On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 12:39:46 AM UTC+2, Chris from Lafayette wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 19, 2021 at 1:24:08 PM UTC-7, Herman wrote:
>
> > During the entire show Gevorgyan only looked in the direction of the orchestra when she had a break from playing. Not sure if I read her face right, but she seemed genuinely moved by the tutti music, but somehow it never translated into her own music making which is pretty hard and brittle. Not really what one associates with Chopin. She's not a great communicator, yet.. I could help but notice she didn't really know what to do with the applause. She wanted to get off stage ASAP, rather than bask in the audience response and give them happiness and gratitude in return. All finalists I have seen were clearly overwhelmed at the end, but not shy about this very important aspect of being a music performer.
> >
> > She's only seventeen, younger than when Armellini competed for the first time. She's going to be a much better musician and performer in five years' time.
> While that's all true (well, I'm not sure about the landing gear part!), Eva's actions during the applause really shouldn't have any bearing on the jury's decisions about her playing itself.

Of course it shouldn't. Why I was saying this, is because it was about her somewhat incommunicative way of performing. She wasn't really playing 'in concert' with the orchestra; she was largely playing synchronous with the orchestra, thanks to the efforts of the conductor and the orch. leader. They weren't making music together. This why the final round takes the contestant out of playing alone.

Generally I get the impression the Chopin Competition is a rather pleasant environment, but the presence of rather intrusive cameras in the downstairs hall is a bit too much for some candidates, I think. It's where they spend the last minute or two before heading up the stairs to the big stage.

Last night the camera followed a rather overwhelmed and confused Gevorgyan down the stairs after her concert, and then caught her as she moved back up, to do what, we don't know. She had a question for the conductor. Perhaps she should have had a little more space in those moments.

On hearing the Chopin Second Concerto after so many years I was struck with the the sound of the orchestral writing, that typical early romantic era orchestra sound with lovely work for the horns and altos. Later these textures would be condemned as too thick, because fifty years later the orchestras had grown too big. Schumann would be writing these exact orchestral tutti ten years later.

On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 10:42:58 AM UTC+2, Herman wrote:
>
>
> On hearing the Chopin Second Concerto after so many years I was struck with the the sound of the orchestral writing, that typical early romantic era orchestra sound with lovely work for the horns and altos. Later these textures would be condemned as too thick, because fifty years later the orchestras had grown too big. Schumann would be writing these exact orchestral tutti ten years later.

For some reason the E minor sounds quite different.

On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 4:42:58 AM UTC-4, Herman wrote:
> Generally I get the impression the Chopin Competition is a rather pleasant environment, but the presence of rather intrusive cameras in the downstairs hall is a bit too much for some candidates, I think. It's where they spend the last minute or two before heading up the stairs to the big stage.
>
> Last night the camera followed a rather overwhelmed and confused Gevorgyan down the stairs after her concert, and then caught her as she moved back up, to do what, we don't know. She had a question for the conductor. Perhaps she should have had a little more space in those moments.
>
> On hearing the Chopin Second Concerto after so many years I was struck with the the sound of the orchestral writing, that typical early romantic era orchestra sound with lovely work for the horns and altos. Later these textures would be condemned as too thick, because fifty years later the orchestras had grown too big. Schumann would be writing these exact orchestral tutti ten years later.

It seems to me that the Chopin competition is a very classy event with beautiful sets behind the scenes, and a real sensitivity to how competitors are treated. I noticed how sensitive the ushers for the competitors are waiting to get their attention to direct them in a certain way without intruding on them.

My impression of Eva Gevorgyan’s exit after the concerto was that she didn’t want to appear to be immodest by gloating on the applause.. This could be something in her upbringing. Also quite a few Asian competitors seem to possess an innate humility.

There also may be elements that a contestant experiences behind the scenes that we don’t know about. This is just conjecture, but it occurred to me that if a contestant hears the same piece that they are going to play first played by someone who is perhaps more accomplished or is giving a more distilled interpretation it might freak them out a bit and caused them to lose confidence. I would think the wise thing to do would be not to listen to any of the contestants until the awards are handed out. Do they have that self-control, or is their curiosity too overwhelming?

On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 11:44:17 AM UTC+2, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> It seems to me that the Chopin competition is a very classy event with beautiful sets behind the scenes, and a real sensitivity to how competitors are treated. I noticed how sensitive the ushers for the competitors are waiting to get their attention to direct them in a certain way without intruding on them.

Agreed.
>
> My impression of Eva Gevorgyan’s exit after the concerto was that she didn’t want to appear to be immodest by gloating on the applause. This could be something in her upbringing. Also quite a few Asian competitors seem to possess an innate humility.
>
We don't know. I got the sense she was not happy, briefly, which to a degree is only natural. You can only do this once.
BTW it's not 'gloating on the applause'. It's facing the audience and sharing happiness and gratitude. It's part of being a performer.

Eva seems to me quite highly strung. Behind the flashing social smile I suspect she's more fragile than some might think. I'm just hazarding a guess here, of course, but that has been my impression. She also has to deal with some mixed messages over her good looks which can't be easy. And she's still young and probably under the influence of whatever teacher, manager, parent etc. to add to it all. Plus Russian piano teachers aren't the most relaxed of humans and can get quite possessive.

On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 3:01:53 AM UTC-7, Herman wrote:
> On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 11:44:17 AM UTC+2, JohnGavin wrote:

> > My impression of Eva Gevorgyan’s exit after the concerto was that she didn’t want to appear to be immodest by gloating on the applause. This could be something in her upbringing. Also quite a few Asian competitors seem to possess an innate humility.
> >
> We don't know. I got the sense she was not happy, briefly, which to a degree is only natural. You can only do this once.
> BTW it's not 'gloating on the applause'. It's facing the audience and sharing happiness and gratitude. It's part of being a performer.

Herman - you're too obsessed by this! ;-)