Piano Forum



Rhapsody in Blue – A Piece of American History at 100!
The centennial celebration of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue has taken place with a bang and noise around the world. The renowned work of American classical music has become synonymous with the jazz age in America over the past century. Piano Street provides a quick overview of the acclaimed composition, including recommended performances and additional resources for reading and listening from global media outlets and radio. Read more >>

Topic: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?  (Read 13711 times)

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Vote, and say why. :)
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline counterpoint

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2003
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #1 on: July 21, 2006, 06:32:03 PM
You can't get in the club if you have a bad technique.
So there is no professional pianist, who has a bad technique.
(But there are many, who really don't understand, what they are playing.)
If it doesn't work - try something different!

Offline living_stradivarius

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 165
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #2 on: July 21, 2006, 07:11:27 PM
Glenn Gould. Worst as in bad for the body.
Music is like making love: either all or nothing. Isaac Stern

Life without music is unthinkable. Music without life is academic. That is why my contact with music is a total embrace.
Lenny Bernst

Offline chopinfan_22

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 245
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #3 on: July 21, 2006, 09:37:09 PM
Lang Lang. Not only does he make pieces sound like crap, but his overexaggerated movements are unnecessary, as well as pointless.
"When I look around me, I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion and I must despize the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation beyond all wisdom and philosophy."

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #4 on: July 21, 2006, 09:54:51 PM
Lang Lang. Not only does he make pieces sound like crap, but his overexaggerated movements are unnecessary, as well as pointless.
So untrue. I agree with you that he is a bad pianist. But if he has sumthing, it is technique.
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline chopinfan_22

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 245
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #5 on: July 22, 2006, 12:09:58 AM
So untrue. I agree with you that he is a bad pianist. But if he has sumthing, it is technique.

I didn't say he didn't have technique. I just said that he moves and over exaggerates his movements when he doesn't need to.
"When I look around me, I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion and I must despize the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation beyond all wisdom and philosophy."

Offline mikey6

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1406
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #6 on: July 22, 2006, 01:25:12 AM
Lang Lang. Not only does he make pieces sound like crap, but his overexaggerated movements are unnecessary, as well as pointless.

I saw his carnegie recital (on TV) and I dind't think he was bad.  His Haydn may have lacked some humour but it was light and energetic.  His facial expressions annoy me though.

Surprised no one's mentioned Arrau, his technique (what is technique?!) certainly isn't on the level of say Cziffra.
Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.
Richard Strauss

Offline chopinfan_22

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 245
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #7 on: July 22, 2006, 01:29:45 AM
I saw his carnegie recital (on TV) and I dind't think he was bad.  His Haydn may have lacked some humour but it was light and energetic.  His facial expressions annoy me though.

Surprised no one's mentioned Arrau, his technique (what is technique?!) certainly isn't on the level of say Cziffra.


Technique, as I understand it, is the ability to play the piano/pieces of certain difficulty with as much ease as possible. How you do that is entirely up to you.
"When I look around me, I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion and I must despize the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation beyond all wisdom and philosophy."

Offline mikey6

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1406
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #8 on: July 22, 2006, 01:50:09 AM

Technique, as I understand it, is the ability to play the piano/pieces of certain difficulty with as much ease as possible. How you do that is entirely up to you.

But it's also the ability to produce a sound - and the correct sound to induce a certain feeling, therefore tying in with musicianship - Which is where it get's hard to distinguish between the 2.
Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.
Richard Strauss

Offline brewtality

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 923
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #9 on: July 22, 2006, 03:36:59 AM
Surprised no one's mentioned Arrau, his technique (what is technique?!) certainly isn't on the level of say Cziffra.

Remember that Arrau recorded most all of his commonly available stuff at an advanced age while Cziffra is practically entirely during his peak. Arrau during his youth was quite a virtuoso with a big technique and a gigantic repetoire.

A pianist who I think struggles technically is Geoffrey Tozer, I remember hearing him on the radio, he struggled to get through things like the Moonlight Sonata. It was littered with wrong notes and musically extremely disorganised.

Offline phil13

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1395
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #10 on: July 22, 2006, 03:40:46 AM
A pianist who I think struggles technically is Geoffrey Tozer, I remember hearing him on the radio, he struggled to get through things like the Moonlight Sonata. It was littered with wrong notes and musically extremely disorganised.

