Amazing..but I don't like it. I am very used to the crazy pounding on this concerto with a little more..violence in it, but this is sounding like a Schumann piece!
Just keep listening to old recordings until your ears are screwed on correctly. Try Moiseivitch, Cortot, Pachmann, Rachmaninov, Paderewski, early Hofmann, etc.
@Sinfoniette you don t like it? so you prefer the inhuman playing of dictatorship surrounded pianists.....
I am a bit un polite I know but it goes to a philosophic question, who is right, the time of Tchaikovsky or the later communist period working class philosophy opposite to salon amusement of the aristocratic society???
you don tlike it, its a question of taste.... you may not like it but Tchaikovsky did like it !!!! and thats important !!!!
@uhartchristian Sorry, I take that back. Thats a terribly stupid performance. I do like a little more fire on this recording, but on the other way that kind of playing wouldn't exist without recordings like this.
@Sinfoniette I think its a very interesting recording but must be seen with the historical context. Yes you are right there should be a bit more fire and the orchestra should be better but how many time did they work together before recording? did you think about that, how much time did he have to practice the days and weeks before, and so on...
what you can hear are a lot of intentions of the composer and a few liberties of the pianist too. we don t expect you to play it the same....
@uhartchristian Well, that gives me a new spectrum of listening to this recording. Thank you. I do think I'll have to understand much more about the piece before making quick judgements.... and to clarify again, I meant "thats a terribly stupid comment" (referring to my own) NOT performance.
The orchestra is sounding awesome. And nowadays people have forgotten to play expressively as the orchestra is doing here!!!! This orchestra takes their time and has it's own individuality. That is what we are missing now!!!!!
Fascinating. No orchestral vibrato, beautifully controlled, nuanced piano playing (no thunderous thumping here!). How strange that affected emotionalism, and wobbly vibrato is generally considered to be 'Romantic' .. this is so obviously not the case. Thank you so much for posting all these wonderful early recordings .. I have learnt more about romantic performance from these than from any books on the subject. Please keep them coming!
This is an acoustic recording, i.e., made before electrical recording was introuduced in 1925, basically with a technique resembling a tin can and a string. It is quite remarquable both as a performance and as a recording, in terms of 1924 when it was made.
I think it was made in 1924, though some companies continued making acoustic recordings through 1926.
As Victor and HMV introduced electrical recording with big fanfare in mid 1925, it would seem unlikely that anybody would have set up an expensive recording of a whole concerto, with no commercial future. But anything is possible.
Sapellnikoff knew Tchaikovsky very well, (there may even have been a romantic attachment between the two of them), he played this concerto before the composer. Aside from this historic connection, he plays the piece wonderfully well. This is recording of enormous interest.
So far as nineteenth century piano "mannerisms" are concerned, I note the "arpeggiata" in each third chord of the opening piano chords and the "arpeggiata" throughout the statement by the pianist of the second subject of the exposition, and in some other places also.
Thank you for posting this. It is a precious documentation of Tchaikovsky piano performing practice. I understand that Sapellnikoff performed the Tchaikovsky no. 1 under the composer's baton.
what an embarassement those horns are (coming from a 2nd study horn player...)! lol
gasparhunt 9 months ago
Amazing..but I don't like it. I am very used to the crazy pounding on this concerto with a little more..violence in it, but this is sounding like a Schumann piece!
Sinfoniette 3 years ago
Just keep listening to old recordings until your ears are screwed on correctly. Try Moiseivitch, Cortot, Pachmann, Rachmaninov, Paderewski, early Hofmann, etc.
2ndviolinist 2 years ago 3
@Sinfoniette you don t like it? so you prefer the inhuman playing of dictatorship surrounded pianists.....
I am a bit un polite I know but it goes to a philosophic question, who is right, the time of Tchaikovsky or the later communist period working class philosophy opposite to salon amusement of the aristocratic society???
you don tlike it, its a question of taste.... you may not like it but Tchaikovsky did like it !!!! and thats important !!!!
uhartchristian 6 months ago
@uhartchristian Sorry, I take that back. Thats a terribly stupid performance. I do like a little more fire on this recording, but on the other way that kind of playing wouldn't exist without recordings like this.
Sinfoniette 6 months ago
@Sinfoniette Uh-oh, not performance, but comment. I wanna go hide in a pothole...
Sinfoniette 6 months ago
@Sinfoniette I think its a very interesting recording but must be seen with the historical context. Yes you are right there should be a bit more fire and the orchestra should be better but how many time did they work together before recording? did you think about that, how much time did he have to practice the days and weeks before, and so on...
what you can hear are a lot of intentions of the composer and a few liberties of the pianist too. we don t expect you to play it the same....
uhartchristian 6 months ago
@uhartchristian Well, that gives me a new spectrum of listening to this recording. Thank you. I do think I'll have to understand much more about the piece before making quick judgements.... and to clarify again, I meant "thats a terribly stupid comment" (referring to my own) NOT performance.
Sinfoniette 6 months ago
I'm obsessed with this concerto ever since hearing it in the opening credits of "The Great Lie"! It's so beautiful and forceful!
NoirFemme 3 years ago 2
The orchestra is sounding awesome. And nowadays people have forgotten to play expressively as the orchestra is doing here!!!! This orchestra takes their time and has it's own individuality. That is what we are missing now!!!!!
alexongcs 3 years ago
Fascinating. No orchestral vibrato, beautifully controlled, nuanced piano playing (no thunderous thumping here!). How strange that affected emotionalism, and wobbly vibrato is generally considered to be 'Romantic' .. this is so obviously not the case. Thank you so much for posting all these wonderful early recordings .. I have learnt more about romantic performance from these than from any books on the subject. Please keep them coming!
byrolinda 3 years ago 4
This is an acoustic recording, i.e., made before electrical recording was introuduced in 1925, basically with a technique resembling a tin can and a string. It is quite remarquable both as a performance and as a recording, in terms of 1924 when it was made.
AulicExclusiva 3 years ago 2
But the description says this was recorded in 1926?
a1s2d3f4g5q1w2e3 2 years ago
I think it was made in 1924, though some companies continued making acoustic recordings through 1926.
As Victor and HMV introduced electrical recording with big fanfare in mid 1925, it would seem unlikely that anybody would have set up an expensive recording of a whole concerto, with no commercial future. But anything is possible.
AulicExclusiva 2 years ago
Sapellnikoff knew Tchaikovsky very well, (there may even have been a romantic attachment between the two of them), he played this concerto before the composer. Aside from this historic connection, he plays the piece wonderfully well. This is recording of enormous interest.
AulicExclusiva 2 years ago
So far as nineteenth century piano "mannerisms" are concerned, I note the "arpeggiata" in each third chord of the opening piano chords and the "arpeggiata" throughout the statement by the pianist of the second subject of the exposition, and in some other places also.
Thank you for posting this. It is a precious documentation of Tchaikovsky piano performing practice. I understand that Sapellnikoff performed the Tchaikovsky no. 1 under the composer's baton.
gerardbedecarter 3 years ago 2
Amazing! And this is THE very first recording of the Concerto?
snaaptaker 3 years ago 2