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    Continuing on with discussion of the "Serioso," just the other day I chanced upon a YouTube video of Benjamin Zander conducting an "interpretation class" during which he stresses the importance of following Beethoven's tempo markings for the first movement. The video begins with a quartet playing the movement at what I assume is modern standard performance tempo. Zander then has them play it at B's designated tempo. For my money, the movement is ever so more exciting and alive at the faster tempo. Zander is an .... ummmm... enthusiastic instructor. Good stuff.

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      [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCEzh3MwILY[/YOUTUBE]
      ‘Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.’

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        Been listening to 2 pieces.
        First, Steve Reich: Piano phase.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P_9hDzG1i0

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          Second, Berio: Sequenza III.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGovCafPQAE

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            Originally posted by Quijote View Post
            Been listening to 2 pieces.
            First, Steve Reich: Piano phase.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P_9hDzG1i0
            It would be quite the challenge for two pianists to actually play this together live!

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              Originally posted by Chris View Post
              It would be quite the challenge for two pianists to actually play this together live!
              It's been done, quite often.
              Now imagine only one pianist on two pianos doing it (nor the best performance ever, but bravo even so): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnQdP03iYIo

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                Clementi sonata in F# minor / Horowitz - beautiful piece and playing.

                [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI8Zjz1Xj9A[/YOUTUBE]
                'Man know thyself'

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                  Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
                  Philippe Jordan, Wiener Symphoniker
                  Fidelio

                  Must it be.....it must be

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                    Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel.
                    A very pleasant way of playing around with an F major scale.
                    What do you think? Melancholic, certainly. Great music?
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS7qmtQLSyY

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                      Mozart: Piano concerto no.26, Friedrich Gulda at the piano.

                      This concert begins in an odd way. The pianist repeatedly striking a key on the piano while the orchestra plays. In Mozart's time the piano used to enter after an orchestral introduction. And the pianist plays only one note: a D natural!

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                        Originally posted by Quijote View Post
                        Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel.
                        A very pleasant way of playing around with an F major scale.
                        What do you think? Melancholic, certainly. Great music?
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS7qmtQLSyY
                        I think to achieve this beautiful contemplative state with such simple means is great. It lasts over 8 minutes with the same repetitive accompaniment yet it doesn't create a sense of boredom, only peace - quite extraordinary really when you think about it!
                        'Man know thyself'

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                          Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas
                          Brendel, Decca 1994
                          Fidelio

                          Must it be.....it must be

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                            Originally posted by Fidelio View Post
                            Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas
                            Brendel, Decca 1994

                            My favourite set of the sonatas. I also have his earlier Vox set but the 1994 one has much better sound quality.

                            (My edition is on Philips though. Have they been re-released on Decca?)

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                              During the 1960s, he became the first pianist ever to record the entire piano works of Beethoven (on the Vox label), a set which, in the opinion of one critic, contains 'some of the finest Beethoven ever recorded'. In the 1970s, Brendel returned to Beethoven with a complete cycle of the piano sonatas on the Philips label. With this 10-CD set, Brendel becomes the first pianist to have recorded Beethoven's 32 sonatas three times. Although presented in broadly chronological order, there are some exceptions – on the second, fifth and seventh to ninth CDs. Also a minority of these performances are live. The first two are analogue cycle, this is digital.

                              The Philips recordings are my favourite.
                              Last edited by Fidelio; 06-06-2018, 01:55 PM.
                              Fidelio

                              Must it be.....it must be

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                                This morning I caught the last half of the Schumann Cello Concerto. The last movement reminded me a bit of Rachmaninoff.

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