I love how Kobrin (my teacher!) doesn’t exactly go for speed, but for sound. He produces a very organ-like sound here (and in the rest of Book I), which is better than just blowing through this
You forget how absolutely superb Zilberstein is just because she's not often mentioned in the same breath as Kissin or Argerich or Sokolov. That power! Like Richter at his best (which he unfortunately is not here, based on album cover it's late in life)
@FrankSmith It’s obvious you haven’t listened to the right women pianists (including Zilberstein in this video). Either that, or you’re just blatantly sexist.
@@markwilliamson8047 No, I have recordings of Idil Biret's Rachmaninoff Sonatas and Douze Grandes Etudes of Liszt and there is a fullness and power to her playing. I admire her very much, as I do other women pianists. It's just that men of equal technique play with more power. It's simple physics. I once saw Hamelin break a string while playing the concluding pages of the mighty fugue of Reger's Bach Variations. The power Yefim Bronfman brought to the cadenza of Rach 3 while I was sitting in the front row will always be with me - as well as to the Islamey in another concert I attended. Another great memory is of Garrick Ohlsson playing the Busoni Concerto in the late 80s. Colossal sound that I have not heard produced by a female pianist. I have attended concerts of several well-known female pianists in the Rach and Balakirev pieces mentioned, but they don't come close for big sound (as Bronfman). "Chords like cast bronze", as Busoni's Liszt playing was once described.
None of these recordings should be judged as direct comparison of the respective pianist’s abilities EXCEPT the live video performances. Pianist’s work (with varying degrees of performer’s complicity) are subjected to rigorous mistake-scrubbing. I know from personal experience in the recording booth. Even without my request, the tech was already busily deleting squashed notes and splicing takes to create a note-perfect performance. Let’s stop the brainless hero-worship of note-perfect recordings. They’re fake. We classical pianists are not pop musicians. The struggle of live performance is a massive undertaking: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Accordingly, I am delighted to find some fantastic feats in this excellently edited video, along with the telling and informative mistakes made by some genuinely consummate artists, all of which I have the utmost respect for. This piece is a BEAR. A terrifying, awe-inspiring beast. Clara Schumann’s ‘Hexenvariationen.’
Have always loved Arrau's Paganini Variations. The articulation and quality of sonority are always connected to the expression of the music, even at its greatest intensity. And Gilels, though older here, played the Brahms Paganini Variations in the 1938 Queen Elizabeth Competition in which Michelangeli was also a contestant. It would be very interesting to have heard the younger Gilels play this work especially based on his other early recordings such as the Liszt Figaro Fantasy.
Brahms called it "Studien für Klavier" witch means piano etudes. He wrote it for Carl Tausig, who played it often in concert. Clara Schumann studied the work, but never played it in public.
Woah, Michelangeli. Too much pedal for my personal taste perhaps but absolutely incredible. He goes beyond technical feats and uses it to create something special that I've never heard in this passage
Zilberstein nailed it! Powerful and well articulated but still without rushing just through it. Other interpretations sound a bit mannered ... like they just want to let the world know that they have a unique musicality ;)
I like the different approach of Francesco Libetta. Jong Hwa Parks version is very good in the sense that the duck tempo brings out the melodic structure better.
The camera cuts in the Zilberstein are out of this world. I felt like I was watching inception, every two seconds a new cut. The entire video is so cool.
Kissin's 100% for me. Absolute machine in this. Would love to see what Lim Yunchan does with this one day. He has the chops for it surely, after demolishing Feux Follets
For me, it's Kissin. Not only is it faster than most, but he also brings the most amazing clarity. I was astonished i first heard his studio recording... jaw Dropped!! -Michelangeli- great speed, but is more muddy than the Ultra crispness of Kissin. (And that he cut out one of the harder bits!?.... I'm with You on this surprise is this realization! )
Katchen is divine in Brahms, possibly the greatest. It's a shame there is no live recording of him playing this...his studio is unbelievable as you say.
16:35 and special thanks and respect for the very dominant female Mrs. Zilberstein. I love this kind of boxing Brahms knock-out instead playing it with mourning grimaces.
Noone really nails it. Kissin wins, however, the overall prize. Never heard Yuja Wang hit so many wrong notes. But honestly: kind of fun to hear this passage that brings even the world's best pianists beyond their limits.
