Best Liszt interpreter?

[vuille]

In 1978 I saw Lazar Berman in Tallahassee at FSU. I have listened to many great pianists. He played Tarentella by Liszt, the last transcendental etude, snow flurries, several others. My girlfriend/wife and best friend were in the third row, in front of him, 3000 in the audience. This big, broad man came out and bowed. We didn't know what to expect. He had been a captive in the USSR for years, locked away from his true love, a parisian pianist of means. He sat down and started to play, and it was as if all the lovely spirits and genies had come out of a bottle and created sounds never heard, impossible to create on a piano! We were stunned, and at the end, without anyone telling us to do so, without thinking, all 3000 were on their feet cheering, applauding with abandon!  The next piece....same reaction, and the following, and all the way to the end! I remember the Transcendental etude, played so quickly and accurately, it was like slide trombones! Unbelievable, captivating. Then, three months later, my mother had tickets and couldn't go, so my brother and I went in St. Petersburg at the bayfront center. Surely it would never happen again, the majesty, the magic, but he transcended his previous performance and we roared. No one, never, has done that, to my knowledge, on TV, in a musical recording, never, it was impossible. His recordings are excellent but in person he allowed all the genies out of the bottle! If you have not heard him at his peak, you have never heard a piano!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Cziffra, absolutely no contest.

[thorn]

Depends on the piece/set.
TEs- Ovchinikov, Trifonov (heard him live and he held the audience through the whole set, not a single cough)
Sonata- Zimerman, Larrocha (the live recording not the studio mentioned before)
Legends- Perlemuter, Kempff
AdP- Berman

For individual pieces the ones that come to mind are Richter's Obermann, Hough's Benediction, Arrau's fountains, Sospiro and Ballade 2, Ashkenazy's Mephisto, Berman's Erlking. I'll add more if I think of them later.

[bryfarr]

In 1978 I saw Lazar Berman in Tallahassee at FSU. I have listened to many great pianists. He played Tarentella by Liszt, the last transcendental etude, snow flurries, several others. My girlfriend/wife and best friend were in the third row, in front of him, 3000 in the audience. This big, broad man came out and bowed. We didn't know what to expect. He had been a captive in the USSR for years, locked away from his true love, a parisian pianist of means. He sat down and started to play, and it was as if all the lovely spirits and genies had come out of a bottle and created sounds never heard, impossible to create on a piano! We were stunned, and at the end, without anyone telling us to do so, without thinking, all 3000 were on their feet cheering, applauding with abandon!  The next piece....same reaction, and the following, and all the way to the end! I remember the Transcendental etude, played so quickly and accurately, it was like slide trombones! Unbelievable, captivating. Then, three months later, my mother had tickets and couldn't go, so my brother and I went in St. Petersburg at the bayfront center. Surely it would never happen again, the majesty, the magic, but he transcended his previous performance and we roared. No one, never, has done that, to my knowledge, on TV, in a musical recording, never, it was impossible. His recordings are excellent but in person he allowed all the genies out of the bottle! If you have not heard him at his peak, you have never heard a piano!

Agreed.  I never heard him live, just had the lp's of his transcendental etudes.  He had an amazing richness in his sound that never faltered, even in the most difficult passages, which were executed with such ease, always focused on the music.

[jaquet]

surpirsed arrau is not on here, from what ive heard from Helene Grimaud is very good, also of course the famous young talent yunchan lim is superb.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

also of course the famous young talent yunchan lim is superb.

TBH I feel like he's overrated.
He certainly doesn't compare to the 20th century greats.

[beebebleuga]

TBH I feel like he's overrated.
He certainly doesn't compare to the 20th century greats.

Omg yes first time I'm seeing someone agree!!

I like Berman and Arrau for Liszt. And Zimerman ofc! Brendel has some nice recordings too.
Honestly I don't think I've heard a better version of the transcendental etude 2 than Angel Wang from the 2023 Tchaikovsky Competition!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Omg yes first time I'm seeing someone agree!!

I mean, as long as no one says Leslie Howard, I'm good.

[bryfarr]

I've realized that necroposting's bad rep doesn't really apply to these polling threads.

I don't know how this will be taken, but I actually think it could be Lang Lang.

I came across this video comparing Kissin to Lang Lang playing La Campanella.  Informative!

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