Now that visas are once more available, western stars are resuming their China careers.
First out of the business-class exit at Shanghai are Renaud Capucon, Ivo Pogorelich, David Fray and Gidon Kremer.
More to follow.
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I count three out of four. Pogo flew the coop years ago!
China is about to find out the hard way that Pogorelich can’t play anymore.
Sad, but so true.
Pogorelich had been touring China long before the pandemic. I heard him playing in Shanghai in 2011, with a nearly 1-hour long Liszt B minor. I was a big fan of his old recordings at the time, but ended up leaving the concert more confused than anything else. Some reviews said his interpretations were inspired by Cubism, but seems like most people now agree that it’s just technical regress
Chinese audiences will hear Ivo play the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow. He perverts the music and clearly is a long way off from his former self.
Ovo let’s you hear treasures in repertoire you grew to consider overfamiliar. Stunning decomposition
Not adding or subtracting just …. Hard to explain but listen and be enchanted.
Decomposition is right word.
Pogo has upcoming concerts in Paris, Rome and Belgium plus China. Not bad.
I will never forget a Pogorelich recital I attended in Israel. While the audience were coming into the hall a man in shabby apparel was sitting at the piano practicing various passages and totally ignoring the crowd. For a moment I thought it might be a piano tuner but it was in fact Pogorelich himself.
He later came back dressed for the occasion an began the recital but suddenly stopped and complained about a buzzing air conditioner which no one else seemed to hear. He then continued to play but kept making comments to the audience while playing, such as “I can hear you…” He seemed to be intentionally playing horribly and pounding the keyboard ruthlessly.
I later heard complaints about other appearances he made on that tour. He was clearly in a bad way.