{"id":827,"date":"2017-09-12T16:55:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T20:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=827"},"modified":"2018-03-05T14:51:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T19:51:37","slug":"the-difference-between-quality-art-and-crap-take-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2017\/09\/the-difference-between-quality-art-and-crap-take-two.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap&#8221; Take Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-841\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Yuja-Wang-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2017\/09\/the-difference-between-quality-art-and-crap.html\">My exchange<\/a> with Vladimir Feltsman about \u201cquality art\u201d versus \u201ccrap\u201d was posted on youtube and elicited this response:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo oldies bemoaning that they have had their day and are confined to the dust bin of history. It is always the no talents that wave their own banner of knowledge as to what is true art.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Feltsman referenced a performance of Rachmaninoff&#8217;s transcription of &#8220;The Flight of the Bumblebee&#8221; with millions of hits on youtube.<\/p>\n<p>The Romantic piano transcription, as practiced by Rachmaninoff, is a refined art.<\/p>\n<p>Only a worldly performer can do full justice to these pieces. They make their greatest impression when the affect transcends showmanship. This actually requires a higher level of virtuosity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4ZDfhq0x-_4\">Here <\/a>\u00a0(click) is Yuja Wang performing Rachmaninoff\u2019s transcription of the Scherzo from Mendelssohn\u2019s <em>Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>. I am not condemning this highly accomplished rendition as &#8220;crap.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But compare it to\u00a0Benno Moiseiwitsch \u2013 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RWj7QR1XgCU\">performance<\/a>\u00a0(click) Rachmaninoff himself admired.<\/p>\n<p>Rachmaninoff considered Moiseiwitsch the supreme exponent of his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. To my ears, Moiseiwitsch&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j3FYazUPCIA\">1938 recording<\/a>\u00a0(click) is unsurpassed. Check out the eighteenth variation (the famous one) at 13:55. I would call that &#8220;quality art.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My exchange with Vladimir Feltsman about \u201cquality art\u201d versus \u201ccrap\u201d was posted on youtube and elicited this response: \u201cTwo oldies bemoaning that they have had their day and are confined to the dust bin of history. It is always the no talents that wave their own banner of knowledge as to what is true art.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-dl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":972,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}