Classical music discussion, what do you like?
Apr 16, 2017 at 8:01 PM Post #886 of 2,850
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Apr 17, 2017 at 6:32 AM Post #888 of 2,850
 
how do you like this pianist?

It's recorded live and also cheap! Worth getting imo if not just for the collection.
 
 

What is his Liszt like? I find him the devoid of any interpretive depth, he just takes the Russian school of arm driven piano technique to its extremes, sounds impressive for the big romantic works but gets boring after hearing it once or twice.
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 6:43 AM Post #889 of 2,850
  It's recorded live and also cheap! Worth getting imo if not just for the collection.
 
 
What is his Liszt like? I find him the devoid of any interpretive depth, he just takes the Russian school of arm driven piano technique to its extremes, sounds impressive for the big romantic works but gets boring after hearing it once or twice.

I picked up Pletnev's Scarlatti last month, together with Zacharias's.  I agree Pletnev's choices are more extreme, and I was disappointed at first, but yesterday I found myself enjoying some of them.
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 7:05 AM Post #890 of 2,850
I picked up Pletnev's Scarlatti last month, together with Zacharias's.  I agree Pletnev's choices are more extreme, and I was disappointed at first, but yesterday I found myself enjoying some of them.


I was talking about Matsuev, I actually really like Pletnev, he is a phenomenon, although as you say he does like his erratic tempo changes and can be quite eccentric but he is a great musician!
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 12:46 PM Post #892 of 2,850
   
 
What is his Liszt like? I find him the devoid of any interpretive depth, he just takes the Russian school of arm driven piano technique to its extremes, sounds impressive for the big romantic works but gets boring after hearing it once or twice.

It's very dramatic and virtuosic. I disagree about his lack of interpretive depth, but to each his own.
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 12:47 PM Post #893 of 2,850

 
Apr 17, 2017 at 2:34 PM Post #895 of 2,850
He played that as his 5th encore the first time I saw him--there were audible gasps in the audience. Mind you, he had already played Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, and Rachmaninov's 2nd Sonata! One of the other encores was Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12!  We certainly got our money's worth of notes that night! Oh, and just to prove he isn't all blood and thunder, he opened with a lovely reading of a Schubert Sonata--the D minor, I think. (It's been a few years!) Anyway, there's really no point in debating his merits or lack thereof: you don't like him and I do--end of story!
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 4:11 PM Post #896 of 2,850
  He played that as his 5th encore the first time I saw him--there were audible gasps in the audience. Mind you, he had already played Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, and Rachmaninov's 2nd Sonata! One of the other encores was Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12!  We certainly got our money's worth of notes that night! Oh, and just to prove he isn't all blood and thunder, he opened with a lovely reading of a Schubert Sonata--the D minor, I think. (It's been a few years!) Anyway, there's really no point in debating his merits or lack thereof: you don't like him and I do--end of story!

I posted the video in jest, he's Putin's poster boy and so I wouldn't be surprised if he has a tendency to bash the piano once in a while.
 
I asked for your opinion just to see if there was other repertoire that he might excel at and you mentioned Schubert so I will check that out. I didn't find his usual romantic repertoire very moving, but I am wary about judging the Russian school of pianists solely on that, as they have often played it hundreds of times even before they are twenty...
 
Apr 17, 2017 at 4:22 PM Post #897 of 2,850
  I posted the video in jest, he's Putin's poster boy and so I wouldn't be surprised if he has a tendency to bash the piano once in a while.
 
I asked for your opinion just to see if there was other repertoire that he might excel at and you mentioned Schubert so I will check that out. I didn't find his usual romantic repertoire very moving, but I am wary about judging the Russian school of pianists solely on that, as they have often played it hundreds of times even before they are twenty...

He played Beethoven's Op.110 the last time I saw him--it was wonderful--powerful where needed, but no "bashing." I've mainly heard him play Romantic and 20th century works, such as Prokofiev (I've never heard anyone play the last movement of Prokofiev's 7th Sonata with such terrifying power) and Stravinsky's 3 Movements from Petrushka--again, devastating in its power. On the other end of the spectrum, it's hard to imagine a more delicate "Musical Snuff Box" by Liado--another frequent encore. His Bach and Mozart might prove very interesting. 
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Apr 17, 2017 at 9:23 PM Post #899 of 2,850

 

 
Apr 18, 2017 at 12:03 PM Post #900 of 2,850
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Been enjoying the heck out of the dg legendary recordings collection volumes 1 and 2 for a month or two now. It's such an amazing collection. It had many of my favorite recordings, but it also has a lot of gems. I'm still listening through it and finding interesting recordings.
 

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