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I am getting annoyed with the performance of Classical pieces by the "Maestro Alexander Bui" kid on America's got talent.

First off, How does he get the title of Maestro, i thought that was reserved for conductors.

Second, he seems to have changed flight of the bumblebee into a "hip" style, which was a very bad performance.

Lastly, he said that this is THE hardest piano piece (i believe twice) and requires lots of time and effort on his part.

What's your opinion?

i thought it sounded sloppy.

I thought he did what the judges wanted him to do. (although they probably don't know they wanted him to do this)
He attempted to dumb himself down for the American mainstream public.
He did but his classical career is over. IMHO Even though I don't think he would have had one seeing his talent level and his age, whatever chance he did have is gone.

Gotta love the interlocking octaves slow and uneven.

Wait, I stand corrected he just flubbed them.

That life is too short to watch "America's Got Talent."

So what do you think, better or worse than last time? Eh, I think that there were a few more mistakes in his performance of the black key etude, but there were certainly a decent number this time as well.

Honestly, the way I see it -- if he can make it to the semifinals with "good but not great" piece selections and performances, then a fairly large portion of this community could probably win the million dollars. heck, I may try it myself in a year or two -- it would certainly be pretty easy to come up with a great setlist.

Hear hear - go and practice, y'all.

Yes, he seemed a bit more technically competent this time around.

I already settled why I'd never go on such a show. Sadly I don't think he thought the repercussions of going on such a show through. According to the bio on his account, he's actually interested in being a serious musician. Yea, somehow I think that going to be difficult.

+1 (and then some)
The kid is a prodigy though ya know

Wouldn't it be great if about 50 or so of the talented pianists from this forum go and flood America's got talent with... Classical? haha!

Somewhere Haochen Zhang is rolling his eyes at "Maestro" Bui.

Sorry, but I can't imagine him rolling his eyes. I imagine him laughing, but with the touring I doubt he has time to watch AGT.

Well played, it was an excellent choice, too.

... or TV in general...

I watched the video and thought he is definitely good.

Problem is that he wants to get into the right scene for his desired profession but he has chosen to rub elbows with completely the wrong people. It wasn't a very good choice of venue to make his debute. Now he will probably have to do double duty to win respect from the right people.

The name he uses is kind of irritating too. It sounds rather arrogant as well as incorrect for his profession. He should have been himself rather than trying to pose as something more.

He is appealing to the people that have the potential to win him $1 million, not to the picky classical crowd. Also, people here have advised him to do something flashy, a bit showy, and to play a familiar tune. He did all of that. What else you want him to do?

Well, he will be a novelty until he wears off. That's the problem with this sort of crowd. And everyone's right, he won't have an easy time being taken seriously by the classical community.

I actually have the sheet music for this rendition (I got it for free from a retiring teacher), and I can't say I liked it enough to bother working on it. It doesn't show that the pianist can do more than bang.

I watched some of his youtube channel videos (Bach Bb, Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso) and I have to admit that he has potential to be a good musician. Also, if you only watch his videos from AGT - they don't do his playing any justice (i believe it's a mic-ed piano?).

However, and it might be a sign of his youth, he plays everything in a way that seems like he's trying too hard to impress others technically (i.e. tempos which are much too fast), and we lose clarity and actual musicality because of it (there's no real sense of character, phrasing, sensitivity, etc).

And I am very annoyed by his biography, especially the fact that he's chosen to label himself as a Maestro. It seems completely full of it.

I can understand that he wanted to appeal to the audience, especially for the chance to win a million dollars, but he really is making things harder on himself (if he truly wishes to become a classical musician).

Hi Guys,

I'm actually surprised Bui chose this piece. When I first tried to play this arrangement by Jack Fina, I thought it was a fun novelty piece. I've heard many renditions of this piece, with Liberace playing the most camp, and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOyWTlH6iQE

being the best performance. But you know what, when Bui kicked it up a notch in the third part and double timed it, I thought -- yeah, he made it work.

I was also very impressed that he played the boogie bass line in triplets against straight-eights on the right. That stuff is hard.