A Mongolian Pianist? Not Yet.

Goethe Instit. Bangkok, Thailand. September 20, 2010. The only two things I know about Mongolia are that it has lots of camels (this from the wonderful Mongolian film “ The Story of the Weeping Camel”) and its pristine environment is being destroyed by China’s insatiable hunger for copper, iron ore, gold and coal. But, does it have any pianists? Judging by last night’s performance by Mongolian pianist Tsengelmaa Lkhagvasuren, the answer is “no.” After suffering through a cartoon of Bach’s English Suite No. 6 and Mozart’s Sonata No. 18, Lkhagvasuren totally fell apart performing Chopin fantaisie, which was unrecognizable. I was cheering for her to simply get through it (she had had to start twice, apologizing after the first false start), but when it concluded, I left, reducing the audience to 19. Poor thing had to be suffering more than I. Some pianists should not be playing solo recital programs before the general public. It’s as simple as that.

There is a tiny audience for classical solo recitals in Bangkok and I attend all of them in order to support the effort of the dedicated people who sponsor them. Most of the time, I’m pleasantly surprised by very excellent and enjoyable performances by artists unknown to me. There are a few exceptions, Lkhagvasuren being one of them, but as the Thai’s famously say “Mai ben rai” (It doesn’t matter; it’s okay.)