Brahms Paginini Variations Op. 35 - Micheal Ponti (Score) Live 1971 скачать в хорошем качестве

Brahms Paginini Variations Op. 35 - Micheal Ponti (Score) Live 1971

My all time favourite Brahms piece, and I believe to be the greatest set of variations ever written for piano, with Liszt famously saying Brahms paginini variations are better than his. This piece is a monumental challenge and one of the hardest pieces in standard repotoire and a piece I would never ever attempt that require exceptional voicing, finger dexterity, precision, speed, complex polyrhythms, fast octaves, wide uncomfortable broken chords that require large hands, dynamic changes, trills, huge plethora and variety of crazy technical difficulties such as leaps, double thirds and sixths in both hands, CLEARNESS, difficult pedal control, and a long length that exhausts the pianist with little breaks and endless repeats. Recording used:    • Michael Ponti plays Brahms "Paganini Varia...   - LIVE recording from 1971 Ido NOT own the audio I came across this wonderful street performance of this piece by a very young talented korean boy:    • 가장 어렵다고 알려진 피아노 곡 ㄷㄷ 악마의 테크닉 (브람스 - 파가니니 변...   In ADDITION, I made a full version where he plays all the repeats (except for one) and added 2 of the var he skipped from Katchens: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19hbn... Anyway, it has took me a long time to find my favourite performance of this piece as it has been Yuja Wang for a while. In my opinion, Michelangeli’s performance has bad audio quality and the playing sounds blurred, Kissins is too average and nothing special, Cziffra’s is quite erratic, and I recently came across Katchen’s stellar 1958 performance, but I prefer this one mainly due to more powerful exciting playing and faster tempo which is the fastest I have seen. Its because he skips not one not two but three variations which is very disappointing, (variation 8 and 11 in the first book, and variation 12 in the second book). Plus, he skips repeats in variation 5 (4th line), variation 9, variation 10, variation 12 twice (frst line and the next two given there are two repeats in that variation) SECOND BOOK: Skips repeat in variation 13. Despite the shortages, his playing never ceases to amaze me. To start off, I like that he plays the beginning with pedal as it makes it sound more smooth but still staccatoi, and the left hand chords in the treble cliff sound so beautifully light and crisp. Thema - 0:00 - Again pedal makes it sound smoother and more exciting than without pedal or very very restricted pedal as other pianists make it 1st Variation - 0:27 - So clean and executed wonderfully and very fluid. 2nd Var.- 0:50 - beautiful crispy touch in the p and mp bars 3rd var - 1:19 - again super clean touch and sublime voicing in lower and higher registers 4th Var - A tearjerking interpretation of this variation and compared to Katchen who plays it noticeably much faster. Here instead he allows the melody to take time to soak in and be more passionate. There is rubato also in the 2nd bar and 6th bar where Katchen I don’t notice any. The 6th bar rubato is highlights the beauty of the trill and is perfectly put. There is more rubato in the later bars as well. Definitely the most passionate interpretation! 5th Var - 2:42 - all the voices bought out. 6th Var - 3:05 - Great dynamics already after the first repeat. After that there is a significant jump in crescendo which really highlights the notes getting higher in RH and lower in LH, notably the bass notes. A unique interpretation of this var which is usually played very soft by many pianists. 7th Var - 3:28 - octave frenzy. Again meaty dynamic changes. 8th Var - 3:56 - staccaato frenzy. Bass notes are powerful . 9th Var - 4:22 - delicateness. In the 5th bar the LH is softer than Katchens which gives off better musicality. 10th Var- 5:01 11th Var- 5:35 - soulful and great voicing and faster tempo does work here. 13th famous Var - 5:58 - very clean (more than Cziffras and more exciting than Kissin). Glissandos are beautiful and the 2nd repeat is played with much needed energy. The faster tempo does wonders here but is not too fast! 14th my favourite Var - 6:30 - energetic and lively but LH is not 100% clear all the time. Like Yuja Wang and many others, that A0 is an amazing climax and it is a boom. 15th variation 7:38 - a little cleaner in the beginning than Katchens, however the ending is very messy and rushed. Those final few bars Yuja Wang is still my favourite as its slower and the A0 is accented SECOND BOOK: Variation 1 - 8:16 - awesome Variation 2 - 9:05 - sublime voicing in LH hand Var 3 - 9:39 - perfect balance between fingers Var 4 - 10:07 - perfect amount of pedal Var 6 - 11:01 super sharp Var 7 - 11:40 Var 8 - 11:58 Var - 12:29 Var 10 - 13:06 - very powerful and I really like how it is much faster than Katchens. Just simply the perfect tempo. Nice A8 at the end Var 11 - 13:47 - Flawless Var 13 - 14:11 - sensitive and beautiful Final Var 13 and ending - 14:56 - Virtuosity at its finest and Horowitz like ending all the way until the last note.