Godowsky "the pianist" How good was he?

[sevencircles]

I haven´t been that impressed by Godowskys recordings actually.

 I don´t see why "Da Whale" calls him the greatest pianist of all time.

Boris himself seems to be better based on the Godowsky recordings I heard.

[zheer]

If he so great why is so little known about him.

  No i think FranZ Liszt is probably the most impreessive pianist of all time. Imagin the effect he had on people.

[JCarey]

If he so great why is so little known about him.

Um... excuse me?

What gave you the idea that there is "little known about him"? I happen to have much information about him in several books I own. There is even a Yahoo group devoted to him, that has even more information about him than most would ever be interested in knowing!

But that is beside the point. Just because you think there isn't much known about him, does that mean that he wasn't a phenomenal pianist, at least technically? After all, he could play the music he wrote. That's enough proof for me!

[stevie]

he was an incredible pianist, but none of his recordings show any feats that couldnt be equalled by hamelin, et al

[JCarey]

he was an incredible pianist, but none of his recordings show any feats that couldnt be equalled by hamelin, et al

This is quite true. Hamelin is the Godowsky of today. 

[g_s_223]

The biography of him I've read claims that his recordings do not do him full justice, perhaps he didn't like the recording process. Private performances in his studio were where his legend was built.

[thalbergmad]

The biography of him I've read claims that his recordings do not do him full justice, perhaps he didn't like the recording process. Private performances in his studio were where his legend was built.

That describes things very nicely.

Godowsky's playing was lost in a large concert hall.

[brewtality]

he was an incredible pianist, but none of his recordings show any feats that couldnt be equalled by hamelin, et al

That isn't really fair, considering the fact they are mostly only single sides of a 78 and comprise easy pieces. We can only take the word of pianists who attest to his genius.

[pianistimo]

but why would anyone want to make chopin etudes harder?  that is my question.

oh well.  here's some interesting articles to read when you're bored and have nothing to do: 

www.leopoldgodowsky.com/articles.shtml   

[stevie]

The biography of him I've read claims that his recordings do not do him full justice, perhaps he didn't like the recording process. Private performances in his studio were where his legend was built.

his recordings do however give a very good idea of his general technical capacity , with regards to dexterity and speed.

of course, he was older at this time, but even so...

[practicingnow]

This is quite true. Hamelin is the Godowsky of today. 

This is true - except for the minor detail that Godowsky was actually the composer of those Etudes, but this is negligible.
Oh by the way - isn't Hamelin the Liszt and Alkan of today also?

[iumonito]

but why would anyone want to make chopin etudes harder?  that is my question.

oh well.  here's some interesting articles to read when you're bored and have nothing to do: 

www.leopoldgodowsky.com/articles.shtml   

The point is not to make the Chopin etudes harder.  The Chopin etudes stand alone on their own merit as a pilar of the repertoire regardless of the Godowsky studies on them.

Godowsky's aim in his studies was to push the boundaries of piano writing and performance beyond where they were at the time.  His use of the Chopin etudes as a basis, Godowsky explains himself in the preface to his studies, was to build on Chopin's achievement of great musical content married to useful material for technical development.

I believe it will take a couple more generations for the Godowsky studies to have their full impact in general pianism, as more and more young pianists tackle them as a normal part of the young pianist's technical development, just like Czerny's school of velocity or the Chopin and Liszt etudes.

[iumonito]

This is true - except for the minor detail that Godowsky was actually the composer of those Etudes, but this is negligible.
Oh by the way - isn't Hamelin the Liszt and Alkan of today also?

Hamelin does not strike me as the audience pianist Liszt was, so I would say the Liszt of Today is closer to a Lang Lang or a Yevgeny Kissin.

Alkan was much more private, so again great Hamelin, who does perform in public quite often, is an ill comparison.

I actually think the most apt comparison to Hamelin today is with David Saperton, a fenomenal pianist who championed Godowsky's work and was a tad gun-shy when applying his incredible technique to the general repertoire.  Hamelin surely has enjoyed a better public performance career and has had the benefit of a more developed recording culture than poor Mr. Saperton had access to.

[palika dunno]

I listened to Godowksy's Cd's from the "great pianists of the 20 century" collection.
I must say: it was *** boring.
BUT (!): 'The fact is that Godowsky was one of those pianists who do not flourish in the recodring studio and was temperamentally unsuited to the process. In a letter writtten in the last year of his life he begged "Do not judge me by my records!" (he underlined each word emphatically). "All my piano records were made at a time when recording was very primitive. The left hand had to be louder than the right hand; the pedal sparingly or not at all when the hands were close to each other." (In his search for pianistic perfection Godowsky spent hours weighting his fingerings and adjusting his technique specifically to accommodate the limitations of the recording apparatus.) "The fear of doing a trifling wrong augmented while playing; the better one suceeded in playing the foregoing, the greater the fear became while playing. It was dreadful ordeal, increasingly so the more sensitive the artist. I broke down in my health in London in the Spring of 1930, owing to these nerve-killing tortures. How can one think of emotion!" '

i'm sure he was a wonderful pianists...but his recordings...I don't like them!

palika

[JCarey]

I love Godowsky's compositions. His shorter pieces are all wonderful, like the four poems, the toccata and the polonaise. His sonata is also an unbelievable piece, and shows that he is quite capable of writing in large forms.

He had a gift for melody and counterpoint.