This performance is a landmark in the history of recording. It is phenomenal in every respect, and it earns Richter a place among the giants of any era. The audience should have jumped up and screamed at the end of this performance. Richter plays this etude with the requisite lightness and spirit. No one can touch him in this piece.
He had a couple of bad days, which were, unfortunately, recorded. But he was an incomparable master to anyone who listens to more than three recordings. Perfect cantabile, limitless strength, natural breathing and characterization of rhythm, hypnotic ability to focus on structure for an amazing length of time, great depth of imagination and inspiration in the more spiritual repertoire. A total, devoted artist, and just look at the start he had in life...
Amazing video too: Richter's barely changes his expression or moves his head throughout the piece; even when he has finished playing and everyone is applauding, he just sits there, with the same sombre expression on his face. I only wish we could see his hands.
This performance is so amazing. Richter's technique is so flawless that he can interpret and express this piece with ease making it the most artistic rendition. i love it. It does sound like it's title.
Now, here's an interesting experiment: the settings icon enables listening at a quarter and at half speed. There is obviously some distortion, but the quarter speed reveals some incredible things: the extraordinary precision and above all, the control and discipline in practice with which Richter obtained this performance. For me, this single old and battered recording reveals more about his playing than almost any other.
It has playfulness, lightness, charm (some commentators here don't seem to hear this), it has rhythmic drive, drama, outstanding clarity and phrasing, great contrasts and lovely melodic thinking, superb pedalling, balance and sound-control, in short it's the most succesful LIVE recording of this piece ever.
Fabulous Fusion of Fleeting Feathery Fantasy..Ferociously Fast but Fun with Finesse & Fantastic Facility..I Feel Fortunate For Finding these Feux Follets! (Legendary interpretation..class of it's own)
bruhh wdym "no kissin"... have you even heard his studio recording? it's even more captivating than this. the sound effects he creates are extremely well-executed, in pretty much every single section of the piece. i don't deny that richter is also the best with this piece, but you're insane if you don't hear how phenomenal kissin's recording is.
Yes! So many people are put off by the apparent ease with which he characterizes this impossible piece, but the mysterious quality of "will o' the wisp" is right there in front of us. A stunning achievement. I'd really like to know what kind of piano he was using though...
There must be something wrong in my head... Haha. I have had this recording of the Sofia Recital (first exposure to Richter) and enjoy it very much, but the recording of the Feux Follets at his 1988 (Age 72!) recital has just entraced me for some reason. It's just very musically different and most all sounds imperfect.
How is it possible that by hearing a piece by Richter i listen to a story and not just the music? Listen how he captures the audience by the first few note already. C'mon folks, pianists, this is the only reference one should listen to and try to meet up with him.
It's a "fluff" during a live performance, not what I would call a mistake. A mistake would be if he had learned the piece wrongly and always messed up at that point. It is a very tricky section, but Richter has recorded it elsewhere without the fluff.
@gerardbedecarter It certainly is! Richter was a natural wonder, he understood the music in its deepest core and had a technique that is not from this world. There were no compromises. He just did what had to be done from his point of view. So everything he touches is authentic and right.
@bIuebonics I dont quite understand what you mean. Fireflies and will-o- the whisp are two different things. Anyway i would imagine will - o - the whisp to be more eerie or haunting in some kind of way. That's it if i have seen one in real life, which i haven't actuallyXD. And the most descriptions i've read about this phenomenal doesn't take me to this version of Richter's playing tbh. heheh, but it's only my oppinion.
@arturon111 I agree with you that RIchter wasn't the lightest on his piano playing. But then again, the difference might just be that Arrau's version has "few" fireflies and Richter's has "more than few":D. And fireflies aren't the lightest among beings or things in this world. I really think Richter's performance does Chopin just. Maybe even better than how Chopin wrote his notes(maybe i'm talking over myself here).
