Rzewski - The United People Will Never Be Defeated

[tompilk]

WOW!!! How amazing is that? It's awesome and I would just like to draw people's attention to it... Hamelin plays it in his supervirtuoso documentary and I was stunned at how beautiful it is...
https://down.whpia.com/BMweb/Incoming.rar
There are loads of other things in the documentary but in the end of the second half he plays it... wow... you may need a download manager such as Gozilla to get a reasonable download speed though...
Thanks for reading,
Tom 

[palika dunno]

wonderful piece,
bad pianist

[tompilk]

I really like Hamelin... what do you not like about him?

[g_s_223]

Hamelin has done great things in bringing forward lesser known composers and neglected works.  For that he deserves much credit.

However, purely as a pianist, he seems a bit "low wattage", i.e. not much fire and intensity in his playing.

Nevertheless, the pros outway the cons really. Vive Hamelin!

[g_s_223]

P.S. Playing that piece in the U.S.A. is probably an "act preparatory to terrorism" and u will end up in Gitmo being tortured like the others there

[palika dunno]

I really like Hamelin... what do you not like about him?

Hamelin is unfortunately a robot and not a musician...many people say he's great, probably because they're blended by his technique which might really be the best of the 21st century.

palika

[arensky]

P.S. Playing that piece in the U.S.A. is probably an "act preparatory to terrorism" and u will end up in Gitmo being tortured like the others there

But you have the Tower of London, and Armistar (1921), the British South Africa Company Police,(1896) the Dacoit supression in Burma (1885) , the Opium Wars (1842 -?), the Sepoy Rebellion (1857), supressing the Jews in Palestine (1945-1948) the Canadian atrocities following the Plains of Abraham (1757),  the Suez War (1956), subverting Mossadeq in Iran (1954?), the Mau Mau Rebellion (1950's), Malayan Emergency (1950-1965), Cyprus (1950's), Cromwell (1646-1660), Ireland (1400's-2005).

I could go on and on, but I must return to the piano. This is all I can recall off the top of my head. By the way Rzewski is an American, and the piece was premeired in USA by Ursula Oppens, an American pianist. It has been performed twice in the last 7 years where I live in the USA.

Shoot your mouth off more carefully, next time.

[brewtality]

Hamelin is unfortunately a robot and not a musician...many people say he's great, probably because they're blended by his technique which might really be the best of the 21st century.

palika

Who would you rather listen to, Ashkenazy?
I suggest you listen to Hamelin's recording of Alkan's 30 ans- quasi faust (from les quatres ages) This is musically stunning, it was so good that I forget about how wonderful his technique is.

[faulty_damper]

Who would you rather listen to, Ashkenazy?
I suggest you listen to Hamelin's recording of Alkan's 30 ans- quasi faust (from les quatres ages) This is musically stunning, it was so good that I forget about how wonderful his technique is.

This is, of course, your opinion, and a misleading digression onto a recorded work unrelated to this thread topic: Rzewski - The Perple United Will Never Be Defeated.

(While some of his recordings of Alkan's works may be very good, many of them reflect his bland expression, especially in slow lyrical movements/sections or works.  30ans, while it may be recorded well, is unfortunately representative of this bland expression especially in the slow lyrical section.  To further this example, 40ans is typical Hamelin.)

[brewtality]

This is, of course, your opinion, and a misleading digression onto a recorded work unrelated to this thread topic: Rzewski - The Perple United Will Never Be Defeated.

No need to be a wise guy, considering that the post I quoted was already off topic. Furthermore, I strongly disagree with your opinion of Hamelin's 30 ans, there is absolutely nothing bland about it.

[sevencircles]

Hamelin lacks a good ear for tone and the use of pedalair. This is very evident in the Rzewski variations.

He is a typical example of a musician that despite perfect pitch doesn´t care much about tonalcolors and nyances.

He tends to play in the air too much as well.

[I Love Xenakis]

Hahaha I see at least one brothah has jumped on this thread.

I LOVE the diversity of the insults you all have for Hamelin!  It seems like for every thing you few, very very few, Hamelin haters have to say negatively about him, one of the others disputes saying he has too much of it.  Way to work as a team =D

Let's think about this for a moment.  Hamelin plays some of the most difficult repertoire there is IE Alkan Solo Concerto, Sorabji Sonata No. 1, Ornstein Sonata No. 8, Alkan Symphonie pour Solo Piano, Rzewski PUWNBD etc. and does not miss notes.  Ergo, at the very least we must admit that Hamelin is one of the most technically gifted pianists alive save creatures like Ian Pace.

Now everyone go listen to that aforementioned Sorabji Sonata No. 1 and tell me if that is not one of the most musically impressive performances you have ever heard.  Wasn't there some asinine comment about pedalling?  I would like specific examples on that (not just the piece, the place in the piece and how you feel it could be improved).


And could someone post some of his Debussy for sevencircles here?

[sevencircles]

The video of him playing his own Preludium and Fugue is full of tasteless use of the pedal.

He simply drowns everything in pedalair.

His tone and use of the pedal during the Rzewski variations is not very tastefull to if you ask me.

I Will check out the Sorabji and  his Debussy.

[ibbar]

Honestly, I believe the music itself to be rather overrated.

As for the recordings, I'm familiar with three-Hamelin's, Drury's, and Rzewski's.  Hamelin's is generally the most technically impressive, although none disappoint in this regard.  Drury, I think, gives a very polished, beautiful performance, and is the only one that I listen to regularly anymore.  The recording that I have of the composer is hurt by a rather bad piano sound, but the performance itself is excellent, featuring the too seldom-heard combination of impressive technique and a certain wildness and spontenaiety.  Take your pick.