Liszt Sonata -- Andre Watts -- Tokyo 1988 (Part 1 of 3)

[lourak]

Far too pompous and magisterial at the outset.

[tedly10027]

2) most pianists, even the greatest ones, often play finger passages leading to chordal climaxes too "lightly" , imo, lacking the fullness of sound as andre gives. amazing . the musicality is magnificent also..with his understanding of shits between "cantilena" lines and "speaking" lines..and he brings out the TENSION in the large work from section to section. beautiful rendition.

[tedly10027]

i have heard plenty of the most celebrated versions of this work, and used to make this a "specialty" of mine when I was in "the world of music" among colleagues and I must say THIS is TRUE liszt playing in my view, and one of the most magnificent renditions. to play the lisztian "running notes" in the fortissimo sections with INDIVIDUAL force in the notes building up to the chordal climaxes is EXTREMELY challenging and I have rarely heard versions that accomplish that as Andre does..

[wangaling]

incredible

[masterofsynapsis]

Great playing. He's from Germany. I think his mother is Hungarian, like Liszt that might explain this wonderful interpretation. His father is African, that explains his skin color. In total he looks like a Cuban Marlon Brando that can play the piano!

[VivaRenata]

For Joel. This is part one of three.

[ThePianoguy89]

He is truly amazing! I have some of his recordings of Chopin on CD!

[BlueLimeMan]

Amazing....

[owensfromSI]

Andre Watts...your expressions are as passionate as the brilliancy of each note from your annointed hands.

[ayomon1]

Actually,

Andre Watts is an example of what African American men can accomplish, besides Basketball and Football when provided with motivation, support and opportunity. Besides, who knows which "side" of his ancestry (if you want to make culture mutually exclusive) that brings the "soul" to his European classical piano performances?

One can only speculate... No matter... he IS a brilliant pianist.

[petechandanatural]

@ayomon1 I believe Watts was African-Hungarian American and what is this, "...what African American men can accomplish besides Basketball and Football..."? You make being a professional Football or Basketball player not accomplished? and only African Americans are typically that. When I see Watts perform I see no color but a genius; yes motivation, support and opportunity helps but to play like that you are born that way it's a gift to us from a higher power.

[ohbella1]

Who is this freak who dislikes this??



[jubulalau]

Woo Hoo, this is awesome.



[skimask777]

If they had post this perhaps two years ago his viewers would have been more. After years of listining to him play this sonata it's good to see him perform it.

[assindiastignani]

In our white-bread-lo-cal-mayonnaise-­diet-Pepsi, "politically correct" (whatever the hell THAT means) society, we are not allowed to talk about ethnicity our family background anymore. But these things do nonetheless exist.This man is half Hungarian and this music is in his blood.Of course his Liszt is fabulous. Being Polish doesn't hurt Zimmermann's Chopin either,nor is it an accident that Samson Francois played Ravel so divinely.Ethnic origin isn't everything, but it does also play a role.

[BrunoLien]

@assindiastignani The problem is that Samson François played very well Chopin too, Guilels played very well Schumann, Rubinstein played so well Brahms, Barenboïm and Arrau played so well Beethoven and Mozart, Benedetti-Michelangeli so well Debussy, etc. etc. Music is not a matter of ethnicity or nationality.

[assindiastignani]

@BrunoLien Of course music is not "a matter of ethnicity or nationality," and that's not what I said. Please read my letter carefully. All I'm saying is, ancestry can play a role in one's identification w. the works of certain composers. Nonetheless, being German (for instance) is no guarantee that you will play Brahms well. (By the way, Chopin was half French& spent most of his life in Paris, so it's logical that a French pianist might have a particular affinity for his music.)

[BrunoLien]

@assindiastignani I understand what you mean. Nevertheless,I think that if Watts plays so well Liszt's sonata,it's because he is a great pianist, it's not because he his half hungarian (he used to play as well Chopin's concertos or Beethoven's Eroica variations, for instance). If you prefer: you don't need to be austrian to be strongly involved with Mozart: maybe the best interpreters of Mozart today are Barenboïm (argentinian-israelian),Ushida (japanese) and Perahia (american)!

[mojazka]

Argerich and Michelangeli are my favorite pianists, but Watts plays Sonata the best in the world, by far.

[Doc10Nemo]

Very few pianists have the intensity and talent of Andre Watts - a pianist's pianist to be sure. He really excels at playing Liszt. I'm still looking for his version of La Campanella on YouTube; wish there were more videos of him available.

[DoWriteMan]

When he gets in the zone, he's the best . . . and you can tell Andre LOVES Liszt. His interpretation is other-worldly. You should hear him perform the Rach 3. Amazing.

[Tdgonline]

@DoWriteMan I have to agree! This is one of the most powerful and passionate performances of Lizst's sonata in B min I've ever heard.

[dorfmanjones]

Remarkable performance! Certainly one of the greatest pair of piano hands any man/woman has ever been blessed with. Only caveat would be I wish he had performed this on a top level steinway D rather than a Yamaha. The latter tends to be a bit monochrome w/respect to tone color and starts to wear on the ear after a while. Watts was back then a sort of superman, no?

[petechandanatural]

@dorfmanjones Yamahas are fine Steinways are good too but more for the snobs of the classical world.