Lola Astanova

Norman Lebrecht, continuing his commentary on critics, posts on this concert review by Zachary Woolfe in the NYT. Some context: Lola Astanova is an accomplished pianist who manages to overshadow the music she plays with her stage presence which projects "extreme physical abandon" and, on this occasion, "$850,000 in jewels borrowed from Tiffany". Both quotes from the NYT review. This is a trend, of course. Many of the younger pianists on the scene, especially young women, are emphasizing their physicality. My go-to post on this phenomenon is here -- what I call "classical music with a pop sensibility" because pop music has been going in this direction for decades. Here is Lola Astanova in performance:

I think I see what Zachary Woolfe meant by the gestures. At the end she looked as if she was about to jump up and run a marathon, or star in an action film. I don't think Liszt, a spectacular performer himself, would have minded this. How about another composer? Rachmaninoff:

I also think I see what Woolfe means by a "faceless" quality: this is technically very accomplished, but it doesn't seem to have a lot of musical interest. Again, very physical--faceless, but not legless! Let's hear something else. Beethoven:

Somehow that manages to be technically sound but murky and clunky all at the same time. This is more like what it should sound like:

I looked to see if Lola Astanova had any Bach up on YouTube, but I was somewhat relieved not to find any. As fashion model pianists go, she is pretty good, but not terribly interesting musically. I revert to the question I raised in my early post about this: where are the really great musicians who don't project such a flamboyant, sexy image? Honestly, I would rather hear them. Isn't this more about hearing the music than imagining dating the performer?