That's bizarre, because his Medtner rocks, and Medtner ain't exactly easy to play.

Phil

Offline brewtality

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 923
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #11 on: July 22, 2006, 03:47:57 AM
That's bizarre, because his Medtner rocks, and Medtner ain't exactly easy to play.

Phil

Maybe he was just having an off day, but I have it on good authority that he is very inconsistent live (he used to live in my town and my teacher heard him alot).

Offline phil13

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1395
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #12 on: July 22, 2006, 03:53:50 AM
Maybe he was just having an off day, but I have it on good authority that he is very inconsistent live (he used to live in my town and my teacher heard him alot).

Or maybe he's just better in a recording studio.  :)

Phil

Offline living_stradivarius

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 165
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #13 on: July 22, 2006, 04:16:43 AM
I didn't say he didn't have technique. I just said that he moves and over exaggerates his movements when he doesn't need to.

That's because he's 100% Asian.


If you haven't seen this by now.
Music is like making love: either all or nothing. Isaac Stern

Life without music is unthinkable. Music without life is academic. That is why my contact with music is a total embrace.
Lenny Bernst

Offline mike_lang

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1496
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #14 on: July 22, 2006, 04:25:02 AM
How about Schnabel?

Offline firebolt145

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #15 on: July 22, 2006, 04:58:54 AM
Gould is an expert on Bach.

Lang Lang DOES have excellent technique. But he sickens me with his movements. Half the time he makes me wonder if he's about to fall of the chair with all those annoying jerks.

He over exaggerates expression as well, often disobeying the composer's marking. I heard a recording of Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto by Lang Lang and I lost count of the amount of times he made fatal changes to the expression. It was no longer a russian piece.

Quote
It was littered with wrong notes

I wouldn't rate pianists by wrong notes. Remember Horowitz? He made an immense number of wrong notes, especially live, but everyone still considers his technique and colours legendary.

Offline brewtality

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 923
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #16 on: July 22, 2006, 05:12:06 AM

I wouldn't rate pianists by wrong notes. Remember Horowitz? He made an immense number of wrong notes, especially live, but everyone still considers his technique and colours legendary.

Believe me I don't. However, Tozer is no Horowitz and his wrong notes indicated that his technique was terribly shaky whilst Horowitz was just careless. This is the moonlight sonata, a piece that even average amateurs can get through relatively unscathed. Tozer hit wrong notes in almost every bar of the third movement, this is beyond my level of tolerance. 

Offline firebolt145

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #17 on: July 22, 2006, 05:21:50 AM
If you're talking about the first two movements, then yes, average amateurs can get through relatively unscathed. The first two movements are probably ABRSM grade 6ish. The third movement is a huge leap forward.

Though yes, wrong notes in almost every bar is pretty pathetic.

Offline ihatepop

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 989
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #18 on: July 22, 2006, 05:23:05 AM
Glenn Gould. Worst as in bad for the body.

How in the world is he bad for the body? >:(
Please explain.

Offline musicsdarkangel

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 975
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #19 on: July 22, 2006, 08:16:48 AM
i'd say Arrau, but his musicality and imagination more then makes up for it.




runners up for worst technique:  Hamelin, Cziffra, Volodos, Horowitz, Argerich, Ashkenazy, Berman, God, AI, etc etc

Offline musicsdarkangel

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 975
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #20 on: July 22, 2006, 08:20:59 AM
How in the world is he bad for the body? >:(
Please explain.

aweful posture

sits incredibly low as well, looks all scrunched up

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #21 on: July 22, 2006, 08:37:57 AM
aweful posture

sits incredibly low as well, looks all scrunched up
I know, but it intrigates me. I like it. His sound is good, and I like his 'strangeness'. Sitting on an old chair, leggs crossed, sitting very low, singing,...
A phenomen in his style.
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline musicsdarkangel

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 975
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #22 on: July 22, 2006, 09:21:03 AM
agreed

Offline firebolt145

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #23 on: July 22, 2006, 10:15:08 AM
He also takes away the cover of the keys, so he can see the hammers apparently.

Horowitz had his own technique - his hands were always below the keys, his fingers were always flat for loud passages, and his body almost never moved.

