Classical Music for Aficionados
My putter died . Interesting younger violinist very romantic and harmonic to the teeth .Born of Korean parents in Germany. https://youtu.be/EmULX9QHCUU?t=1 Raised and studied in Germany lives there as German Ciitizen(smart lady} . Chausson, Poeme Op25 |
Eliso Virsaladze This pianist is truly incredible. She is almost as old as I am. From Tbilisi and then Moscow. quote What are you conscious of when you approach, for example, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, etc.? (Virsaladze) Well, you can't express the music of any one of these composers without playing many of his works over many years. Beethoven has it all. If you can process Beethoven correctly, you will be able to understand the works of other composers in theory, that is. Take a look at Beethoven's sonatas and in them you can find Chopin nocturnes, various theme s and variations, Schumann, and Brahms, as well as even Prokofiev and jazz in them . For example, you can even hear his Op. 101 sonata (Sonata No. 28), Hammerklavier (Sonata No. 29, Op. 106), and the later string quartets in Webern and Schoenberg. . . . On the other hand, how difficult the technique for playing Mozart is! The fewer the number of notes in a sonata, the more difficult it is, because it's as if you are naked and exposing yourself in public. Still we have to make something out of nothing. In that sense, Mozart is more difficult than Beethoven. Beethoven is a dictator. He tells you what to do and it's all written on the score. Mozart does not do that for us. But there are a variety of reductions [meaning "various editions" of Mozart's work, and subsequent generations of people have been saying, “ play it like this” and “play it like that” and adding various things. People always want to put in something extra here, and add something new there. For example, today many people say that to play Chopin, you should use the Ekier editions. However, there were many wonderful performances of Chopin's music in the past. They say that Cortot was a Chopin player, but of course he wasn't using the Ekier editions. Anyway, regarding editions of Mozart's music, I think there is a great deal of nonsense out there. www.tokyo-ondai.ac.jp › cms › uploads › 2019/11PDF https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Eliso+Virsaladze+ hint: if you are looking for her recordings, be aware that her name is spelled several ways: "Eliso" and "Elisso", "Virsaladze" and "Wirssaladze" |
Yes, she studied with Neuhaus. quote (Virsaladze) A bad pianist can either play a Steinway well or ruin it. It doesn't bother me to play any instrument, and not just because of that. But unfortunately the pianos provided at Moscow Conservatory are in the worst condition. If you came, you'd understand. The pedals squeaked, they were out of tune, and the left pedal of the instrument in the classroom where Prof. Neuhaus taught was always creaking and squeaking. Every piano they had was a real embarrassment. Even now [laughs]. (Kobayashi) That kind of instrument was even in Prof. Neuhaus' class? (Virsaladze) Even in Prof. Prof.Neuhaus' lesson room. |
One day someone make the observation that the piano with which he must play this evening is in a very bad shape, to whom Ervin Nyiregyházi replied, "it is me not the piano which will make sound".... I always were amazed by this pianist and it is the same for Russian pianists.... Music is never only sound.... Just to pull your beard.... By the way i prefer good piano sound but....i prefer Neuhaus on a bad piano or Sofronitsky to almost anyone... |
For me the Russian school is the best example of a teaching that exemplify in his pupils and masters the 3 main factors i listen to in a pianist: The first factor is the one linked to the hues and "NUANCES" in color , ONE NOTE says all....Moravec, the pianist’s pianists ( he is not Russian i know) is an emblematic master of this colors and pastel mastery of note where the timbre playing of the instrument fuse with the microdynamic timbre gesture of the body....This is the seeds of the pure beauty, ethereal and/or incarnated .... The second factor manifest itself between TWO NOTES : by constrasting, balancing, polarizing,attenuating, etc it is the INTENSITY... The abyss where gods and magicians transform crowds and the world....The hungarian Nyiregyházi and Sofronitsky playing Scriabin are supremum examples...For me this factor is linked to the ethos and/or the pathos.... The third factor is the dynamical and rythmic, and motoric mastering with THREE NOTES and more ... Pure VIRTUOSITY....Too many examples here and not necessary to give one... But Hamelin and Earl Wild or Horowitz for example own enough of the first 2 factors to exemplify the third without any negative coming from it....Here it is between the living logos versus the logical formula or