@martinadler73 Ofc he was. He traveled around Russia and europe between bombs and war to play for the people. He did most things that other pianists didn't even dare to think about. I admire his play, but even more his himself as a whole person.
this is not too fast. the tempo marking is all very well, but it applies to crotchets. I am convinced that this is how liszt would have played it. musically perfect, tecnically extremely good.
I listen to Arrau to understand why you like him so much and i think that he was an outstanding pianist obssesed with details, beatiful tone, beatiful rubato and so on . I like most schumann carnival and chopin nocturne.
"not a musician". LOL. I think people confuse stillness with coldness. He quietly sits back and breathes all the music through the atmosphere, just lets it happen. We should all be capable of such 'coldness', in any venue.. I don't think I'm ever that relaxed even asleep. Wish he were still here..
You have no clue either. I did not include Richter's entire ouvre with that comment. Listen to Friedheim's recording - not a great audio recording - and you might start to comprehend the meaning of this piece. I will post (hopefully soon) which I believe to be the definitive recording. READ MY COMMENTS ABOVE AND LTSTEN. This is what's wrong with most versions of the Feux Follets. Very few pianists can negotiate this piece and after listening to Richter's recording - he's not one of them!
The free license was taken for the purpose of creating musicality, and only sometimes for virtuosity. Barere is the only performer I can think of on RUclips that takes many of his performances to the latter. Maybe you should read up on how the old Liszt played too. I'm only defending Richter 1958 in that this performance is exquisite in that it is not a painting of Feux Follets but still acquires musical merits. If you want Richter's Feux Follets listen to his 1988 recording like I said.
Alexggable, I DO understand both objectivity and subjectivity in music. I am a composer. When I write notes, I expect them to be played. When I give dynamic instructions, I expect them to be observed. But I also expect every player to contribute something of himself, from his heart and soul. A piano solo requires both a composer and a performer to "come to life", but the composer is always the "senior partner". It's the responsibility of every interpreter
Torontochopin, how can you know someone plays exactly the way the composer intends a piece to be played? Especially composers and performers like Liszt were so creative they never played a piece twice the same way. That goes for tempo, but also for dynamics. Indications like metronome marks, dynamics or - in his case - even notes are in the text but never a definite and final version of how piece should be performed. The text is already a transcription of what composers had in mind.
It is the responsibility of every pianist to "speak for the composer". Of course, every person's understanding of a particular composer (or particular composition) will be unique. Of course, we all have preferences in performers. Some base their preference on both the composer's definite intentions and subjective taste. Others' preferences are entirely subjective, because the listener has little or no understanding of the objective elements involved in good interpretation.
OK, alexggable...we might be coming to some sort of agreement. First, I FULLY acknowledge the SUBJECTIVE element of interpretation. (Without it, music would be dead!) The OBJECTIVE element is determined by respect for the composer (in our score-reading), and by our knowledge of the composer and "performance practices" of his particular period and geographic location. But if the performer wishes to be a "senior partner", ignoring the composer's intentions, let him compose his own music!
@karlakor, I agree, Richter is just...beyond anything. This piece is almost impossible to play, let alone well play well, and Richter makes most of this piece seem like the most effortless thing to play.
if your definition of passion is speed, then we hear musci competeley different. However, Arrau, throughout one of the longest careers in music ever, (80 years) was constantly praised for many things in both his records and concerts, among them, was his tremendous passion when he played, even when he was in his 80s. Passion has to do with tension in music (not physical), and tension has to do with the rubato accelerandos and rellanetandos and crescendos and diminuendos, and Arrau was a master
Intended speeds falls within the musical message given. If you played the Moonlight sonata at Presto speed it would be a failure from a musical standpoint simply because it doesn't work with the music, however one can look at Rachmaninoff's 2nd/3rd Concerto and note how many times people don't follow the tempo indications on that, and still go pretty well. There are plenty of recordings that are execeedingly slow or fast and still work. Try listening to a Liszt pupil sometime... or the 1988.
