Marc Andre Hamelin - Richard Kastle - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 - 17 virtuosi play Liszt's last page

[MrStrav81]

Is this worth comparing pianists side by side on?

[holdredger]

@MrStrav81 Yes it is. You can hear who can play Liszt, and who can't. You can also determine which ones cheat in the studio.

[MrStrav81]

@holdredger

It was meant to be a rhetorical question. The answer is no.

[binkymagnus]

Where's Tom and Jerry?! :)

[f1f1s]

I had 5 minutes of laughing at the greatest virtuosi. Please crucify me!

Seriously, many virtuosi released messy recordings, and there is no shame to criticize their manner.

But this video leaves an aftertaste of incompleteness without Rubinstein, Argerich, and Horowitz...

[airvarie]

Umm I see

[tchykovsky]

What clarity from Rachmaninoff for a recording so old. I didn't hear a missed octave because everything was so clear (obviously the youtuber here is nitpicking everything he can just to say they're playing something wrong). Is it necessary though? Wrong notes or not, it's about the music, not technique. You're also missing the Horowitz playing of the original cadenza, he made one recording of it. I'd dare say the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2's descending octaves are harder.

[6347285]

@tchykovsky I agree that it's about the music. The problem with Rachmaninoff is that he plays the ending quietly, like a director who remakes Hitchcock's Psycho and inteprets the shower scene as calm and boring. You're the critic who is impressed by how calm and soothing the new shower scene is, notwithstanding the creator's intent and the direct violation of logical reasoning.

[adog41494]

@ClassicalMusicOnly: I believe he was referring to Adam Gyorgy. In which case, he would be correct

[ChopinLiszt82]

@Chopiano I agree with you. But is it 'prestissimo possibile' for that?

[Chopiano]

Liszt says 'Prestissimo'. That indeed means 'very fast', but not necessarily 'as fast as possible'.

(In effect it could also mean 'faster than possible', but that's another thing)

[arcturian627]

Everyone's making wrong notes, even Rachmaninov! :O Is it even possible to find a perfect recording?

[OrangeSodaKing]

I'm not going to lie... Kastle's ending octaves are good. But what was wrong with Hamelin's?

[TheShnag]

@OrangeSodaKing Kastle himself says that Hamelin took Rachmaninoff's shorcut, which is to play closer to the keys, making it easier to hit all the correct notes, but with less volume. He does give Hamelin credit for bringing that method to respectable volume. Kastle sounds cocky when he passes out judgement like that, but you can't help but agree with him. He is the only pianist in the past century, maybe Denis Matsuev too, who could play Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 the way Franz Liszt intended.

[CodyNelsonMusic]

I'm not gonna lie, Rachmaninoff, Hoffmann and Hamelin make the others look like a joke. Who's this Gyorgy kid? That's pretty terrible playing.

[princeashtonsdad]

Rachmaninoff was the clearest and best Hoffman is closest to him

[MrDuesi2]

I liked Rachmaninoff, Brendel and Lin.

[timuth]

2:25 on dirait plutôt Horowitz non ?

[nmvdw]

Howard, Rachmaninoff and Cziffra are nice.