Wang starts off strong and then starts to derail. Her studio recording is (obviously) much stronger - and given her technique I’m positive she could give a better live performance on a different night but it’s a shame that the one video we have of her doing it isn’t her best
Nothing interesting in it. He just struggles to - and succeeds in - not making a mistake and pressing (almost) all the correct notes. A feat by itself, don't get me wrong, but music is not gymnastics - and not everything is for everybody to perform.
And yes, Mr. Kobrin, absolutely great. (just a little too young for the toxic inspiration of the piece, but don't worry, he will be soon depressive-agressive as all and play the work heavenly)
Judging by the strained facial expressions of these brilliant pianists, you can imagine how fucking bizarre this is. I know that Brahms was an extremely virtuoso pianist, but did he match Lizst and Chopin?
This piece in particular is IMO even harder than the vast majority of Liszt and all of Chopin's pieces. It's pretty well known as one of the hardest works in the standard repertoire.
I like Silberstein and Kissin. Silberstein has the right idea but the form is not so apparent.... and Kissin has crisp fingering but was played a tad fast though.
All very cool versions, but I really like the one by Francesco Libetta. Many of these interpretations fail to play the top notes _ben marcato_ as Brahms asks for, instead they drown everything in lots of pedal. Kissin is great and articulate (unless in the end where the pedal kind of get’s out of control in one spot, but it is too fast. At this tempo the trills in the bass just do not make sense anymore. Yuja Wang is quite clean and articulate, but a bit too heavy on the pedal.
I don't trust any pianist who doesn't reach for the A0 at the climax of Var. 14, bar 22 of the variation. When Brahms wrote these variations in the 1860s, he hadn't yet received his glorious Streicher instrument with the last three bass keys.
I cannot believe it! Why the hell didn't you include the fabulous recordings by Julius Katchen. To me he is toweringly superior to everybody presented here, mavbe with the exception of Kissin. And you also left out the remarkable version of Agustin Anievas.
No there isn't. Richter learnt this very late, which is curious. He also disliked Michelangeli in this piece (it's in his diaries). I adore Richter but his version is pale and I very much prefer Mchelangeli's or Kissin's. Gilels learnt this as a young man and it is really a pity that no early vesion survives.
I agree that kobin is best here. He maintains control throughout and keeps the phrasing clear and musical. That piano though: horribly harsh tone and certainly not the pianist´s fault.
This is marked Allegro. Brahms groups at the 32nd note. Kissin, Michelangeli, Park and Zilberstein play it much too fast and it shows with their mistakes. One cannot bring out the harmonic phrasings at that speed.
Muy diferentes unas de otras las interpretaciones. La mayoría me gustan, menos tres, dos de ellas de dos monstruos sagrados del firmamento pianístico, me refiero a Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli y a Wilhelm Backhaus, estoy extrañado por la velocidad, obviamente eran muy jóvenes en esas interpretaciones, se nota que daban prioridad al lucimiento técnico en detrimento de las ideas de Brahms, en estos casos las velocidades arruinan todo; y la otra es la de Ivo Pogorelich, por razones obvias, es un pianista muy bueno, pero su creatividad a veces se vuelca por el libertinaje y las interpretaciones suenan casi irreconocibles. Creo que Sviatoslav Richter es el más equilibrado.
Petri's is the most polished. This thing weighs 800 lbs, you're going to see veins bulging. Jong Hwa Park has a true feeling for the piece, pianistically.
Thanks for this! Interesting! I would definitely recommend Arrau's whole version. But here's the link to this variation. th-cam.com/video/IxzyXeSYl28/w-d-xo.html
Technically very difficult, but to be honest, I don't find it very interesting musically. To me it just sounds like an endless series of bland arpeggios.
This piece sound better than I remember, at least these excerpts, but I think it's highly overrated and not worth the difficulty. I very much prefer either of Liszt's transcriptions of the 24th caprice.
You should nickname this wonderful vídeos as a great Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues titled his chronicles in the newspapers "A vida como ela é" meaning "Life as it is". THIS is reality, a life taking risks in front of people, getting scratches, making mistakes and great music alltogether and above all showing deep sense of humanity. Congratulations🎉Great job!
His Cliburn performance is astonishing. There is something though about this early performance that I am obsessed with - it is so POWERFUL, he goes for such a massive sound that no-one else really attempts despite never losing the clarity of articulation. In the Cliburn he lightens up slightly, maybe because of the piano or maybe just because over time he modified his interpretation.
