Rach Sonata No. 2

[dbrainiak914]

Wow.  I do believe this is one of the most exciting things ever penned for piano.  The whole last movement drives me crazy with passion.  So just how tough is it?  I hear there are multiple versions, the original simplified or shortened or something, I'm not sure.  Also, who's recording is your favorite?  I have Ashkenazy and Horowitz, but both seem to be missing something in the piece to me.  Does anyone have the sheets?  I'd love to take a look at this.

[musicsdarkangel]

Ashkenazy and Horowitz missing something?

Damn.

If you find a better recording, tell me, cause I love both of those.

My favorite is easily the Horowitz.


Ogdon's and Van Cliburn's are great as well.

[Dazzer]

The 1st edition was written before the 2nd edition (duh ) , in which he felt that the sonata was "too long". I believe he said "A chopin sonata is half the length, and yet all that needs to be said has been said". thus he cut it down tremendously from 30 minutes to 19, and also simplified it to make it easier for people to learn.

I'm a fan of the 2nd edition however.

Anyway, Ashkenazy plays the 1st edition. Most people play the 2nd edition. Horowitz made a special edition made up of sections from both the 1st and 2nd edition. I can refer to a foreword to a particular edition that i have which states from which edition each section comes from.

[cherub_rocker1979]

Ashkenazy and Horowitz missing something?

***.

If you find a better recording, tell me, cause I love both of those.

My favorite is easily the Horowitz.


Ogdon's and Van Cliburn's are great as well.

I like these recordings but the sound quality is not so great.  I like Biret's version of the original on Naxos, she plays very cleanly and the sound quality is great.  I heard this recording on Rhapsody and I was very impressed; I really liked being able to hear all the notes.  I've noticed that there's a lot of Naxos CDs on Rhapsody and a lot of them are really good.  I was a bit disappointed with Biret's version of the Etudes-Tableaux because she misread a lot of the notes and it's quite annoying to listen to those errors since I've played several of these etudes myself.

[pita bread]

I'm a fan of the first version; the revision lacks, for lack of a better term, girth.

[superstition2]

I'm a fan of the first version; the revision lacks, for lack of a better term, girth.

The 1st version is perfect.

[ryguillian]

Horowitz extends the octave passage at the end of the last movement: it's a nice little trick.

—Ryan

[cherub_rocker1979]

Wow.  I do believe this is one of the most exciting things ever penned for piano.  The whole last movement drives me crazy with passion.  So just how tough is it?  I hear there are multiple versions, the original simplified or shortened or something, I'm not sure.  Also, who's recording is your favorite?  I have Ashkenazy and Horowitz, but both seem to be missing something in the piece to me.  Does anyone have the sheets?  I'd love to take a look at this.

I can send you the sheets if you don't have them yet.

[jre58591]

my favorite recording is by dmitri ratser. i dont think many of you are familiar with his recording, but he chooses to play the original version of this sonata, which is what i wold prefer if i played it. thibaudet's recording is also great, but ive only heard the first moevent of his recording.