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It's always a pleasure to revisit this marvellous score. I've been so imprinted on Rachmaninov's inimitable version that I've neglected the rest of the field. Obviously quite wrongly.
A couple of real stand-out versions make me wonder if this is a woman's piece:
Myra Hess - wonderful
Alicia de Larrocha - just love it
Much more playful and lyrical than a lot of the guys - Arrau, Kempff, and even Kissin disappoint, though Freire is good.
Was this very connected with Clara in terms of inspiration?
Follow Ups:
Gilels is pretty good - live concert on Youtube. Pretty bad piano sound, though.
Andante's, "Robert Schumann Piano Works."
You can compare Godowsky to Rachmaninoff's: both are included.
You can also hear the likes of legends Nat, Haskil, Corot, Gieseking, Cortot, and Fischer. The sound, considering the age of some recordings, is very well done, the musicality is communicated. Caveat: stick to contemporary artists and downloads if absolute sound trumps performance in your world. For those that put music first, this is an easy decision; it's a "must own."
Edits: 04/03/14
Just released this last month!
I'm streaming it on QOBUZ which has most of the hm catalog up sometimes even before the CD is released!
Godowsky IS the test of time.
OK - but there's a lot left unsaid in that assertion.Certainly, no one would rationally deny that LG must have been one of his era's greatest pianists, based on both contemporaneous accounts of his playing and his psychedelically elaborate piano compositions and transcriptions. Judged only by his recordings however, the picture is far less clear. There are accounts that he used to freeze up in the recording studio and that he was so unhappy with some of these studio efforts that he actually begged his friends NOT to listen to his recordings.
I don't always agree with Jed Distler on Classics Today, but he is a legitimate and knowledgeable critic. Looking at Distler's reviews of the complete Godowsky recordings as they've come out on the Marston label, we can see that they're all over the place, going from a 5/10 to a 9/10, and laced with phrases such as "pedestrian, rhythmically stiff results", "clunky", "impossibly square", "wooden", "perfunctory", "rhythmic lurchings" - you get the idea. OTOH, Distler rightly draws attention to the pianist's gorgeous voicings and tonal balances in some pieces (to the extent we can hear such qualities in these ancient recordings). The point is that Godowsky's playing as heard via recordings is very much a mixed bag.
At one point, I did own a large selection of Godowsky recordings (I believe on the apr label), but to be honest, I don't remember the Carnaval performance at all. (I do get annoyed sometimes about sub-par sound quality.)
But to be fair, I wouldn't push a hyperbolic assertion like "Godowsky IS the test of time", especially in view of the mixed results he attained in the recording studio.
Edits: 04/04/14
IS the test of time. As far as quality of recordings, most artists are all over the place, though you also have to note the time period.
Godowsky was worshipped by his peers, by the young players that lionized him. No, Chris, he was not an empty suit.
Is Jon such a legend? In a hundred years, will two guys on an audio forum discuss his merits? Humbly, I'd argue "no."
There is an unfortunate current tendency to attack the legends of old, feeling perhaps that it makes the newer artists somehow gain in stature.
No one said LG was an empty suit, but you seem to think that because he was worshiped by his peers, that fact automatically makes his recordings worthwhile? Given all the problems with them (some by LG's own admission!), I'm afraid I don't see the logic in that. Sure, they have a theoretical interest, but I'd guess that most listeners would be disappointed by them. Of course, I guess there will always be listeners who flatter themselves that they can "hear past the flaws" of the big names of the past. (Or, perhaps, they aren't even aware of these flaws?)
Frankly, I think in a hundred years, performances will have moved on and folks in the future will mainly be interested in performances from their time, as, by and large, they should be.
No one is attacking LG - just trying to put things in a different perspective from the hero-worship of big names to which some here are prone.
It is 100 years on.
Godowsky is still legendary.
You yourself admit to having owned many recordings.
If being worshipped by one's peers, critics, and later musicians isn't valid, what is? What yardstick would you apply?
Certainly, if I was invested in listening to recent recordings of the highest audio standards by young upstarts who look good in evening wear, I'd also like to fool myself that these artistes are the match or better than previous generations' stars.
But I just can't.
And you shouldn't, either.
The only reason I even mentioned Godowsky is because YOU brought him up.
