Piano recitals are often intimate and emotionally resonant performances.
Some, however, seem designed to showcase a pianist’s technical virtuosity.
Where the French-South Korean Lydie Solomon focused on the former with her delightfully sensitive rendering of Chopin pieces at Al Manarat Saadiayat last October, Georgian Khatia Buniatishvili’s maiden Abu Dhabi visit to the venue on Wednesday resulted in a scenario that was firmly placed in the latter.
It was easy to see why she is one of the most talked-about artists in classical music circles, judging by her ruthless powerhouse of a performance.
The 27-year-old's programme was a full-throttle affair: any thought of the crowd easing into her repertoire was done away with the opening notes to Chopin's challenging Polonaise Héroïque Op.53.
There was a chilling efficiency to Buniatishvili, as she effortlessly tore through those fast arpeggios and summoned a dramatic and almost military-esque rhythm in the middle section.
By the end of the piece’s jubilant conclusion, Buniatishvili was nearly on her feet with the crowd exhaling in relief. Perhaps they too felt as if they underwent an audio-cardio session.
Buniatishvili took on a more relaxed approach with Chopin's shape-shifting piece Mazurka in A Minor, Op.17 No.4.
With the two Liszt pieces, Libestraum No.3 and Mephisto-Waltz No.1, the audience could tell Buniatishvili was at home. Those familiar with her performances would know that she uses her intimacy as a basis for reinterpretation.
The highlight was the former, where a heightened pace skirted the edge of cacophony, only to be clawed back to a hushed conclusion.
The second half of the program found Buniatishvili opening with a haunting take of the Georgian folk song Vaguiorko Ma (Don't You Love Me), where she summoned grand emotions with the increasing hammering of the Steinway piano.
After her most delicate showing in Debussy's dream-like Clair de Lune, Buniatishvili concluded the evening with more finger-fire in the form of Ravel's La Valse, which elicited a dazed standing performance by the sold out audience.
Abu Dhabi Classics continues on February 17 and 18 with a performance by the The Staatskapelle Dresden at Emirates Place and Al Ain’s Al Jahili Fort respectively.
For details go to www.abudhabievents.ae.
sasaeed@thenational.ae
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Persuasion
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
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Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