@@ArgerichStan Can’t agree more! Kobrin had some mad phrasing and tone control. Not like others did not play the piece well but Kobrin gave more depth and resonance to the music. Thats what made him special in my opinion.
Pretty fun listening to these contrasting performances... Overall, so much of book one is difficult.. Please listen to THE great master...Julius Katchen and the recent recording of Gayvrylyuk to really hear what it can do... and I agree Kobrin is really musical ..Unfortunate he wasn't playing a New York Steinway rather than that harsh tin bucket
I love how Kobrin (my teacher!) doesn’t exactly go for speed, but for sound. He produces a very organ-like sound here (and in the rest of Book I), which is better than just blowing through this
Seeing all those broken octaves makes my wrists hurt.
Brahms loved his broken octaves!
I don't know what a broken octave is, and my wrists still hurt from this.
@@WalterReade its probably better if you don't...lol
I assume Hamelin likes them even more
You forget how absolutely superb Zilberstein is just because she's not often mentioned in the same breath as Kissin or Argerich or Sokolov. That power! Like Richter at his best (which he unfortunately is not here, based on album cover it's late in life)
Women can't really play with much power. I prefer Tzimon Barto's live performance, available on YT. Big guy who plays big.
@FrankSmith It’s obvious you haven’t listened to the right women pianists (including Zilberstein in this video). Either that, or you’re just blatantly sexist.
@@markwilliamson8047 Let the incel be, he gets bullied enough
Also Tzimon Barto's var 14 is a soporific
@@markwilliamson8047 No, I have recordings of Idil Biret's Rachmaninoff Sonatas and Douze Grandes Etudes of Liszt and there is a fullness and power to her playing. I admire her very much, as I do other women pianists. It's just that men of equal technique play with more power. It's simple physics.
I once saw Hamelin break a string while playing the concluding pages of the mighty fugue of Reger's Bach Variations. The power Yefim Bronfman brought to the cadenza of Rach 3 while I was sitting in the front row will always be with me - as well as to the Islamey in another concert I attended. Another great memory is of Garrick Ohlsson playing the Busoni Concerto in the late 80s. Colossal sound that I have not heard produced by a female pianist.
I have attended concerts of several well-known female pianists in the Rach and Balakirev pieces mentioned, but they don't come close for big sound (as Bronfman). "Chords like cast bronze", as Busoni's Liszt playing was once described.
@@franksmith541This is just a series of anecdotes. It's pointless to respond with "oh, but I say blah blah blah.."
None of these recordings should be judged as direct comparison of the respective pianist’s abilities EXCEPT the live video performances. Pianist’s work (with varying degrees of performer’s complicity) are subjected to rigorous mistake-scrubbing. I know from personal experience in the recording booth. Even without my request, the tech was already busily deleting squashed notes and splicing takes to create a note-perfect performance. Let’s stop the brainless hero-worship of note-perfect recordings. They’re fake. We classical pianists are not pop musicians. The struggle of live performance is a massive undertaking: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Accordingly, I am delighted to find some fantastic feats in this excellently edited video, along with the telling and informative mistakes made by some genuinely consummate artists, all of which I have the utmost respect for. This piece is a BEAR. A terrifying, awe-inspiring beast. Clara Schumann’s ‘Hexenvariationen.’
Have always loved Arrau's Paganini Variations. The articulation and quality of sonority are always connected to the expression of the music, even at its greatest intensity. And Gilels, though older here, played the Brahms Paganini Variations in the 1938 Queen Elizabeth Competition in which Michelangeli was also a contestant. It would be very interesting to have heard the younger Gilels play this work especially based on his other early recordings such as the Liszt Figaro Fantasy.
Brahms called it "Studien für Klavier" witch means piano etudes. He wrote it for Carl Tausig, who played it often in concert. Clara Schumann studied the work, but never played it in public.
Woah, Michelangeli. Too much pedal for my personal taste perhaps but absolutely incredible. He goes beyond technical feats and uses it to create something special that I've never heard in this passage
The overused pedal is what create something special. The reverb of the bass really emphasizes the phrasing of the melody.
@@szdxw yeah, absolutely. I probably wouldn't do it myself but it sounds amazing when he does it.
Kissin is flippin amazing. But musically, I love Pogorelich's version the best, really brings out the macabre!
Pogorelich wie häufig, willkürlich und maniriert ohne Sinn.
