{"id":59931,"date":"2019-04-08T17:04:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T21:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=59931"},"modified":"2019-04-08T18:53:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T22:53:17","slug":"scrutiny-toronto-gets-a-first-hand-account-of-why-mariam-batsashvili-is-so-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/04\/08\/scrutiny-toronto-gets-a-first-hand-account-of-why-mariam-batsashvili-is-so-special\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Toronto Gets A First Hand Account Of Why Mariam Batsashvili Is So Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto presented young piano phenom Mariam Batsashvili for her Canadian debut, leaving just about everyone on their feet.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto Recital: Mariam Batsashvili\u00a0at Walter Hall.\u00a0 Thursday, April 4, 2019. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s very crowded field full of young piano phenoms, Mariam Batsashvili<\/strong> is special in many ways. The Georgian seemingly has it all \u2014 prodigious talent, innate musicality, stunning technical prowess, and at only 25, she has youth on her side, auguring well for a splendid career for years to come.<\/p>\n

Toronto audiences got a taste of her artistry in a recital last Thursday, her Canadian debut. Kudos to the Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto<\/a><\/strong> for engaging her. Walter Hall was completely sold out \u2014 a combination of the fiercely loyal WMCT members showing up in force, joined by over 60 students and their teachers, from the Unionville High School where Batsashvili gave a masterclass the day before, as well as from the Cawthra Park Secondary School. There were also ten New Canadians in the mix, there thanks to the cultural outreach initiative.<\/p>\n

\"Mariam
Mariam Batsashvili (Photo: James Kippen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am not one to typically comment on how an artist looks onstage \u2014 what the Brits call \u201cfrock watch,\u201d but I couldn\u2019t help but notice Batsashvili\u2019s choice of concert attire. No \u201cglamour girl a la Yuja Wang\u201d for her \u2014 she had on a stylish but conservative and subdued black blazer and trousers, with neatly styled straight hair. She\u2019s got her priorities right \u2014 I say brava<\/em> to her for not<\/em> selling glamour and sex appeal, but to just let her music-making speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

And did her music-making ever made a statement!\u00a0 She chose Liszt to open and close the first half; the B<\/em>\u00e9n\u00e9diction de Dieu<\/em> was lavished with supremely High Romantic sensibilities. Some might find her touch a bit on the heavy side, but to my ears it was thrilling, like the Hungarian Rhapsody that ended the first half, a powerhouse of a reading. In between, she offered clean, crisp, and rhythmically precise Mozart and Schubert. But it was the two Liszt works that were truly memorable \u2013 no wonder she won the Liszt Competition in Weimar in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Mariam
Mariam Batsashvili with students from the Arts Unionville, Unionville High School, and the Cawthra Park Secondary School, after the recital. (Photo: James Kippen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second half was made up of the monumental \u201cHammerklavier,\u201d Beethoven\u2019s great Sonata No. 29 in B flat major<\/em>. Lasting a good forty minutes, it\u2019s technically as demanding and exacting as they come, a piece that Liszt himself was said to have enjoyed playing. Batsashvili\u2019s intensity and concentration never flagged, taking the listener with her in the sonic journey. Her bravura technique was much in evidence, but she\u2019s not a \u201cbanger\u201d \u2014 there was plenty of nuance, lyricism, and indeed, true artistry.<\/p>\n

The audience gave her a spontaneous standing ovation, a gesture that is rare in Europe but common on this side of the pond. But she totally deserved it.<\/p>\n

The WMCT audience is discerning, sophisticated and very well-behaved, in many ways my favourite recital audience. They know a good thing when they see one! \u00a0Batsashvili offered an encore: \u201csomething lighter\u201d she said, eliciting huge laughter from the packed house. It was a minuet, the name of which escapes me. A wonderful way to spend two hours on a weekday afternoon.<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s Musical Club of Toronto presented young piano phenom Mariam Batsashvili for her Canadian debut, leaving just about everyone on their feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":59932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,76,19,52,63],"tags":[28361,3609],"yst_prominent_words":[22149,15056,28363,28365,28364,11760,28360,17445,11761,10315,28367,28366,27383,28357,28368,28359,9299,11762,10326,10310],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Mariam-Batsashvili.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-fAD","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59931"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59941,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59931\/revisions\/59941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59931"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=59931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}