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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Uncontrolable!
Comment: Another highly publicized young lady from the Martha Argerich stable, the Gilmore this, the first prize of that... and yes I shall review a recital since in the end, the canned product is just a snapshot of the live person's art.
Miss Fliter just finished her recital in Vancouver. Her encore, Chopin's minute waltz summed up her recital: vulgar, lacking intelligence and poetry, muscled up.
Ignorance about classical articulation rules and pulsation made her Haydn sound rowdy lisztian. Her Schubert impromtu was a tacky student level attempt and her Beethoven was clueless -the slow movement was particularly revealing of her emptyness-: we are far, light years away from Anderszewski's refined taste.
Then after a change of instrument (the VRS Hamburg Steinway -which full stick was placed in the half stick spot to boot- was wheeled of stage at intermission in favor of the better house NY Steinway) Chopin, the revelator. The Nocturne was not the one announced on programme: barely played, already forgotten.
Her account of the Third Sonata was messy, fractured (spontaneous and messy are different things!), without a hint of thinking, of architecture, one idea interrupted another. Despite good mechanical abilities, her pianism is unrefined. Also she presses too much on the keys affecting the variety of sounds she can produce. Constantly pulling and pushing tempi, the slowest moment occurred in fact during the scherzo, a typical misreading of the score, of the composer's intent... No surprise that after this wild rubato she lost the text more than once. The largo was a deadly wandering to nowhere and the messy pedalling did not help the finale. Enough said. No standing ovation except from some groupies...
Now someone is selling this act for what it's not and others are buying it regardless of what it is so the paying crowd is made to believe they're making history by attending these concerts: "if there was a case for live performance, she is it!" we are told... In the programme notes the artist's philosophy -yes philosophy!- is offered: "...the message is bigger than me", meanwhile her demeanor (one done, two to go attitude) and the result of her "laundry washing" is proving the opposite.
Artist management and those who blindly buy their products are simply hurting what they pretend to defend: artists and music. Once the grey hair crowd will eat dandelions by the roots, this mentality "The good concert is the one that sells" will come painfully clear to all. Shame!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Muscular, willful pianism from a big prize-winner
Comment: Since the Gilmore Prize carries a cash award of $300,000, Ingrid Fliter finds herself instantly thrust into the bi leagues, joining previous winners Piotr Anderszewski, an undeniably inspired pianist, and Leif Ove Andsnes, who has an even bigger career, although not one that has brought me much insight or excitement. With her fame being so sudden, one can't predict how Fliter will turn out. On the evidence of this CD, she seems to be a powerhouse like Helene Grimaud, Noriko Ogawa, Olga Kern, and the firebrand who started it all, Martha Argerich (like Fliter a native of Argentina).
The prevailing style among these artists is the opposite of the lady pianist--they go for crash-and-bang attacks, willful rubato that pulls the melodic line around drastically, and attention-grabbing volatility. I won't review this CD in detail, because where others are excited by this kind of reckless, unpredictable playing, I find myself repelled. Barnstorming pianism has a venerable tradition, and we all pick and choose among the daredevils. Horowitz could be just as ugly in his interpretations as Argerich and was even more lionized. Clearly Fliter wants to make the same impression. Her Beethoven and Chopin are miles away form natural musicality, they are seized by the throat and controlled every second.
Enough--Fliter has a better chance at stardom than most, and if I hear a future CD that shows real poetry and insight, I will happily join her cheerleaders.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ingrid Fliter and Beethoven
Comment: Once a promising artist's name gains talk then all available recordings are rapidly searched. For those who have yet to hear this amazingly gifted young Argentinean pianist, there are two recordings available at present, both taken from live performances at Amsterdam's acoustically perfect Concertgebouw. Playing such as this is a rare find and when a recording is taken as successfully from a live performance as is this one, the added dimension of drama that happens between an artist and audience rounds out the experience for those unfamiliar with that artist's gifts.
And gifted Ingrid Fliter is. This CD offers a recital recorded on February 14, 2005 and includes Beethoven: Sonatas No. 7 in D Major and No.18 in E-Flat Major. Chopin: 6 Waltzes: Op.42, No.1; Op. 64, No.2; Op.64, No.3; Op.34, No.1; Op.34, No.3; Op.42 "Grande Valse", and the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op.22. Fliter's Chopin may be more resonant with many, but it is her Beethoven that demands more from the artist, tracing the lines of the sonata through the movements does offer a better sense of how the artist conceives an entire long work. At all times she is in full command of the pieces, and she gives the feeling as though she were pulling forth the works from the piano for the first time. Her phrasing is impeccable, her timing is pure, and her technique is immaculate. But more important, Fliter plays from the heart as well as the mind. This manner of music making is rare and welcome. Ingrid Fliter will be around for a long time!
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