Zilberstein nailed it! Powerful and well articulated but still without rushing just through it. Other interpretations sound a bit mannered ... like they just want to let the world know that they have a unique musicality ;)
Too slow
@@danielhughes441you are
Kobrin was astonishing. So good.
I like the different approach of Francesco Libetta. Jong Hwa Parks version is very good in the sense that the duck tempo brings out the melodic structure better.
Wow this is so dramatic! I just love Evgeny's, Yuja Wang's and Jong Hwa Park's versions. Thumbs up !
wow kobrin's interp is really beautiful
The camera cuts in the Zilberstein are out of this world. I felt like I was watching inception, every two seconds a new cut. The entire video is so cool.
And evidently not live....
Too many for a classical music video (I say this as a livestream director) - more suited to a video game
@@daniele8716 I am sure edited heavily
The audio is live.
Kissin's 100% for me. Absolute machine in this. Would love to see what Lim Yunchan does with this one day. He has the chops for it surely, after demolishing Feux Follets
Machine? I don't think Kissin is just that, the Asiatic versions sound like machine-playing, not him
From where is this live performance? I have the one from 1/23/95 in Carnegie, and its equal to this
LIM is a copy machine, a totally unmusical robot, he will never be accepted as a MUSICIAN
Who is LIM Y. ?... a copy machine without musicality at all
Exactly, all these asiatic rhythm machines should be banned from all stages
For me, it's Kissin. Not only is it faster than most, but he also brings the most amazing clarity.
I was astonished i first heard his studio recording... jaw Dropped!!
-Michelangeli- great speed, but is more muddy than the Ultra crispness of Kissin.
(And that he cut out one of the harder bits!?.... I'm with You on this surprise is this realization! )
Kobrin played with the best character. Kissin with the best clarity (given the frantic speed)
One thing is for sure - this piece has the full attention of every single one of them! Most appear to be quite thankful when that section is over.
I agree with you about Kobrin.
Listen to Julius Katchen, unbelievable! (only on record as far as I know)
Katchen is divine in Brahms, possibly the greatest. It's a shame there is no live recording of him playing this...his studio is unbelievable as you say.
Wonderful video! Thanks for creating. Had never heard this piece.
(Weirdly Wang us down a tone)
Did yall see what Ivo did there?!?? Outlining the original Paganini theme, around all the "fast" notes.
The most musical. Best one.
16:35 and special thanks and respect for the very dominant female Mrs. Zilberstein. I love this kind of boxing Brahms knock-out instead playing it with mourning grimaces.
Noone really nails it. Kissin wins, however, the overall prize. Never heard Yuja Wang hit so many wrong notes. But honestly: kind of fun to hear this passage that brings even the world's best pianists beyond their limits.
Lilya Zilberstein - Super! Bravo!
Aline van Barentzen's 1941 recording of both books is the best that I've heard.
Yuja Wang sloppy and in pain, never thought I’d see that 🤔 Kissin imperial here
Wang starts off strong and then starts to derail. Her studio recording is (obviously) much stronger - and given her technique I’m positive she could give a better live performance on a different night but it’s a shame that the one video we have of her doing it isn’t her best
@@ArgerichStan there’s another video of her playing it live, wearing a purple dress. She’s much better in that one.
Did Earl Wild ever record this live? I know his amazing studio recording... but was hoping theres a live version floating around here!
I have tons of live Wild, but have never seen a live Brahms Pag
Michelangeli is something else! Wow
not for the first time do i find Kissin's breathtaking and my favorite...
How come you didn't include Tzimon Barto's live performance, available right here on YT? This is a big guy with big hands, well-suited to this music.
I liked tuning of the piano in Yuja Wang video.
pov when its a half step lower
Richter surprisingly slow (compared to the others) - my favorite.
Lilya Zilberstein: the best performance! (Jong Hwa Park: very crisp, interesting, but not always "clean.")
Crazy how Yuja is like 11/2 a tone down from everyone else, yet she still played that with no effort and musicality.
Guess I’m musically stupid: I don’t understand this comment. What does 11/2 indicate?
I do find myself asking if this is actually musical?
Wilhelm Backhaus🥰
The video editing in Zilberstein's is unwatchable. Got vertigo from trying to watch that one lol.
Jong Hwa Park at 15:26 is really outstanding and it was a shame that this is my first encounter with him in here.Bravissimo
Nothing interesting in it. He just struggles to - and succeeds in - not making a mistake and pressing (almost) all the correct notes. A feat by itself, don't get me wrong, but music is not gymnastics - and not everything is for everybody to perform.
