Some Bad Reviews
I get them now and then…thought I could share them with you.
The best quote I have is one that I cannot find online, it was after I played the Tchaikovsky Concerto in Florida. It said “The Tchaikovsky Concerto should be more than showing fast fingers and lots of flying hair”.
Poetic.
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For a bad review I can always count on Henrik Halvarson in Helsingborg:
“For the numerous audience both sides of Per Tengstrand’s playing was equally amazing. Enthusiastically they received a heavy pumping “Funérailles” by Franz Liszt and Beethoven’s” Appassionata” where the dynamic contrasts were utilized to the utmost. The other more intimate pieces by Chopin and Grieg brought equal enthusiasm.
Personally I thought the concert was too extreme. Sure, it was impressive, with the maximum expression of Liszt and Beethoven. But in “Funérailles” Tengstrand went over the line being pompous and in the “Appassionata” I lost the momentum in all the abrupt shifts. It felt like it was written in big letters what I should feel, instead of me being taken in by the emotional powers.”
(Original in Swedish)
“För den talrika publiken var båda sidorna av Per Tengstrands spel lika fantastiska. Entusiastiskt tog de emot en tungt pumpande “Funérailles” av Franz Liszt och Beethovens “Appassionata” där de dynamiska kontrasterna utnyttjades till det yttersta. Andra avdelningens mer intima Chopin- och Grieg-stycken väckte lika stor begeistring.
Själv tyckte jag att konsertinledningen var i det extremaste laget. Visst var det imponerande med det maximala uttrycket i Liszt och Beethoven. Men i “Funérailles” gick Tengstrand över gränsen till det pompösa och i “Appassionatan” tappade jag den röda tråden i de tvära kasten. Det kändes som jag skrevs lite på näsan på vad jag skulle känna, i stället för att sköljas med av de stora känslosvallen.”
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I have to find some more…here is one from Dalarna:
Anyone who has played on contemporary instruments from the early 1800’s know that they are not going to be pushed very hard dynamically. When Tengstrand squeezes every ounce of forte-sound out of the Steinway grand piano, this feels not not only like historical injustice in style, at times it also gives an ugly sound. To a singer I could say “sing loudly, but do not shout.” The piano in question also had a bad sounding midrange and a decrepit lower register.
Although Tengstrand this evening finished a no less than 21-concert tour with only Beethoven on the program, it feels like he is not the ideal interpreter for this music. The dynamic excesses is one thing, but there is also sometimes a restlessness in the music-making, which Tengstrand share with other young pianists of today. The trends of today might come into play here.
Earlier generations of pianists sat still as Beethoven interpreters – and they didn’t almost fall off the chair every time there was a powerful final chord.
(Original in Swedish)
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.
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I really liked your documentaries, Per. Will you make more?
Best,
Luigi
BTW, Per, what I meant about ‘fears, doubts, uncertainty’ is that these things are what make a real human being. We just need to look at the lives of all our favourite composers to see that their lives was full of uncertainty. So I really commend you for having the guts to make documentaries about the real human stuff instead of hiding behind a facade of fake happiness. I really like people like you who can tell the dark stuff going on in their mind. These damn critics don’t understand any of that. Think about it, they HAVE to bitch about something, no matter how good you are, otherwise they are out of work. The guy who works at MacDonald’s has to flip burgers, if he weren’t, he would lose his job and be replaced. In the same way, all these critics dimwits, HAVE to moan about something. Heck, they always moaned about everybody, no matter if they were moaning about Beethoven himself, Paganini, Schumann, etc. To them there’s always some stupid and trivial thing worth bitching about, but again, in the end they don’t make the wheel go round. Isn’t it funny? ah ah
man, critics are just stupid little moaners who are constantly bitching how everybody isn’t perfect. These idiots don’t make the wheel go round. People like YOU, do. Just yesterday I was reading about a ‘critic’ who criticized Schumann’s piano studies op.3
I googled his name (don’t even remember it), and guess what? He was neither a pianist, nor a composer. The pathetic little sod was a ‘poet’ and ‘music critic’.
What I fail to understand is how people like you even take these stupid little moaners seriously. If all performers agreed to laugh every time these lame little people slagged off someone’s performance, they would all be out of work.
I am a musician myself and like every musician, I respect every musician who performs with honesty and genuineness and love for music. Plus I love your playing!
PS. watched all your documentaries on youtube, they were extremely interesting, it was like reading your autobiography. Fears, doubts, uncertainty, but also hope and self-belief. A little bit of all this is worth all these stupid critics put together. Let them write their stupid crap about hair, these losers have no idea how much work goes into performing one of the masterworks we love.
PPS. I hope you will make more documentaries and upload them on youtube or your site. Why not making one about critics? Why not finally realizing how insignificant and dim they really are? I could even maybe agree if ONE critic really could get into the details, i.e. that particular passage in F# minor wasn’t super smooth, or whatever. But these pathetic sods aren’t able to say any of that because they are all half-baked musicians themselves.
Keep rocking!
Luigi
Men snälla Per, det där var väl ingenting! Värre har man väl varit med om…
Just i Dalarna blev jag utnämnd till Årets magplask efter en konsert med Beethovens 3:a härom året.
Och efter en recital i Wiens Konzerthaus förra veckan skrev en bloggare att han gärna skulle höra en konsert med Nina Stemme igen om han bara slapp höra mig…
Jo du, det blåser på toppen!
Ååh, det är kommentar 37 där på Bjurmans blogg … 😛
Jag skulle själv aldrig klara att göra en tatuering, för jag skulle få beslutsångest kring motivet.
Per B. han är rolig, håller med. TAr man ett steg tillbaka så är det hela ganska underhållande.
Tatuera handen? Var har jag skrivit det? Jag vet att jag funderade på det ett tag, men var står det, hjälp!
Tatuera handen???
Det kunde ju faktiskt vara lite fräckt … fast det beror å andra sidan på motivet. En del tatueringar ser dessutom lite smutsiga ut och en pianist med smutsiga händer – neej. 👿
Kan inte låta bli att fnissa lite åt Per B:s “beskrivning”.
Nämen Majsan, du var attans till detektiv! Haha…
Jag är inget om inte envis!
Marianne här är adressen till det Per Bjurman skrev. Men det handlade inte om musik utan om hockey om jag förstod det rätt…
http://blogg.aftonbladet.se/18756/perma/797868/
När jag var barn sa man: Den som sa’tt han va’tt” Jag kan inte tillräckligt om musik för att komentera de musikaliska “sågningarna” fast jag vet vad jag själv uppskattar och alla andra jag sett på de olika spelningarna i år. (tänk att det var bara 6 månader sedan Växjö) Men humor och stagepresents vet jag lite mer och där undrar jag nog som marianne vilka ömma tår du trampade på antagligen flera gånger för att han skulle kunna skriva något sådant… Eller också är det för att du gillar The Ark!
Det kan få folk att komma med vilka komentarer som hellst!
Keep it up!
What I did to Per Bjurman…you will have to ask him 😉
What did you do with Per Bjurman? I can´t imagine that it is about you! No humour?
I just signed up for pianostreet. Just to write Faulty Damper a comment.
“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.
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?