Lisa Batiashvili

February 13, 2009 at 04:22 AM ·

Greetings,

I think there are two reasons she is perhaps not so well known.  The frst is that she didn`t grow up in your neck of the woods and second her name is bloody difficult to spell. But rest assured she well known and greatly appreciated in Europe.  Her klive recording of the Sibelius is worth buying.

Cheers,

Buri

February 13, 2009 at 08:27 AM ·

She has a beautiful tone...

I wish the documentary has English subtitles.

One should check out the her performance with cellist Truls Mork of Brahms' Double Concerto in youtube. It's a performance with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

February 13, 2009 at 05:06 PM ·

Oh yes. I've seen the double conceto.

That was how I first discovered her a few years ago :) The performance was on OvationTv and was really what I needed on a day that I was sad and sick. A great performance. And Buri, yes.. that name is very difficult lol.

February 13, 2009 at 05:07 PM ·

P.S., I'll go look for the double concerto peformance on youtube.

February 13, 2009 at 07:18 PM ·

Okay, here it is! Quite a fantastic performance!

The Brahms Double Concerto

February 13, 2009 at 09:19 PM ·

Interesting I will look at this immidiately! Meanwhile for videos I happened to find on youtube is

Artist of people (a great documentary that I would recommand to all the Oistrakh fans or those who want to know more)

There is one when you enter Menuhin in youtube named something like "the century" very interesting.  You also discover his talent in yoga if I remember well.  (he's a born entertainer!)

I will give better links soon, you probably already know about these on youtube!

Thanks for the links,

Anne-Marie

February 13, 2009 at 09:24 PM ·

Buri just a short comment to tell that I really think that we go naturally towards those who have a nice name to pronounce, a name that sounds winner and that one can easily remember when talking with other musicians about this violinist x! It is not intentional, I think we are not even conscient we actually do this! Poor those who have a family mane with 22 letters!

Anne-Marie

February 13, 2009 at 09:45 PM ·

She plays amazingly well in tune - even in the Sibelius :-0  I wonder if a DG would suit her better than a Strad, though?

February 13, 2009 at 10:18 PM ·

Lol, Anne-Marie, I sepnt like five minutes trying to get her name down and to me, it's "bot-ee-ash veelee"... That's at least what comes out when I say the name. And I will check out the first documentary you listed. Thanks :)

February 14, 2009 at 12:45 AM ·

What a player! Who said that the best artists were often those who were just a little less knowed? He or she is certainly right!  She is with no doubt amongst the very rare who are able to play with this "quality" of sound. At first, I saw that she had this "moving all over the place" style.  My greatest idols are all the oposite: just move the bow arm and stay still while playing.  But she is an exception to this and her sound remains beautiful and, very rare thing today, very relaxed. I feel energy but no tension in her playing! Thanks Paul! I didn't even know this player before!

Anne-Marie

February 14, 2009 at 02:39 AM ·

I wish I knew what they were saying.

But this makes you realize is truly a universal language.

February 14, 2009 at 02:35 PM ·

Most of it is just the sort of commercial abstract stuff that they need to be able to produce for the cameras.  What Ashkenasi says about her and her observations about moving to Hamburg and the difficulties of settling in are the most pertinent comments I found.

I love the Britten recording - this must be such high pressure work, for real pros only.  Lawrence Power seems to be playing with all the best fiddle players these days.

And the chamber festival is just one total Kussfest, everyone seems to be getting in on it, most noticeably Guy Braunstein, as the Berlin Phil observes later.  I think Lisa must be wearing some expensive rings or something? ;-)