@@LisztianGR this is so unfair really. He's such a great musician and deserves all the appreciation and recognition.
@@hshshs2007 I was referring to this particular excerpt that I listened to - haven't heard of him in general. Will look him up when time allows.
the tempo I play it at... is very close to Tianxu An... very clear and on the safe side...
I like so much Julius Katchen interpretation but unfortunatly is not in this list.
And yes, Mr. Kobrin, absolutely great.
(just a little too young for the toxic inspiration of the piece, but don't worry, he will be soon depressive-agressive as all and play the work heavenly)
Judging by the strained facial expressions of these brilliant pianists, you can imagine how fucking bizarre this is. I know that Brahms was an extremely virtuoso pianist, but did he match Lizst and Chopin?
This piece in particular is IMO even harder than the vast majority of Liszt and all of Chopin's pieces. It's pretty well known as one of the hardest works in the standard repertoire.
@@aerohydra3849 Yeah I can imagine because it is deeply impressive.
I like Silberstein and Kissin. Silberstein has the right idea but the form is not so apparent.... and Kissin has crisp fingering but was played a tad fast though.
Кобрин...фантастика!👏
All very cool versions, but I really like the one by Francesco Libetta. Many of these interpretations fail to play the top notes _ben marcato_ as Brahms asks for, instead they drown everything in lots of pedal. Kissin is great and articulate (unless in the end where the pedal kind of get’s out of control in one spot, but it is too fast. At this tempo the trills in the bass just do not make sense anymore. Yuja Wang is quite clean and articulate, but a bit too heavy on the pedal.
You forgot Julius Katchen.
hahah, I spent a summer about 25 years ago learning....
...that I was never gonna be great at this particular piece, lol...
Michelangeli
Petri's rendition is studio I believe; not live.
Synchronizing video and audio is such a difficult task....
I don't trust any pianist who doesn't reach for the A0 at the climax of Var. 14, bar 22 of the variation. When Brahms wrote these variations in the 1860s, he hadn't yet received his glorious Streicher instrument with the last three bass keys.
I cannot believe it! Why the hell didn't you include the fabulous recordings by Julius Katchen. To me he is toweringly superior to everybody presented here, mavbe with the exception of Kissin. And you also left out the remarkable version of Agustin Anievas.
Katchen’s recording is not live
Kissin is a monster
Is there an early recording of richter playing this? Unfortunately this one is from the 80’s when his playing generally became extremely pedantic.
No there isn't. Richter learnt this very late, which is curious. He also disliked Michelangeli in this piece (it's in his diaries). I adore Richter but his version is pale and I very much prefer Mchelangeli's or Kissin's. Gilels learnt this as a young man and it is really a pity that no early vesion survives.
Wow, I would've guessed it's Balakirev or Godovsky!
Brahms is usually not known for intense displays of virtuosity, until he is!! Haha
in this specific part you can hear and see in the writing a lot of Beethoven's influence
I miss Shura Cherkassky! He recorded the complete Paganini Variations by Brahms!
I heard him do it live - there is nothing that man played that wasn't on his own terms and unique.
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Kissin is the winner 👏👏👏 I’m shocked by the disaster Gilels had !
This piece is so unplayable that i’m not surprised if it’s ability to derail anyone, no matter how great! Haha
You know he was 65 years old, Kissin was 25 ;)
No. Julius Katchen and another dude played better
@@epicaunleashed8764 For me, a holy grail is to find ANY live Katchen with Brahms - his complete set of the piano music has never been surpassed.
@@JoePatrych i don't think you'll ever find any live katchen recordng, but agreed. His Brahms is unsurpassable.
One of the best versions I've heard is by pianist named Daniel Lessner, you should check out his performance live at Carnegie Hall
Michelangeli...sempre ineguagliabile
It's. not necessary the speed. It's about the music. This is no tennis serve & volley....
A pitty that there is e g no Pollini record
I agree that kobin is best here. He maintains control throughout and keeps the phrasing clear and musical. That piano though: horribly harsh tone and certainly not the pianist´s fault.
God-like music !!!
This is marked Allegro. Brahms groups at the 32nd note. Kissin, Michelangeli, Park and Zilberstein play it much too fast and it shows with their mistakes. One cannot bring out the harmonic phrasings at that speed.
