least favorite famous pianists thread

[VOLODYA]

finally zum mofo cummah diz thread dat make lezz senze den da jake

[Ashley_Tervort]

haha i ztill think da mofoz lyk da jake dat dizz wiz zuch immaturity haf zmallcockzyndrome

i noe wut da DOC iz n i noe wut he izn

i dun complain bout wut he izn, n i Njoy wut he duz

zo wut if da DOC onli paint wiz charcoal, he duz it bootifullyimo

[MilfHunter]

oops, forgot fazil say in that list…

If I had to pick who to listen to for a lifetime, I’d pick dongah over fazil, tru…

[iamcanadian]

@Da Comme

haha canadian, wut DOC recz do u Njoi?

I think the Hamelin Shostakovich concerto rec is light and playful, I enjoy some of the Scriabin sonatas, I was impressed by most of the Wigmore rec, some of the Medtner sonatas are quite nice and there are probably a bunch of other Hamelin cds that I listen to off and on.

Also, there are at least 5 or 6 bootlegs that I really like including a live Grande Sonate, live Chopin Concerto and a really cool 1988 live Ives sonata/Benidiction rec.

Keep in mind that every rec I’ve mentioned, I’d easily be able to find 5-10 other recs that I like better.

[Ashley_Tervort]

haha fair nuff

da DOC izn da moz colahful interpretah but he gain a unique audience fo playin colahful rep

zum mofoz lyk collectin many recz ov da zame piecez, i prefah liznin 2 lezzah herd sheeyat alot ov da tym, n da DOC zerve diz up wiz uniform clarity n clinical excellenz

[iamcanadian]

Tru, as a pianist, he’s an admirable fellow. As a musician, he leaves alot to be desired - especially in standard rep.

But yea, I appreciate his adventurous spirit.

[Da_Nor]

haha da canadian agree on da Fazil Say, i just can’t stand his “impros” or “compositions”

I forgot to mention da Tiempo…

and i have to say that lately, Argerich.h mm… not so sure

[Mephisto]

@subwoofah

@Mephisto

@Thracozaag

@Mephisto

Jake, from an objective point of you Hamelin’s technic surpasses any of your favourite pianists.

That depends on one’s definition of “technique”

Of course.

I just can’t understand how Jake would find the way Hamelin plays the begining of Scriabin’s 8th piano sonata to be anything but remarkable.

Hey man, just saying; when I listen to Godowsky, I like to hear some of the interesting voices the man wrote…when i listen to Medtner and Scriabin, I like to hear some color, and when I listen to Alkan a bit of transparency doesn’t hurt…a pile of mezzo forte mashed potatoes con pedale (the Hamelin special) just doesn’t cut it for me. If you like that kind of thing, that’s cool. If your idea of a gourmet meal is a bucket of KFC, who am I to judge?

Hamelin plays the piano with about as much technique as a court reporter. He’s little more than a glorified button pusher. He doesn’t make us aware of any of the interesting possibilities inherent in the instrument that so many others do. He plays all scalar passages like they are from Czerny/Hanon. He stabs at chords in fast passages, generating a weak and flakey sound. All dynamic contrast in his playing sounds deeply contrived, and his rubato is simply intolerable most of the time. He has a poor sense of line and has a GRUESOME tendency to overpedal. His ornamentation is invariably four-square. He makes no effort to emphasize important notes in chords, or to emphasize interesting harmonies in the music. It’s almost as if Hamelin needs music with a lot of notes to trick us into believing that he understands the structure of a piece of music (heard his Wanderer Fantasy?). GAG.

Boredom is about the worst emotion one can experience when listening to music. Hamelin is a deeply boring musician with a deeply boring technique. If he’s not almost completely forgotten in 20 years, I owe you a penny (incidentally, equal to my valuation of Hamelin’s Schumann record - under the assumption that I could erase the CD and burn some ABBA onto it).

All the pianists I mentioned in my list are superior technicians, and I’d be proud to defend that last statement in length.

I agree with you on every point you make.

[tompilk]

@iamcanadian

As to the topic, personally I find there are only a couple pianists I simply cannot listen to.

Lang Lang
Fazil Say
Pogorelich

And since they are boring pianists and giant assholes:
Andras Schiff
Alfred Brendel
Angela Hewitt

I agree completely with these. although schiff’s beethoven lectures are quite interesting. And I find it hilarious watching LL to see what you have to do to become a millionaire “pianist”…

@Da Comme

zo wut if da DOC onli paint wiz charcoal, he duz it bootifullyimo

this has got to now be one of my favourite analogies. brilliant.

[krittyot]

tru, schiff brotha lecturez is gensui, informative to some extent.

worth hearing once nonetheless.

[SteinwayModelD]

i wud actually vogue fo da zay’z paganini jazz arrangement

[Brewtality]

@krittyot

@SteinwayModelD

@krittyot

will agree with you only if you refer to his final year in his career.

however, prior to 1920s, the guy simply ranked among the very BEST. man, he’s the highest paid concert pianist ever. i remember b/w 1914-1915, those 2 yrs, he made almost 2 mil. dollahz.

how much would that equivalent to the present time…

juzt bcuz da audiencez ar idiotz (pre 20z americanz), doezn’t mean he wuz good
(zimilar to da pozt-inferiority-complex-chink to da Dongah nowadayz)

and pozz alzo becuz hiz zheeeyatnezz wuzn’t recorded before hiz final yrz
iv he wud have died earlier, hiz zheeytnezz wud have never been revealed

iv money iz to be the meazurement ov art, i think u vill find da Donald Trump be ur bezt novelizt, architect, athelet, inventor, golf-courze dezigner and pozz bezt hair-drezzer ov all tym

tym fo u to do zum zoul-zearchin Kritt.

have no clue wtf you are talking about. almost all great pianists praised him back then including horowitz, hofmann and lots more. his bio is amazing as well.

yeah I concur with Krit, he must have been really something back in the day, like horowitz said you don’t get that reputation for nothing. Friedman, Horowitz, Saint-Saens etc, can’t be wrong.

[da_Posur]

Da Dongah
Ashkenazy (just cuz)
Gould (there you have it)
Paderwiski (What I’ve heard, though there isn’t much, wasn’t good)

Enuf hate… I hate to focus on what I don’t like…

[Rob]

i wen to c tha LORTIE pimp pathetiqu concert thiz year n it zsuvkd

i blame tha pim[

[Brewtality]

brendull
ashkenazy (except for his early recordings which are good but not great)
lang lang
yundi li
perahia
pollini
volodos
helfgott
Zimerman
Gav (scarilege ?)

[treefingerz_TS]

@Brewtality

Zimerman
Gav (scarilege ?)

haha da Zim is sacrilege

[Brewtality]

everything’s nicely in place, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

[Ashley_Tervort]

duz he play mo ballzy l8ly?

[iamcanadian]

Yeah, he’s a lot better live imo.

[jre58591]

yeah ill agree to that. i remember hearing a great boot of him doing the chopson 2. randomly can someone repost that recital? i dont have it anymore.