I don’t think that there’s a definitive Kreisleriana for me. In the first piece only Hofmann plays it the way I think it should go. His version is probably the one I like best, but it’s incomplete.
I’m a huge fan of the Gieseking versions (ballsiest ever? Fuckkk)
Maybe the best overall version is Sofro 1952 studio.
Not a fanatic of the work anymore, too repetitive.
Blablabla, Shoemofo, we iz living in da day when da 1 min instaghey limit is already too long fo da average attention spans. Why so many repeats in da second fantazie.
If da Ho had da balls to cut parts of da pimpzon in 1946 and 1949 (probably in 1951 too), hell da Kreis hath like 10 mins of repeats worth cutting
Damn, wikid perf. Huge audience too!
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This was to celebrate dancer / choreographer Moiseyev, Richter was just a guest for entertainment.
Hm, I found that rectum joy a bit bangy, actually. This is not the first time I’ve noticed this with this legend.
Determined not to go to bed, this put me on a quest tonight. I wouldn’t think so, but L’isle actually seems like one of those pieces which is surprisingly easy to characterize. I’ve listened to (not all to the end)
Francois
Gieseking
Richter
Ashkenazy
Bashkirov
Hough
Arrau
Kocsis
Weissenberg
de Larrocha
Fischer
…and none of them came across as failures. Horowitz is a head taller than all of them IMO, but the standouts otherwise to my ears were Arrau 1984 (as usual, somewhat plodding but rich sound & indisputable musicianship), Gieseking 1938 (exhilarating, near VH, if less refined pianism) and Richter (mesmerizing). Broadly speaking you can group them in two categorizes, where they either try to be light, swift and ecstatic; or rich, hypnotic and thoughtful. Surprisingly I thought the least successful ones were the ones which attempted a fusion. Also good, but I kept being reminded of how much more lush the sound world of Arrau and Richter was in slower passages, and how much more exhilarating Gieseking and Horowitz were in the faster.
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You recorded YW in this piece, no?
PlP. She could be good though - I’d love to hear both her and Volodos do this today.
Does Volodos play Debussy? I can’t recall having heard any from him.
Nah.
He should!
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Freire live is SO good. But tru, Horowitz, Gieseking, Richter are a cut above the rest.
Ashish went a bit nuts with this piece and chose 11 pianists for his vid
He describes them each like this -
Cho Seong-Jin: melting, beautifully voiced
Blechacz: nimble, playful
Bavouzet: natural, unmannered
Goerner: expansive, hushed
Crossley: hyper-expressive, rhetorical, improvisatory
Korstick: rich, played in big dramatic arcs
Vacatello: bright, clear, classical
Pollini: atmospheric, flowing
Kocsis: colourful, gorgeously tiered
Weissenberg: mesmeric, uncompromising, with huge dynamic range
Horowitz: intense, ecstatic
you guys forgot one of the better versions out there, Cliburn. Not the most extroverted performance, but very warm, colorful and a bit like Rachmaninoff with those slowly built up surges of sound.
I was going to mention that, but I think I’m the only one around here who appreciates Cliburn.
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Uhm…? I think the young Cliburn was every bit as good as his reputation suggests, and I’ve made that point numerous times here.
Sorry, I mean his recordings. Not a whole lot of respect for most of his studio work around here.
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Personally I think I underestimated him after hearing a few recs I didn’t like and after initially hearing him being lauded as a cultural icon who bridged the tensions between the US and Russia and a media darling - it’s easy to see why many would see him as overhyped and overrated for those reasons and not delve further after that initial impression.
Cliburn is a lot more famous than Kapell, maybe some people are pissed at that fact too.
Nope, me too. His studio legacy is a mixed bag, though nothing ever less than decent, and always with a beautiful sound and tone even when a bit boring or tired. But live, Cliburn was a different animal, especially in the 50s and 60s.
I am game for any live Cliburn. Some good stuff from Boston was shared on Metrognome, and a few other things have floated out there. But not a whole lot, surprisingly. One of the things I had been hoping to hear was a live performance of his in the MacDowell concerto.
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There’s something I like about this guy’s style!
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Yeah I felt that way about Francois too, he was one of my favourite pianists back in my early days of listening. Very compelling, you could feel the impulse in him. Great character and rather expressionistic.