Some Bad Reviews

I get them now and then…thought I could share them with you!

This is not technically about me, but at heart it is. Someone on Pianostreet.com who calls himself “Faulty Damper” says this about the masterclass video with Romuald:

…A “talking head” is one who talks, talks, and talks. I don’t even know what he really wants her to do. In fact, she sounded worse after he talked than before.

If that’s the point, maybe a plumber might be better suited for the job since he fixes things for a living.

I’ve attended many “masterclasses” before and most of them are exactly like this. There is too much thinking instead of doing. And when they do do, they don’t know what it is to do. Why would you want a student to understand something they are not able to do?

So, there is a discussion, and after a while it creeps out of this person that the problem is that the video is put up on my website:

The topic is A Masterclass Video. This forum is welcome to comment as they wish with either praise or criticism on Tengstrand’s website promotion. He clearly received a few hits on it and probably more because of this discussion.

I knew that from the start, though. I’m promoting my website…ooooohhhhhh…BAAAAADDDD

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I have to find some more…here is a first one from Dalarna:

Alla som har spelat på samtida instrument från det tidiga 1800-talet vet att dessa inte går att driva särskilt hårt rent dynamiskt. När nu Tengstrand kramar varje uns av forteklang ur den för kvällen inlånta Steinway-flygeln, känns detta inte bara stilhistoriskt orätt, det blir bitvis också oskönt rent klangligt. Till en sångare kunde man ha sagt “sjung starkt men skrik inte”. Flygeln i fråga hade dessutom ett påträngande mellanregister och ett orkeslöst lägre dito.

Trots att Tengstrand just denna kväll avslutade inte mindre än 21 aftnar i Rikskonserters regi och med bara Beethoven på programmet, känns han inte som den idealiske uttolkaren härvidlag. De dynamiska excesserna är en sak, men här finns också stundtals en rastlöshet i ögonblickets musicerande, något som Tengstrand delar med andra unga pianister av i dag. “Tidsandan” kanske spelar in.

Tidigare generationers pianister sitter orubbade åtminstone som Beethoven-interpreter - och de ramlade inte nästan av stolen varje gång det kom till kraftfulla slutackord.

3 Comments

  1. Comment by Christina on April 8, 2008 11:26 am

    Jag har också fått en dålig recension en gång. Om den recensenten sade min förläggare att han nog var “en förmöglad gammal adjunkt som inte borde befatta sig med litteratur skriven efter 1970″.

    Förlåt att jag drog upp det (hämnden är ljuv … ;) men den här recensenten verkade också lite ålderstigen. Tidsandan??? Beethoven själv saknade väl inte temperament?

  2. Comment by Kiew on June 16, 2008 6:10 am

    “Faulty Damper”… seems to me like a “talking head”. I don’t quite understand what he wants. Yet he keeps talking and talking… My guess is that HE doesn’t understand. So he assumes NOBODY understands. I find Sztern’s teaching “fantausteek”(as he pronounces) EXACTLY for the reason that he doesn’t tell one simply WHAT TO DO, but he starts with how we should perceive, how we should THINK! Not just WHAT to do but WHY! and for me equally important is HOW. I hope Roumald’s “head” “talks” another 100 years.

  3. Comment by Kiew on June 16, 2008 6:32 am

    I just signed up for pianostreet. Just to write Faulty Damper a comment.

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