+jerome taylor Bravo, bravo! " fantastic! " "fantastic!" Yuja! Yuja! : Sex in advertising From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Sex in advertising or "sex sells" is the use of sex appeal in advertising to help sell a particular product or service. Sexually appealing imagery may or may not pertain to the product or service in question. Examples of sexually appealing imagery include nudity, pin-up girls, and muscular men. The use of sex in advertising can be highly overt or extremely subtle. It ranges from relatively explicit displays of sexual acts, to the use of basic cosmetics to enhance attractive features." ALEXANDER BOOT Author, critic, polemicist Blogs > Alexander's blog > Sex sells - all of us short Submitted by Alexander on 24 June 2013 - 12:59pm The other day I listened to something or other on RU-vid, and a link to Chopin’s Fourth Ballade performed by the Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili came up. The link was accompanied by a close-up publicity photo of the musician: sloe bedroom eyes, sensual semi-open lips suggesting a delight that’s still illegal in Alabama, naked shoulders hinting at the similarly nude rest of her body regrettably out of shot… Let me see where my wife is… Good, she isn’t looking over my shoulder, so I can admit to you that the picture got me excited in ways one doesn’t normally associate with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade or for that matter any other classical composition this side of Wagner or perhaps Ravel’s Bolero. Searching for a more traditional musical rapture I clicked on the actual clip and alas found it anticlimactic, as it were. Khatia’s playing, though competent, is as undeniably so-what as her voluptuous figure undeniably isn’t. (Yes, I know the photograph I mentioned doesn’t show much of her figure apart from the luscious shoulders but, the prurient side of my nature piqued, I did a bit of a web crawl.) Just for the hell of it I looked at the publicity shots of other currently active female musicians, such as Yuja Wang, Joanna MacGregor, Nicola Bendetti, Alison Balsom (nicknamed ‘crumpet with a trumpet’, her promos more often suggest ‘a strumpet with a trumpet’ instead), Anne-Sophie Mutter and a few others. They didn’t disappoint the Peeping Tom lurking under my aging surface. Just about all the photographs showed the ladies in various stages of undress, in bed, lying in suggestive poses on top of the piano, playing in frocks (if any) open to the coccyx in the back and/or to the navel up front. This is one thing these musicians have in common. The other is that none of them is all that good at her day job and some, such as Wang, are truly awful. Yet this doesn’t really matter either to them or to the public or, most important, to those who form the public tastes by writing about music and musicians. Thus, for example, a tabloid pundit expressing his heartfelt regret that Nicola Benedetti “won’t be posing for the lads’ mags anytime soon. Pity, because she looks fit as a fiddle…” Geddit? She’s a violinist, which is to say fiddler - well, you do get it. “But Nicola doesn’t always take the bonniest photo,” continues the writer, “she’s beaky in pics sometimes, which is weird because in the flesh she’s an absolute knock-out. “The classical musician is wearing skinny jeans which show off her long legs. She’s also busty with a washboard flat tummy, tottering around 5ft 10in in her Dune platform wedges.” How well does she play the violin though? No one cares. Not even critics writing for our broadsheets, who don’t mind talking about musicians in terms normally reserved for pole dancers. Thus for instance runs a review of a piano recital at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one of London’s top concert venues: “She is the most photogenic of players: young, pretty, bare-footed; and, with her long dark hair and exquisite strapless dress of dazzling white, not only seemed to imply that sexuality itself can make you a profound musician, but was a perfect visual complement to the sleek monochrome of a concert grand... [but] there’s more to her than meets the eye.” The male reader is clearly expected to get a stiffie trying to imagine what that might be. To help his imagination along, the piece is accompanied by a photo of the young lady in question reclining on her instrument in a pre-coital position with an unmistakable ‘come and get it’ expression on her face. The ‘monochrome’ piano is actually bright-red, a colour usually found not in concert halls but in dens of iniquity. Nowhere does the review mention the fact obvious to anyone with any taste for musical performance: the girl is so bad that she should indeed be playing in a brothel, rather than on the concert platform. Can you, in the wildest flight of fancy, imagine a reviewer talking in such terms about sublime women artists of the past, such as Myra Hess, Maria Yudina, Maria Grinberg, Clara Haskil, Marcelle Meyer, Marguerite Long, Kathleen Ferrier? Can you see any of them allowing themselves to be photographed in the style of “lads’ mags”? I can’t, which raises the inevitable question: what exactly has changed in the last say 70 years? The short answer is, just about everything. Concert organisers and impresarios, who used to be in the business because they loved music first and wanted to make a living second, now care about nothing but money. Critics, who used to have discernment and taste, now have nothing but greed and lust for popularity. The public… well, don’t get me started on that. The circle is vicious: because tasteless ignoramuses use every available medium to build up musical nonentities, nonentities is all we get. And because the musical nonentities have no artistic qualities to write about, the writing nonentities have to concentrate on the more jutting attractions, using a vocabulary typically found in “lads’ mags”. The adage “sex sells” used to be applied first to B-movies, then to B-novels, and now to real music. From “sex sells” it’s but a short distance to “only sex sells”. This distance has already been travelled - and we are all being sold short.
