Godowsky - Passacaglia on Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony (Part 2/2)

[hgw0601]

Wer den Erlkönig nicht erkannt hat in der Passacaglia, muss taub sein oder Schubert für nen DJ aus Australien halten :)

[FlyingBlackAndWhite]

really intense. didn't like the cadenza though.

[playpianolikewoah]

That's funny. at 4:15 it says "cadenza"... The whole thing is one giant cadenza.

[Alexjr1543]

Seriously, I think the allusion to Erlkonig made this twice as awesome.

[Geisterschiff]

The allusion on the Erlkonig made me jump on my seat!!! Godowsky was such a master that he could play with with everything with perfect nonchalance and mastery...Amazing, no words to describe one of the most (if not the greatest) Passacaglias ever written!

[forgottenbooks]

* I mean the multiple overlapping melodies, the relatively calm tones, and the transposing of the ostinato to a major key.

[forgottenbooks]

I think the fugue in essence is very much like the fugue in Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor BWV 582. Any opinions?

[forgottenbooks]

Look at all the voices... O.O

[AndrewFinch1]

This is awful, what the hell was Godowsky thinking? Why bother with shit that sounds like this? It is awful. He has been dead for 70 years, no one cares how good of a pianist he was anymore, this is just shit for technical freaks. Thanks, Marc Andre Hamelin for playing it. What a waste of your time, but whatever. Now that you have a trophy wife, I guess you can play whatever you want.

[Gibson29]

@AndrewFinch1 Your ignorance is astonishing.

[AndrewFinch1]

@Gibson29 Explain to me how not liking one of Godowsky's horrible piano paraphrases is related to ignorance. You are a stupid, probably black, asshole.

[Gibson29]

@AndrewFinch1 You don't have to like Godowsky's compositions on a musical level, that is of course a matter of preference. However; this music he wrote most certainly is not just "shit for technical freaks". Hamelin says it well right here in the video description: "The range of invention displayed throughout this weighty and reverential tribute is enormous. Godowsky employs a good variety of textures and harmonic activity, as well as some very imaginative counterpoints".

[AndrewFinch1]

@Gibson29 All I have to say to that is that Hamelin has notoriously bad taste in music. He also said that similar things about the awful E minor piano sonata of Godowsky's. Hamelin finds difficult music, learns it, and then sells it. What a surprise that he would say such things about this titanic bore. Have you ever seen the sales figures on Hamelin's Schumann recording? Not so good. It's Hamelin's business model.

[Gibson29]

@AndrewFinch1 In addition, I will agree that on a musical rather than technical level, that this work in particular along with his sonatas have more musical value than say, his works on Chopin's Op.10 etudes for example (as much as I enjoy them).

PS. NO I am not black LOL, white skinned, Canadian born of English and Ukrainian descent. Although now you'll probably have some sort of problem about me being Canadian (*sigh*), at least Canada spawns great pianists, such as Hamelin and Glenn Gould

[AndrewFinch1]

@Gibson29 No, Canadians are fine. And I disagree. I think they all have the same low level of musical inspiration, matched to a great deal of technical sophistication. Can you say that Godowsky's counterpoint ever goes anywhere? It doesn't. The only mildly interesting music that wasn't derived from other composers that Godowsky ever wrote was the Java Suite.

[Gibson29]

@AndrewFinch1 AND the talents of pianists/composers such as Godowsky, Cziffra, and Busoni should NEVER be forgotten, now matter how long they've been dead for. Franz Liszt is still remembered and heralded as the greatest pianist who ever lived, and the contributions he made to the instrument and music in general are staggering. Liszt will always be remembered for this, and so should the great performers that have lived since his time into the 20th and 21st centuries.

[AndrewFinch1]

@Gibson29 What an awful thing to do, to compare Busoni as a composer to Godowsky and Cziffra. There is more music in Busoni's 2nd piano sonatina than there is in the entire corpus of Godowsky's work. But Hamelin won't record any more Busoni because other more interesting pianists have already made many such recordings, and he can't distinguish himself technically from those players. And his Busoni Piano Concerto was grey, boring, and flabby.

[Gibson29]

@AndrewFinch1 I agree with some of the things you say here in regards to Hamelin recording Busoni. Obviously Busoni made more contributions to composing than Cziffra did, but they were all masters of their arts and deserve to be shown respect for what they accomplished, in my opinion.

[brandonkerry1]

this is miserable music, but i suppose that matters to you idiots is that it is difficult to play and that hamelin can play it easily.

i'd just as soon spend my time figuring out how to milk a cat, but that's just the way things go, really.

[nathanscoleman]

@brandonkerry1 make sure you post the video!

[georgecziffra]

What an absolute masterpiece

[EIDOSeidos]

Anyone notice the allusion to 'Erlkonig' around minute 1:40? Just curious.

[123eldest]

yeh i did =]

[driemaaldrommels]

me 2! :-)

[kylelandry]

@EIDOSeidos Of course EPIC!

[saintdracula]

passacaglias rock...no?

[sailingforde04]

@saintdracula - They do , and they must rate as one of my fav forms of music ; but they can be bloomin' hard to play ;D

[eethove]

I love a good passacaglia : )

If anyone is good at composition, I have always wanted to hear exactly such a passacaglia on the opening theme of Clara Schumann's piano concerto. That particular one is harsh and heavy, but leaves so much beauty to the imagination...

[sanctusignis]

That could be a project for me one day. Great idea!

[eethove]

Does anyone know what those little asterisks occasionally appearing next to the pedal markings mean?

[sanctusignis]

It means to release the pedal.

[eethove]

Ah, thank you : )

[VIDE0DR0ME]

A monumental work from one of my favourite composers! But I think that Rian De Waal's furious and technically-perfect version is still the best of all the interpretations that I've heard so far.

[Hervinbalfour]

I have never heard that interpretation. Is it on YT? I would absolutely love to hear it because Andre Marc-Hamelin has set the standard on how The Passacaglia should be played,

[VIDE0DR0ME]

I'm a big fan of Hamelin, but I found his Passacaglia a tad tame and hence boring. You can find De Waal's version on Hyperion's "budget" label, Helios. The other pieces on the disc are passable, but it's the passionate Passacaglia that commands complete awe.