Yet he still had legendary sound. IMHO, just because you have different technique doesn't mean it's horrible.

Offline cloches_de_geneve

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 439
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #24 on: July 22, 2006, 10:30:42 AM
One problem is that the word "piano technique" is poorly defined. A good technique includes A) playing all or, say, 99% of the notes correctly, with correct dynamics, and tremendous speed if necessary. But a technique becomes really impressive if B) difficult passages are being mastered in an ingenious, original way, with effects that one usually believes to be impossible to produce either at that speed or in a general way; and in a way that totally matches the spirit of the music. For some reason excelling in one rarely goes together with excelling in the other.

In the older generation there were very few from the A-type but lots from the B-type; today it is the opposite. When I say this, I exclusively refer to piano technique, NOT to musicality.

Rubinstein, Horowitz, Edwin and Annie Fischer, Kempff, Haskil, Cortot had wrong notes all over the place (see Leonskaya, Perahia, Uchida, Brendel for more recent examples ...) but they got out incredible technical effects from the piano on the level of sounds, colors, dynamics (e.g a magically delicate prestissimo run of sixths starting in p and finishing ppp). I mean, these guys were real artists of piano technique and not merely reliable super-technicians. This is one of the reasons why many listeners still prefer Cortot's Chopin Etudes to those by Pollini, Lugansky, Beresowsky, even though there is rarely a sequence of more than 10 sec in Cortot's recording without some very audible wrong note.

There are a few legendary exceptions that had both skills e.g. Richter, Michelangeli, Pletnev (sorry have to include Pletnev in past tense, imo as a pianist he was better 10-20 years ago).

Today, we have A-Types all over the place. What for?
"It's true that I've driven through a number of red lights on occasion, but on the other hand I've stopped at a lot of green ones but never gotten credit for it." -- Glenn Gould

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #25 on: July 22, 2006, 10:40:15 AM
Today, we have A-Types all over the play. What for?
Strange that many many people has this opinion. Me to. But still we (the young pianists today) prefer technique and show-off things rather than musicality. Why is everybody thinking the same way but notting changes?
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline krenske

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 139
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #26 on: July 22, 2006, 12:04:05 PM
Dear franz_
I dunno who has the worsest piano technique, but you have the worsest spelling.
Get a dictionary mate.
cheers, pete
"Horowitz died so Krenske could live."

Offline invictious

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1033
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #27 on: July 22, 2006, 12:19:37 PM
Lang Lang. Not only does he make pieces sound like crap, but his overexaggerated movements are unnecessary, as well as pointless.

Hell no, you must be on crack to say that, Lang Lang has the best technique ever, although his interpretations and musicality are a bit schizophrenic.
His facial expressions are disturbing, something like this, check out the link, but it's piano face:

https://www.angelfire.com/tx/singlecoil/face.html
Bach - Partita No.2
Scriabin - Etude 8/12
Debussy - L'isle Joyeuse
Liszt - Un Sospiro

Goal:
Prokofiev - Toccata

>LISTEN<

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #28 on: July 22, 2006, 12:30:29 PM
Dear franz_
I dunno who has the worsest piano technique, but you have the worsest spelling.
Get a dictionary mate.
cheers, pete
Sorry mate. I'm not an English or Australian or whatever. I'm a Belgian. And in my opinion language is a way to EXPRESS you. And you understood me, so in my opinion their is no problem.
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline Graf Zahl

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 22
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #29 on: July 22, 2006, 12:42:21 PM
Dear franz_
I dunno who has the worsest piano technique, but you have the worsest spelling.
Get a dictionary mate.
cheers, pete

save it

 ::)

Offline firebolt145

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #30 on: July 22, 2006, 01:18:37 PM
Strange that many many people has this opinion. Me to. But still we (the young pianists today) prefer technique and show-off things rather than musicality. Why is everybody thinking the same way but notting changes?

The main reason? The majority of the public (who are not musical) only feel amazed at one's ability to move his fingers quickly, instead of the quality of the music.

I exploit that too. ;)

Once we 'young pianists' get more 'mature', so to speak, we start paying much more attention to musicality.

Offline airasia

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 63
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #31 on: July 22, 2006, 04:28:40 PM
I didn't say he didn't have technique. I just said that he moves and over exaggerates his movements when he doesn't need to.

