Da :pimp: Hung Rappahz

Tru a thread dedicated to deze maztapiecez

Which are yo favz, which are da eaziezt n hardezt

N which recz fo each are yo favz? :zif:

8 & 9

Cziffra/Stereo in 8

9 is much harder… maybe Joe Villa

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My anzwer is whatever da intended tempoz rezearch iz.

9 hardezt

3 eaziezt

zimple tru

Favez 5 (easiest), 9 (hardest), 11, 13.

Best overall set: no surprises there :zif:

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Which are the contenders? I remember Szidon has a highly praised set, but I don’t remember me going bananas over it.

It’s far more “correct” than da Ziff, but that sort of goes without saying. Must admit I’ve not heard da Lezbo set, and I have no plans to rectify that situation.

The :zif: set is one of those things which is going to polarise. Did a French critic not say something like “if this is how you play :pimp:, you should kill yourself” of the later selected HRz rec?

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Yeah my fav is Ziff/Stereo too.

One I like which definitely is more correct & civilized is Misha Dichter, but I don’t recall if he recorded all 19.

I don’t think you’re missing anything with Howard.

I honestly do feel that way with some of Ziff’s playing, but not in the rhapsodies. If there’s one place his approach is appropriate it is there.

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Would it be harsh and cynical to observe that my favourite thing he’s done is… um, Google “Leslie Howard road rage” :tmfury:

Hahaha I wud argue da oppozite :sunglasses:

Da Rappahz are da archetypal example ov notated improv, dey are maztapiecez ov deir kind

Dey iz actually zheeyat muzik if NOT played in dat way

Dere iz a lot ov muzik dat can ztill zound good when played ‘zmooth n ztraight’ but not da rappahz

da One zumwut exception iz da DOC where hiz zmooth gensui iz done wiz zuch elegance n panache dat itz alzo wikid tru

I keep debating with myself whether his series is a good thing or not. I’m happy to have it, but at the same time I fear it’s scared more people away from Liszt than it’s attracted.

That said, while I don’t think any of it is “good”, there are quite a number of pieces which have been played or recorded by others where I still prefer Howard.

There are a few pieces where I do legitimately like his playing, but of course much of it is a bit dull. It’s certainly useful that it exists, and it goes without saying that for one person to have done all of it is quite a remarkable feat, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Naxos series ends up being a superior totality.

Wut about da Wolfgang Wellah cumplete zeriez? :sunglasses:

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On 300 CDs or some similar sheeyat? :dong::wim:

Da Naxos series has sum good peniztz. Dossin and prime Cameldick, for example.

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Long ago though, it’s been years since I was last excited by one of their volumes.

I suppose one of the problems with a complete :pimp: series is that most of the stuff most people actively want to hear gets done earlier and then there’s a lot of super obscure stuff almost nobody is terribly fussed over.

Yeah I’ve thought about that too. We’ll see how far it goes.

Overall I wish Hyperion had divided their series among their pianists though. I would have loved to see Demidenko, Hough, Hamelin etc take part - plus whatever other talent they might have found similarly to how Naxos have run their series - to lift some of the burden off Howard.

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But maybe it was kinda da Lezbo’z life ambition? You can totally understand having that as a goal.

Talking of Naxos, Jando is of course another HR set.

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