“I’m sorry that criticism has lost some of its prestige these days, although I sometimes find the ingenuity of some anonymous comments on the internet amusing,” the American actor said.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever learned anything from a bad review. What helps me is doing my job well. If I had listened to the opinion of the critics when after university I started a theater troupe in Chicago, I probably would have given up” said, among other things yesterday (4/10), the American actor, John Malkovichwho is in our country for the show “The Music Critic” which will be presented on Thursday (6/10) at Herodeion and on Saturday (8/10) at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall. The famous actor spoke about art, his personal relationship with criticism, while he also spoke about the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Conceived and created by violinist, composer, producer and actor, Alexei Igudesman, The Music Critic is a sardonic mix of the worst yet most unexpected music reviews written over the centuries for some of the greatest classical composers of all time. seasons. John Malkovich stars as the evil critic who thinks the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and so many others is just boring and boring.
The creator of the work, Alexei Igudesman, said at the press conference held yesterday on the occasion of the performance, that every sentence of his work is taken from real reviews that have been formulated in exactly the same way. Speaking about the show, the American actor said that “it’s for everyone. For the less informed audience but also for those who love music”. At the same time, according to him, it turns a blind eye to those involved in the field of creation, as even they should know that what they will present to the public may not like it. “‘The Music Critic’ reminds us that an idea that enters the public sphere may not be immediately loved.”
To the question of whether in modern times criticism can affect people to the extent that it affected people in the past, as today everyone can express an opinion by writing an informal criticism on social networks, he answered that “in essence this “democratization” of criticism, is something that has weakened its power”.
“I’m sorry that criticism has lost a bit of its prestige these days, although sometimes I find the ingenuity of some anonymous comments on the internet amusing,” he added, while also referring to the bad reviews he’s heard himself. “I don’t think I’m in any kind of conflict with the critics, they do their job which is to inform the public about something they saw, heard or felt and mine which is to create something properly. What interests me is to do my job as best as possible and as I believe, regardless of whether I like it or not,” he stressed. He noted that no criticism has helped him in his career as he learned from his father from the age of three that “every decision I make in my life should be mine and no one else’s”.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever learned anything from a bad review. A bad review is unlikely to identify the problem itself, although it may be accurate as to the existence of the problem. And this, not because I believe that the critics are not competent enough or lack interest in the work at hand. It is like someone asking me to read Sanskrit. I don’t know how to do it. And sure, you can say I’m not interested in learning so why try? I have a lot of work, I can’t depend on myself in every way. I already have many opinions myself,” he said.
During the press conference, the American actor responded succinctly, but positively, to a related question about her return of the Parthenon Sculptures in Greece (“I would agree to return”).
“The Music Critic”, in addition to bad reviews of some of the greatest composers of classical music, includes a horrible review of Malkovich himself for a piece of music he had performed a few years ago in Istanbul, entitled “The Torture of Malkovich” and the actor, as a critic this time, reads it at the end of the performance. “When I read this particular review I was concerned at first but then I couldn’t stop laughing. The first thing that came to mind was that it was a shame my father didn’t live to read it. He would be very happy because it would confirm his whole theory about me since I was a little boy.”
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