Chopin Music Forum

Amnesia · Moderato(r)

Any favorites? I absolutely adore his 2nd concerto. The more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it. Particularly the 2nd movement, but the 1st is also really beautiful. I have it played by Ashkenazy and the London Symphony Orchestra, a great recording of the piece IMO. Any other good recordings worth listening to?

An!ma` · Registered User

For his 2nd, definitely get Cziffra.

Brewtality · Registered User

My favourite is the first. Best recordings would be Rach and Janis. I like Cliburn, Rach and Kappell most for the second.

Max · Registered User

Goldberg · Incorrigible Failure

Arrr, for ANYTHING, get Cziffra!! Well, ok, Beethoven excepted...

...Though his 2nd Rach concerto certainly does deserve an explicit mention because of its wickedness.

As for my personal faves...hmm, I like the 1st a lot for its Griegian structure and likeness in general (though to be honest I just prefer the Grieg outright to any of the Rach concerti). I like the 2nd heaps on "certain days" and other days I convince myself that it's simply histrionic superfluity (mostly I like it though, heh); the 3rd is much more of a toss up for me...I enjoy it occassionally, but I can't listen to it too much because it's so overwhelming (that, and if you listen to it "negatively" you start to think that it's too "popularised" and not worth listening to...that is probably a result of all the forum babble about its overplaydness and what have you...blame Shine, actually). Instead, if I hear it every now and then I still appreciate it a ton...

I actually quite like the 4th too, but mostly because it's interesting to see how Rachmaninoff was trying to incorporate contemporary techniques into his music without alienating his audience (I guess he sort of failed and ended up halfway between the two styles). I also like most of the thematic material he uses, in general, and think the 2nd movement is actually quite wicked. It's just rather poorly put together, and I guess that's for good reason, considering he wrote it for a tough deadline under stressful conditions and had to edit it many times before the performance.

My favourite in the end is...oh, heck, the 2nd.

aout4 · miss small hands rachopininoff lover

I love the 2nd. The opening is so grand and melodious and everytime I listen to it, I just feel like crying!!! (w tears) Also love the 2nd movement piano "solo" part....
The only recording I have is an "unheard" painist with Leonard Bernstein.... The reason I bought it as far as I remembered was because it was the cheapest cd among the other pianists' recordings, which at that time (years ago), I really couldn't tell who's who. I would love get another recording soon.

Recently, I bought Horowitz's Rach3 after watching "Shine" and I think 3rd is not too bad also. The 1st movement is far better than the rest of the movements IMHO.....

Brewtality · Registered User

I reckon the third movement is equally wikid. Btw which Horowitz Rach 3 is it?

aout4 · miss small hands rachopininoff lover

It's the 1951 recording....is it the famous one you guys have been talking about?

Max · Registered User

Yeah I think so, the earlier one is way too energetic and the later isn't energetic enough.

PianistSk8er · On Horowitz-style hiatus ;)

My favorite is the third by far, it's so amazing! I have Rachmaninoff himself playing the second and third concertos, and I actually don't like his interpretations that much.. ironic, eh? My favorite recording of the third is either Volodos or Horowitz of 1978.

PS

An!ma` · Registered User

Off topic, but then how is Cziffra's Beethoven?

Goldberg · Incorrigible Failure

His sonatas are relatively restrained and uninspired, almost as if he was afraid of playing them at all (and, really, he basically was, because he wasn't sure if he had the proper touch and musicality for Beethoven). He was trying to force himself to play conservatively and not change the text at all, but in the process he made the recordings rather average. I guess they are OK--they being the sonatas he recorded (about 7 or so, I think)--but definitely not great when compared to Kuerti, Goode, O'Conor and so forth.

The other non-sonata Beethoven stuff fairs better, though. I particularly like his "Rage over a Lost Penny" and the Polonaise in C Major. I've also got recordings of the C minor Variations, Variations on God Save the Queen, and then a lesser known set of Variations in A; the first two are particularly well done, and the last one is pretty standard I think.

Overall, though, Beethoven, in my opinion, wasn't one of Cziffra's strong points.

Jhon · Registered User

My favorite is his 3rd PC. (OMG, so difficult! Can you believe this piece strikes ALL the 88 keys in the keyboard - from the lowest A to the highest C! ) Particularly, I love the rendisitons of Martha Argerich (though overrated) and Zoltan Kocsis.

Jeliness2 · Moderator Team Lieder

My favorite is his 2nd.

But, his third in d minor annoys me. I guess I'm into all those chords in the second rather than the third's fast arp-things.

And today we had some state-wide testing, and my writing prompt wasa about classical music. HAHA

Rach4 · Registered User

I'll let you guess my favourite.