What Khatia wore to Zubin’s 80th
mainNot much, apparently, beneath the sheer side panels of her concert dress.
Nice compliment for a man of 80.
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I’m not an expert in these things, but it looks to me like a lacy outer layer with an opaque inner layer.
(Like this dress, for example: notice how the “skin” under the dress is not the same color as the white mannequin. http://www.newyorkersapparel.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/900×1350/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/u/muse_m2118m_black.jpg )
She has worn more suggestive outfits – just watch some of her other YouTube performances.
Fortunately, on this blog, women are treated perfectly equally to men, and not judged on their appearance, body-shamed or subjected to sexist prejudice.
And there’s no smut. (See the Melanson-McCain post followed by the charming one on Haas and the ‘intimate’ relationship between his composing and his sexual proclivities.)
Never any smut. No, never.
If a male performer wears a tank top or swimming shorts while performing, I’m sure they will be mocked for it too.
But that is not the same thing. A tank top would be inappropriate as regards the dress code expected (evening wear), while Buniatishvili conforms to the dress code, yet is mocked nonetheless. And no male performer would be called a “compliment” to an old man.
And a quick glance through this site will tell you that this is not the case, ever. Yet suggestive comments about women wearing dresses are commonplace.
I think it would be fun (in a perverse way) if male performers were judged on their looks the way female performers are judged on theirs.
For example, things a male performer should have:
– beautiful perfect hair
– beautiful perfect cheekbones
– straight elegant nose
– square jaw with firm yet luscious lips
– broad muscular shoulders & chest
– beautifully manicured hands
– classic fitness-model “V” shaped torso
– tight firm buttocks
– larger-than-average crotch bulge
– long muscular legs
– between 6 feet and 6 feet 4 inches tall
– The performer would be aware that any deviation from these criteria would be expected to have a noticeable impact on his career (for better or worse, depending).
– It would be acceptable for any of these to be altered artificially, as long as the result did not look artificial.
– He would be expected to dress for all performances, and pose for publicity shots & album covers, in a way that displays all of these attributes so that the audience can evaluate them without having to resort to speculation; if he didn’t do so, he could expect limited interest from audiences.
– BUT if the evaluation was too easy — i.e., not enough left to the imagination — or if he simply meets all these criteria too well, or if he is perceived to be trying too hard to meet them, then it would be assumed that he is trading on his looks, and respect for his technical and artistic accomplishments would be withheld to a corresponding degree.
– Lastly, audiences & critics would be expected to draw attention constantly to any and all of these visual criteria, while denying that any of it is relevant to their evaluation of the artistic product. This point of view would be accepted as logical and consistent.
You nailed it, Bruce. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Bruce. It’s nice to know that there are decent people like you out there. (Waaaay too few, imoho…)
Again: a classical music 10 is a real life 6 1/2…….
A sign of the times….
Wow, Alvaro, you’re a misogynist as well as a rambling idiot. Well done.
She plays Tchaikovsky concerto the way she poses for Vogue.
I’m not entirely clear how this is a compliment to Zubin, unless you mean she follows his stick to a degree which transcends what is merely professional.
This raises the question why Ms. Buniatishvili’s opening chords are much faster than the short introduction.
Usually that’s something soloists do when they want a faster tempo than their accompanist.
Or it could be something they agreed on. It doesn’t seem to take anybody by surprise (e.g., none of the visible musicians glance up at the conductor).
Maybe at 80, his stick technique is not what it was always reputed to be?
I don’t know about Mehta’s stick technique (or whatever you are implying), but the orchestra’s pacing of the music sounds much more natural than Buniatishvili’s. I am judging from the first movement’s exposition, because if I wanted to listen to the entire concerto on youtube, I’d go another performance, probably Gilels or Argerich.
Clearly this is a dress her mother stitched together for her. There were not enough bits to cover everything. From her website (via Slippedisc…):
“During the chaotic period her country went through, Khatia’s parents had to display great resourcefulness to keep poverty at bay. Her mother, who introduced her to music, sewed together magnificent dresses for both her daughters from bits of cloth that she scavenged here and there.”
What is the big deal, Khatia is a dressed like a nun comparing to Yuja’s provocative autfits (which are also fine, by the way
‘Zou bisou bisou….’
I don’t know about the dress but the playing is dreadful on many levels.
which levels?
Well, we can start with lots of wrong notes, robotic, ugly sound and go from there.
and is Zoobie’s mere elegant organising beyond reproach?
Please be more precise about the “wrong notes”.
I have good reason to believe Norman is something of a ladies’ man. Good for him! but he shouldn’t “complain” about a lady’s revealing dress.
Any man who claims not to enjoy the sight of Khatia in her revelatory dress is a Victorian-style hypocrite.
.