{"id":61308,"date":"2019-06-28T16:05:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T20:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=61308"},"modified":"2019-06-28T16:05:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T20:05:51","slug":"commentary-the-great-classical-music-dumb-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/06\/28\/commentary-the-great-classical-music-dumb-down\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY | F\u00fcr Elise And The Great Classical Music Dumb-Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-61312\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise-1024x536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On the Fake News Front.<\/p>\n<p>This just in: The international recording industry is in panic catch-up mode in response to raves for Lang Lang\u2019s performance of Beethoven\u2019s F\u00fcr Elise, the popular name for the famous Bagatelle No.25 in A minor.<\/p>\n<p>Sony&#8217;s recent signing of Ivo Pogorelic to an exclusive contract was predicated according to insiders on the 60-year-old pianist&#8217;s &#8220;translucent&#8221;\u00a0thumbs-only recording of Claude Debussy&#8217;s Claire du Lune. \u201cFinally, pianism that goes beyond digital dexterity,\u201d raved an AllMusic reviewer.<\/p>\n<p>A rushed press release for Yuja Wang announced the perky fashion diva has for weeks been \u201cpolishing\u201d her Twinkle Twinkle Little Pastie based on a familiar piece she played during her Beijing youth.<\/p>\n<p>Sony is rush-releasing Vladimir Horowitz\u2019s hitherto secret 1952 recording of Kitten on the Keys, as its front-of-catalogue item instead of the much anticipated, Horowitz: The Historic 1965 Carnegie Hall Return Concert.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe the maestro would be proud,\u201d a Sony spokesperson said recently. \u201cRemember, he anticipated this trend eons ago with his encores of childlike or trivial-sounding pieces as the culmination of many major performances throughout his entire concert career.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yPzZZml-vo0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>The Lang Lang performance of F\u00fcr Elise at Philharmonie de Paris is the cornerstone in Steinway\u2019s new campaign for The Black Diamond Limited, its latest grand piano line fabricated in conjunction with Dakota Jackson, the celebrated American furniture designer and Steinway partner since 2016. Lang\u2019s F\u00fcr Elise originally appeared as part of his Piano Book project, of pieces from his youth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cF\u00fcr Elise is not a difficult piece,\u201d says Lang Lang adding that it \u201chas many magical moments.\u201d After a life spent performing Beethoven\u2019s concerti, late sonatas and variations, \u201cyou come back and see this piece as completely different, almost like a three-movement sketch,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n<p>Published in 1867 some 40 years after the composer\u2019s death in 1827, F\u00fcr Elise is a favourite student recital item for hormonally maxed out teenage pianists who love rubbing the topmost E and pivotal D-sharp together shamelessly in full view for as long as they can get away with it.<\/p>\n<p>Musicologists are unanimous in their certainty that the work itself was written for the wife or daughter of one of Beethoven\u2019s male intimates, or maybe a colleague\u2019s sister, or step-sister, or \u2014 who knows? \u2014 a step-wife. Maybe nephew Karl imagined wearing a dress?<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a pirated recording of Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii\u2019s performance of \u2018Do Re Mi\u201d recorded before he could walk has appeared on YouTube and elsewhere. Toy piano sales are expected to soar.<\/p>\n<p>Not all of Lang\u2019s peers were impressed, though. \u201cI would never record anything with Fur in the title,\u201d joked fiery French virtuoso H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Grimaud, noted for her global activism on behalf of wolves. \u201cEven with the addition of those two little German dot thingies over the \u201cu\u201d as a coverup,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>A miffed Marc-Andr\u00e9 Hamelin, has told intimates if the world wants dumbing-down \u201cI\u2019ll dummy-down faster than anybody. The celebrated Canadian virtuoso reportedly has his version of Chop Sticks down to 2:12 seconds. His training team are confident at bringing the time down to at least 1:5 seconds.<br \/>\nWhile Martha Argerich is reportedly speeding up the release date of her unique black-notes-only playing of both books of Bach\u2019s <em>Well-Tempered Clavier<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with white notes\u201d says the impassioned Argentinian, \u201cbut I have to start somewhere. I\u2019ll get to them next. Then \u2014 the embellishments. Can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b><i>LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i><br \/>\n<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LudwigVanToronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ludwigvantoronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/span>, or\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LudwigVanTO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The international recording industry is in panic catch-up mode in response to raves for Lang Lang\u2019s performance of Beethoven\u2019s F\u00fcr Elise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":61312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,9474,31,36,47],"tags":[485,5804,1904],"yst_prominent_words":[30063,12260,30064,7202,30060,12663,30059,30065,17285,7519,30061,9913,7451,7141,7489,6769,7003,30062,10562,10543],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/Lang-Lang-\u2013-Fu\u0308r-Elise.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-fWQ","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61308"}],"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\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61308"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61313,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61308\/revisions\/61313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61308"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=61308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}