Andre Maia A bless that means being born with prodigious talent, being born with strong and flexible tendons, ligaments and fingers, and... yes, then dedication.
I sit and stare at the notes of this piece on paper, it is like looking at insanity. Then I hear Ms. Wang play and feel inspiration once again. Piano is life, and Wang is her angel!
I've been waiting a long time to hear/see her play Prokofiev's toccata. She even brings out certain voices from the lower register that often escape me while listening to other recordings. Glad I'm living in a time to witness this remarkable musician!
She did this at Carnegie in Feb '20. When she finished the whole section let out a collective "Whoa". Just amazing. As Yuja would say, I need more of this nourishment.
At the end, "My fingers are killing me!" What an otherworldly talent. Also love her Berlin Philharmonic (encore) performance. Just astounding. Love Yuja.
Personally I loved her performance. Is a lot about getting different lines out of the music. Is very rarely that i have heard Prokofief being performed musically and without hitting the piano. Many would say that this is not the way Prokofiev is suppossed to be performed, but I think that we should be open to perform his music in other ways than "what he meant" because that makes us experience both the composer and the piece in another level.
Yuja never ceases to amaze me and having just discovered her few months ago, I can't get enough of her talent. She has me even loving Prokofiev who is not my favorite. She's amazing and I appreciate her enjoyment in and desire to just share her talent with public anyway she can.
Physical and fashion beauty aside, one can only marvel at the depth of her intellect and athleticism. Her performances, several of which I have witnessed, are equally demanding and significant in the hard work and depth of interpretation resulting.
One of the best solo piano videos I have seen- maybe the best considering the original concept of setting, and Yuja's superb playing - brilliant showcase of her major artistic flair and outstanding musicianship!
Indeed you have to get acquainted with Yuja's staccato approach, and from 1:40 till 2:00 she fumbles up a bit. I have repeated this interpretation several times and now I am convinced this is the best interpretation I ever heard, even better than of Argerich. I just listened to the interpretation of Prokofiev himself and on that terrible dual tone hard touch piano it sounded not well but you can still hear what he meant to play, and I think Yuja Wang has interpreted this piece exactly as Prokofiev meant it.
This piece is quite factory, machine like anyway, so having it played into the factory where they make the pianos is quite brilliant. As usual, Yuja plays like a champion.