The topic is, "Who has the worst technique?" Not "Who has the worst body movements and facial expressions?"  Why is Lang Lang being mentioned just because people don't like looking at him?  The people mentioning him in a "worst technique" thread can't even deny he has technique, but that they just don't like looking at him.  They just HAVE to bring him up when there's a "worst" thread.  Some people are so prejudiced and superficial it's not even funny.

Offline ihatepop

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 989
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #32 on: July 23, 2006, 01:37:23 PM
I know, but it intrigates me. I like it. His sound is good, and I like his 'strangeness'. Sitting on an old chair, leggs crossed, sitting very low, singing,...
A phenomen in his style.

agreed. He isn't too bad.

Offline Kassaa

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1563
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #33 on: July 23, 2006, 02:47:10 PM
The topic is, "Who has the worst technique?" Not "Who has the worst body movements and facial expressions?"  Why is Lang Lang being mentioned just because people don't like looking at him?  The people mentioning him in a "worst technique" thread can't even deny he has technique, but that they just don't like looking at him.  They just HAVE to bring him up when there's a "worst" thread.  Some people are so prejudiced and superficial it's not even funny.
Body movements and being healthy are a part of technique. Glenn Gould *** his back with playing like that, so is technique wasn't good.

Offline franz_

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 817
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #34 on: July 23, 2006, 02:57:02 PM
Body movements and being healthy are a part of technique. Glenn Gould fucked up his back with playing like that, so is technique wasn't good.
So wrong.
Currently learing:
- Chopin: Ballade No.3
- Scriabin: Etude Op. 8 No. 2
- Rachmaninoff: Etude Op. 33 No. 6
- Bach: P&F No 21 WTC I

Offline airasia

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 63
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #35 on: July 23, 2006, 03:49:07 PM
Body movements and being healthy are a part of technique. Glenn Gould *** his back with playing like that, so is technique wasn't good.

Yeah, and Lang Lang is so unhealthy and at risk of inury cause of his body movements...

Offline superstition2

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 370
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #36 on: July 23, 2006, 04:35:40 PM
Horowitz' studio recordings are often benchmarks for pieces. When he was young, he didn't miss much. Rubinstein told a story about how he and Horowitz played the same night and Horowitz was upset that he missed a single note during his concert. Rubinstein said Horowitz was the technician and he was the musician.

Frankly, if a live performance has wrong notes, I don't see how that's a bad thing as long as the performance is top-notch. When a pianist takes risks, the rewards can outweigh the disadvantage of a few wrong notes. Horowitz' live performance of the 5th Scriabin sonata is unmatched, even though he wasn't young at the time. Horowitz' studio recordings of Scriabin are unmatched for precision as well as interpretive quality (with the exception of the somewhat bland, but still great, 3rd sonata performance). Sofronitsky and Richter are the only pianists who challenge him, and neither of them can be said to have been better. Each of the three has particular recordings that stand at the top. Richter's 6th sonata (live) is unmatched, and Sofronitsky's 9th sonata is as well.

Offline steve jones

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1380
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #37 on: July 23, 2006, 07:40:00 PM
That's because he's 100% Asian.


If you haven't seen this by now.

I must admit, that video did endear me to LL quite a bit. He may be a total penis, but atleast he is a person! Some of the others, Im sure they are mechanical piano playing robots. Whereas I can quite easily imagine sitting with LL and have a couple of rounds on Streetfighter  ;D

And incidentally, his technique is amazing!

SJ

Offline Kassaa

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1563
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #38 on: July 24, 2006, 11:05:14 AM
So wrong.
Because? If you get hurt while playing you're obviously doing something wrong.

Offline bradley

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 45
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #39 on: July 24, 2006, 02:05:15 PM
Surprised no one's mentioned Arrau, his technique (what is technique?!) certainly isn't on the level of say Cziffra.

I totally disagree. Have you heard Arrau's Liszt Etudes? I think Arrau is a terribly underrated pianist, although I will agree that his playing can sometimes be TOO weighty and a little bit predictable...

Offline firebolt145

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #40 on: July 25, 2006, 05:12:57 PM
I read a book recently titled something like "The Top 10 Pianists of the 20th Century".

