Joseph Villa plays Rachmaninov Sonata 2 live (mvt 1)

[88alan8800]

how did he die? anyone know?

[chiv78]

beginning was definitely very promising....then the harshness became annoying....

[chu71]

Isbrother - By those who ve heard it ... that is ...

[piano6861]

Magnificent!

[piano6861]

Bravo! Joseph Villa was a brilliant pianist and teacher. I had the good fortune of studying with him for seven years. His untimely death was a terrible loss.

[mrmolinodelahoz]

The pianist is fantastic but the piano sounds like a ton of nails being shot out of a cannon. Must be a Steinway.

[sultanov10]

Very, very fast.....mmmm, regular version. Check the Ashkenazy's version.

[mattandtrissy]

I guess Joseph Villa or whatever his name is must have a take a serious piss cuz he's rushing like it's running down his leg.....

[nosniborceda]

It's ok, kind of rushed though... can't say I truly enjoy it... I prefer Horowitz. You should try to get Zoltan Kocsis, his performance (of the original verson) is both technical and musically astounding...

And before I get replies like "I'ld like to see you play even half of this before you make such a comment"... I am playing it (my own rendition of the two versions), and a video is coming soon to a youtube near you...

[tacitdynamite]

I like this more the more I listen to it. It's a very individual performance - it kind of reminds me of Michael Ponti's performance of the same piece ( though Ponti played the original version, not a hybrid ). Where did you get it? Did you see Villa play this?  I couldn't find much information about Villa on the internet outside of his NYT obit.

[tacitdynamite]

I guess he pulled a horrowitz and combined the revised and original versions.

[bonsoiree2]

If you like the crash and f burn variety of plaing. Its so crude. And there's not a Russian bone in its body; idiomatic it is not. But it is certainly exciting, if you like music of the action hero variety.

[lumbersandnetters]

what a great performace!