Where are Kissin's mistakes?
@@fredfeinberg3995 @0:16 for starters ...
Kissin and Libetta
rhe best ive heard is julius katchen ...hands down👍
Useless comparison, why would you compare a younger player to an aged one? (Kissin to Richter or Gilels)
Hang the cameraman on yujas performance. Panning to her face on the most insane part smh
I thought the last one was the best
Pogorelich & Zilberstein best IMO
Micgelangeli impareggiabile!!!!!!
Kissin, Kissin, KISSIN !!!!!
Pity that Kristina Miller is missing, she' s astonishing!
Lilya Zilberstein is my favorite.
hold my bear...
So Julius Katchen is not good enough to be on the video!
He has no live recording!
Muy diferentes unas de otras las interpretaciones. La mayoría me gustan, menos tres, dos de ellas de dos monstruos sagrados del firmamento pianístico, me refiero a Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli y a Wilhelm Backhaus, estoy extrañado por la velocidad, obviamente eran muy jóvenes en esas interpretaciones, se nota que daban prioridad al lucimiento técnico en detrimento de las ideas de Brahms, en estos casos las velocidades arruinan todo; y la otra es la de Ivo Pogorelich, por razones obvias, es un pianista muy bueno, pero su creatividad a veces se vuelca por el libertinaje y las interpretaciones suenan casi irreconocibles. Creo que Sviatoslav Richter es el más equilibrado.
Zilberstein.
Petri's is the most polished. This thing weighs 800 lbs, you're going to see veins bulging. Jong Hwa Park has a true feeling for the piece, pianistically.
Pogorelic: ridicolous. Kissin: the best. Libetta: chi cazz'e'?
Thanks for this! Interesting! I would definitely recommend Arrau's whole version. But here's the link to this variation. th-cam.com/video/IxzyXeSYl28/w-d-xo.html
Definitely should have been included. Plus special note for the no.13 before it, which Arrau managed to turn into music like no ever pianist ever has.
il manque Katchen, voyons !
Zilberstein is best to me
😍😍😍😍😍
ABM made different records, this is only fast but not that amazing
Meh. How hard could it be?....
Michelangeli! Fantastic!
Technically very difficult, but to be honest, I don't find it very interesting musically. To me it just sounds like an endless series of bland arpeggios.
"It's difficult but not musical" 🤓
It's one single variation out of two full books of them. Listen to the full set for the musicality. There's plenty. This is the fireworks.
Michelangeli made fire🔥
This piece sound better than I remember, at least these excerpts, but I think it's highly overrated and not worth the difficulty. I very much prefer either of Liszt's transcriptions of the 24th caprice.
You should nickname this wonderful vídeos as a great Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues titled his chronicles in the newspapers "A vida como ela é" meaning "Life as it is". THIS is reality, a life taking risks in front of people, getting scratches, making mistakes and great music alltogether and above all showing deep sense of humanity. Congratulations🎉Great job!
Kobrin's rendition is so underrated. He played even better in Cliburn 2005
His Cliburn performance is astonishing. There is something though about this early performance that I am obsessed with - it is so POWERFUL, he goes for such a massive sound that no-one else really attempts despite never losing the clarity of articulation. In the Cliburn he lightens up slightly, maybe because of the piano or maybe just because over time he modified his interpretation.
@@ArgerichStan Can’t agree more! Kobrin had some mad phrasing and tone control. Not like others did not play the piece well but Kobrin gave more depth and resonance to the music. Thats what made him special in my opinion.
Agreed - the Cliburn 2005 Semi-Final performance is actually bette rthan this one, and in much better sound.
sooo many darn GREAT pianists... my favorite...??? Francesco Libetta ??? Richter...????
I'm not the biggest Kissin fan, to be honest, but this style is exactly where he shines. It's deliberate, powerful, and bravura. Wonderful!
Don't forget Alexander Gavrylyuk
th-cam.com/video/O8hEINWfwHg/w-d-xo.html
Didn’t know this recording existed- it is excellent
Pretty fun listening to these contrasting performances... Overall, so much of book one is difficult.. Please listen to THE great master...Julius Katchen and the recent recording of Gayvrylyuk to really hear what it can do... and I agree Kobrin is really musical ..Unfortunate he wasn't playing a New York Steinway rather than that harsh tin bucket
0:00 how technical and auditive perfection can be emotionally boring. Notes without meaning and message. So schade !!