Josef Lhevinne plays Schumann Toccata Op. 7

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

a piece of cake...

7 billions of calories

[paulostroff99]

Awesome.TY for posting.

[poechopin]

Lhevinne takes a long, arduous octave passages faster than Horowitz, also. As a matter of fact, Jascha Heifetz once remarked to Horowitz:

"You play the Schumann Toccata too slowly!"

[Lassannn]

Still the best rendition I've heard.

[shanrico]

I luv this guy's playing -- too bad there isn't more available

[12345qazx1]

most musically played toccata

[uhartchristian]

its a very introverted version. for me its the third best toccata here on you tube the first is Horowitz followed by Ciffra in Paris . These three versions are so different one from the other its worth to hear them all as you have three completely different works to hear. Gilels is good but a bit less good in interpretation. Richter is too slow and hard, maybe because of advanced age.

[ayso78]

@uhartchristian Richter's earlier versions from the '50s (not '80s) are not much slower than Horowitz's.

[uhartchristian]

@ayso78 thats right, in the meantime I have heard an earlier version of Richter playing this Toccata. Richter was an incredible pianist in the 50ties for example where he did work a lot and had all his capacities. I think he had the biggest repertoire a pianist ever worked on.

[michaelrd88]

Listen to Earl Wild play this piece on Ivory Classics live from London in 1974 - very musical and similar to Lhevinne.

[uhartchristian]

even when richter plays this piece it sounds like an etude, here not , its music..... the virtuosity is just there to serve the music. and this here is great interpretation.

[sharpear111]

3:58 !!! He is the only one to play what Schumann wrote here

[ignisfatuus67]

@sharpear: There is one. Check Schmitt-Leonardy's version. Although he is more on the "brilliant" side, less elegance than Lhévinne, his rendition ranks among the very best.

[CoolJay77]

He makes this incredibly difficult piece sound so simple!

Amazing and yet not so surprised considering the pianist..

For a demonstration of how well and fast this can be played

give Simon Barere a listen as well.

[swojnicz]

I always loved this piece, but I rather prefered to watch the score then listen to the recordings. Now I have one to listen. Gorgeous !!!

[2ndviolinist]

This is very fine, elegant, controlled. Horowitz is a bull in a china shop compared to this. I would be afraid to hear a contemporary rendition of this rather ungrateful piece.

[Pischnaholic]

Wait till Claire Huangsi deigns to present this to the public. You will adore it, I assure you. Meanwhile, listen to her Prokofieff Toccata.

As Mr. Levhinne does with this "rather ungrateful" piece, Claire Huangsi makes what usually sounds like A Bad Day at the Boiler Works exquisitely beautiful as well as thrilling. I doubt if Prokofieff, himself, ever imagined his iconoclastic thumbing of the nose at Romanticism could sound so appealing as it does in the hands of Claire Huangsi.

[Pischnaholic]

Simply the best!

Not to wax trite, but this interpretation makes this sound more "Schmanmesque" than anyone else's. This is clean, elegant, tasteful, perfectly articulated and full of clever voicing and subtleties. Beautifully understated.

Most pianists make the Toccata sound too meaty, robust and Czernyesque. I've never particularly liked it. Horowitz, of course, makes it scintillating, needle sharp and edgy --- thrilling to hear --- but Levhinne makes it BEAUTUFUL.

What a treat! Thanks.

[pianiplunker]

@Pischnaholic I completely agree with all the comments you made but do you realize that this was modeled a toccata by Czerny. There are some striking similarities between the two compositions.

[ferocel]

@Pischnaholic As I've remarked on other clips, there is a huge distinction between 'live' and 'studio'. In this case, one can marry the two. Lhevinne is trying to get through this in one piece simply because it would have been recorded in one take. He may have done a few (imagine that!) but this is the one he chose. In other words, it's all the more impressive as it's 'live in the studio'. What's even more impressive is, despite the stress of that situation, the beauty, as you said, is evident.

[trms83br]

it's very different from contemporary renditions

[mltube]

I wanted to point out how stupid and unoriginal HerrNollies reply to my comment was, but considering the time interval between our posts, concluded that he has recently come out of a long coma and is a little slow. So, I shall wish him a full recovery and complete restoration of the original mental capacity, however miniscule it may be. Then, perhaps, we may talk music :-)

[LiberateEireIRA]

haha nice insult

[biegel88]

As a pupil of Adele Marcus who studied with Mr. Lhevinne, I always enjoy his recordings and the style in which he played. Perhaps I have felt akin to this pianism and feel very close to it.

[72sycamore]

Dear biege188

No, you don't wish that. Think how old you would be now! Best to enjoy it as is. There are plenty of younger pianists who also turn this piece into a great experience.

72sycamore

[hothairybtm4u]

i'd bet all of the modern artists who have recorded this toccata listened to this recording at some point, and each has borrowed from it. there are so many beautiful nuances in this recording not found elsewhere. all the more amazing when one considers how precious few recordings the lhevinnes made, and even fewer they released. i wish i could hear a modern recording by a young lion-like lhevinne of this piece.

[2ndAveLine]

I love his sound- beautiful touch and a bit aristocratic.

