True.
It was all in the hair.
Bit like Kissin 
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Overrated? In terms of popularity/publicity? Brendel. Gould. Barenboim. Lang Lang. Pires. Uchida. 
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Yeah. I think Erwin just nailed this.
Pretty much. If I donāt like them and everybody else does then
a) theyāre over-rated
b) everyone else is wrong.
Stands to reason.
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da PERAHAHAHA 
da MART lykz hiz non-
legato BACH
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There was a time when I liked his Mozart concerti.
That time has passed. 
I always called him da Piranha. Iām fairly neutral on him. I saw him live when he made his Australian debut, and I liked it. But it was kinda in the same way I liked Lugansky; it didnāt make me wanna see him again.
I wonder how heās doingā¦ I was supposed to have heard him this spring, but he cancelled both his American and European tours. Checking his site now, I see heās cancelled everything and has no upcoming engagements.
ā¦
The dude is cancelling so many things his nickname should be da PARIAH 
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Yes but clearing his entire schedule? He is 71ā¦ Iz une bisschen worrying me thinks.
hahha i thought hiz nick wuz pozzibly tha PERIAHAHAHAHAHA
or zumzheeyat
Iām randomly surprised this went unchallenged. What do you guys think of him?
da Sofro left so many recs of inferior instruments. No joke, AND on shit equipment.
His recordings, many of them, are a tiny bit on da sloppy side, BUT, seeing the scope of his rep - dat is fine!
All the Scriabin museum recs - he wuz trying out his rectal programs, on a sheeyat 88 - n dey secretly recorded his azz.
N den 50 years later sum random mofo hears it n compares it to a pristine rec of da WANG on a Steinway Hamburg Model D n disses da Softporno
He was an absolute titan of the era.
The only things of his which I REALLY did not like at all wuz both Liszt Sonata recs (1948 n 1960).
Yeah the Scriabin museum recs are actually some of the worst piano recordings I have - and not only because of the instrument.
I donāt know, itās like with Lhevinneās tech - he was an excellent pianist of course, but if you listen to what people say about him, and what RUSSIANS say about him in particular, that heās more legendary than Richter etc. I just donāt hear it. Iād place two dozen Russians ahead of him, and nothing of what Iāve heard with him has been fantastic, as in approaching Richterās best stuff. I donāt mean to say he wasnāt good, but I think his reputation is completely bonkers.
well, dere wuz a great deal of mystery around him, and he was one of da few pianists who did not play in da āobjectiveā way (da Evans would say diz tied wiz da communist party but he can go suck a camel dick at the nearest petting zoo while secretly recording it fo a future porn release on arbiter wizout da consent of da camel)
Heās never done much for me.
I think the objectivity part is possibly key. Whenever I run in to a Sofronistky fan I even today try to coax out of him where the King Sof part is in his playing - since Iām genuinely interested - but what almost invariably happens is that they skip that part and begin talking about how one has to understand life in Russia behind the iron curtain, which will be difficult for me growing up under such different circumstances (American, British and Finnish pianophiles have told me this 
). I wonder if his against-the-stream playing, semi-glamorous lifestyle and mystic personality made him a symbol for the free spirit in the otherwise so grey and tightly controlled SU, and that what they defend so passionately when hearing his name is rather this symbol than a musician. And then this has somewhat transferred to certain western pianophiles, knowing the Russians themselves hold him as #1.
Thatās my theory at least. 
But all this said I do think he was an interesting pianist who did leave some good things. His 1960 studio recs are wonderful, and heās my preferred pianist in the Scrib-3.
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knew what you were doing
For me heās the greatest. Emotional intensity off the charts. Richter does that too but usually Sofronitsky affects me more. Plus unlike Richter he plays Chopin very well.
Ahhhhh
Favourite recs?