Pat Kop on Midweek (Radio 4)

[Bryn]

Worth catching on the iPlayer. She is featured mostly towards the end of the programme.

[Serial_Apologist]

Worth catching on the iPlayer. She is featured mostly towards the end of the programme.

Yes - what a change from the usual . I actually stayed tuned!

[Barbirollians]

Did Libby put our IGI's review of her Tchaikovsky disc to her ????

[Serial_Apologist]

Did Libby put our IGI's review of her Tchaikovsky disc to her ????

Lemn Sissay was presenting this week - what a breath of fresh air!

[David-G]

She (Pat that is) is playing Schumann with the OAE at the RFH on Saturday (and at the Anvil tomorrow Thursday).

[jayne lee wilson]

Did Libby put our IGI's review of her Tchaikovsky disc to her ????

But what could she say? "Yes, so what" [shrug] perhaps?
Mark was very fair in his summing-up: "In short, this amounts to a total rethinking of Tchaikovsky's Concerto and you may well find it more to your taste than mine" - which, as I've said on the Listening thread, I ABSOLUTELY do!

I do think he missed the point though, about "marrying" Les Noces and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto; as he says, Le Sacre would have made a "more sensible coupling" - yes, of course - but would have taught no-one anything, least of all the primal Russian-ness, the folkloric passion, of the Concerto itself. Which the marriage a la villageoise throws into vivid relief. Mark mentions briefly, that Kopatchinskaya, in the notes, tells of her "route into an understanding", via Schumann, Berg, Webern of a concerto which she felt unable to relate to "traditionally", coming from - Ligeti, Ustvolskaya, Eotvos, Tigran Mansurian etc....

here's my earlier comment -

Given that this radical approach to an overfamiliar overplayed virtuoso-vehicle is never going to be a frequent occurrence (and would only be meaningful, of course, if different every time...), it's vital because of its refreshed perception: the performer-identification with the intensities and expressive extremes, so easily lost through repetition, of the piece itself. Which you may or may not choose to relate to the life-experience of Tchaikovsky himself....

[Barbirollians]

But what could she say? "Yes, so what" [shrug] perhaps?
Mark was very fair in his summing-up: "In short, this amounts to a total rethinking of Tchaikovsky's Concerto and you may well find it more to your taste than mine" - which, as I've said on the Listening thread, I ABSOLUTELY do!

I do think he missed the point though, about "marrying" Les Noces and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto; as he says, Le Sacre would have made a "more sensible coupling" - yes, of course - but would have taught no-one anything, least of all the primal Russian-ness, the folkloric passion, of the Concerto itself. Which the marriage a la villageoise throws into vivid relief. Mark mentions briefly, that Kopatchinskaya, in the notes, tells of her "route into an understanding", via Schumann, Berg, Webern of a concerto which she felt unable to relate to "traditionally", coming from - Ligeti, Ustvolskaya, Eotvos, Tigran Mansurian etc....

here's my earlier comment -

Given that this radical approach to an overfamiliar overplayed virtuoso-vehicle is never going to be a frequent occurrence (and would only be meaningful, of course, if different every time...), it's vital because of its refreshed perception: the performer-identification with the intensities and expressive extremes, so easily lost through repetition, of the piece itself. Which you may or may not choose to relate to the life-experience of Tchaikovsky himself....

I have heard it and I think IGI and Stephen Pritchard in the Guardian are spot on . It is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto turned into a gypsy fiddling fantasia . It is to my ears self- indulgent and she plays it as if she does not like the work but likes her rewritten version of it .

Some of her performances remind me of Pogorelich's piano recordings - amazing technical ability but the music pulled completely out of shape .It is interesting that she did not appear to feel the need to do anything like the same to Bartok 2 as she has done to both the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven concertos .

[Bryn]

The latest issue of the BBC Music Magazine dropped through the letter box this morning. Guess which disc is featured as "Recording of the Month"? As Erik Levi wryly observes "Traditionalists will no doubt be outraged at what seems on paper to be a deliberately willful, perverse and mannered approach to an old favourite." Like Levi and jlw, I am completely won over by this superb presentation of Tchaikovsky's 'ear stink'.

[gurnemanz]

We went to her Schumann Violin Concerto with Marin Alsop at RFH last night. This was my first encounter with her and I think I was won over. I can imagine some might have been irritated by her fervent nodding along with the quite long orchestral intro. It certainly came across as a really committed, heart and soul performance. I found the start of the slow movement immensely moving. I don't think I have ever heard a violin sound more pianissimo than that which she offered us for the poignant "dictated by angels" theme. Radio Three were there and the concert can be heard on Monday. We also got a couple of quirky Kurtag encores.

I note there is a CD coming out

[teamsaint]

We went to her Schumann Violin Concerto with Marin Alsop at RFH last night. This was my first encounter with her and I think I was won over. I can imagine some might have been irritated by her fervent nodding along with the quite long orchestral intro. It certainly came across as a really committed, heart and soul performance. I found the start of the slow movement immensely moving. I don't think I have ever heard a violin sound more pianissimo than that which she offered us for the poignant "dictated by angels" theme. Radio Three were there and the concert can be heard on Monday. We also got a couple of quirky Kurtag encores.

I note there is a CD coming out

if you pop over to the " What was your last concert" thread, Gurney, seems people might be interested in what she was wearing last night.

[Barbirollians]

I have listened to her Schumann violin concerto on iplayer and was a touch exasperated by her as ever . I thought both the first movement and in particular the often difficult finale were terrific but I felt she again overdid the slow movement . It did not ,however, detract from the performance as a whole which was much the most interesting I have heard outside the Menuhin/ Barbirolli and Kramer/muti recordings .

[DublinJimbo]

I stick to my guns. She's all about look-at-me and aren't-I-amazing, with the music treated as a vehicle as a stepping stone towards increasing her career profile. She's like Gergiev at his worst, as far as I'm concerned.