the mechanical and the rythmical.... Artistry, Demonic power, and virtuosity.... An artist must slowy feel his artistry first , more than he can practice it, but he can practice his virtuosity and invoke then the circonstance when he feel it at his best.... The demonic power is linked to the miracle of the moment and cannot be practiced at all, it can only exploded....We may learn virtuosity, but nobody learn how to be a god and improvising and throwing miracles on listeners.... Artist, gods or magicians we can also call them.... We can all argue about our evaluation on this 3 factors scale of any pianist....It is relative to our own internal alchemical balance and then perception.... Never mind this subjective fact, these 3 factors can be use to describe the piano playing for me....1-2-3 notes.... Mozart and Chopin are supremum artist, Listz and Scriabin more on the demonic side for example, and Beethoven more in equilibrium between these 2.... it is only my way to communicate how i listen to pianists.... |
Listening to Buniatishvili's Schubert disc: Sonata D 960, Impromptus D 899 capped with the delicious Liszt Standchen transcription. I am entranced by her playing. Rermarkable lyricism and delicacy in the p and pp passages. The piano sound is interesting too; don't know if it's the piano she's playing or the recording, or both. Compared to the string of Hyperion recordIngs I've been listening to of late, it's softer, warmer, more rounded. It suits her meditative style of playing, I think. Has anyone else sampled this disc? |
@twoleftears I haven't sampled this disc yet but tomorrow I'll surely do so. I have very high hopes for the future of this pianist but like Trifonov she has masses of technique but they need time to grow into the stars they will be in the future. I also think she has an enormous pallet of colours to fall on as exhibited in Pictures at an Exhibition. When I look at the You Tube video of her playing this piece every time I catch a closeup of her face her eyes are tightly shut and a rapturous look on her face (Liszt would certainly approve) I also like her rendering of Standchen but can I point you to another recording of it from Kissin who I think makes more of the virtuousity in it and therefor making the piece sing more and there are many footfalls in that piece so a transcendental technique is really needed in those Schubert/Liszt pieces. |
The Schubert Bb Sonata D 960 to me is one of the most profound pieces of art in existence. It’s greatness lies in it’s simplicity. If one tries to do too much with it, to overly emote as Buniatishvili does, it loses something. As much as I respect and admire Buniatishvili, I think she needs to mature into this music. No doubt she is a major talent and more creative than most of her contemporaries. The Impromptus go very beautifully under her fingers. |
A god play and teach children.....If someone know a best version i must know but i doubt it.... 😊 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIgSWhiLq00 |
I had the fortune of attending Buniatishvili’s Schubert concert about two years ago and can say her playing is very consistent with this recording. She is indeed creative with a magical and soft touch, yet powerful at the same time. I agree with rvpiano, just like her colleague Trifanov, she will mature with time. I would rank her Schubert right up there with Sokolov, Volodos and Radu. Sofronitsky, of course, is on another level. |
The Buniatishvili phenomenon is quite interesting. I searched professional reviews of the Schubert disc, and just about all the critics disliked it or struggled to say something nice about it. On Amazon it has something like 175 reviews, and 95% of those are 5 stars. I guess I'm with the hoi polloi. I agree that her technique in the Impromptus is phenomenal. |
http://www.cinetecavirtual.cl/cineteca/index.php/Detail/objects/4523 link to 1935 movie "Dreams of Love" starring Claudio Arrau as Liszt more about this movie here https://www.thepianofiles.com/claudio-arrau-plays-liszt-literally-in-1935/ |
@jcazador Jeremy thanks for posting that film of Arrau it was an absolute hoot to watch. I have looked for it for years and was very pleased to see it . Of course as a biopic account what to film and what to leave must have been a major consideration in such a long and packed life. Poor Claudio hardly aged a bit , only his hair getting greyer. It is great to see your heroes when they are young and realise that they were just as impulsive as the young of today , but even there you could see an astonishing technique and what a stretch he had . Thanks for that I only wish I could speak Spanish. |
Are there any good stereo recordings on Vinyl by Sofronitsky ? looking on eBay there are quite a few but not sure if they're mono or stereo. Are there any specific LPs that you'd consider as must have? I see most of Sofronitisy is recorded on Melodiya, I'm guessing the soviets didnt let him out much. |