[danieltreco]

no touch of aristocracy in this song.

euphoric. i speculate that schumann wrote the first several bars of this song in a flurry of inspiration.

[rynah123]

the best

[u2bmetub]

Finally, someone who does not bang and hacks into the piano, but actually makes some music. Horowitz is good yoo, but only in one recording I heard. Barrere especially, has to be the most crass of the whole bunch of pseudo-musical charlatans. Anyone liking that kind of brutish and mechanical key-drilling has to be a complete imbecile without a soul. I know of one myself.

[jinfiesto]

You know, I've heard lots of bad playing from Barrere, but I really do think he plays some things spectacularly. His interpretation of the blumenfeld etude for left hand is absolutely breath-taking...

[mako162]

Schumann wrote a romantic toccata for piano, not for a keys grinder. The quality of Lhévinne's touch is fabulous and this performance too. The best Toccata I have ever heard. Busoni externalized the same opinion.

[biegel88]

You have to realize that, according to Mrs. Lhevinne and Adele Marcus, the sound was much different in the concert hall than these rolls. Wish I was there.

[HerrNollie]

This IS NOT a piano roll Ampico or Welte Mignon. This is Josef Lhevinne live in one take. The first take. Like most of his recordings.

[paulostroff99]

Brilliant! Bravo! TY.

[mltube]

Not particularly crazy about this performance. Like the Horowitz', it is too indulgent for my taste, with appeal of the moment getting in the way of this work's total conception, at times. But unlike Horowitz', it all seems to have been planned in advance.:)

[HerrNollie]

MLTUBE .... When you look in the mirror does the word MORON come to mind?

[Schnabel87]

This recording is a classic! My top two favorites along with the one from Richter's 1958 Budapest recital.

[pianopera]

1. Dear truecrypt, of course they all have my great respect, nonetheless we can have some clear preferences, especially when we worked on the piece ourselves for a long time.

To be honest, I think that in this piece the lyrical is as important as the mechanical. Take e.g. the second theme (b-g-e-d), very simple theme but needs to be played in a lyrical way.

[pianopera]

2. It is a "tour de force" no doubt, but we have to remember the footnote of Schumann:

"In order to leave the performer as much latitude for the expression of the music he feels it, markings are indicated only in those places where the performing technique makes heavy demands upon the player."

[pianopera]

3. So it is that Richter feels the expression in a more aggressive way especially in terms of dynamics (the first section), but it is not an absolute, a binding characteristic of the piece. It's up to the player. I prefer much more the approach of Lhevinne (and Horowitz and Cziffra in this case), and I think there's little chance that you could play the piece "too musical" - as long as the rhythmic drive stays intact.

[pianopera]

Gerryrains: I'm not sure but I think that Richter had the recording in mind that it is posted here by truecrypt when he wrote the remarks.

[truecrypt]

It might be a different one... I have yet another recording from the same period which sounds even more aggressive!

[HerrNollie]

Be very careful what you say about Richter. Gerryrains knows more about Richter and his piano playing than even Richter himself does.

[pianopera]

Well, here we have my results:

1. Lhevinne (perfect, crystal clear, ff-pp section unbelievable)

2. Ginzburg and Cziffra (beautiful with a lot of fantasy)

3. Gilels and Horowitz (very good, interesting but a little messy)

4. Richter (good but little aggressive and not always that interesting)

5. Barere (too fast)

Pogorelich and Egorov not yet posted.

[gerryrains]

pianopera,

Re: Your rating of Richter

You should discuss this with truecrypt, but I believe this toccata was supposed to be played in an aggressive manner.. If you ask him to rate your 1-5 ratings and see how he rates them, please do add it in a subsequent comment.

[pianopera]

Well, it would be interesting to read Truecrypt's opinion!

Maybe we should invite him to do so!

(To be clear: 1=best, 5=least, contrary to YT system. Just personal rating/preference of course, goes without saying that all these pianists are absolutely superb musicians)

[pianopera]

ps It is interesting to read what Richter thought himself of his Schumann-recording:

"No, this is a real horror, this tempo...the music loses something...Did I really play like this? Or have the technicians manipulated it and speeded it up? It would be a crime if they have."

(from Notebooks, Monsaingeon Edition)

[gerryrains]

To which of the different recordings of Schumann's Toccata by Richter.

BTW, here is the list by Truecrypt:

The order is *subjective*! ;)

I think people trying to fit Toccata into "sensual/musical" realm...

The simple truth is that Schumann wrote very SPORTY, aggressive, technically challenging piece-puzzle.

Most of pianists simply can't play it!!! to play it well is quite an achievement!

(cont.)

[gerryrains]

Here are my observations:

Richter - technically *absolutely* perfect! Aggressive, fierce and youthful!

Ginzburg - beautifully done, but some imperfections hidden beyond beauty! ;)

Cziffra - overall TOO "musical" and despite giant technical abilities, some parts are not played perfectly well.

Horowitz - effective and with charm, but not perfect in some parts.

Gilels - very interesting and close to Richter, but he doesn't repeat first part which makes this piece much more difficult.

[chad410]

a bit diffent to Richters giant approach.