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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/a...ect-with-marina-abramovic.html?ref=music

I actually have no idea if i would enjoy something like this.

This just sounds silly and pretentious.

It's *probably* silly and pretentious, but maybe not. The idea of the piano slowly rotating, and completing one rotation over the course of the whole piece, sounds promising. I like how a listener can chart his progress through the work by observing the angle of the piano. I also like how if you start with a really good view of the pianist, he'll be the most hidden from you right at variation 15, which sounds right for variation 15.

I have no general faith in this kind of thing though. And the first 30 minutes sounds silly.

-J

His new recording of the Goldbergs (which also includes Beethoven's Diabelli and Rzewski's "The People United Will Never be Defeated", a 3-CD set) is anything but "silly and pretentious."

Of course not, but the performance described in the article, with its visual theatrics, may be.

Oh wow. I'm glad I read the article. If I hadn't, I doubt I would have heard that Rzewski played People United in a Pittsburgh fish market not that long ago. That is awesome. It is a dream of mine to one day see People United performed live by just about anybody, let alone Rzewski himself!

As for Levit, I really want to hear his CD. The Goldbergs performance sounds intriguing, and I'd probably go out of curiosity. It would certainly be a different sort of concert experience.

'Anything but' indeed. The CD set was the Recording of the Month in the latest issue of Gramophone.

I have to agree, at least about the silent 30 minutes. At a regular piano recital, if the pianist spends more than 30 seconds preparing to play, I get anxious. Extend this to 30 minutes, and I'd be jumping out of my skin.

The audience for this sort of thing should self-select fairly easily, culling out those who don't want this sort of experience.

I was reminded of some of Busoni's thoughts about classical music performance - if alive, he probably would rejoice that such a thing took place, even if some of the specifics might not be to his taste.

Another earlier article about this project which spells out some more details about the performance. The audience must surrender the cell phones etc. before the concert and then sit in silence for 30 minutes while wearing noise cancelling earphones!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/a...nd-igor-levit-variation-on-goldberg.html

What nonsense.

Who would have guessed there's a way to present the Goldbergs and there's a way not present them?

http://www.theguardian.com/artandde...ovic-igor-levit-bach-goldberg-variations

I mean, if you go by the simple story which may not be a true story the GBV's are for a two-manual harpsichord AND they're intended as a cure for insomnia.

This sounds great! I love the cell-phone ban. I think removing outside distractions and having a purely art-based experience would be interesting. Also, the frame of 30 mins of silence would, I think, help the music acquire a more mysterious allure.

It's disappointing to see that anything that is different from the status quo of Classical Music Concert gets shot down and made fun of here.

It is deeply saddening when people feel the need to add very cheap gimmicks to a great work of art that will only demean it. That includes the political spew the pianist seems to feel is essential to his "work".

Well, it is by a "performance artist."

+1

I cringe when reading "Bach" and "Marina Abramovic" in the same sentence.

I'll see myself out now.