Andre Rieu and the triumph of vulgarity
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — André Rieu
ferment1 — 20 years ago(November 08, 2005 12:58 PM)
One of the burning questions of the day is this: is
"vulgarity" an effective or even appropriate response
to snobbery??
This question was uppermost in my mind as I
invested 20 minutes or so as a witness to Andre Rieu's
extraordinary spectacle on Sunday night (PBS around 8
I think)
He can't play the violin. No fault in that,
neither can I, at least not at the level I find
acceptable. This in itself does not make him less a
musician. Hamlet can't play the recorder either, but
is no less eloquent.
Skipping all the silly stuff that preceded it, one
can go directly to his "initation" of "little Akim"
into the world of classical music.
Akim is all of 2. He is probably Amronesian or a
child of immigrants from one of Holland's former
colonies. Rieu boasted that he'd "discovered" Akim at
a cocktail party, or some such. And he plays the
violin! A few notes at a time, without all that
"snobbish fluff" that mature violinists throw into
their playing.
Amidst thunderous applause Akim walks onto the stage
from the left. Rieu announces that his potty training
is almost complete (I kid you not). Akim is tiny,
brown as any child of the White Man's Burden, and
apparently happy to be receiving lots of attention. He
stumbles as he walks rapidly across the stage in his
custom-tailored tux, holding a violin that seems as
big as he is, in his left hand.
Rieu announces that Akim has a joke he wants to
show before beginning a concerto movement with
orchestral accompaniment. The boy picks up a plastic
bottle filled with water which he drinks. Then he
holds the bottle to his right ear, opens his
mouthand all the water comes pouring out again!!
Wild laughter and applause from the fat bourgeoisie
and other types in the crowd. Then little Akim does it
a second time! More delirious applause.
Now for the concerto. Its by someone with a name
like "Kubish", "Kubler" , "Kerfish", I forget. Anyway
it's a rather primitive student's concerto, all in the
first position, with long notes. The orchestration
gives it the allure of a serious concerto, dispelled
once the fiddle starts.
The orchestra begins. Poor little Akim enters in
about bar 6, weaving the bow across the strings in
some kind of approximate intonation, not at all bad
for a child of two.. From the moment he begins to
play, this charming audience bursts into wild,
uncontrolled, ridiculing laughter, that completely
drowns out Akim's playing. Although the camera
frequently scans the audience, few if any seem to be
taking account og the tears dropping from Akim's
eyes, nor the effort he's making to keep going.
At this point I couldn't stand it anymore. I
switched off the TV and put a pan holding a pair of
trout into the oven for dinner,
Okay, so I'm one of those longhair "snobs" this
kind of exhibition is supposed to be attacking, in the
name of art for the people. Us folk with self-styled
superior taste will never get the message, thank the
many gods. -
rustique — 19 years ago(January 01, 2007 03:26 PM)
i am not a music snob nor have i received any training in any way but have a passion for opera and have thus heard a little bit more than the standard amateur. and even i can see or rather hear that he's way overrated. it's obvious his success has a lot to do with looks that work well with a sitting in the couch easy listening audience. part of the reason for his success is that he is from the netherlands. no offence but the dutch are known for having a healthy (sometimes too healthy) dose of selfconfidence. he is just really good at marketing. he noticed people love walses and thus started an orchestra (read: business) to promote or rather cash in on it.
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hscope — 19 years ago(March 23, 2007 10:48 PM)
What a shame you don't get what this guy is all about.
Music is entertainment and Rieu and his orchestra put on a show. Nothing more, nothing less. Must be very annoying for you that audiences enjoy the performance. -
rustique — 19 years ago(April 02, 2007 10:07 AM)
other's people joy does not annoy me. i am old enough to just switch the channel and watch someting i enjoy instead of being bitchy about it. i just said he is overrated namely that people think that he is the greatest musician when all he is is entertainment, just like you said.
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bananacharlie — 17 years ago(September 24, 2008 01:00 AM)
"It's not Andre Rieu's fault that the people don't realize that Akim is 2."
No, but it's his fault that he himself is exploiting a poor underprivileged child for the sake of this so called "entertainment". He doesn't give a crap about this child, that's why he brings him onstage to be laughed at rather than honestly aiding his musical career or life otherwise.
NOTE WELL RIEU FANS: What he plays is not good. You may well think that because you have little access to other classical music. Here are some of my favourite classical recordings. Please listen to them. If you still think Andre Rieu is amazing after these then please continue to listen to him.
-The works of Pavarotti, especially Nessun Dorma and the main song from Pagliacci
-Meditation from Thais by Itzhak Perlman written by Massenet
-Adiago for Strings by Kings College Choir written by Samuel Barber
-Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy
-Sleep by Eric Whitacre
-Piano concerto in B flat minor by Tchaikovsky
-Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss
ALL OF THESE CAN BE FOUND ON LIMEWIRE - DOWNLOAD THEM! -
Lechaise — 16 years ago(January 31, 2010 07:48 AM)
I wouldn't doubt his talent at all, and the music he and his orchestra play (if i was only listening to it, rather than "watching" it) is great.
However, the dancers that accompany him, well, I don't know how they manage it but they come across as pretentious, everything that is done just annoys me. There seems to be a particular type of upper class close minded twits in Germanic europe (i.e. switzerland, the netherlands, denmark, germany etc) where they are far too smug and snobbish for their own good. I don't for a minute think they'd stop to p1s5 on me if i was on fire and would be the first to tell Jesus to get a haircut and a proper job were he to come back today, if they'd talk to him at all.
I sit and wait with increasing impatience for this over rated fop to drown in either his own smugness and delusion of uniqueness or, more likely, the various liquids he drowns his hair in every time he's about to go on stage. Bleugh!
️ Christina 1986-05-20 
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