I dont own vinyl... But i can say that whatever composer he plays he is good and more than good most of the times... But when he play Scriabin he attain the status of a god....It is the reason why Richter and Gilels idolized him, and at his death declared him the greatest pianist that ever lived...They listened him play Scriabin....In Russia a pianist is truly great only after playing Scriabin.... It is Scriabin that teach me after Bach a new lesson about what music really is... With Bach i learn how music can make me more than who i am.... With Scriabin i learn how music can transform the world or that the world is greater than what i ever perceive it to be.... Scriabin is a Christlike figure in music like Beethoven, without the negative there is in Wagner ...Beethoven speak to humanity in man, Bach speak to the spirit in man, Scriabin speak from the future cosmos spiritualized in man, it is the reason why his music is truly promethean but without the egoic glue nor the grandiosity there is in Wagner.... 2 minute poems of Scriabin played by Sofronitsky made all Wagner sound like children pretense theater....Scriabin also between tonality and atonality make Schoenberg look like a talented brain without body and creator of sounds unable to bear a cosmos...A chord by Scriabin recreated the world... Scriabin is way more than piano music... It is the reason why almost all pianist cannot make it alive and working... They plays it apparently perfectly, like benignly like first prize student.... But Scriabin must be played like Christ was walking and creating miracles around him.... Sofronitsky always deliver miracles....You will be transformed like taking a substance or like dying and ressuscitating... Then anything even with a bad sound will be a revelation.... If you absolutely want a good sound you can try Igor Zukhov.... This is not Sofronitsky but what is among the best playing just under the master....I like it tremendously...But only Sofronitsky exceed the piano playing to reach divinity.... Neuhaus can also but there is not much by him....Neuhaus is the only one who was on par with Sofronitsky with "toward the flame" for example and in fact incredibly almost surpass him in his rendition of the abyss....Neuhaus was one of the giant of the Russian school...His playing is totally marmorean and totally fluid, with handling of colors hues rivalling Moravec and an intensity trespassing anyone except Sofronitsky and the hungarian Nyiregyházi .If he has not been only a teacher under Soviet iron schackles but a concertist on the world scene, he would have been one of the most known pianist in the world.... Piano russian school is something..... Ervin Nyiregyházi plays Liszt like Sofronitsky play Scriabin.... They are World events for me, not only mere music.... |
As Mozart 227th Birthday comes to an end , here is one of his greatest pieces with the solo played by the greatest musician I have ever heard, both live and recording . https://youtu.be/3zzKzH-Wp1A?t=4 |
😊 no more piano playing, only music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95LCUHw50C8 Who will play this piece after him? A master’s master recorded under the leg at 70 years old...Without a piano for most of his last 40 years of life... Another exemple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn_O8SABHvw this one nail the coffin of almost any pretender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIC-bGI_Frc It is not me who pretend about him.... It is him: Arnold Schoenberg wrote the following about Ervin Nyiregyházi: "...a pianist who appears to be something really quite extraordinary... I must say that I have never heard such a pianist before... What he plays is expression in the older sense of the word, nothing else; but such power of expression I have never heard before. You will disagree with his tempis as much as I did. You will also note that he often seems to give primacy to sharp contrasts at the expense of form, the latter appearing to get lost. I say appearing to; for then, in its own way, his music surprisingly regains its form, makes sense, establishes its own boundaries. The sound he brings out of the piano is unheard of... And such fullness of tone, achieved without ever becoming rough, I have never before encountered... as a whole it displays incredible novelty and persuasiveness. ...it is amazing what he plays and how he plays it". |
@rvpiano RV thanks for posting that Horowitz film it was very interesting and informative also, I loved the way he played the Schubert / Liszt - Soirée de Vienne it was so controlled and the runs and scales were perfect. Even the virtuoso Chopin pieces were played like a twenty year old and it was amazing how much technique he had retained for such an old man. Yes he truly was one of a kind. |
