Just in: Yuja crashes out of Lindberg concerto
OrchestrasMessage from Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie:
Unfortunately, Yuja Wang had to cancel due to illness. Thankfully, Tamara Stefanovich agreed at short notice to step in in her place. The program remains unchanged.
Message from hyper-skilled modernist Tamara Stefanovich:
I was called to replace irreplaceable goddess Yuja Wang for Lindberg Piano Concerto in Elbphilharmonie.
This Friday.
And no,I never played the piece and I got the music yesterday.
So yes learning a 32 monster piece in couple days.
Good I have nothing else to do this week…oh wait,not quite true… Between two Lindberg Concertos with utterly fab Salonen and NDR I play 20 Sonatas also chez Elbphilharmonie.
Just for fun.
So yes, thoughts and prayers.
But what does it matter if she doesn’t don a thong?
Tamara Stefanovich is a brilliant artist! Surely an upgrade from Yuja Wang who is technically unsurpassed but somewhat absent in musicality and feeling in her playing.
I don’t hear an abundance of musicality and feeling in Stefanovich’s playing.
https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/de/programm/tamara-stefanovich-sonaten-marathon/19333
What shameless boasting from Mrs. Stefanovic. Can you imagine Sokolov writing something like this? Well, he doesn’t need to make himself interesting.
If you can perform a modern piece you’ve probably never even heard before on four days notice, you’re entitled to boast.
I did not see shameless boasting; instead, I read lighthearted praise for fellow musicians and witty commentary about a challenging slate of programs.
The word is was looking for is “humble-brag.” It’s an excellent word. “Oh, poor me who has to replace Yuya Wang”. This is childish beyond belief. I remember there being Twitter accounts to take care of this kind of behaviour back in the day, and it pretty much exterminated it.
Such a cynical comment. Why it’s a ‘boast’ for someone to lightheartedly joke about unexpected workload, if she then keeps her head down for the work?
I also appreciate Sokolov’s seriousness, but more about how he painstakingly figure out every nuance about his playing, not what he says or does not say. ‘Can you imagine Sokolov writing something like this?’ No, I simply can’t imagine Sokolov taking on a new concerto on such short notice, but that has nothing to do with Ms. Stefanovich’s case here.
She is an excellent pianist!
Hopefully Yuja Wang will be better for her UK performances later this month. Maybe she needs to put on some extra layers of clothing to keep warm.
Isn’t it getting warmer now anyway in the USA and Europe?
I’m sorry to learn that Yuja is ill; best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Probably just a cold, she will be fine.
Modern works are especially troublesome because if you play a wrong note… it sounds like a right note. Too commercial!
What is a “32 monster piece”?
32 notes?
32 bars?
32 phrases?
Just play chords in the left hand, improvise the right and say you’re channeling the spirit of the piece.
Only Lindberg will notice (maybe).
The original on her Twitter account says: the 32 minute monster work.
If it was truly a worthy modernistic work deserving of critics’ praise, the score would allow the piano soloist to improvise throughout each performance, so long as none of that was tonal.
It’s almost certainly a smartphone autocorrect mistake for minute.
Might have helped had the composer delivered the work on time.
what do you mean ?
Will she be paid what Yuja’s fee would have been, or some other amount? I would argue she should be paid more….
The beauty of most contemporary music is that a soloist could play fistfuls of wrong notes in pyramids of atonal clusters, in the wrong order…and we, your ‘average listener’ will be non the wiser, just baffled and glad when it’s all over
Those who bother to listen to contemporary classical music find that descriptors like “pyramids of atonal clusters” describe only some 15% of recent works. Such lazy tarring with a broad brush gets tiresome…
Have you heard Lindbergs´concerto? His music is quite tonal…..May be you should listen first,before giving us some spontaneous brain ejaculations….Or,yes,learn to play the guitar.
Tamara is phenomenal…..She learns new concertos within a couple of days….I played in a performance of Messiaen´s Turangalila Symphony,when the scheduled soloist fell sick the day before the concert,after the dress rehearsal…Tamara stepped in,she hadn´t played the piece for more than a decade.
She played a recital in Wigmore Hall the night before the concert,and flew to Germany the morning after,arriving just in time to practice one or two hours before the performance began…It was flawless,and the two performances were recorded for CD release.