@@punkpoetry This is the exact quote, extracted from the Baltimore Sun 2/11/96; As pianist Arthur Rubinstein once remarked, "Richter is the best musician among us and we all know it."
BlackMasterJoe89; Kissin doesn't play it faster and it's not the case... (though playing feux follets *faster* than Richter would be an achievement by itself!);) Probably recording quality makes this impression for some (not all) people.
Imagine if we played everything at the composer's intended speeds... Additionally Romantic pianists did not play at a metronomic preciseness, just hear recordings by von Sauer, Rosenthal, or D'Albert, Lamond, Friedheim, all of whom were pupils of Liszt... In fact there are recordings of Lamond and Friedheim playing this etude on RUclips-- At least try Richter's 1988 account. It's vastly different ;).
Rach also liked it if people played his pieces differently than he did... Any comment about Richter's Feux Follets being a solely technical display is completely inaccurate. It is VERY playful and bright, and not very Feux Follets if you think of them as mysterious and haunting. And it isn't easier when playing it faster, there's something you need to mutilate on a technical level in order for that to be true.
I consider tone and the ability to adequately phrase part of technique. But I was NEVER concerned with how fast Richter went the first time I listened to this nor do I like a performance because they can rattle off notes quickly.
OH right ofc. sorry iu was talking over myself. :D it's a Liszt piece you are right-. Well, I've never seen a will-o-the-wisp in my life. So i just assume they are fireflies:D. Atleast it explaine alot for me:D.
With all that i hear on Arrau he didn't rise to the level of Richter. Only compare Brahms second concerto, and if you say something about speed, Rachmaninov second.
Marcel; It's so funny to see how one can make such a comment! Is Richter your *ideological* enemy? You don't have to post outrageous comments to get more clicks on your username! ;)
reproducing notes... "transcendental" etudes. This is a technical demonstration, and was written to that purpose. No musical imagination... I can't believe you gave him attention. You couldn't say that if you had heard him without being already sure of what you'll think of him. If he was only a robot, without imagination and musical capacities, he wouldn't be where he is (or was), his interpretations are just according to his personality. And we can't say he was a particularly happy pianist.
twooffour; Re: your hope... No, it's my sincere belief! May be you'll share my opinion after reading more of heroicpolonaise/davidfj90/jvmalfi comments.
Anyone denying Richter's brilliance as a pianist is musically ignorant - he was an incredible musician and pianist. How sad that anyone could say this is just about showing off - notes and fingers with no emotions - it is to admit that you have a SERIOUS hearing problem!
Not exactly, davidfj90; Having right to express ignorant opinion doesn't mean, that such opinion shouldn't be confronted. If you can "lay out" your criticism clearly and respectfully I'm ready to argue with you. Otherwise you are simply another provocateur.
I feel a lot of nervous energy, excitement and relentlessness in Richter's interpretation. In contrast, when I hear Kissin play, I hear lots of correct notes... that's all.
Twooffour; There is no need for "hair splitting"... Your definitions for "read" are interesting but none of them would apply to heroicpolonaise's level... at least yet. To improve your own sight-reading try to read music without actual playing and *imagine* the process. Then do it at the piano and *make* your eyes stay at least half measure ahead of the place you're actually playing. Good luck! P.S. Yes, I ment comments on other pages too.
To play this fast with this clarity and control is amazing. I know it, because I practiced and performed it as well. The only thing you're trying to prove is your inability to play at this level, as well as the lack of insights in what performing in Liszt's period was all about. Your assumption Richter plays it not as Liszt intended it to be because of a different metronome figure and an occasional deviation in dynamics proves you still have to learn a bit more than your teacher taught you.
This performance is a landmark in the history of recording. It is phenomenal in every respect, and it earns Richter a place among the giants of any era. The audience should have jumped up and screamed at the end of this performance. Richter plays this etude with the requisite lightness and spirit. No one can touch him in this piece.
He had a couple of bad days, which were, unfortunately, recorded.
But he was an incomparable master to anyone who listens to more than three recordings. Perfect cantabile, limitless strength, natural breathing and characterization of rhythm, hypnotic ability to focus on structure for an amazing length of time, great depth of imagination and inspiration in the more spiritual repertoire.
A total, devoted artist, and just look at the start he had in life...
I want to know who the idiots are that pressed "dislike." This is one of the greatest performances of anything ever!!
Idiots are idiots. Why let them upset you?
Amazing video too: Richter's barely changes his expression or moves his head throughout the piece; even when he has finished playing and everyone is applauding, he just sits there, with the same sombre expression on his face. I only wish we could see his hands.
Incredible to mantain such stillness while playing one of the hardest etudes in the repertoire
This performance is so amazing. Richter's technique is so flawless that he can interpret and express this piece with ease making it the most artistic rendition. i love it. It does sound like it's title.
Now, here's an interesting experiment: the settings icon enables listening at a quarter and at half speed. There is obviously some distortion, but the quarter speed reveals some incredible things: the extraordinary precision and above all, the control and discipline in practice with which Richter obtained this performance. For me, this single old and battered recording reveals more about his playing than almost any other.
It has playfulness, lightness, charm (some commentators here don't seem to hear this), it has rhythmic drive, drama, outstanding clarity and phrasing, great contrasts and lovely melodic thinking, superb pedalling, balance and sound-control, in short it's the most succesful LIVE recording of this piece ever.
!!! Господи, помилуй нас, грешных!
Fabulous Fusion of Fleeting Feathery Fantasy..Ferociously Fast but Fun with Finesse & Fantastic Facility..I Feel Fortunate For Finding these Feux Follets! (Legendary interpretation..class of it's own)
This is phantastic! It's perfect!
Richter and no music? Wtf.. He is one of the greatest musicians of all time, not only the pianist
simply amazing
Most incredible version EVER. No one can even come close to this technical control, no kissin, no Ashk. simply all dwarfed out .
bruhh wdym "no kissin"... have you even heard his studio recording? it's even more captivating than this. the sound effects he creates are extremely well-executed, in pretty much every single section of the piece. i don't deny that richter is also the best with this piece, but you're insane if you don't hear how phenomenal kissin's recording is.
Phantastic!
Yes!
So many people are put off by the apparent ease with which he characterizes this impossible piece, but the mysterious quality of "will o' the wisp" is right there in front of us. A stunning achievement.
I'd really like to know what kind of piano he was using though...
There must be something wrong in my head... Haha. I have had this recording of the Sofia Recital (first exposure to Richter) and enjoy it very much, but the recording of the Feux Follets at his 1988 (Age 72!) recital has just entraced me for some reason. It's just very musically different and most all sounds imperfect.
very nice interpretation!
@Ianthe22 interesting, if feux follet in the title meant firefly. it means will o' the wisp.
Incredible!Genius!!
It truly is hard to imagine how anyone can play like this. The piece is seemingly impossible.
How is it possible that by hearing a piece by Richter i listen to a story and not just the music? Listen how he captures the audience by the first few note already. C'mon folks, pianists, this is the only reference one should listen to and try to meet up with him.
wow, it gives me chills. any more richter playing liszt?
Check out his performance of Liszt Sonata in B Minor. Absolutely stunning.
@Ianthe22 what i mean is that "feux follets" in the titles means will o' the wisps, not fireflys.
What can I say? This is the best!
@Ianthe22 Very good points! I agree with you. Best wishes.
It's a "fluff" during a live performance, not what I would call a mistake.
A mistake would be if he had learned the piece wrongly and always messed up at that point. It is a very tricky section, but Richter has recorded it elsewhere without the fluff.
shows that Liszt could write true great pieces to stand with any
@gerardbedecarter
It certainly is! Richter was a natural wonder, he understood the music in its deepest core and had a technique that is not from this world. There were no compromises. He just did what had to be done from his point of view. So everything he touches is authentic and right.
