Thanks for posting that - I was reluctant to click to play it, as I figured it would be the first movement, which, while good, is suffering from a bit of overexposure two hundred years on.
That's always been my favorite movement of that piece - stormy, challenging, occasionally shifting into a major key, but then returning to the minor. Beautiful.
Recorded in the same hall as Kempff, here's Valentina Lisitsa's take on the same movement. Although the pedaling is different, and the tempo is somewhat faster, there still is something Kempff-like about her approach.
Beautiful. And not the usual movement that is always played. I so admire the talent and hours upon hours of dedicated practice that it takes to be able to play so well.
On another note: I think that my mind has been ruined by What's Opera Doc and Disney's Fantasia. In my mind's eye I see Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. I have to really work to get them out of there, relax and envision nature, pastoral scenes, storms, rain etc. and not...kill da wabbit.
Yes, Sixty, I agree about the 1st movement. I associate it with the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. A great movie that uses it well. So I have to listen to it sparingly.
THANK YOU, Tim. What a treat. It is mesmerizing to watch her hands. Bookmarked :)
Agreed, DBQ. Is it Haydn's Sunrise that is played when the sun comes up in the barnyard, and the rooster crows?
Icepick. Bat.
ps, Sixty I chose the Kempff because I think it sounds better not rushed...I knew it wasn't perfect...
Her hands are gorgeous. My father would have said "She has skinny card playin' fingers".
That was meant as a compliment.
Back in the olden days of CDs, I spent a long time in a great CD store shopping for a version of this very movement that I could live with. Listened to every reasonable version in the store. I liked Horowitz as a character, and his playing on various large romantic piano pieces, but his recordings of this piece fell way short.
I can't remember how many versions I listened to in total - might have been a dozen, and since my stereo is dead, I can't even tell you who I ended up with - but it was crisp like Lisitsa's.
Beethoven was amazing - you look at the notes, think "Hey, that doesn't look like much" but a real artist finds the music hiding in those notes - and that makes all the difference.
13 comments:
Thanks for posting that - I was reluctant to click to play it, as I figured it would be the first movement, which, while good, is suffering from a bit of overexposure two hundred years on.
That's always been my favorite movement of that piece - stormy, challenging, occasionally shifting into a major key, but then returning to the minor. Beautiful.
And C# minor is an awesome key - what can I say?
It's traditional to stop in the middle to allow someone in the audience to continue coughing.
Recorded in the same hall as Kempff, here's Valentina Lisitsa's take on the same movement. Although the pedaling is different, and the tempo is somewhat faster, there still is something Kempff-like about her approach.
Beautiful. And not the usual movement that is always played. I so admire the talent and hours upon hours of dedicated practice that it takes to be able to play so well.
On another note: I think that my mind has been ruined by What's Opera Doc and Disney's Fantasia. In my mind's eye I see Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. I have to really work to get them out of there, relax and envision nature, pastoral scenes, storms, rain etc. and not...kill da wabbit.
Thanks, Tim - that was brilliant. I like the energy she brought to that piece, not to mention it was much more accurate than Kempff.
She is a remarkable player.
And C# minor is an awesome key - what can I say?
It's no D-flat minor....
Yes, Sixty, I agree about the 1st movement. I associate it with the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. A great movie that uses it well. So I have to listen to it sparingly.
THANK YOU, Tim. What a treat. It is mesmerizing to watch her hands. Bookmarked :)
Agreed, DBQ. Is it Haydn's Sunrise that is played when the sun comes up in the barnyard, and the rooster crows?
Icepick. Bat.
ps, Sixty I chose the Kempff because I think it sounds better not rushed...I knew it wasn't perfect...
Her hands are gorgeous. My father would have said "She has skinny card playin' fingers".
That was meant as a compliment.
Back in the olden days of CDs, I spent a long time in a great CD store shopping for a version of this very movement that I could live with. Listened to every reasonable version in the store. I liked Horowitz as a character, and his playing on various large romantic piano pieces, but his recordings of this piece fell way short.
I can't remember how many versions I listened to in total - might have been a dozen, and since my stereo is dead, I can't even tell you who I ended up with - but it was crisp like Lisitsa's.
Beethoven was amazing - you look at the notes, think "Hey, that doesn't look like much" but a real artist finds the music hiding in those notes - and that makes all the difference.
Ravel Toccata the hard movement at the end of Tombeau de Couperin.
The Forlane from it is the equivalent of the first movement of the moonlight sonata.
Angella Hewitt does a nice job on the whole thing.
Icepick. Bat.
LOL
That's interesting what your dad said. I'd never thought about it, but I do come from a card playing family.
rh thanks for the Ravel. The forlane sounds a bit like jazz. So beautiful.
Ice :)
Post a Comment