Edward Dolan
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
"Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman" <sunsetss0003@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1182907075.392550.311030@g4g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com...
> On Jun 25, 12:15 pm, Edward Dolan wrote:
>> ...
>> Now, please excuse me while I uncork my latest bottle of vino and get
>> back
>> to my beloved Beethoven. Yea, I am exploring the complexities of the
>> Piano
>> Sonata No. 29 in B flat, the Hammerklavier. Damn, I wonder if Beethoven
>> was
>> not God in disguise!
>
> The best dollar I ever spent [1] was to listen (primarily) and see
> (secondary) Ian Hobson play the Hammerklavier on a Hamburg Steinway.
> Recorded sound (at least not on the systems I can afford) does not do
> justice to the piece, as the "otherworldly" aspects are missing in
> action.
Well, I am not too particular about how a piece is performed. Just play the
damn notes, more or less as written, and I am quite satisfied. Beethoven did
all the work, and performers take way too much credit for themselves.
I have always preferred a pianist like Arthur Rubinstein to one like
Vladimir Horowitz. Rubinstein would just play the notes and not take too
many pains about it. A pianist like Horowitz will work a piece to death and
thereby destroy it. YoYo Ma is another performer who does not know how to
let the music speak for itself. Casals was yet another such jackass. And the
less said about Gould the better.
> [1] Literally, as this was the student price for a faculty recital.
When I lived in New York City in my long lost youth, I never went to many
concerts at all. Why? Way too expensive. $1.00 for a concert is about right
in my view. Anyone who pays more is an idiot, etc. Nay, I will get the
recording and that is more than enough for me. Unfortunately, the price of
CD classical recordings are also fairly outrageous, so I stay with my
thousands of LP records.
Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
news:1182907075.392550.311030@g4g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com...
> On Jun 25, 12:15 pm, Edward Dolan wrote:
>> ...
>> Now, please excuse me while I uncork my latest bottle of vino and get
>> back
>> to my beloved Beethoven. Yea, I am exploring the complexities of the
>> Piano
>> Sonata No. 29 in B flat, the Hammerklavier. Damn, I wonder if Beethoven
>> was
>> not God in disguise!
>
> The best dollar I ever spent [1] was to listen (primarily) and see
> (secondary) Ian Hobson play the Hammerklavier on a Hamburg Steinway.
> Recorded sound (at least not on the systems I can afford) does not do
> justice to the piece, as the "otherworldly" aspects are missing in
> action.
Well, I am not too particular about how a piece is performed. Just play the
damn notes, more or less as written, and I am quite satisfied. Beethoven did
all the work, and performers take way too much credit for themselves.
I have always preferred a pianist like Arthur Rubinstein to one like
Vladimir Horowitz. Rubinstein would just play the notes and not take too
many pains about it. A pianist like Horowitz will work a piece to death and
thereby destroy it. YoYo Ma is another performer who does not know how to
let the music speak for itself. Casals was yet another such jackass. And the
less said about Gould the better.
> [1] Literally, as this was the student price for a faculty recital.
When I lived in New York City in my long lost youth, I never went to many
concerts at all. Why? Way too expensive. $1.00 for a concert is about right
in my view. Anyone who pays more is an idiot, etc. Nay, I will get the
recording and that is more than enough for me. Unfortunately, the price of
CD classical recordings are also fairly outrageous, so I stay with my
thousands of LP records.
Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota