Musical pauses

[Nick Armstrong]

This is a notorious pause (it is marked in the score). It's easy enough to bring off adequately, but conductors shouldn't be content with 'adequate'. I think you're a little hard on 'every other' conductor, but it is not easy to handle it and yet make it seem so natural that it doesn't stand out - after all, you don't want to halt the momentum so near the beginning. Walter does it beautifully, but so do Toscannini and Boult in my view.

Well I meant 'every other performance I've heard', clearly, as I can't speak for performances I haven't heard - but I should have been more specific. I don't know the Boult or the Toscanini, and you prompt me to investigate

[amateur51]

Ams, in this context do you know any of Richter's recordings of D960 (or of D894 for that matter)?

Oh yes indeed, Taps. I was fortunate enough to witness Richter performing D.894 in the RFH in the late 1980s and it was a totally boggling experience, just the anglepoise lamp on and Richter taking forever but it hooked me & I was sold. Truly amazing. It was his total commitment to this very slow tempo that led to my taking it seriously. I was listening, concentrating, marvelling at the weighting of the voices in the chords and the almost hypnotic quality that his approach generated.

Mind you, I wouldn't want to hear it played like that every day

[amateur51]

Should you feel my opinion is worth respecting, the Richter D.894 recorded in Germany in 12/79 (that's all the info Philips give) has a superior sound and a bigger, fuller, piano tone than the one in the Brilliant Classics box (92229) dated 3/5/78 apparently recorded in Russia. The German one is slightly slower (1st movements - 26'51/26'18) but the differences are sufficient to make one believe they really are different performances (always a tricky matter...)
Availability...questionable.

The readings are closely similar in their approach, those endless pauses (neither agogic nor luftpausen really, more a sonic meditation) in the 1st movement were also evident in his 1989 RFH recital of D.894, which I have a feeling has appeared on BBC Legends... "IIRC", not sure.

Of the 2 D.960s I have here, the 1972 one on Regis has better sound, but the 31/11/1961 Russian Gostelradiofund one on Brilliant is a little quicker and tighter... I would choose the Regis one (originally on Ariola Eurodisc).

Thanks for this jlw - very useful

In this flat your opinion is always worth respecting

[Pabmusic]

Well I meant 'every other performance I've heard I don't know the Boult or the Toscanini, and you prompt me to investigate

Both conductors recorded it more than once, but readings I am particularly fond of are Toscannini's with the BBC SO (1930s) and Boult's with the LPO (1976?).

[Nick Armstrong]

Both conductors recorded it more than once, but readings I am particularly fond of are Toscannini's with the BBC SO (1930s) and Boult's with the LPO (1976?).

Many thanks for the info

[jayne lee wilson]

Lucky you! Wonder if this is the one I heard on R3 in 1989? But I can't find it on disc after all.

The Philips one I mentioned was The Authorized Recordings (438-483) 2-disc set, still available 2nd hand on Amazon. It includes an equally transcendental D.840 and is well worth it if you find a half-decent price. Mine winged its way to me from a New York record shop, cracked case, dusty discs, but I really treasure it. Think I'll put it on the Tivoli at bedtime...

Oh yes indeed, Taps. I was fortunate enough to witness Richter performing D.894 in the RFH in the late 1980s and it was a totally boggling experience, just the anglepoise lamp on and Richter taking forever but it hooked me & I was sold. Truly amazing. It was his total commitment to this very slow tempo that led to my taking it seriously. I was listening, concentrating, marvelling at the weighting of the voices in the chords and the almost hypnotic quality that his approach generated.

Mind you, I wouldn't want to hear it played like that every day

[jayne lee wilson]

Caliban, have you ever heard Scherchen's earlier 1951 Vienna one? That pause here is just right - just barely perceptible, as you observe in the Walter; and it's not the only remarkable thing about a wonderful, glowing, echt-Viennese reading.

Likewise, Bruno Walter in his Columbia SO reading of Beethoven 6 leaves a pause at the end of the very opening phrase which somehow doesn't stop the music, it's just like a momentary savouring of that first lungful of fresh country air... I miss it in every other performance.




I thought of Alison's thread when this subject came up on Essential Classics this morning. The truly excellent Richard Coles mentioned Michelangeli's Debussy and Rob Cowan quoted Martha Argerich as saying that Michelangeli taught her the value of silence in music, and that old Arturo was a master of the musical pause... I'm sure his Debussy recordings exemplify that, although I haven't listened to them lately...

[Tapiola]

Should you feel my opinion is worth respecting, the Richter D.894 recorded in Germany in 12/79 (that's all the info Philips give) has a superior sound and a bigger, fuller, piano tone than the one in the Brilliant Classics box (92229) dated 3/5/78 apparently recorded in Russia. The German one is slightly slower (1st movements - 26'51/26'18) but the differences are sufficient to make one believe they really are different performances (always a tricky matter...)
Availability...questionable.

The readings are closely similar in their approach, those endless pauses (neither agogic nor luftpausen really, more a sonic meditation) in the 1st movement were also evident in his 1989 RFH recital of D.894, which I have a feeling has appeared on BBC Legends... "IIRC", not sure.

Of the 2 D.960s I have here, the 1972 one on Regis has better sound, but the 31/11/1961 Russian Gostelradiofund one on Brilliant is a little quicker and tighter... I would choose the Regis one (originally on Ariola Eurodisc).

Many thanks Jayne for this. I also prefer the Regis D960 to the Brilliant box live recording. As the extract from the Gramophone review on the back of the Regis case states "it bores into the soul". I do not know the Philips D894, which I intend to investigate.

[Tapiola]

I was fortunate enough to witness Richter performing D.894 in the RFH in the late 1980s

Ams, I am almost speechless with awe...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In this flat your opinion is always worth respecting

Seconded!

(But I so wish the "quotation" came after her wise words! )