BaL 24.07.21 - Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

[Goon525]

Er... how? Surely the piano sound wouldn't politely co-operate?

Quite so. Not sure what to make of that suggestion- turning up the volume would obviously affect the piano too. I don’t think there’s any way - however good their equipment- for a listener to make meaningful adjustments to the balance between soloist and orchestra.

[Alison]

I thought the reviewer was somewhat dogmatic about the rubato issue. You can't make strict rules about this and say one is more "correct". For me, her examples proved the reverse: Pletnev was superb, whereas Trifonov sounded laboured in comparison.

Exactly the comment I was about to make, Alpie.

Trifonov has never really won me over and leaves me feeling on the outside.

I much preferred Pletnev’s xviii

[Barbirollians]

Not that new - already she has done Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky Symphony no 6 and Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3 in the old format I recall.

Exactly the comment I was about to make, Alpie.

Trifonov has never really won me over and leaves me feeling on the outside.

I much preferred Pletnev’s xviii

Pletnev is very fine I think it was coupled with his version of the First Concerto which is just jaw dropping.

[Serial_Apologist]

Quite so. Not sure what to make of that suggestion- turning up the volume would obviously affect the piano too. I don’t think there’s any way - however good their equipment- for a listener to make meaningful adjustments to the balance between soloist and orchestra.

Unless, of course, the platform arrangements located the soloist to the left of the orchestra for the convenience of the listener at home, who could adjust the volume levels for each speaker!

[Maclintick]

Very impressed with Abduraimov, but the real ear-opener for me in this BAL was Kapell. Stunningly virtuosic & mercurial in the Var,5/6 extract, natural and unaffected in Var.18 while sacrificing none of the emotion -- reminiscent of the classic Michelangeli Rach 4 in its poise & fluidity. Like others I remain to be convinced by Trifonov.

[seabright]

Mentions of Trifonov took me to YouTube, where he is to be found in the Pag Rhaps with Mehta and Israel Phil off the TV from 2012 ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAu6BRWL8p8

The review started off with the composer and Stokowski, who'd conducted the work's premiere. Also on YouTube is the last time he ever conducted it, in 1973 in the RAH with Ilana Vered and the LSO. He had just turned 91 but far from slowing down, he whipped through the work at 100 miles an hour, as if to compensate for extreme old age. It's amazing that Vered was able to keep up ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6f-xfT7MRE&t=202s

[Braunschlag]

Ilana Vered - now there’s one heck of a pianist, a real pity that more of her discography isn’t currently available. I discovered her through those superlative Moskowski Etudes which are truly stunning. I must look up your link Seabright.

To the piece under discussion. I’ll stick with Earl Wild in perpituity! I do have Trifonov and dug it out but I find it simply lacks momentum, especially from Var.19 to the end which stutters and splutters in fits and starts (especially the double octave passage which never really takes off - try EW who (maybe recklessly) launches straight it. I never get the impression that Wild struggles with any of the technical demands whereas Trifonov seems rather cool and considered.

I do realise that the Wild is fast but so too was the composer. There’s no trace of swoon and drool either,Var.18 to me simply seems ‘right’.

Whoever came up with the idea of pairing Wild and Horenstein was either taking a crazy punt or they knew that the fuse paper was likely to explode (as it does).
And the RPO play superbly. Add in the matchless musical expertise of Gerhardt and Wilkinson and it turned out to be a winner, albeit initially released on what might be described as a rather odd label on first issue. Like many Readers Digest releases it acquired real status later, deservedly so.

I’m not convinced by the poetry point of view, Wild can be poetic as much as any other. Nevertheless an interesting BaL.

Incidentally, I lent this set to FHG some years ago and he was pretty amazed at it - something along the lines of ‘finally, someone who gets on with it’. That’ll do me as a recommendation any time of the day!

[Bryn]

Ilana Vered - now there’s one heck of a pianist, a real pity that more of her discography isn’t currently available. I discovered her through those superlative Moskowski Etudes which are truly stunning. I must look up your link Seabright.

To the piece under discussion. I’ll stick with Earl Wild in perpituity! I do have Trifonov and dug it out but I find it simply lacks momentum, especially from Var.19 to the end which stutters and splutters in fits and starts (especially the double octave passage which never really takes off - try EW who (maybe recklessly) launches straight it. I never get the impression that Wild struggles with any of the technical demands whereas Trifonov seems rather cool and considered.

I do realise that the Wild is fast but so too was the composer. There’s no trace of swoon and drool either,Var.18 to me simply seems ‘right’.

Whoever came up with the idea of pairing Wild and Horenstein was either taking a crazy punt or they knew that the fuse paper was likely to explode (as it does).
And the RPO play superbly. Add in the matchless musical expertise of Gerhardt and Wilkinson and it turned out to be a winner, albeit initially released on what might be described as a rather odd label on first issue. Like many Readers Digest releases it acquired real status later, deservedly so.

I’m not convinced by the poetry point of view, Wild can be poetic as much as any other. Nevertheless an interesting BaL.

Incidentally, I lent this set to FHG some years ago and he was pretty amazed at it - something along the lines of ‘finally, someone who gets on with it’. That’ll do me as a recommendation any time of the day!

