French-Georgian pianist Katya Bonatishvili played a dissonant program at the Konzerthaus.
Will be Franz Liszt Had it not been for the more than 400 works by other composers arranged and played across Europe, the citizens of every small town would not have heard Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique”. Did Khatya Bonatechvili think that people in Vienna were still living before registration? Her show seemed as if she wanted to introduce people without CDs and the Internet to the greatest classics. Was that an endless loop of iterations? One of those YouTube playlists that stressed-out Millennials listen to while studying? The twelve syllables I played without interruption to enter the whole hall are so familiar that they are almost forbidden in piano salons: A Gymnopédie by Satie, Chopin E Minor Prelude, Bach Air, Schubert “Serenade” in one of the aforementioned Liszt arrangements, as well as a second Hungarian Rhapsody, which Liszt barred his students because he suspected her colossal success.
One could hardly expect that all famous pianists would be as perfect in updating their repertoire as Igor Levitt. But if Bonatechvili has played pieces spanning nearly 200 years, couldn’t she program at least one contemporary piece? Or something a little out of the way?
“Travel aficionado. Certified problem solver. Pop culture guru. Typical writer. Entrepreneur. Coffee trailblazer.”
More Stories
To the mountains in the early dew – fm4.ORF.at
Leopoldstadt: At night with our boys' choir
Humorous home cooking as a great show