presenting, with so many of the world class pianists, also relatively young, already on the circuit.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

There's a difference between performers who give lots of concerts WHILE young, and performers who give lots of concerts BECAUSE young.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

hreichgott said:


> There's a difference between performers who give lots of concerts WHILE young, and performers who give lots of concerts BECAUSE young.


One big tip-off (and point which annoys me) is in the presentation of the young women, i.e. when they are dressed more in an manner appropriate to presenting a young adult vs. wearing 'cute little girl' dresses with the accompanying 'cute little girl' hairdo.

Accentuating their youth rather than aggressively minimizing it is, imo, ghastly.

Presentation of the young male performers usually does not suffer as much when it comes to the imaging of their dress and physical appearance.


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## Peter Gibaloff (Jan 10, 2015)

Instead of bad critique because she was very young at the moment:

The mainly problem of last 20 years is attempt to reach machine in playing.
Today there are too much robots and copiers.
It is really rare to hear someone who can "destroy you" in a moment with few tones.

I was talking earlier about Ivo Pogorelich, pianist from Croatia. But it was 30 years ago.

Today you have to be lucky to find real Artist.

I am guitarist, and even it is 21st century I prefer music like this, and playing like this:


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