Listening to a young Russian violinist Daniel Lozakovich playing Tchaikovsky album "None but the lonely heart" and Bach partitia 2 (both on tidal) He plays like a true Russian, with beautiful melancholy and depth. I think he’s on track to be a superb violinist, full of insight, reflection, technical skill with maturity and sensitivity beyond his age. His Bach Partita no. 2 was truly sublime. Definitely worth a listen if you have a streaming service. I'd like to hear your thoughts if you get to hear his music. |
Never heard Rach 2 like this. Ervin Nyiregyhazi farewell concert - Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZVdAs1A5RQ thoughts? |
No pianist exceed him in raw power, and it is the reason why the composer Schoenberg wrote about him with the highest praise to the young Klemperer...Remember Schoenberg never give much to interpreter....It was like Einstein praising with admiration an engineer... He praised Tesla..... This pianist is an Himalaya of emotion....Playing "right" like a pupil make no sense for him....He is not in the same league than Horowitz for example... A god is not a giant..... Schoenberg never praised giants, there is many, he praised a god.... We must listen the music here not the piano.... When you make love with a goddess you dont point to her "mistakes" or her "divergence of interpretation".... Love is over perfection for a saint and for this pianist.... « Perfection is only the name of a dog walking behind his master....»-Groucho Marx |
@maghister I have tried as hard as I can to see something in your "God pianist" but I am sorry to have to admit defeat because all I can hear is massive rubatos and distortions of the melodic line . some of the Liszt pieces he plays are almost unrecognisable with massive agogic hesitations and splashy chords. No I am sorry he is not for me. |
@maghister I have tried as hard as I can to see something in your "God pianist" but I am sorry to have to admit defeat because all I can hear is massive rubatos and distortions of the melodic line . some of the Liszt pieces he plays are almost unrecognisable with massive agogic hesitations and splashy chords. No I am sorry he is not for me.It is perfectly Ok to perceive some perspective better than other... I am more attentive to colors and intensity than to virtuoso perfect playing.... "fingers flying" He seems to be a throwback to the 19th century, with its romantic excesses.You are partly right but dont be deceived by only 2 or 3 pieces listening.... Perfection is not enough! Anyway i prefer romantic excess to modern dryness.... And wrote to the composer Schoenberg that his divine pianist is under Hamelin for his playing.... Like me he will smile.... 😁 |
Well, when the composer calls for hemidemisemiquavers, it’s nice to have a pianist who can actually execute them both correctly and artistically.We dont lack of first of their class pianists and contest winner pianists to perfectly translate a partition.... 😁 their number exceed my 2 hands by a big number... We need rarest bird able to recreate a partition on the spot, and playing it for the first and last time ever...Living playing is not mostly and only perfect playing.... This is good for pupil in a contest... Their number is less than my fingers or not many more.... Music is "living" playing and by the way N. is not a less virtuoso than Hamelin at all, if you listen many pieces of him.... Some listen to written partition, i listen to emotions only.... I am not a musician Alas!... |
You are perfectly right i just give my impressions....The great Earl Wild think the same than you.... He called his playing "baloney" .... The playing of Earl Wild is to me of the highest order but under N. ...I side with Schoenberg....By the way i have no opinion, only feelings and soul impression about music.... I am not a musician at all... Alas! And Music was never an object to evaluate and taste for me, more of an abyss to enter into.... Because of that my choices are very exclusive and many known artists fail to impress me not because they are not very good but because of those few that impress me too much ...I am perhaps an obsessive listener more than an exploratory one.... My best to you.... |
Liszt Ballade no 2 Guess how Liszt playing was? Like Horowitz or N. ? Feel the continuous wave unity in the emotions whithout hiatus in N. This unity is not there at the same level in Horowitz....Perfect playing is not living playing... When Horowitz play it is a " set of successive perfect objects" that is delivered, when N. play it is a soul event with a beat unity that is lacking in Horowitz... Only my impression.... by the way.... Horowitz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvCWRcmdFG4 E.N. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5XXiIxC73E |
