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Many consider Cortot and Lipatti among the very greatest of pianists but I have never warmed up to their playing. If you feel they are very great can you explain why and/or link some recordings that might help change my mind?
I think they both sound rather different from modern pianists. Is Cortot playing a Bechstein in that recording? It's a sound world that you hardly never hear today. I know it's an ancient recording, but there are many recordings from the same period that don't sound like that. He reminds me of Schnabel.
Lipatti always sounds beautiful to me. It's such a shame he missed the modern recording era by a few short years.
Lipatti died at such a young age that it's hard to make a judgement. But his final recording is one of the greatest live recordings ever, for various and obvious reasons. If the recording engineer hadn't stopped recording and had included Lipatti's very last performed piece, then that would overall be THE greatest live recording in classical music.
But I thought I heard wonderful expressions! ... can not enough Bach (to loosen up the fingers) be the cause? :-)
No, I thinks it's probably the lack of a note-perfect "competition pianist" mindset, which seems to be a more (post?)modern development. Let's face it, there are quite a few people who attend recitals today only to hear if the performer is going to make a mistake. Maybe the recital is obsolete.
What I've always appreciated about Lipatti is the clarity of his interpretations. There are no affectations, no reading into the music what's not there. His few recordings are always like a tonic to me, and they leave me feeling refreshed...and more than a little chastised! It's a sort of purity in playing that one seldom hears.
This is the last piece that Lipatti performed in public, substituting it for Chopin's Waltz Op.34/1 because he was too weak to play the latter. That recital in Besançon was recorded (and available on CD), but not the 'encore'.
Let's face it, there are quite a few people who attend recitals today only to hear if the performer is going to make a mistake.
I've never met anyone with this attitude. Why would anyone be interested in such an exercise?
For the same reason that some go to car races to see a crash. They're out there. I think it's one of the reasons Gould soured on live performances (although Gould admittedly was a quirky character).
Let's face it, there are quite a few people who attend recitals today only to hear if the performer is going to make a mistake.
I've never met anyone with this attitude. Why would anyone be interested in such an exercise?
For the same reason that some go to car races to see a crash. They're out there. I think it's one of the reasons Gould soured on live performances (although Gould admittedly was a quirky character).
Oh the armchair critics exist; go look at the negative comments and down-votes given on YouTube to virtuosic performances that are not note perfect .
Reminds me of an old joke: how many pianists does it take to perform a concerto Answer: 100: one to play and 99 to point out they could have played it better.
On the subject of wrong notes, while Cortot wasn't bothered by his, Lipatti was.
That was the reason why the Barcarolle I linked wasn't approved for commercial release by him during his lifetime - because it wasn't note-perfect.
Well then we can't judge Lipatti on the basis of wrong notes in a recording that he didn't approve. After all that was probably the reason Horowitz wouldn't perform Chopin's first Op. 10 etude.
Let's face it, there are quite a few people who attend recitals today only to hear if the performer is going to make a mistake.
I've never met anyone with this attitude. Why would anyone be interested in such an exercise?
For the same reason that some go to car races to see a crash. They're out there. I think it's one of the reasons Gould soured on live performances (although Gould admittedly was a quirky character).
Oh the armchair critics exist; go look at the negative comments and down-votes given on YouTube to virtuosic performances that are not note perfect .
Reminds me of an old joke: how many pianists does it take to perform a concerto Answer: 100: one to play and 99 to point out they could have played it better.
Exactly. And it gets even worse when it comes to violinists, cellists and guitarists.
It is said that Federico Colli sounds a lot like Lipatti, though that may because they are both Italian. ðŸ˜
I've listened to a lot of Colli because I think he's sensationally good especially in Mozart. I don't see any resemblance to Lipatti. Who said they sounded similar?
It is said that Federico Colli sounds a lot like Lipatti, though that may because they are both Italian. ðŸ˜
I've listened to a lot of Colli because I think he's sensationally good especially in Mozart. I don't see any resemblance to Lipatti. Who said they sounded similar?
Several critics or reviewers have compared him to Lipatti, Michelangeli, and Pollini. His playing does seem to have characterics of all three, which just means that Colli sounds like Colli!
It is said that Federico Colli sounds a lot like Lipatti, though that may because they are both Italian. ðŸ˜
I've listened to a lot of Colli because I think he's sensationally good especially in Mozart. I don't see any resemblance to Lipatti. Who said they sounded similar?
Several critics or reviewers have compared him to Lipatti, Michelangeli, and Pollini. His playing does seem to have characterics of all three, which just means that Colli sounds like Colli!
Here's a link to a short promotional blurb that does indeed compare Colli to Lipatti among others, so the idea most definitely is there. I hadn't really heard of Colli, being "out of the loop" in the piano world and preoccupied with other things musical for a while. I'll have to look for some of his recordings.
)
And it gets even worse when it comes to violinists, cellists and guitarists.
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