+Michael Schefold also!!!! GIDON KREMER "Briefe an eine junge Pianistin", Braumüller (German, France). ..." ,,Wir leben in einer Welt des Glamours. Glamours verlangt, das alles sich ihm unterwirft. Er gibt die Normen vor. Was würdigt ist, im Rampenlicht zu stehen, auf wen die Strahlen des Ruhmes fallen, bestimmt er. Das Glamourgesetz verlangt vor allem BRILLANZ. Die Hauptfiguren des Spektakels, oder anders ausgedrückt: die Waren, die auf diesem Basar feilgeboten werden, sind verplichtet, auf Covers, Plakaten, Zeitschriften, in Talkshows, auf Präsentationen oder in Interviews zu glänzen. Der Glamour braucht das IMAGE des ERFOLGS, das lässt sich leichter verkaufen als das Image des Leidens. Und das Lächeln gehört dazu. Können Sie sich Bruckner mit Star-Lächeln vorstellen?...Glamour fabriziert Stars, er gibt die Parameter des Erfolges vor, Treulosigkeit verzeiht er nicht. Diese Starfabrik operiert mit allen Verkaufstechniken wie Bestsellerlisten, Preisen, Exklusivrechten, Werbung, von der Foto-Session,der Stilisierung a la irgendwas, bis hin zur Intensität des Make-ups. Das wurde von den Großmeistern der Kommerzwelt sorgfältig getestet, und sie setzen es mit holywoodschem oder bollywoodschem Elan in Szene. Was der Künstler und seine Firma ,,absetzen" wollen, muss unbedingt gut verpackt sein. Man muss wissen , wie man die ,,Ware" anbietet. ...Nackte Schulter- ab und zu sogar etwas mehr- junge Damen passen zu jedem Instrument. Ein Wolf oder ein Schwan verstärken die Wirkung. Hauptsache, etwas fällt auf! Geht es um die Musik? Die Interpretation? ich befürchte, beides ist eher nebensächlich. Wenn man meint, Beethoven nicht ,,a la Lang Lang" verkaufen zu können, so verkauft man eben, sieh Cover, Lang Lang ,,a la Beethoven". Nach Glamour besteht Nachfrage. Er dringt in alles ein. Auch in die Musik. Handel und Händler regieren die Welt nicht schlechter, vielleicht sogar besser als Politiker ..."
In a RU-vid interview, she said that, "In growing up, my father musician was always after me about (the importance of ) keeping (strict) time." It shows.
count one note is a day of her life practicing? how much hard work, love, passion, discipline, drive, depression, hope, faith had been put into this excellent performance that is behind scenes and no one knows! Great performance, God bless. "And love it also because you a Chinse girl. "
I hate the fact that some critics aren't yet able to look pass her heels, dresses, and race... hopefully she will release more studio works. Especially playing many Rachmaninoff... she plays his so beautifully.. viva Wang.
@@thibomeurkens2296 Ha, yeah, hi! This was actually the first performance of this piece I ever saw and that made me want to learn it, and in fact it was Yuja Wang's performance of Prokofiev's second piano concerto that made me realise I absolutely loved Prokofiev in general.
@@DodderingOldMan The second concerto is so good! (also really hard probably 😂). And you’re right Prokofiev is great. The first piece I knew of him is actually this toccata (it’s still my favorite!) but then I went down a whole Prokofiev rabbithole he has so much great stuff!!
@@DodderingOldMan okay I have a lot more spreekrecht for you now I’m trying the piece and there where the hands cross in the beginning is so hard I’m playing it really slowly and my brain still can’t handle it 😂
I like this toccata very much! I still remember I find the piece hard to understand before I studied composition and trained my ear around 5 years ago, but now it gives me goose bump.
It's amazing to compose with such dissonances while maintaining that unique, inimitable style and voice. Which is why Prokofiev's up there together with the other 20th century greats!
+slateflash either way, love this song, and if you've ever looked at the ink on this song (which I assume you have), one would realize that there is no better piece to say that there is more black on the page than white XD
Brilliant interpretation, by a greatest artist! I wonder how many (thousands of) parts this amazing musical instrument contains. Thanks to Steinway & Sons!!
I love Yuja because she isn't afraid to be herself and dress and act the way she wants. I'm worried about her performance as a musician and not her hemline, performance venue, etc. It isn't my or anyone's place to judge her as a person.
and how she can! listen and see her Scriabin playing. This is the most difficult pedal in all music. She does it perfectly - with sexy high heels! Wow!
Sebastian Berg "too light and lacks richness". I think that's characteristic of her playing. She plays with great agility and lightness, at least in my opinion.
I got the feeling that this particular performance sounded forced... as if the piano had not been broken in as of yet, or the cold air of the factory made it sluggish. Still , she plays this as well as anybody. Compare this performance with "Yuja Wang - Concerti GMI di Modena III bis."
