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Topic: Schumann's Tocatta op.7  (Read 2153 times)

Offline hodi

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Schumann's Tocatta op.7
on: June 16, 2005, 01:40:34 PM
i'm looking for the FASTEST performance of this piece
any cd's recommended?

Offline decadent

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #1 on: June 16, 2005, 04:12:43 PM
Not sure if its the fastest (heard only about 30 different versions so far), but Barere's is legendary, and the fastest I have heard so far

Offline thracozaag

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #2 on: June 16, 2005, 04:31:18 PM
  Cziffra's or MT's, I think.  Barere starts out faster, but ends up slowing down.

koji
"We have to reach a certain level before we realize how small we are."--Georges Cziffra

Offline Goldberg

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #3 on: June 16, 2005, 05:03:30 PM
Cziffra clocks in at 4:54 on my recording, and I don't know the time on my VHS of him playing it but it's probably about the same.

Offline etudes

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #4 on: June 16, 2005, 09:37:50 PM
Cziffra..............
Piano = my life
My life = piano

Offline thierry13

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #5 on: June 16, 2005, 10:16:26 PM
MT must be at least as fast as Cziffra no?

Offline maxy

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #6 on: June 17, 2005, 04:06:33 AM
Some interesting times:


Barere:  4:27
Horowitz: 4:40 (he also did it slower at other times)
Cziffra: 4:50 Studio... I assume there may be a live one faster...
Richter: 4:50  live in the 50s  (I started the clock at the repeat)

But just to let you know, Barere tends to speed up the easy parts...
Horowitz will speed up the hard parts (in a slower version, but very entertaining)
Great "fireworks" in Cziffra
Richter plays it almost like a machine, but it does work well.


I heard that some legendary performance of the Schumann toccata would have been Pogorelich at the Montreal international piano competition.  Someone told me he never heard it played any faster... and it was the main subject of conversation in the audience.

Offline espresso

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #7 on: June 29, 2005, 01:46:55 PM
Kuzmin clocks at 4:32

outdo almost every other pianist..

btw, who is MT?

Offline etudes

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #8 on: June 29, 2005, 01:56:39 PM
MT = Meiting sun
Piano = my life
My life = piano

Offline espresso

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #9 on: June 29, 2005, 02:05:42 PM
sorry, i have never heard of him before (feel like im missing out on something here...), is he that famous that his name can be abbreviated?? :o

Offline mikeyg

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #10 on: June 29, 2005, 06:23:05 PM
He's a member here, and he won an E-competition a while ago.  I don't know much acout him, but I'm sure the other members do.
I want an Integra.  1994-2001.   GSR.  If you see one, let me know.

www.johncareycompositions.com/forum

Offline sevencircles

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #11 on: June 29, 2005, 07:30:16 PM
Quote
Cziffra's or MT's, I think.  Barere starts out faster, but ends up slowing down.

In the version I heard Barere almost speeds up in the end and clocks at 4.27. An amazing feat indeed with a stiffaction keyboard.

Barere has to have strongest fingers of any recorded pianist.

Offline etudes

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #12 on: June 30, 2005, 03:58:58 PM
In the version I heard Barere almost speeds up in the end and clocks at 4.27. An amazing feat indeed with a stiffaction keyboard.

Barere has to have strongest fingers of any recorded pianist.
strongest....... :o how can you know.......
Piano = my life
My life = piano

Offline steinwaymodeld

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #13 on: June 30, 2005, 06:19:10 PM
strongest fingers and weakest heart.

BAAAD combination.  8)
Perfection itself is imperfection - Vladimir Horowitz

Offline sevencircles

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #14 on: June 30, 2005, 06:51:28 PM
Quote
strongest fingers and weakest heart.

BAAAD combination.

Exactly.

Rachmaninov called Barere a genius. In his lifetime Rach only praised 3 other players then himself and thats Horowitz,Hoffmann and Barere

Barere was propably one of those players that could a play a lot more works and better then the recordings indicate.

Offline maxy

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Re: Schumann's Tocatta op.7
Reply #15 on: July 01, 2005, 09:06:57 PM
Exactly.

Rachmaninov called Barere a genius. In his lifetime Rach only praised 3 other players then himself and thats Horowitz,Hoffmann and Barere



Let's not forget Gieseking. There is also at least one more.... can't remember the name.
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