In Piano Playing, I Do Not Want To Hear (or Rather, I Do Not Need To Hear) An "ideal" Performance However

In piano playing, I do not want to hear (or rather, I do not need to hear) an "ideal" performance however I might define it for myself. What I need is to hear the mind and the making of another, someone of wonder and intelligence and beauty telling me something delightful, painful, astonishing, banal, etc, but not trivial, or trite, or pretentious (except in certain circumstances I cannot quite define), or easy. In this performance by my long-loved Alexis Weissenberg of Schumann, I hear an Arabesque I have not heard before. Is it how I would play it? Is it how I should like to play it? Those are not the right questions.

I have a Nord too. I confess I like it.

thepianoblog:

I’m sick to death of every band that has a synth player using Nord keyboards. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! I mean obviously they are good if people use them but it would be nice to see some diversity. At least Enter Shikari used Korgs.

atonalitydotnet:

Jean Barraque: Sonate pour Piano

Complete playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJqQk3mgpYY&feature=PlayList&p=9B7A6357A2E821FA&index=0&playnext=1

I like this brief biographical assessment by Stephen Isserlis. I cannot say it represents my feelings exactly, as his Schumanning is much more mature, more ripened, than mine, but I'm in enough sympathy with the gist of it as an emotional level.

komangography:

violinplayah:

blogthoven:

nostalgiya:

In Grozny Central Park, February 1995.

(via)

Possibly my favorite work of Schoenberg's, certainly right up there, and perfection in every way. I didn't altogether appreciate GG's performance when I first heard it 30 yrs ago or so. I was at that time under the spell of Charles Rosen's complete works performances. (And if I still had my copy of that out-of-print gem, I could talk more intelligently about it.) But I like this very much now, to say the least. Irrespective who you listen to, or play it yourself, this is 12-tone's apotheosis. Worth living for.

atonalitydotnet:

Glenn Gould - Schoenberg, suite Op. 25

Complete playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMhNcmmMn0A&feature=PlayList&p=B7EA5853D24983FF&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1