Most technically impressive pianorecording you ever heard?

[sevencircles]

What is the most technically impressive pianorecording you ever heard?

Only counting performances that you are almost 100% sure aren´t edited and steprecorded in any way.

[etudes]

Only counting performances that you are almost 100% sure aren´t edited and steprecorded in any way.

i never be sure of any recording (even live) that is unedit!
btw the most impressive is Hamelin supervirtuoso documentary!! awesome technique

[mikey6]

dunno if it's edited but Pollini (ya know the guy no one's heard of!!! ) Petrouschka is pretty freakish!

[ravel]

dunno if it's edited but Pollini (ya know the guy no one's heard of!!! ) Petrouschka is pretty freakish!

i agree, havent heard any one else play petrouchka like pollini.

[arensky]

Josef Hofmann........Third Etude op.120, Constantin von Sternberg 

[brewtality]

Josef Hofmann........Third Etude op.120, Constantin von Sternberg 

True, too bad that the piece is musically redundant, I'd add his Liszt Tarantella and Moszkowski Caprice Espagnol as well.

[pita bread]

i agree, havent heard any one else play petrouchka like pollini.

He ain't got nothin' on Kissin.

[cfortunato]

Perhaps Horowitz Pictures At An Exhibition.

[musik_man]

Richter's 10.4

I'm not sure how anyone has a different answer.

[zheer]

I dont know, possibly Ashkanazy and al the chopin Etude he recorded.

[maxy]

dunno if it's edited but Pollini (ya know the guy no one's heard of!!! ) Petrouschka is pretty freakish!

Pollini is one of the most edited pianist...

Berman's Petroushka is awesome, and the number of wrong notes suggests it's not edited, same with Gilels and Sokolov.     I hear there is a live rec of Weissenberg playing Petroushka that tops all.

Young Richter playing Liszt TE 5-8 and 10 is quite impressive.

Argerich live is usually impressive, Chopin Scherzo 3, Liszt concerto 1.

the list goes on for quite some time....

[kreso]

Schubert-Piano Sonata D.960 in Richter's performance!!

I think that no one canot play that sonata like hime (before and after!)..

technicaly impressive, musicaly impressive..

Work of a great genuis (Schubert) in performance made by another great genius (Richter)

[musicsdarkangel]

1.  Lhevinne's La Campanella (on record, not cd)
2.  Beus's Barber Sonata (vid from Van Cliburn)
3.  Richter's op 10 no 4, as well as Feux Follet
4.  Horowitz's Moskowski etude in A flat
5.  Hamelin's La Campanella
6.  Ashkenazy's Mephisto Waltz
7.  Ashkenazy's Rhapsody on a theme by Pagannini
8.  Cziffra's 6th Hungarian Rhapsody
9.  Kissin's La Campanella
10.Horowitz's Prokofiev Tocatta

[sevencircles]

Libetta playing Godowsky Chopin Etude studies is pretty hard to beat from a technical standpoint.

Barere got a couple of impressive recordings to.

Hamelin of course.

[stevie]

libetta godowsky studies as mentioned, hamelin's alkan concerto(live), langlang HR2(live), yundi li's la campanella(live, and forget kissin), and of course cziffra's improvisations.

most technically impressive chopin etudes - gavrilov.

[stevie]

1.  Lhevinne's La Campanella (on record, not cd)
2.  Beus's Barber Sonata (vid from Van Cliburn)
3.  Richter's op 10 no 4, as well as Feux Follet
4.  Horowitz's Moskowski etude in A flat
5.  Hamelin's La Campanella
6.  Ashkenazy's Mephisto Waltz
7.  Ashkenazy's Rhapsody on a theme by Pagannini
8.  Cziffra's 6th Hungarian Rhapsody
9.  Kissin's La Campanella
10.Horowitz's Prokofiev Tocatta

i dont really agree with this list, except from the cziffra, but i have to say that beus video is incredible, id have to hear more of his playing to see his consitency but the barber was WOW.

[demented cow]

The following list is not in any order, would be different if you asked me tomorrow, and is totally superficial because I am mainly thinking of overt fury, not cases where somebody plays awkward but non-virtuosic-sounding pieces well (e.g. Schubert). It only includes solo works.
-Sergio Tiempo, Chopin thirds etude with the left hand from revolutionary (on his website; the thirds in the right are perhaps matchless, though Lhevinne is also hairraising speed-wise and his dynamic contrasts add more to the fury).
-Libetta: Chopin-Godowsky op 10/4 for left hand alone (amazing; I need to hear more by him).
-Barere: Schumann Toccata, Liszt sonata, Gnomenreigen, Don Juan, Gounod Faust paraphrase and basically any other piece that he does not go so postal in that inaccuracies end up detracting from the fury.
-Argerich: Liszt sonata, Chopin 3rd scherzo (esp. live version), the faster Chop. preludes.
-Cziffra: La Campanella, some of the Chopin etudes.
-Richter, Chop. op. 10/4 (they say he also did Schumann Toccata that's almost as fast as Barere's, but I haven't heard it; BTW Stevie, who has the record on the Schumann Toc.?)
-Katsaris: Beethoven-Liszt symphonies, esp. 9th (I must admit I haven't heard other recordings of these works, except for Gould playing the 5th too slowly)
-Bermann: Lizst transcendentals, though Freddy Kempf is not far behind.
-Hamelin: Chopin-Godowsky etudes, but he somehow doesn't generate enough fury for my liking.
-Hoffman: I don't know which piece to name, but check out e.g. his Waldesrauschen or Liszt Tarantella.