I believe Liszt played like this
@bIuebonics I dont quite understand what you mean. Fireflies and will-o- the whisp are two different things. Anyway i would imagine will - o - the whisp to be more eerie or haunting in some kind of way. That's it if i have seen one in real life, which i haven't actuallyXD. And the most descriptions i've read about this phenomenal doesn't take me to this version of Richter's playing tbh. heheh, but it's only my oppinion.
love it
A transcendental level of piano playing which all these Berezovskys, Luganskys, and other competition horses, never will even come close to!
Awesome.TY v for posting.
this is from the sofia recital
@arturon111 I agree with you that RIchter wasn't the lightest on his piano playing. But then again, the difference might just be that Arrau's version has "few" fireflies and Richter's has "more than few":D. And fireflies aren't the lightest among beings or things in this world. I really think Richter's performance does Chopin just. Maybe even better than how Chopin wrote his notes(maybe i'm talking over myself here).
S.Richter is not only a great musician but also a good artist.. He is perfect!!!
Awesome!
What are you talking about? This is by far the best version of Feux Follets on youtube.
@martinadler73 Ofc he was. He traveled around Russia and europe between bombs and war to play for the people. He did most things that other pianists didn't even dare to think about. I admire his play, but even more his himself as a whole person.
@JohnGavin Arrau creates more atmosphere, and is lighter , plus richter plays it heavy and presto, and the music says ALLEGRETTO and pp leggero.
this is not too fast. the tempo marking is all very well, but it applies to crotchets. I am convinced that this is how liszt would have played it. musically perfect, tecnically extremely good.
I listen to Arrau to understand why you like him so much and i think that he was an outstanding pianist obssesed with details, beatiful tone, beatiful rubato and so on . I like most schumann carnival and chopin nocturne.
"not a musician". LOL. I think people confuse stillness with coldness. He quietly sits back and breathes all the music through the atmosphere, just lets it happen. We should all be capable of such 'coldness', in any venue.. I don't think I'm ever that relaxed even asleep. Wish he were still here..
You have no clue either. I did not include Richter's entire ouvre with that comment. Listen to Friedheim's recording - not a great audio recording - and you might start to comprehend the meaning of this piece. I will post (hopefully soon) which I believe to be the definitive recording. READ MY COMMENTS ABOVE AND LTSTEN. This is what's wrong with most versions of the Feux Follets. Very few pianists can negotiate this piece and after listening to Richter's recording - he's not one of them!
@Ivanhoe2 TY:D. And best wishes to you too:D.
The free license was taken for the purpose of creating musicality, and only sometimes for virtuosity. Barere is the only performer I can think of on RUclips that takes many of his performances to the latter. Maybe you should read up on how the old Liszt played too.
I'm only defending Richter 1958 in that this performance is exquisite in that it is not a painting of Feux Follets but still acquires musical merits. If you want Richter's Feux Follets listen to his 1988 recording like I said.
He mistakes at 03:02, the exact place where I hear other people error too, on the left hand.
Anyway in Moscow 1958 at that point he played it somewhat better.
Alexggable, I DO understand both objectivity and subjectivity in music. I am a composer. When I write notes, I expect them to be played. When I give dynamic instructions, I expect them to be observed.
But I also expect every player to contribute something of himself, from his heart and soul.
A piano solo requires both a composer and a performer to "come to life", but the composer is always the "senior partner".
It's the responsibility of every interpreter
Torontochopin, how can you know someone plays exactly the way the composer intends a piece to be played? Especially composers and performers like Liszt were so creative they never played a piece twice the same way. That goes for tempo, but also for dynamics. Indications like metronome marks, dynamics or - in his case - even notes are in the text but never a definite and final version of how piece should be performed. The text is already a transcription of what composers had in mind.