I don't know LG's entire output, but I'd put him some way down from my favourites of that era - Hofmann, Rachmaninov and somewhere in the pack with Rosenthal, Friedman, Pachman, Paderewski, Koczalski. Probably below them for my taste. I didn't like his Carnaval much. There's much I haven't heard from him, though, to be fair. Just going on what I have heard.
argue that Lillian Gish or John Barrymore aren't great actors, but the fact is they were the megastars of their era, immensely popular with audiences and critics, both. Still, today, many of the latter still highly rate them.
At any rate, I very much appreciate the flow, passion, and vision of Godowsky's, "Carnaval." Schnabel also was known to be lackadaisical, occasionally, with strict note-playing. As was Edwin Fischer. I like all of them...
One also might argue that Lillian Gish or John Barrymore aren't great actors, but the fact is they were the megastars of their era, immensely popular with audiences and critics, both."
Fine, they were stars. But you're also making a critical judgement of Godowsky's playing, not just the public popularity, and when you do that guys like me will tell you that Rachmaninov, Hofmann and a few others of the era were - in their eyes - better pianists.
It's this you don't seem to be able to take.
She's a bit different from the ladies you like but she's one of my favourite for Schumann pieces.
Her style fits my idea of *playfulness*.
I'm a fan of Novaes - gripping individual playing. I have her Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
But her Carnaval didn't survive repeated listening. There's a lot of over-emphasis.
De Larrocha is so much lighter and more playful. She's a pianist I love anyway in a lot of repertoire. Wonderful conception and lightness of touch.
how about Uchida's Carnaval?
They were all 'Piano Babes' at one time.
even Nikolayeva was a babe at one point...
Not that anyone with any sense would want to go back to those particular days!
Well, the "Chiarina" movement is a portrait of Clara, but that's about all I know of directly related to her in this work - Wikipedia has a good article on Carnaval.
As for favorite recordings, I haven't heard it in over four decades now, but. . .
. . . I have very fond memories of this one, and I wish some of ID's Columbia recordings would get reissued. There was a Haydn/Mozart/Scarlatti disc that I also remember as being tremendous. Oops! - Here it is:
A lot of recordings of Carnaval are just not on my wavelength - the rubato in most performances just seems wrong, often there's too much of it, and the technical demands are just not met at a high enough level. Of more recently issued recordings (i.e., ones that you can actually buy for a reasonable price - unlike the recording pictured above!), I guess I like the in-concert Michelangeli performance on Testament, Egorov on EMI, Cecile Licad on Sony - don't laugh, Imelda Marcos' pianistic ambassador does a great job with this piece. Of course, there's the classic Rachmaninoff interpretation - a one-of-a-kind take on this work, which Rachmaninoff succeeds with through sheer force of technique and personality.
was with your friend, Jon Nakamatsu at the piano at 'noontime concerts' at Old St. Mary's Cathedral here in San Francisco.
Best playing however is in the G-minor Sonata.
Has only been out for a couple of weeks. Also available as a 24/88.2 download.
of one of MY favorite 'Piano Babes'...
The a fore mentioned Ms. Hess.
I too am imprinted on Rachmaninov's version, but I also like Kempff, Perahia, Rubinstein (stereo version), Licad.
And I would love to hear Jonathan Biss play it--his all-Schumann EMI disc is terrific.
pbarach,I could be wrong but I don't think Perahia has recorded Carnival. Or did you have a live performance in mind?
Has anybody mentioned Michelangeli yet?. This and Faschingsschwank aus Wien along with the Concerto was a much peformed staple of his.
Edits: 04/06/14 04/06/14 04/07/14
My memory slip--no, Perahia hasn't recorded Carnaval. Sorry...
It is a wonderful piano cycle but not one that cannot be mastered by players of either gender.Some of my favorite recordings have come from Daniel Barenboim, Cecile Licad and Slavka Pechocova.
I don't think the Carnaval is easy to perform as it seems to trip up players reqularly. Many players lose the mood of the piece...I am not sure why...there's a subversive sense of humour in the Carnaval that too many performers fail to notice.
I really cringe when players bang out the notes robotically and lose the delicate humour and sensitivity of the piece.
Edits: 04/03/14
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