Albéniz, the pianist?

[sevencircles]

how good was Albéniz, the pianist?

Has Anybody here spoken to someone who heard him play?

Any reports online?

[stucoy]

how good was Albéniz, the pianist?

Has Anybody here spoken to someone who heard him play?

Any reports online?


I just remember reading in Schonberg's 'The Great Pianists' that he could play the piano with his back to it, using the backs of his fingers.

[ahinton]

how good was Albéniz, the pianist?

Has Anybody here spoken to someone who heard him play?

I take you to mean "has anyone here spoken to someone considerably older than Elliott Carter"? Albéniz died when Carter was only a few months old - and Carter is now almost 98...

Seriously, if anyone here has ever spoken to someone who heard Albéniz's piano playing in the first decade of the last century, I would be exceedingly surprised...

Best,

Alistair

[sevencircles]

take you to mean "has anyone here spoken to someone considerably older than Elliott Carter"? Albéniz died when Carter was only a few months old - and Carter is now almost 98...

Seriously, if anyone here has ever spoken to someone who heard Albéniz's piano playing in the first decade of the last century, I would be exceedingly surprised...

Best,

Alistair

It should be very possible for someone who is 60+ (I am sure that there is someone at this Forum) to have spoken to someone that heard Albeniz play when they were young.


How did he play in general, any reports that are worth quoting?

[ahinton]

It should be very possible for someone who is 60+ (I am sure that there is someone at this Forum) to have spoken to someone that heard Albeniz play when they were young.


How did he play in general, any reports that are worth quoting?

That's still stretching it rather. Someone who was born in 1940 (and is now 66 years of age) might, at the age of 20, have spoken to someone born, say, 90 years earlier (1870 - Godowsky might have done had he not died too young!) - but what use would this third-hand information be?

Best,

Alistair

[mephisto]

There are recordings of Albeniz playing the 88.

[sevencircles]

There are recordings of Albeniz playing the 88

Really?

Where can i find them?

Are they good?

[demented cow]

I don't know about recordings, but FWIW there's info on his playing in Schonberg's 'great pianists' book.

[berceuse]

The cd found here:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003LIC/sr=8-3/qid=1152634623/ref=sr_1_3/002-9950724-1403258?ie=UTF8 contains Albeniz playing 3 of his own improvisations along with Granados playing some of his own works. However, as you can hear from the samples the quality is pretty bad (for the Albeniz anyway)

[sevencircles]

The cd found here:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003LIC/sr=8-3/qid=1152634623/ref=sr_1_3/002-9950724-1403258?ie=UTF8 contains Albeniz playing 3 of his own improvisations along with Granados playing some of his own works. However, as you can hear from the samples the quality is pretty bad (for the Albeniz anyway)

He seems like a mature  improviser and not just flashy all the time like many pianist are these days.

The last recording was almost impossible to listen to though, due to all the noise.

Are these recordings the only thing he recorded?

No pianorolls?

[berceuse]

That's all I know of at the moment, maybe mephisto has some others.

[thorn]

I always thought Albeniz was supposed to be an amazing pianist...

..but for some unknown reason I always get him confused with Ricardo Vines (who i think was alive at the same time??)

[sevencircles]

I always thought Albeniz was supposed to be an amazing pianist...

..but for some unknown reason I always get him confused with Ricardo Vines (who i think was alive at the same time??)

Albéniz is obviously most famous as a composer today, Most pianists have heard about Iberia.

When he was alive, most people thought that he was a significantly greater pianist then Composer.