It is the responsibility of every pianist to "speak for the composer". Of course, every person's understanding of a particular composer (or particular composition) will be unique.
Of course, we all have preferences in performers. Some base their preference on both the composer's definite intentions and subjective taste.
Others' preferences are entirely subjective, because the listener has little or no understanding of the objective elements involved in good interpretation.
OK, alexggable...we might be coming to some sort of agreement. First, I FULLY acknowledge the SUBJECTIVE element of interpretation. (Without it, music would be dead!) The OBJECTIVE element is determined by respect for the composer (in our score-reading), and by our knowledge of the composer and "performance practices" of his particular period and geographic location.
But if the performer wishes to be a "senior partner", ignoring the composer's intentions, let him compose his own music!
no doubt you graduated from such conservatory...
would be great to hear your own interpretation of at least first 8-16 measures.
@karlakor, I agree, Richter is just...beyond anything. This piece is almost impossible to play, let alone well play well, and Richter makes most of this piece seem like the most effortless thing to play.
if your definition of passion is speed, then we hear musci competeley different. However, Arrau, throughout one of the longest careers in music ever, (80 years) was constantly praised for many things in both his records and concerts, among them, was his tremendous passion when he played, even when he was in his 80s. Passion has to do with tension in music (not physical), and tension has to do with the rubato accelerandos and rellanetandos and crescendos and diminuendos, and Arrau was a master
Do you play classical music yourself?
this piece is very difficult, requires perfect balance between hands and wrists and eveness of tone
You have to say everything about "objectivity and subjectivity in music" all day but RICHTER always try to remain TRUE to music.
This is even faster than Liszt's tempo markings (eighth note = 120-126)
Intended speeds falls within the musical message given. If you played the Moonlight sonata at Presto speed it would be a failure from a musical standpoint simply because it doesn't work with the music, however one can look at Rachmaninoff's 2nd/3rd Concerto and note how many times people don't follow the tempo indications on that, and still go pretty well. There are plenty of recordings that are execeedingly slow or fast and still work. Try listening to a Liszt pupil sometime... or the 1988.
Artur Rubinstein called Richter "the greatest musician of us all". So much for "Richter was not a musician"!!!
Doc Malthus he called him a tremendous musician, he never said the greatest
@@punkpoetry This is the exact quote, extracted from the Baltimore Sun 2/11/96;
As pianist Arthur Rubinstein once remarked, "Richter is the best musician among us and we all know it."
BlackMasterJoe89;
Kissin doesn't play it faster and it's not the case... (though playing feux follets *faster* than Richter would be an achievement by itself!);) Probably recording quality makes this impression for some (not all) people.
@JohnGavin no, Berezovsky has also got an impossible performance
Hear hear!:)
Some of Richter's best playing is from his later life. IMO
@JohnGavin RICHTER ES GOD!!
by the way look at berezovsky playing it on the Tchaikovsky competition....the video is here on youtube
Imagine if we played everything at the composer's intended speeds...
Additionally Romantic pianists did not play at a metronomic preciseness, just hear recordings by von Sauer, Rosenthal, or D'Albert, Lamond, Friedheim, all of whom were pupils of Liszt... In fact there are recordings of Lamond and Friedheim playing this etude on RUclips--
At least try Richter's 1988 account. It's vastly different ;).
you don't sound too confident, i've heard your playing, your actually really good!
Pardon me, but,What
Happend with sound? It's very LOW LEVEL of theSOUND.Who's this recording man??? P.S. It's EVERYWHERE !!!
It's not by Chopin, and it's not about fireflies....
No match ever in history for this piece
Rach also liked it if people played his pieces differently than he did... Any comment about Richter's Feux Follets being a solely technical display is completely inaccurate. It is VERY playful and bright, and not very Feux Follets if you think of them as mysterious and haunting.
And it isn't easier when playing it faster, there's something you need to mutilate on a technical level in order for that to be true.