Prokofiev himself made a recording of his toccata - he plays at a slower tempo with much less elan and drive than Yuja. it proves that the composer isn't always the best interpreter of his/her own music, even Ravel admitted this when playing his Gaspard in public...
He was good enough a pianist to envision what it would sound like in the hands of really great pianists. That, was his true legacy - the same could be said for great composers in general.
Those heels! Great performance, but I was so afraid the whole time that she'd finish the piece, take a bow and then start stepping on mice as an encore
She's so normal looking, but out of tens of millions of people, no one can play like that but her. She's sexy, but in an understated way, body-wise. She doesn't have more than is required to be sexy, but it's put together so well. Plus, she's a comedian. A star!
Oh snap. That Toccata is not actually that hard when it comes to getting the notes right but SUPER hard to make it sound that great. That’s why Yuja makes the mega millions.
Sometimes I wonder what the reason is for some to just dislike a video.. What really is the reason?; Is it the playing, is it not their kind of music, or is it the video editing, or they don’t like the person playing, or simply they don’t like the colour correction, or they don’t like the make of the piano, or they are just happier when negative about things, etc etc etc.. I just wonder at times.
For a brand-new Steinway, with new, fluffy, soft hammer-heads, it seems rather bright!! Or is it the way the music is written or the style of the piece,, or is it how she attacks the keys?
It's really what the fingers "remember".. She studied the piece with such intent, and made it her own, so she can just play it from the get-go without really having to muster much thought. It's like solving and equation, but you remember all the formulas and even made your own!
@@meggiel.512 Well, yes, but also no.. Her rendition is very accurate to the sheet music, but everyone has their own flair and style.. Compare this song to other artists, and you'll see they do little things to the music that make it their own.. That's what helps them to remember the piece because they remember what they actually do to express it One example is in an interview with horowitz, he was called upon to play a song he hadn't played in years.. He said he wasn't even sure if he remembered it, since he was also in his old age.. But as sat down to play, the music just flowed from him. He remembered the entire song, because he made it his through his unique rendition
@@Wosudhehqaxb9169Thanks a lot to share this advanced fact. So no particular way to improve the ability to remember a piano solo? Merry Christmas 🎄 and Happy Holidays! 🎉🎊🎈
@@meggiel.512 Different people have different techniques for memorization. Books have been written about it. Most of them by people who aren't really experts on psychology or neurology, so it's hard to get definitive answers on the subject. For me, memorization has many different facets: kinesthetic, visual, aural, and theoretical/analytical. Those facets have then have their own subfacets, e.g. visual can be thought of as having a visual memory of your hands playing the piece that you can recall or as having a visual memory of the score. Each of these different facets are important and need to be nurtured for me to be able to reliably play a piece well from memory. By the time you're ready to play a piece from memory, you usually have it planned out in your head where in the piece you should think about certain aspects of your memory you'll find most helpful. You create kind of a personal roadmap that keeps you on track and gives you chances to get back on if you get off.
I heard from the grapevine that Yuja Wang is leaving her Opus3 agent, Earl G.Blackburn, to join London-based Fidelio Artists as its first instrumentalist. Fidelio have young conductors of Gustavo Dudamel, Lionel Bringuier & Esa-Peka Salonen. These 3 are LA Phil's prominent conductors whom JW has recently worked with at the Hollywood Bowl. Remember YW's short orange/yellow dress that went viral? Guess who the conductor was? Right, the 27 year old Lionel. Gustavo & Yuja just released their Rach album. And, guess who the conductor was when Yuja first played Shostakovich at the Bowl? Right again. Esa-Peka. She dumping the old for the young? Watch out! Welcome to Hollywood, Yuja! Now, you'll get a better chance to produce DVDs instead of CDs. CD's are still good, but they are from the last century. The 21st demands DVDs. It is a visual century. And your fans who can't see you perform live, are craving to see you in a visual medium. They want to see your fingers fly over the keyboard. They want to see you singing and being playful while stroking the keys. They want to see, do I dare mention, your attire. You are a fashionista, and where can you better trot your sense of fashion than here in Hollywood. Go for it, girl!