[arensky]

-Hoffman: I don't know which piece to name, but check out e.g. his Waldesrauschen or Liszt Tarantella.

I thought about the Waldesrauschen after I said the Sternberg Etude (which came to mind first); I played it for my best friend, a Jazz/Blues guitarist, and his face looked exactly like this...

 

Then he said, "That guy isn't human! He's a space alien!...play it again, man!"   

[demented cow]

I played [Hofmann's Waldesrauschen] for my best friend, a Jazz/Blues guitarist, and .....Then he said, "That guy isn't human! He's a space alien!...play it again, man!"   

Did you play him any other piano stuff that didn't blow his mind? I ask because I'm always curious about what people say about classical piano music who don't normally listen to it (which you imply is the case here) & am surprised that this recording would sound inhuman to a non-pianist. I've had non-pianists mistakenly be impressed by a bad performance of relatively easy pieces that 'sound fast' (say 3rd movt of Moonlight or Haydn Eb sonata) but never get that for slower-sounding things, say Waldesrauschen, or the Blumenfeld left hand etude (at least if I'm not holding a beerglass while playing it).

[practicingnow]

Some off the top of my head (in no particular order):
Horowitz - first movement Petrouchka, Prokofiev Toccata, Schumann Toccata
Berman - Liszt Transcendental Etude no.2
Cyprien Katsaris - last movement Eine kleine Nachtmusik (mozart)
Cziffra - Trisch-Trasch Polka, Guilliame Tell
Argerich - Chopin Prelude no.16
Barere - Liszt Etude "La Leggierezza", Blumenfeld Etude for the left hand
Kissin - Feux Follets, Erlking (Liszt)

[arensky]

Did you play him any other piano stuff that didn't blow his mind? I ask because I'm always curious about what people say about classical piano music who don't normally listen to it (which you imply is the case here) & am surprised that this recording would sound inhuman to a non-pianist. I've had non-pianists mistakenly be impressed by a bad performance of relatively easy pieces that 'sound fast' (say 3rd movt of Moonlight or Haydn Eb sonata) but never get that for slower-sounding things, say Waldesrauschen, or the Blumenfeld left hand etude (at least if I'm not holding a beerglass while playing it).

Actually he is a sophisticated listener with wide ranging tastes, and from hanging out with me was pretty well versed in classical piano performances, although he is partial to Wes Montgomery, Eric Clapton and John Lee Hooker. His favorite classical piano recording is Rachmaninov playing his 1st Concerto. Anyway he had never heard Hoffman and he was just awestruck; he had trouble believing that a person could play the piano so perfectly, AND with such expression...

[sara81]

Evgeny Kissin-Chopin's b minor sonata,recorded live in Royal Albert Hall.
Absolutley perfect.

[sevencircles]

Pollini is one of the most edited pianist...

What makes you think this? I am certain that some of the younger players use a lot more editing in the studio.

It was hard to edit before the computertechnique arrived.

Pollini was a very clean player in the seventies.

[superstition2]

For me, technique is not about playing fast or sounding like a computer...

Horowitz. so much of his Scriabin, Danse Macabre (Liszt Saint Saens), Lizst b minor sonata, Rachmanonov 2nd sonata 1968 (although I'd kill to have a recording of him playing the original version), Rachmaninov 3rd concerto (although I like Rachmaninov's interpretation more)

Rubinstein: Chopin G minor ballade
Rachmaninov: Rachmaninov Concerto 3 (2nd concerto and his Chopin 2nd sonata are good too)
Ashkenazy: Rachmaninov 2nd sonata, Prokofiev 2nd concerto 1st mvmt
Glemser: Scriabin sonata 7
Taub: Scriabin sonatas 5 and 10
Hamelin: Roslavets three etudes
Richter: Pictures at an Exhibition (not a favorite of mine, but impressive anyway)

[stevie]

what is technique about?

[pianalex]

can it exist independently from musicality you mean?

[stevie]

well, technically impressive, to many people , means fast and accurate.

the raw mechanical ability to play notes at stunning speeds with stunning control and accuracy.

it can also simply mean the ability to create unique sounds, and thats what i assume he means.

when i use the word technique i guess i use it in a more athletic sense.

mildly.

[pianalex]

yes, sounds right.  are there any pianists who succeed (name names!) mostly on technique , but less musicality  -  sort of cortot in reverse.   It seems to me obvious that you cant be really great without tech , but  a relative shortcoming in that is a lesser failing...  as computer generated'perfection' reveals

[cherub_rocker1979]

Marc-Andre Hamelin Supervirtuoso Documentary.

[burstroman]

de larrocha playing "Iberia".

[superstition2]

Technique to me is mostly about the ability to play the piano in a way that is musically appropriate. It's difficult to separate various aspects of technique and call them "technique" as if they're the whole thing. For proof, listen to a midi. Is it impressive technique? No. Why? Because technique isn't just about one or two things. It's everything related to producing music via the piano.

It's possible to feel a pianist has technical ability but lacks interpretive ability, however. Argerich fits that description, in my opinion, for several of the concertos I have.