I didn't know that ;)
Kissin is good! But please deliberate *why* and *if* he is better? Or it's just another free opinion? ;)
Richter non ha avuto necessità di suonare tutto Chopin per dimostrare la sua grande bravura dopo aver suonato alcune composizioni di Liszt.
I consider tone and the ability to adequately phrase part of technique.
But I was NEVER concerned with how fast Richter went the first time I listened to this nor do I like a performance because they can rattle off notes quickly.
OH right ofc. sorry iu was talking over myself. :D it's a Liszt piece you are right-. Well, I've never seen a will-o-the-wisp in my life. So i just assume they are fireflies:D. Atleast it explaine alot for me:D.
With all that i hear on Arrau he didn't rise to the level of Richter. Only compare Brahms second concerto, and if you say something about speed, Rachmaninov second.
liszt sonata in b minor fragment, where he wrestles the piano
@JohnGavin listen ashkenazy pls :)
Thank you! ;)
I'm not too bad, I know... ;)
0:25 bordel
Суетливая бессмыслица!!! После Валентина Боголюбова - слушать совершенно невозможно!
I think Kissin plays it faster, thats probably one of the reasons why people think he plays it better, but I think this is up to par with kissin's.
Marcel;
It's so funny to see how one can make such a comment! Is Richter your *ideological* enemy? You don't have to post outrageous comments to get more clicks on your username! ;)
reproducing notes... "transcendental" etudes. This is a technical demonstration, and was written to that purpose.
No musical imagination... I can't believe you gave him attention. You couldn't say that if you had heard him without being already sure of what you'll think of him.
If he was only a robot, without imagination and musical capacities, he wouldn't be where he is (or was), his interpretations are just according to his personality. And we can't say he was a particularly happy pianist.
Bon... ben... Je crois que je vais retourner bosser...;-)
And it seems to me that you don't understand the word OBJECTIVE, i.e., in accord with the composers written intentions.
yes, a little...
Totentanz!
twooffour;
Re: your hope...
No, it's my sincere belief!
May be you'll share my opinion after reading more of heroicpolonaise/davidfj90/jvmalfi comments.
Anyone denying Richter's brilliance as a pianist is musically
ignorant - he was an incredible musician and pianist. How sad that anyone could say this is just about showing off - notes and fingers with
no emotions - it is to admit that you have a SERIOUS hearing problem!
I asked Horszowski what the greatest playing was that he had ever heard. He replied, Busoni playing Chopin like a will of the wisp.
@marcelmombeekpiano which insane asylum did you escape from?
you don't know what is playfull...
not showing off? i think every pianist who plays this shows off if he wants of not =)
Not exactly, davidfj90;
Having right to express ignorant opinion doesn't mean, that such opinion shouldn't be confronted.
If you can "lay out" your criticism clearly and respectfully I'm ready to argue with you. Otherwise you are simply another provocateur.
It does not follow the intention of the score or its spirit in any way.
I feel a lot of nervous energy, excitement and relentlessness in Richter's interpretation. In contrast, when I hear Kissin play, I hear lots of correct notes... that's all.
Twooffour;
There is no need for "hair splitting"... Your definitions for "read" are interesting but none of them would apply to heroicpolonaise's level... at least yet.
To improve your own sight-reading try to read music without actual playing and *imagine* the process. Then do it at the piano and *make* your eyes stay at least half measure ahead of the place you're actually playing. Good luck!
P.S. Yes, I ment comments on other pages too.
He got what he wanted... a closed account.
To play this fast with this clarity and control is amazing. I know it, because I practiced and performed it as well. The only thing you're trying to prove is your inability to play at this level, as well as the lack of insights in what performing in Liszt's period was all about. Your assumption Richter plays it not as Liszt intended it to be because of a different metronome figure and an occasional deviation in dynamics proves you still have to learn a bit more than your teacher taught you.
Nice play, my favorit version is cziffra or vladimir ashkenazy.