Watch: Putin’s back at the piano… and scoring no points

Watch: Putin’s back at the piano… and scoring no points

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norman lebrecht

May 15, 2017

This is the Russian leader doodling around yesterday while being kept waiting to see the Chinese leader, Xi Kinping.

He get’s the notes mostly right, but the piano needs tuning and he has absolutely no expression.

Slipped Disc tip: He should not enter any piano competition in which Emmanuel Macron is taking part.

Comments

  • Peter says:

    More real, honest, expression than Buniatishvili though.

  • Olassus says:

    The last UK or US leader who could doodle around on a keyboard would be who exactly? Edward Heath? Dwight Eisenhower?

    We must be grateful for President Putin’s support for music.

  • clarrieu says:

    No harmony allowed, apparently…

  • Peter says:

    What song is it? He is apparently sending a sublimal message. 😉

    Of course a piano out of tune in China is also Putin’s fault. What is actually not his fault? Can’t think of anything.

    • Alexander says:

      He was sending a hidden message to Norman…having listened to it Norman was so excited that put that strange apostrophe V.Lind noted in his comment … please don’t say anything about the case , the secret operation is still under progress, we all are playing our roles and every typo and comma has its own sense … still cannot understand what was Nik trying to inform us about …hush-hush and wait for further instructions 😉

    • Olassus says:

      “It’s a pity the piano was out of tune,” Putin said. “It was quite hard to play, even for me, someone who plays with two fingers. I cannot say I played. I was just pressing the keys with two or three fingers.

      “I thought that if Mr Peskov is filming, it’s probably for personal use, for the archive,” Putin said, referring to his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. “But they decided to post it. But never mind. I think I didn’t let you down.”

      Another reporter at the news conference asked what tune Putin would play for U.S. President Donald Trump if they were to meet.

      “I don’t know. I think we’d need to meet him, have a discussion, and depending on the result choose a melody,” Putin replied.

      — from Reuters

    • SVM says:

      According to Russia Today: “Putin performed the unofficial anthems of Russia’s capital, Moscow, Moskovskie Okna, and his home city of Saint Petersburg, Gorod nad Volnoy Nevoy.”

      source: https://www.rt.com/news/388466-putin-piano-trump-china/

  • Andy says:

    Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ecDo74Vkc

    • Steven Holloway says:

      We recently had a post devoted to this topic, with many comments and also with intercessions from NL. Harper was mentioned. I and a few others mentioned Nixon, which makes NL’s reference to Truman and Heath above a touch baffling — he commented on comments, but apparently did not read them. Anyway, to the point, we really don’t have to go through the whole ‘world leaders and music’ thing again — we just did it to death.

      • Andy says:

        Yes, sir.

        Please, sir, what then shall we discuss now, sir?

        • Steven Holloway says:

          Something else. As I said, we just did this, and at too great a length.

          • Andy says:

            It’s sort of impossible not to have an odd admiration for people who feel the rest of us need conversational traffic cops.

            I’ve never well tolerated these domineering tendencies.

            You’d never be invited to my home for wine and raclette.

            And maybe some of us who visit this site occasionally might infrequently miss post or two, about which others -who live and breathe Slipped Disc more than most – have apparently spent much fretting and ruminating. To the point of annoyment if redundancies spring up, like little weeds in their vegetable garden.

            Chill, dude.

          • Steven Holloway says:

            You’re a touchy little rascal, aren’t you?

          • Andy says:

            Am I? You tell me, Officer Krupke.

          • Steven Holloway says:

            Okay. You are. And now, true to the story, Officer Krupke warns you and other silly boys to stop fighting.

  • Tweettweet says:

    Our prime minister also considerd conservatory 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOAfI8zwYvI

  • Fan says:

    Did you misspell the Chinese name on purpose?

  • Gaffney Feskoe says:

    Bill Clinton plays the saxophone.

  • matteo says:

    “He should not enter any piano competition in which Emmanuel Macron is taking part”.

    Well, you know, in these 17 years President Putin has been quite busy governing the biggest and most complex country on earth, rebuilding Russia and its economy, defeating the Chechen islamic terrorism, kicking isis’ and al-qaida’s ass and so on.

    These are quite time-consuming activities.

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