Liszt and Rachmaninov

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Interesting though Brendel's writings often are, it's not important what he says - it's what he plays that matters. He doesn't like Rachmaninov? Fine - there's Trifonov and others who do and who perform it miraculously. Brendel is practically my first call for performances of Schubert on modern piano, and almost the only pianist who makes Liszt a rewarding experience for me. Does that mean he hasn't got a heart? I dunno - but his brain and fingers are quite enough for me.

[ahinton]

Interesting though Brendel's writings often are, it's not important what he says - it's what he plays that matters. He doesn't like Rachmaninov? Fine - there's Trifonov and others who do and who perform it miraculously. Brendel is practically my first call for performances of Schubert on modern piano, and almost the only pianist who makes Liszt a rewarding experience for me. Does that mean he hasn't got a heart? I dunno - but his brain and fingers are quite enough for me.

I too have much respect for Brendel's writings but can only wish that I could agree with you about his Liszt playing; there are, as you write about Rachmaninov, many other pianists who play Liszt well, some miraculously - I just find Brendel's Liszt performance rather underpowered and underwhelming. For Schubert on a modern piano (although I confess to having a terrible blind spot about a lot of Schubert), my first call would be Pollini; I'll never forget his completing an RFH recital many years ago with a stunning Wanderer Fantasy in a programme whose first half comprised the complete piano music of Schönberg!

[ahinton]

I recall an interview in Gramophone when Brendel said that he was interested in the later Rachmaninov and mentioned the Paganini Rhapsody saying that it was Variation 18 that turned him off the piece, representing to him everything that Hollywood came to stand for (I paraphrase)

This is so unfair when one remembers that it was Hollywood that appropriated the Rachmaninov of the Second Piano Concerto, Paganini Rhapsody and other works rather than the other way around; one might have thought that a musician of Brendel's vast intellect and considerable intelligence would be rather better able to distinguish between a cart and a horse, n'est-ce pas?!...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I too have much respect for Brendel's writings but can only wish that I could agree with you about his Liszt playing; there are, as you write about Rachmaninov, many other pianists who play Liszt well, some miraculously - I just find Brendel's Liszt performance rather underpowered and underwhelming.

Yes - I don't think that I really like "authentic" Liszt - the performances that give me most satisfaction are those that are often described in terms similar to those you have used. Those more "whelming" I find leave me cold ... and even bored, I regret to say.

For Schubert on a modern piano (although I confess to having a terrible blind spot about a lot of Schubert), my first call would be Pollini; I'll never forget his completing an RFH recital many years ago with a stunning Wanderer Fantasy in a programme whose first half comprised the complete piano music of Schönberg!

Oh, yes - Pollini, too (another Rachmaninov-avoider), I totally agree. (But you've reminded me; given the quality and insights of Brendel's three superb recordings of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto - the blazes with Rachmaninov: why didn't he record the Schönberg solo Piano Music?!)

[ahinton]

Yes - I don't think that I really like "authentic" Liszt - the performances that give me most satisfaction are those that are often described in terms similar to those you have used. Those more "whelming" I find leave me cold ... and even bored, I regret to say.

Well, I'm not sure what you refer to when writing about "authentic" Liszt - and I somehow suspect that Liszt himself would somehow have suspected the very notion of "authentic" Liszt anyway! It's merely that Brendel playing Liszt just doesn't engage me in any meaningful way as, for example, Ogdon did and does...

Oh, yes - Pollini, too (another Rachmaninov-avoider), I totally agree. (But you've reminded me; given the quality and insights of Brendel's three superb recordings of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto - the blazes with Rachmaninov: why didn't he record the Schönberg solo Piano Music?!)

Dunno, guv, you'd better ask him! But please, no blazes to Rachmaninov other than those that his music does!

[rauschwerk]

Brendel is a modernist. (He doesn't play contemporary music because he believes others can do it better). Therefore, in comparing Liszt and Rachmaninov, he salutes the greater innovator.

Anyone who is uncertain whether Brendel was a great Liszt pianist really should hear his wonderful disc of six the Hungarian Rhapsodies, dating from 1968. This still gives me more pleasure than almost anything else he did.

[gurnemanz]

For several decades I paid little attention to either of these composers - Liszt bombastic show-off, Rachmaninov overt-sentimental. Over the last five or six years I have greatly enjoyed investigating their work mainly via a couple of box sets of collected works (Liszt DG, Rachmanininov Brilliant). I do not not like everything but have made plenty of worthwhile discoveries, eg the song output of both. A favourite recent acquisition is the Loius Lortie Complete Années de Pèlerinage on Chandos.