I can't imagine a performance I'd like better. So many of today's hyper-virtuosi overstate their case, wax barbaric to the point of ferocity, and thereby miss the refined exuberance we enjoy here.
Only Cortot has captured the elegance and unbridled-but-still-civilized joy of this movement as well as Novaes. The others --- scintillating though their work may be --- overshoot the mark.
Too much raw, unrestrained virtuosity mars the aristocratic character of the music and makes it vulgar.
No matter how many other performances of this oft-performed work I hear (including all those now on YouTube), I still think Novaes' is the best. She was also wonderful in Schumann (colorful and imaginative--the best-- in the Papillons, Op. 2 and Carnaval, Op. 9), and Beethoven (I heard her do a wonderful "Waldstein" in NY in 1968, and there is a sublime account of Op. 81a and Op. 111 from the same period on CD). Her Chopin is authentic: her teacher Philipp a student of Mathias, Chopin pupil
Interesting you mentioned the 2nd sonata. I remember reading a biography of Chopin many years ago by Herbert Weinstock in which the author said the best performance of the Chopin B-flat minor he'd ever heard was by Guiomar Novaes!
Novaes was simply terrific. She knew how to create exciting effects and build tension and drama in the music with understatement and restraint. Then the big climaxes were that much bigger. Her tone was never harsh, even in the loudest passages. Horowitz should have taken lessons from her!
Some of Alicia de Larrocha's renditions are sublime!
How about Uchida and Krauss? I don't think I'd put them in with the "greatest of the century" (from what I've heard which, admittedly, isn't a whole lot) but they might deserve mention....
Any list of great pianists of the 20th century, male or female, HAS to include Clara Haskil. Her Mozart was impeccable...also her Schubert (marvellous B-flat), Beethoven, Schumann, Scarlatti (try to hear her B Minor, L. 33)...such a crystalline sound and consummate musicality. She had a tragic life, however, and died from a fall in the Brussels train station in 1960 rushing to a concert she was to play with Arthur Grumiaux. She was 65 but still playing superbly. I worship her playing.
But please don't misunderstand--I'm not saying Argerich is BETTER than the others, just that she has a big style all her own which makes many other pianists sound a bit timid by comparison; sometimes Argerich can sound a bit wild and even aggressive (I prefer Novaes in Chopin)--but what Argerich and Novaes have in common is real individuality, a trait which seems lacking in many pianists today
It is very easy to play a lot of music in a particular way, not because of copying or lack of individuality; rather that the music seems to read itself in a particular way.
I say this to defend lots of younger artists: it's not that they lack individuality so much as that their individuality sounds alike. I pose a question: what is better - to have a set of people sounding the same or people trying to sound differently simply to be different? I haven't decided an answer.
wonderful 5*!!!
pligana 2 years ago
I can't imagine a performance I'd like better. So many of today's hyper-virtuosi overstate their case, wax barbaric to the point of ferocity, and thereby miss the refined exuberance we enjoy here.
Only Cortot has captured the elegance and unbridled-but-still-civilized joy of this movement as well as Novaes. The others --- scintillating though their work may be --- overshoot the mark.
Too much raw, unrestrained virtuosity mars the aristocratic character of the music and makes it vulgar.
Pischnaholic 2 years ago 3
Guiomar Novaes: what a magical artist! Many thanks for posting this splendid recording!
ctd006 2 years ago 2
No matter how many other performances of this oft-performed work I hear (including all those now on YouTube), I still think Novaes' is the best. She was also wonderful in Schumann (colorful and imaginative--the best-- in the Papillons, Op. 2 and Carnaval, Op. 9), and Beethoven (I heard her do a wonderful "Waldstein" in NY in 1968, and there is a sublime account of Op. 81a and Op. 111 from the same period on CD). Her Chopin is authentic: her teacher Philipp a student of Mathias, Chopin pupil
soami2u 3 years ago 3
I love the way she plays this and the second sonata as well: they have pretty much set my standards for the interpretation of them: perfection.
danceofthegoblins 3 years ago
Interesting you mentioned the 2nd sonata. I remember reading a biography of Chopin many years ago by Herbert Weinstock in which the author said the best performance of the Chopin B-flat minor he'd ever heard was by Guiomar Novaes!
soami2u 3 years ago 2
Novaes was simply terrific. She knew how to create exciting effects and build tension and drama in the music with understatement and restraint. Then the big climaxes were that much bigger. Her tone was never harsh, even in the loudest passages. Horowitz should have taken lessons from her!
soami2u 3 years ago 5
The greatest female piano player of the 20th. century
zhivago295 3 years ago
Yep, but I'd mention Bachauer too.
danceofthegoblins 3 years ago
Don't forget Myra Hess. The English school at its best (but some other good ones were Solomon, Moura Lympany)
soami2u 3 years ago
Some of Alicia de Larrocha's renditions are sublime!
How about Uchida and Krauss? I don't think I'd put them in with the "greatest of the century" (from what I've heard which, admittedly, isn't a whole lot) but they might deserve mention....
danceofthegoblins 3 years ago
Come to think of it Eunice Norton wasn't so bad either ;).
danceofthegoblins 3 years ago
Any list of great pianists of the 20th century, male or female, HAS to include Clara Haskil. Her Mozart was impeccable...also her Schubert (marvellous B-flat), Beethoven, Schumann, Scarlatti (try to hear her B Minor, L. 33)...such a crystalline sound and consummate musicality. She had a tragic life, however, and died from a fall in the Brussels train station in 1960 rushing to a concert she was to play with Arthur Grumiaux. She was 65 but still playing superbly. I worship her playing.
soami2u 3 years ago
Comment removed
soami2u 3 years ago
Also Annie Fischer.
RabidCh 3 years ago
But please don't misunderstand--I'm not saying Argerich is BETTER than the others, just that she has a big style all her own which makes many other pianists sound a bit timid by comparison; sometimes Argerich can sound a bit wild and even aggressive (I prefer Novaes in Chopin)--but what Argerich and Novaes have in common is real individuality, a trait which seems lacking in many pianists today
soami2u 3 years ago 2
It is very easy to play a lot of music in a particular way, not because of copying or lack of individuality; rather that the music seems to read itself in a particular way.
I say this to defend lots of younger artists: it's not that they lack individuality so much as that their individuality sounds alike. I pose a question: what is better - to have a set of people sounding the same or people trying to sound differently simply to be different? I haven't decided an answer.
GeorgeMaxwellDuPre 2 years ago
I loved this performance. Rich!
GeorgeMaxwellDuPre 2 years ago