This post is about Val....now we are taking about rendezvous-ing with a pianist in the woods. Oh wow, this site is something!!

And here's the pic that goes with the quote.

http://mmedesaintange.deviantart.com/ar ... K-16041177

I didn't draw this picture... some random guy on Deviant Art did... I was just browsing around and I found it...

AND...

To bring up the naked banana again...

There. I just did.

Cilantro is disgusting. I washed my car yesterday. Sometimes, it rains when the sun is shining. How now, brown cow? Silk comes from a worm's behind. Just 353 shopping days till Christmas! Bananas are a high glycemic-index food. Honey is concentrated bee vomit. Pigs are usually smarter than dogs.
You will go on a diet and end up gaining weight. Stop, think, Tylenol. Have you driven a Ford, lately? VHS is obsolete. Two and two are four. Sorry, but our princess is in another castle! Two wrongs don't make a right, three lefts do. No I'm doesn't. "You had it set to M for mini, when you should've had it set to W for wumbo." I'm a very good driver. Ken Jennings is Mormon. Hydrophilic contact lenses usually are well tolerated. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery or perform other dangerous tasks, until you know how you'll react to Ambien-CR. The wealthiest man in the world is Bill Gates. All the gold ever mined would fit into a cube 50 feet on each side. Diamonds are a girl's best friend. The end is near. All's well that ends well.

Oh my, did I digress? oops.

I think you guys are going nuts! Too much sugar?

I beg to differ! VHS is not dead! It survives in my household!

Here too! Long live abject poverty!



What???!!! Cilantro is yummy! What is wrong with you?



Really?? Cool stat.



Yes, indeed. This post is over.

Here's why I don't like cilantro:

Being a runner in the deep south, I've ingested more than my fair share of stinkbugs. To me, cilantro is reminiscent. Under ripe persimmons are about as good.

No........more..........politics. I swear, if I hear the results one more poll (blech!)

ANYWAY...

Valentina Lisitsa is truly one of those giants, IMO. History will prove her right, I think. Every time I see her, I literally gasp.

If I were a woman I would totally dissappear in the woods for a little while with Rachmaninoff...

Just thought I'd bring this thread slightly back on topic... but still rather... off.

I would run off with Val.....we're getting closer to the topic

Back on topic

You are absolutely right. I heard her last year with Hilary Hahn, and was astonished. My reactions to that concert are posted somewhere else in this forum. The best younger pianist I've heard in years. She was such a hit, they're bringing her back with her husband Alexi Kuznetsoff; check out this program, which I have the honor of giving the pre-concert lecture for!



VALENTINA LISITSA
ALEXI KUZNETSOFF

Petite Suite Claude Debussy
Fantasy in F Minor Robert Schubert
Two Hungarian Dances Johannes Brahms
INTERMISSION
Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 Johannes Brahms
Sonata in B-flat Major, Op 106 "Hammerklavier" Ludwig van Beethoven


Robert Schubert, we don't have a composer page for him yet; he must be important....


BTW what's with you people? This forum has become quite horny....

Darn it all to heck!!! There goes my three year plan ... *sigh* .... now, who'm I gonna stalk and then blackmail into marriage????? Mon, it looks like you and me are back on!



I'm reminded of a Scripture: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." 1 Cor 15:33

forum? pshh, look at how sexualized the world has become, unless, that is, you live in Saudi Arabia.

To go back on topic for a moment - I saw Valentina perform at the Bosendorfer salon in New York last fall. I guess she's been touring with the same program for a while. She played:
3 or 4 Rachmaninoff Etudes and Preludes (including THE etude)
Beethoven Appassionata
Rossini-Thalberg Fantasy
Liszt Totentanz

To be honest, it wasn't that good. The Rachmaninoff pieces were well played but nothing exceptional (and she played the A minor Etude way more safely than in her crazy Youtube video). The Beethoven was filled with wrong notes and fragmentary playing. The Thalberg had moments of impressive virtuosity, but I could tell she was still playing it safe in a lot of places, at the expense of the structure of the piece. Likewise with the Liszt, plus numerous missed notes. The Liszt was still impressive, because it's a crazy piece, but still, I wasn't satisfied with it. I talked with her after the performance, and she said it was very challenging playing on the piano, because it was a concert-size Bosendorfer (without the extra keys) and was thus very loud, in a salon of about 40 people. It seemed like these pieces were all new to her, and maybe she hadn't REALLY learned them fully by the time she performed at the Bosendorfer salon. With such a small venue I can see how you wouldn't take it as seriously as Carnegie Hall.

I still put her on my extended list of favorite pianists on the merits of her performance of Rachmaninoff Op. 39 No. 6, which I consider the best performance of the piece I've ever heard (better than the composer himself), but I think Valentina still may need a little more seasoning before she reaches her true potential.

And isn't it wonderful?