Can't recall anything quite like that on the Argerich/Chailly recording

But, in any case, you're right that incidental mishaps do occur in live performances, including the Argerich/Chailly performance of the Rachmaninoff Third. And some live performances have more mishaps than others do. How important these mishaps seem is something that varies among individual listeners. One of the exciting aspects about the Argerich performance to me is the sense of a superior technique being driven almost (but not quite!) to its breaking point.

And of course there's the famous Argerich studio recording of the Chopin Preludes, wherein the opening salvo in the B-flat minor Prelude was slightly messed up. Argerich directed the producers to use that take, despite the mess-up, and that's the way the performance was heard on the original LP issue. Apparently however, Argerich's decision never did sit well with the big brass at DG, and on early reissues of this recording of the Preludes, they edited one of her "uncontaminated" (i.e., note-perfect) alternate takes of that opening back into the B-flat minor track - without even telling her. Of course, there have been a number of reissues of this famous recording (I lose track of them!), so I don't know if one of them eventually returned to Argerich's original directive for that track.

I've also heard a couple of live performances by Khatia (Buniatishvili) wherein her technique was driven BEYOND its breaking point (IMHO). I then listen to her studio performances of the same works, and, magically and mysteriously, the notes are all cleaned up! ;-)

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - New Rachmaninov 3rd/Medtner 2nd with Hamelin on Hyperion. Hurwitz head over heels.... - jdaniel@jps.net 19:13:05 03/26/17 (14)

Brief excerpts on Youtube, and some nice pictures. - steve.ott@kctcs.edu 11:44:24 03/27/17 (3)

Wow - tempos in the excerpts were much slower than I thought they would be [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 16:23:46 03/27/17 (2)

RE: Wow - tempos in the excerpts were much slower than I thought they would be [nt] - steve.ott@kctcs.edu 17:14:40 03/27/17 (1)

Rachmaninov a bit faster with Ormandy. - jdaniel@jps.net 19:48:57 04/01/17 (0)

A more restrained review over at Audiophile Audition - Chris from Lafayette 00:34:54 03/27/17 (9)

RE: Alkan - goldenthal 19:19:52 04/01/17 (1)

Alkan IS "over the top" - but that's part of his appeal for many listeners [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 00:13:52 04/02/17 (0)

Lacks the magic of Live- - oldmkvi 11:47:34 03/27/17 (0)

There are several writers at AA that go - oldmkvi 08:10:45 03/27/17 (3)

RE: There are several writers at AA . . . - goldenthal 19:24:24 04/01/17 (0)

When I wrote for the High Fidelity Review site. . . - Chris from Lafayette 09:18:15 03/27/17 (1)

I remember Word Count from High School. - oldmkvi 10:35:32 03/27/17 (0)

Yes, pretty colorful language. "Live" isn't always best: doesn't Argerich land a whole step lower - jdaniel@jps.net 07:55:13 03/27/17 (1)

Can't recall anything quite like that on the Argerich/Chailly recording - Chris from Lafayette 09:06:04 03/27/17 (0)

Follow Ups

Can't recall anything quite like that on the Argerich/Chailly recording - Chris from Lafayette 09:06:04 03/27/17 (0)

Can't recall anything quite like that on the Argerich/Chailly recording

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