A Poem for Lola.
Lola Astanova
If you haven't heard of her, or if you haven't heard her playing the piano, you are missing a beautiful experience. If you'd like to read more about her, you can follow this link.
http://www.lolaastanova.com/bio.cfm
If you'd like a sample of her talent, you can follow this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryeaXZAwC3M&NR=1
If you'd like a sample of her amazing versatility, you must follow this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqorloj2YZY&feature=related
This hub, however, is merely an appreciation from one of her new fans.
Talent and Beauty
I Can't Help it. I fall in love with Talent
It was when I was searching YouTube for a specific piece of music that I first met Lola Astanova. The Russian born pianist had hitherto been unknown to me, but in the moment that I first saw her and heard her playing Rachmaninoff's Sonata No.2. I fell head over heels in love with her. The fact that she is also stunningly beautiful is but a bonus, for in truth, I have a tendency to fall in love with talent.
I spent an entire afternoon watching the video clips of her and marvelling at the emotion that emanated from her playing, the sensitivity, the caressing of the keyboards. Performance is never just about the music, it's about the emotional journey that is undertaken by the performer, the expression that shapes a page of music into a flowing, intoxicating river of sound, and it's about the journey upon which the performer takes the listener. When the musician and the listener are on the same wavelength, the effect is overwhelming, and both can become lost in the music.
One need only watch the attached videos to see how completely Lola becomes absorbed by the music she is playing, and her passion cannot fail to draw one into the mood and atmosphere of each piece.
That she is a sincere artiste is well established by the message that she has attached to the video below, emphasising the need for art and music in every culture and climate, and encouraging us all to recognise the importance of supporting artistic ventures within our communities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n4sP8r0ZUk&feature=fvwrel
I find her intoxicating, beautiful, inspirational and supremely talented. So much so, that she inspired this little verse. (I only wish my poetry was as beautiful as her musicianship!)
Caressing the keys
Music to listen to while you read
Playing for me....
Delicate fingers on ivory keys,
Music that stirs the soul within me….
Melodies floating on the breeze,
Touching my heart, certain to win me….
Upright, she sits, captured in moonlight,
Tresses as black as the ebony keys,
Eyes so alive to the music she’s playing,
Lost in the melody, rhapsodic ease.
Every crescendo raises me higher,
Gliding on waves of emotional bliss,
Watching her fingers teasing the keyboard,
Touching, as light as a delicate kiss!
Closing my eyes, her music invades me,
Opens my senses, setting me free.
Lost in a sensual musical fantasy,
Dreaming her music is only for me!
Ah well..... it's fun to fantasize now and again!
