the worst technique of all famous and professional pianists?

[stevie]

firstly of course there are some piansits who arent that famous but have managed to scrape livings as concert pianists, of these which do you know having a really sucky technique?

and of all the big names, who do you think has the worst technique?

of the first category, maybe john rusnak.

and the latter, claudio arrau in his later years....painful to listen to.

[piazzo23]

and the latter, claudio arrau in his later years....painful to listen to.

I don´t know what are you all people talking about when refering to technique.
Speed? That you can call fingers, dexterity, SPEED.

Technique's the way to make music not runs.


"painful to listen to." Ok, I´ve got it now 

[brewtality]

and the latter, claudio arrau in his later years....painful to listen to.

WRONG. Seriously, his TEs were recorded in his 70s and still show good technique. The beethoven 4th concerto vid shows his dexterity was still there when he was 80.

[stevie]

I don´t know what are you all people talking about when refering to technique.
Speed? That you can call fingers, dexterity, SPEED.

Technique's the way to make music not runs.


"painful to listen to." Ok, I´ve got it now 

painfully slow and inaccurate


brew, im not saying he didnt have a good technique, just that his was perhaps the weakest among the legendary so-called 'greats'

[brewtality]

painfully slow and inaccurate


brew, im not saying he didnt have a good technique, just that his was perhaps the weakest among the legendary so-called 'greats'

You have to take into account the fact that he continued to record longer than almost anyone. I think plante, rubinstein and serkin had techniques inferior to Arrau at around the same age (80+) while Horowitz was superior.

[da jake]

Uhh, Schnabel, Cortot, Serkin, even Rubinstein.

[orlandopiano]

firstly of course there are some piansits who arent that famous but have managed to scrape livings as concert pianists, of these which do you know having a really sucky technique?

and of all the big names, who do you think has the worst technique?

of the first category, maybe john rusnak.

and the latter, claudio arrau in his later years....painful to listen to.

I don't think Rusnak is a concert pianist. Isn't he a commercial music composer, who happens to like Chopin so he decided to take a stab at recording the Etudes?

[chromatickler]

Technique's the way to make music.

then what is 'musicality'? the way to make music musically? 

[Waldszenen]

Rubinstein, Arrau and Schnabel, funnily enough, retained their amazing technique even to old age.

Bolet's late recordings are a bit dull - not by any means bad, but they don't have the life of his better ones.

[piazzo23]

then what is 'musicality'? the way to make music musically? 

A technique is the procedure that enables you to do something, the way you do it.
In music, the tools to express your musicality.

Musicality is sensitivity to music expression. If you don´t have the appropiate technique you could not express your musicality.

[practicingnow]

I can't really think of any famous pianist with a "sucky" technique...

But in fairness, we shouldn't consider anyone in his/her old age - it's not fair, and it's just bullying.  We can't consider someone whose technique has deteriorated due to age - it's like saying that somebody sucks because they have arthritis now.  Let's stick to someone in their prime...
It's a good question though - whose technique was bad in their prime?  I can't think of one...hmmmm...
Oh Wait!  I definitely know who it was   
Yep - that's the answer...
Can anyone read my mind???

[stevie]

forgot to add - cliburn

[orlandopiano]

How about Liberace?

[practicingnow]

Nobody guessed what I was thinking ...

Vladimir De Pachmann

[gkatele]

David Helfgott?

[thracozaag]

Nobody guessed what I was thinking ...

Vladimir De Pachmann

 Strongly disagree.

koji

[thracozaag]

How about Liberace?

  Amid all the rhinestone, glitz and crap, he actually was a pretty good pianist.

koji

[stevie]

How about Liberace?

liberace played the minute waltz in about 37 seconds

and the tchaikovsky 1st concerto in 4 minutes, apparently

David Helfgott?

possibly

[orlandopiano]

  Amid all the rhinestone, glitz and crap, he actually was a pretty good pianist.

koji

Is it even possible to look past that stuff? 

I thought he would be a good candidate for this thread since outside of Tchaik #1 he never played any legit virtuoso works (am I right?). That and some Chopin pieces like Polonaise op.53 and Fantasy Impromptu are all I am aware of.

That is, if you don't count the schmaltzy Roger Williams-esque glittery runs in his popular music.

[mrchops10]

Couple of months ago, I heard Brendel play Kresleriana in Minneapolis--it was pretty embarrassing, technically. The sad thing is, as much as I admire some of Brendel's recordings, as well as the playing of many pianists already mentioned, I doubt many of them would make it in today's musical world. Recordings have conditioned our ears to perfection and technical stunts. I expect even more Lang Lang's, and even fewer Murray Perahia's.

P.S. How did Perahia ever record those Chopin Etudes? When I've heard him playing Mozart, it didn't seem like he could handle much more technically (it was beautiful, though.) Was it all recording studio tricks, or has anyone actually heard him perform this?

[gkatele]

Was it all recording studio tricks, or has anyone actually heard him perform this?

See if you can find the DVD "Glenn Gould - The Alchemist"

In this video, there's a segment of Gound recording Bach - I think it was one of the partitas. He tells the engineer that he didn't like one part, but the rest was OK.

Splice it in...

Thus was born (or at least advanced) the recording artist, rather than the performing artist. That's what Gould wanted to be anyway.


George

[xvimbi]

Couple of months ago, I heard Brendel play Kresleriana in Minneapolis--it was pretty embarrassing, technically.

You have to understand, though, that when you go see Brendel, it is because you want to see the man, not really hear him play. It is clear that he is past his prime.

[al]

You have to understand, though, that when you go see Brendel, it is because you want to see the man, not really hear him play. It is clear that he is past his prime.

Weird, I saw him about a month ago, and he played Kreislerana almost perfectly, as well as some pretty nice Schubert moments musicaux.

[stevie]

You have to understand, though, that when you go see Brendel, it is because you want to see the man, not really hear him play. It is clear that he is past his prime.

thats no excuse for him to suck balls.

horowitz recorded the wagner/liszt liebstod a couple days before he passed away, and its AMAZING.

no respect to brendel the slacker.

[practicingnow]

thats no excuse for him to suck balls.

horowitz recorded the wagner/liszt liebstod a couple days before he passed away, and its AMAZING.

no respect to brendel the slacker.

Again, we shouldn't be beating down on guys in their 70's and 80's

- and yes, it IS an excuse to "suck balls" - I'm sure you too will be sucking balls in your 70's, (if you're not already)  so pucker up dude - 70 is just around the corner!   

[stevie]

 

im just saying that some piansits still manage to have kickass technique in their old age, and that an artist shouldnt slack off and not practice as much and rely on their 'past glories'.

[practicingnow]

im just saying that some piansits still manage to have kickass technique in their old age, and that an artist shouldnt slack off and not practice as much and rely on their 'past glories'.

I hear you - nothing sucks more than going to hear a "great pianist" and then you find out that they are not what they used to be, or even worse, not prepared.

But I think Horowitz was the exception, not the rule - generally old guys don't sound like that - he was a phenomenon right up to the end!
Nowadays though, people are staying younger and younger, so who knows Stevie, maybe when we're 70 we'll be just peaking!  Wouldn't that be cool?   
It's really possible...

[stevie]

physically that might be impossible, technique naturally declines...but the decline can be lessened if hardwork is kept up.... but interpretavely that is very possible.