MICHELANGELI - RAVEL GASPARD de la Nuit - SCARBO

[brianCIM]

To achieve what ABM does here i assure you is as difficult as what Art Tatum achieved. I love them both dearly. There is this misconception that playing Jazz is more difficult than playing Classical music because improvisation is involved. In many ways it is easier because the idiom is more "free". Try walking on stage and playing like this. It ain't gonna happen. Let's not compare. they both have their difficulties and i am pretty sure a genius like ABM could improvise his ass off. 2 GODS!

[klavierflame]

this was live??? i'm speechless.

[brianCIM]

@klavierflame if i am not mistaken ever ABM recording of Gaspard is live. AND they are all unsurpassable IMHO. everyone has favorites but they are all astonishing to me.

[John11inch]

Send me this; I can get the rotation noises out of it.

[rigel48]

A very great Scarbo. Michelangeli's range of tonal shading is extraordinary !

[milensot]

I have never heard a pianist get closer to the heart of this piece than Michelangeli.......thanks for posting!

[frncgrc]

Incredible!!!

[Steinwaytoday]

I don't doubt Michelangeli was the 20th century's greatest pianist.

[enricoshyster]

@Steinwaytoday He was brilliant, but I think that Art Tatum is the 20th century's greatest pianist. Don't get me wrong, I adore Michelangeli, and I know that they generally play practically opposite music, but Art Tatum is God on the piano. :D

[earthypig]

@enricoshyster i love art tatum too... but i don't think i would say he was "better" than michelangeli... who was also God on the piano imho... :D to me they are both divine ^.^

[Pischnaholic]

This truly demonic Scarbo fairly hisses, crackles, lashes out and pelts bits of sharp gravel and broken glass at you before it melts into a noxious liquid, then rises like a cloud of poison gas only to re-materialize itself in a form more powerful and frightening than ever -- and then it finally creeps back into the darkest corner of the night.

And do I detect a glint of wry humor here, as if Ravel -- or perhaps ABM -- has the effrontery to WINK as he looks Terror squarely in the eye?

[maxreger100]

@Pischnaholic

Fantastic imagery--bravo to you too!

[terenceva]

There is a problem with the sound but it's (like always) an oustanding version. More perfect and colorful than the London version. there is the Lugano 1969 version (the coldest), the 1987 Vatican version. Effectivly, this one is the Prague. Perhaps the better and one of the most transcendant of the century.

[terenceva]

This is great but the sound is out with regulary scratch? Why...

[auerod]

Yes this is the live 1960 Prague performance. 1959 London comes close but this is without a doubt my favorite Gaspard by ABM.  A truly scintillating account!

[abmsghost]

Phenomenal...nothing else to say..

[stephenTGV]

Superb !!!!

[brianCIM]

what year is this from? i haven't heard it before. is it live?

[klabm7]

I think this was recorded in Prague on 3 June 1960.

[brianCIM]

ty klabm7. as usual its absolutely transcendent. astounding.