Garrick Olssohn's Ballades...

[cherub_rocker1979]

...are quite slow.

G Minor - 10:11
F Major - 8:30
A-flat Major - 8:21
F Minor - 12:08

[joeplaysthepiano]

Dizamn,

That is so slow.  Do they sound ok though?

[panic]

Maybe it's just me, but I have more respect for a 10:30 or 11-minute Ballade 1 than an 8:30 one. All the great pianistic masters of yesteryear seemed to want to come in at less than 9 minutes and it puzzles me. The piece needs time to breathe and achieve its scale. A-flat I've heard performed in 6 or 6:30 or so and I came away from it not feeling anything at all. Again, the piece needs time and expansiveness and I think 8:21 is appropriate, particularly because the main theme is only fully presented at the beginning and end (only hinted at in the middle) and it's much more effective if there's more time separating them. And I've never heard Ballade 4 performed at anything other than ~12 minutes, I think it should be a 12-minute piece after all...

[musicsdarkangel]

It's because he's a mature pianist.

hell, he has the technique to probably cut his times in half if he chose so.

[cherub_rocker1979]

And I've never heard Ballade 4 performed at anything other than ~12 minutes, I think it should be a 12-minute piece after all...

Perahia and Pollini play it in less than 10 minutes and Rubinstein in less than 11 minutes.

[stevie]

It's because he's a mature pianist.

no, it may be because he has fallen into the modern (silly) ideology that slow= profound

in the romantic era, things were generally played at a quicker tempo, and the tempos chosen by cortot and pianists of that era are the ones to go off if you wish to be authentic.

im not saying dont play it slow, play it how you like, just dont think its immature to play is fast, and mature just because its played slower.

[panic]

Perahia and Pollini play it in less than 10 minutes and Rubinstein in less than 11 minutes.

Thanks for the heads-up. I find it hard to see how you could possibly fit, or want to fit, that much content and substance into less than 10 minutes, though. It's like trying to fit the finale of Mahler 6 into less than 25 minutes.

This thread has motivated me to order this CD.

[cherub_rocker1979]

As much as I like Perahia, Pollini, Zimerman, Hough, etc. I enjoy the Rubinstein recording the most.  Especially in the most recent remastered version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002TKFS6/sr=8-4/qid=1142992339/ref=pd_bbs_4/103-7701134-3710232?%5Fencoding=UTF8

[musicsdarkangel]

no, it may be because he has fallen into the modern (silly) ideology that slow= profound

in the romantic era, things were generally played at a quicker tempo, and the tempos chosen by cortot and pianists of that era are the ones to go off if you wish to be authentic.

im not saying dont play it slow, play it how you like, just dont think its immature to play is fast, and mature just because its played slower.

I hate the older style of playing.  How can I enjoy pieces like Gaspard (imagine Ondine) when they're a million miles an hour?