|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
98.208.117.121
In Reply to: RE: As for the best ... posted by Amphissa on March 06, 2017 at 20:16:31
He seems to be afraid of losing himself in the music. 40 years of following his career here, so feel free to disagree, but don't tell me I haven't done my homework. : )
Follow Ups:
For me, the trajectory of Ashkenazy's career has been a long, slow descent towards mediocrity. You listen to those three Etudes-tableaux which were fillers on his early Decca/London Rachmaninoff Second album (the one with Kondrashin conducting) and compare them with his remake (of the complete Etudes-tableaux) and it's not hard to miss: as the Brits say, standards are not being maintained!
Yes, and that's why I usually prefer Russian orchestras playing Russian music -- because so often it just comes to life better with that "pedal to the metal" kind of playing. Whether it is Tchaikovsky, Myaskovsky, Lyatoshinsky, Lyapunov, whatever.
But ya know, the tidy-pants criticism can be just as frequently leveled at most Western conductors as well. When did we hear Haitink, Maazel, Giulini, HvK, etc go bonkers? And conversely, isn't that exactly what Bernstein got criticized for? Of course, none of those guys were especially known for their Russian chops. But I have yet to hear any Brits do a bang up job with any of the Rachmaninoff symphonies. Studied, yes, monumental, yes, but to me, lacking the pathos. (Yes, I know some people love Previn, but I don't get it.)
Ashkenazy is not as exciting as Ormandy in the 1st, but at least he's not somnolent. Most recordings of the 1st are doomed within one minute. Chris seems to like the Kocsis recording. I'm trying to like it. Not there yet.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
,
Before he became VON KARAJAN!
To be fair, you're right: I listened to Rach playing his own piano concertos on RCA and IMHO he's startlingly expedient and cool, so Ormandy is interpreting as asked.
No one does Russians like the Russians, but other performances can excite and enlighten as well.
I should have said that I appreciate your giving of your time and attention to the Kocsis recording (which I do!).
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: