Ocean waves overwhelm a reckless pianist

Ocean waves overwhelm a reckless pianist

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norman lebrecht

October 18, 2020

It’s Lola.

Donald Trump’s favourite pianist is back.

And she’s soaked right through.

Thank goodness she’s safe.

But those pedals will be shot.

 

Comments

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    I’d like to see her walking to that piano in her habitual high heels.

  • Waldstein says:

    Sex and classical music sells!

  • Stella says:

    I’d be interested in the original audio of this

  • Ben G. says:

    Trump’s favorite pianist? Is this a joke Norman, and if not where’s the proof?

    He probably knows as much about music and art as Lola does about White Supremacy.

  • Jean says:

    How can we please get rid of her…? (In the non-Russian way)

  • Novagerio says:

    Lola Astanova is actually a good pianist, and in fact a student of legendarian Moscow piano-guru Lev Naumov.
    You flatter Trump by granting him such accolades. Trump cares more about her legs and very high heels than about her playing, at least as much as most cynics over here, I guess.

    • esfir ross says:

      In her native Tashkent Lola studied with legendary Tamara Popovich, teacher of S.Yudenich, A.Sultanov.

    • Lola’s Fake Tits says:

      She’s never studied with Naumov, maybe some master-classes. She received, however, good tutoring from Popovich in Tashkent, she brought up Sultanov and many others, they have a very strong piano tradition there, and on that level she was a very mediocre student

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      I’m only sorry Kennedy isn’t alive to really appreciate her, er, talents. Clinton would be drooling – but he’s doing that anyway!

      • J says:

        Yes, Sue, and Trump, Don Jr., Eric, Miller, Bannon, Meadows, Kudlow, Jordan, (he without jacket), Clarence Thomas, who’s not included in so many of these conversations, and Barr, watch this for their group circle jerk, and also group drooling. I would have included Lindsay Graham, but his interests lie elsewhere. (Wink, wink.)

  • Piano fan says:

    She spends her off time trying to change her Wikipedia page to make herself three years younger. Poor thing.

  • Ken says:

    I have now officially lived too damn long.

  • christopher storey says:

    She makes heavy weather of it !!

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Sad. Even less good pianos don’t deserve to be ruined that way.

    • Maurice says:

      It can’t have been much of a loss, judging by all those sticking keys up at the seaward end. In fact, she probably did well to even make her performance look like the actual audio.

    • Bruce says:

      Or doused in salt water, either.

    • Hmus says:

      It looks like an infamous “Betsy Ross” spinet made by the long deceased Lester piano company. They were unplayable from the get go. Truly the world’s worst. The Lada or Yugo of the piano world.

  • Micaela Bonetti says:

    Oh nooooooo, Mr Lebrecht, you did it again!
    Are you so sure your readers appreciate this kind of (non) news?
    And are you so sure they instead would much more appreciate being told about extremely talented female pianists: Beatrice Rana? Yeol Eum Sol?

    Besides are you sure you won’t lose a certain amount of your readers, among which I do count myself?

  • Nigel Goldberg says:

    It’s hilarious !

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      Can they make a sequel, perhaps, of the Jane Campion film “The Piano”? The instrument had been abandoned on the beach in the first film.

      “You saw the piano standing on the sand in the first film; in the sequel it’s submerged in water and it isn’t just Handel it’s dealing with”!! Something like that.

    • Paul Carlile says:

      Surely sir, heel-airy-ass?

  • IP says:

    Let me see. . . and his favourite violin player is David Garrett? The one who fell full weight upon a Strad?

  • tomtom says:

    Water music no doubt!

  • help me god says:

    I quite like her fluid style. Very much against the tide these days.

  • Maria says:

    Ghastly playing! Just banging around.

  • Anon says:

    I like when she plays a piece Allegro Commando… er… Commodo

  • Art Serating says:

    A really smart choice from the piano repertoire with which to get her feet wet.

  • Tide Pool says:

    In my case, she tickled more than just the ivories!

  • Greg Bottini says:

    Trump has no “favorite pianist”, as such. I would be surprised if he could tell the difference between a piano and a buffet table.
    What he sees in Astanova is another pu**y to grab.
    But don’t be so quick to blame Astanova, anymore than you should be blaming the cooks and maids who are employed at Mar-A-Lago. They’re all just people looking for work and being grateful that they found some – they’re nothing like the scoundrels Trump surrounds himself with in his Cabinet and in the Senate.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Notice how the keys are still depressed after she’s finished
    ‘playing’ on this piano!!?? HILARIOUS.

  • Terence says:

    Let’s be fair:

    – Her dress is no shorter than Yuja’s

    – the piano in the video (not the one in the recording) was probably about to be dumped as beyond repair

    – This show(wo)manship is no different from Andre Rieu

    – she may not play like Kissin et al but she plays better than many pianists

    – over 99% (okay I’m guessing) of people can’t play piano at all so if she inspires even a few to take it up, well done

    No, I didn’t really enjoy the performance either.

  • Paul Carlile says:

    Surely sir, a “wreck-less” pianist?

  • Paul Carlile says:

    Lol…a stern over! Now take a bow.

  • J says:

    I nominate that piano, if still around, for the following event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItJrqi6-I0

  • Paul Carlile says:

    Etude in Sea-minor…..

  • Doc Martin says:

    Michael Nyman has already done it better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9G9C6KvCE

  • IF says:

    This is studio recording done on perfect grand concert. This junk can not sound like that

  • Tony Sanderson says:

    Come on chaps, let’s listen to the experts. Pianist Magazine says this about her, “Lola deservedly won an Emmy Award back in 2016 for her performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the All-Star Orchestra and conductor Gerard Schwarz.(26 Nov 2019)”

    https://www.pianistmagazine.com/blogs/get-to-know-our-new-cover-star-lola-astanova/

    Does glamour count against a female artist? Discuss.

    You wouldn’t get a male artist behaviinbg like that would you Cameron Carpenter?

    http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Musician-Cameron-Carpenter-plays-to-the-tune-of-his-organ/37260.html

  • Billy says:

    Well how else do you expect a narcissist to get wet?!

  • DebSved says:

    OMG how atrocious is the playing and the theatrics are grotesque. Of course this would be to the liking of Trump because it’s crass and classless just like he is.

  • Pattherealist says:

    The saloon girls shouldnt be playing the piano. They’re a different union!

  • Jonathan Sutherland says:

    Where is a tsunami when one really needs it?

  • Egbert Souse says:

    She must be a good pianist if she can make that crummy spinet sound like a concert grand.

  • Timothy says:

    I’d like to hear all of her critics here attempt to play like that, whether in a studio or with their feet in the water.

  • Helene says:

    I think Taylor Swift does that head thing a lot better (tee hee). Anyone stay through the end to see the #CleanOceans?

  • Paul Carlile says:

    At least she didn’t have to wave to an audience…..

  • Smiling Larry says:

    The global warming deniers refuse to accept the fact that sea levels are rising, despite obvious evidence like this.

  • Michael Row Your Piano Ashore says:

    A rising tide lifts all pianos! A sink-or-swim performance?

  • Roger Williams says:

    She’s lip-syncing. The audio was recorded in a studio on a different piano. So she’s playing along, attempting to match a pre-recorded track. And it’s a pretty simple piece. Just a bunch of arpeggios. Most students who study 4 or 5 years can play that.

  • John Borstlap says:

    My fly on the wall tells me that to produce this video, they had to try several times until they found a place where she was not immediately washed away with the piano. They first tried with a steinway grand, which is now underway somewhere on the Atlantic, and had to restrict the instruments to the cheaper ones due to the budget. Also one of her shoes could not be found.

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