I fear that recording this:

did not do Ilana Vered's musical peputation any great favours. The original cantata had a little more going for it, I think. Just a little.

[gurnemanz]

Going through recordings of this work in my collection I played John Ogdon/John Pritchard/Philharmonia this evening. A 1963 recording with somewhat recessed piano sound, which you get used to. Very enjoyable.

[vibratoforever]

Ilana Vered - now there’s one heck of a pianist, a real pity that more of her discography isn’t currently available. I discovered her through those superlative Moskowski Etudes which are truly stunning. I must look up your link Seabright.

To the piece under discussion. I’ll stick with Earl Wild in perpituity! I do have Trifonov and dug it out but I find it simply lacks momentum, especially from Var.19 to the end which stutters and splutters in fits and starts (especially the double octave passage which never really takes off - try EW who (maybe recklessly) launches straight it. I never get the impression that Wild struggles with any of the technical demands whereas Trifonov seems rather cool and considered.

I do realise that the Wild is fast but so too was the composer. There’s no trace of swoon and drool either,Var.18 to me simply seems ‘right’.

Whoever came up with the idea of pairing Wild and Horenstein was either taking a crazy punt or they knew that the fuse paper was likely to explode (as it does).
And the RPO play superbly. Add in the matchless musical expertise of Gerhardt and Wilkinson and it turned out to be a winner, albeit initially released on what might be described as a rather odd label on first issue. Like many Readers Digest releases it acquired real status later, deservedly so.

I’m not convinced by the poetry point of view, Wild can be poetic as much as any other. Nevertheless an interesting BaL.

Incidentally, I lent this set to FHG some years ago and he was pretty amazed at it - something along the lines of ‘finally, someone who gets on with it’. That’ll do me as a recommendation any time of the day!

I only recently became aware of a really fine recording of Bruch's Scottish Fantasia by David Oistrakh and Horenstein, with the LSO, and its to be found on Youtube

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So few recordings in this BaL. Many great names not even acknowledged to exist!

[Dave2002]

The review started off with the composer and Stokowski, who'd conducted the work's premiere. Also on YouTube is the last time he ever conducted it, in 1973 in the RAH with Ilana Vered and the LSO. He had just turned 91 but far from slowing down, he whipped through the work at 100 miles an hour, as if to compensate for extreme old age. It's amazing that Vered was able to keep up ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6f-xfT7MRE&t=202s

Was this recording actually done on a cassette machine "in the hall" - as claimed? Perhaps more likely to have been a recording from a radio broadcast. It seems unlikely that the recording would have been permitted. Perhaps if done from the gallery a portable recorder could have been smuggled in. Though in that case there would probably be some noise from the audience.
I've never tried to make a recording of a live concert in that way.

Is it possible that someone could have had permission to make the recording? Seems unlikely - but maybe.

I'm not sure that it was quite as fast as suggested - and the brakes seem to have been slammed on just before the end.

The audience clapping at the end is audible - however.

[HighlandDougie]

So few recordings in this BaL. Many great names not even acknowledged to exist!

Indeed, but the chances of the old format BaL ever returning seem to be slight to non-existent. Given that likely state of affairs, I've now accepted that the current set up is here to stay. As we know from Nigel S's explanation of how the reviewers arrive at their shortlist, the time available (which, like the size of corn flake packets, seems to be shrinking) would either allow for very short snippets from more performances or longer extracts from fewer versions. Either way, it makes for difficult choices and omissions of supposed 'classic' performances which might make forumistas splutter into their, well, corn flakes but with the responsibility remaining with the reviewer.

Recent editions where musicologists have been allowed to try to explain more about the music with longer extracts but at the expense of fewer performances have, IMUV, been both educational and enjoyable for me as the listener, with final recommendations which seemed justified. Yesterday's BaL was interesting in that M F-W, who is widely acknowledged as one of the leading musicological experts on 19th and 20th century Russian music but who is also Russian, brought her particular view on Rachmaninov's music as essentially "Russian" rather than "American" or "Mid-Atlantic" to bear on the discussion. Hence her early dismissal of the flashy Earl Wild as a performance which skated over the emotional depths and darker corners of the piece, treating it more as "film music". I think that she may been trying to over-egg the Rachmaninov-as-tortured-Russian-soul pudding a bit but it was refreshing to hear clearly held and well-articulated views, even if one didn't agree with them. As someone said in an earlier post, "she'll choose Trifonov", bigging up the supposedly oh-so Russian romantic angst, so it was no great surprise when he was duly anointed. But, I'm being unfair as her choice of performances to illustrate what she had to say about the piece was interesting and wide-ranging. A good end to BaL before its summer break, even if I don't agree with her recommendation.

[mikealdren]

Just listening to the Yuja Wang/Abbado version which IIRC was Gramophone's collection choice but not mentioned here. Perhaps it's too American and it is a chamber orchestra but it's very good indeed, certainly a match for anyone in terms of virtuosity and she definitely has time for rubato.

[Lordgeous]

Poor Yuja never seems to be regarded as a serious contender by the 'expert' BAL presenters? Something to do with her dress sense? I always enjoy her extraordinary virtuosity AND musicianship.