I can't remember all of them, but Horowitz, Glenn Gould and Arrau were among them.

Offline da jake

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 507
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #41 on: July 26, 2006, 07:01:24 PM
Gould's rhythm, control, and articulation is among the very best of all pianists. When Gould plays fast, everything is even and crystal clear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOaeJhcCtbE&search=glenn%20gould

The closest competition to Gould in terms of these seldom conquered facets of technique comes from imho, Rachmaninov (listen to his PHENOMENAL early recording of Gnomenreigen to understand what I mean).
"The best discourse upon music is silence" - Schumann

Offline opus10no2

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2157
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #42 on: April 19, 2007, 09:02:25 PM
 :)
Da SDC Piano Forum :
https://www.dasdc.net/

Offline elevateme_returns

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 754
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #43 on: April 19, 2007, 10:19:12 PM
I saw his carnegie recital (on TV) and I dind't think he was bad.  His Haydn may have lacked some humour but it was light and energetic.  His facial expressions annoy me though.

Surprised no one's mentioned Arrau, his technique (what is technique?!) certainly isn't on the level of say Cziffra.

what??? in his day arrau's technique was totally sublime. couldnt he could play all liszt transcendental studies note perfectly by the age of 12!?!?!

however in his later years his technique was not quite as impressive. his scarbo is not that great
elevateme's joke of the week:
If John Terry was a Spartan, the movie 300 would have been called "1."

Offline sevencircles

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 913
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #44 on: April 20, 2007, 10:09:32 AM
Quote
Rachmaninov (listen to his PHENOMENAL early recording of Gnomenreigen to understand what I mean).

Where can I find that?

Offline danny elfboy

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1049
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #45 on: April 20, 2007, 11:28:03 AM
You can't get in the club if you have a bad technique.
So there is no professional pianist, who has a bad technique.
(But there are many, who really don't understand, what they are playing.)

Not true.
One can be able to do something anyway even if he/she is adopting the worst technique possible. Sport comes to mind. There are many athletes that indeed can make good performance and win but many do at their expense of what is healthy, economical and efficient. Depending on their resistance they may already suffer a lot or sooner or later will suffer from severe kind of injuries.

Bad technique is not about being or not being able to play something but the most economical and efficient coordination possible. One can play with strain, effort, pain, fatigue and awkward motions (because yes it's enterely impossible) but this doesn't mean he/she is using a good technique.

I know a pianist that must keep from crying while performing because of the pain she feels.

Offline danny elfboy

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1049
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #46 on: April 20, 2007, 11:47:19 AM
The topic is, "Who has the worst technique?" Not "Who has the worst body movements and facial expressions?"  Why is Lang Lang being mentioned just because people don't like looking at him?  The people mentioning him in a "worst technique" thread can't even deny he has technique, but that they just don't like looking at him.  They just HAVE to bring him up when there's a "worst" thread.  Some people are so prejudiced and superficial it's not even funny.

I have claimed this before.
Lang Lang expressions and body movements can be considered "flaws in technique" in a way. The reason is that they're all motions that promote tension and overuse muscles that are not supposed to get on the way. Because of all those movements he oftens raise his shoulder, lock his neck, tense in spine.

I can't predict he will soon suffer from problems (and as I have said there are more injuried pianists than healthy well functioning pianists) because after all there people who made it to 100 who smoked cigars and cigaretted daily, drink tons of alcohol and ate mostly fried meat. Anyway there are enough compelling evidences to discourage such practices and to consider those people "exceptions to the rule".

Most of the injuried pianists I have known developed their injury from "overexpression" of the same kind (yet of a smaller degree) than the one portraied by Lang Lang.
Their re-training consisted mostly on more efficient and economical way to play the piano expressively without damaging their nerves, tendons, ligaments and muscles.

Offline ryanyee

  • PS Silver Member
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 217
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #47 on: October 29, 2007, 10:15:38 AM
I have claimed this before.
Lang Lang expressions and body movements can be considered "flaws in technique" in a way. The reason is that they're all motions that promote tension and overuse muscles that are not supposed to get on the way. Because of all those movements he oftens raise his shoulder, lock his neck, tense in spine.

I can't predict he will soon suffer from problems (and as I have said there are more injuried pianists than healthy well functioning pianists) because after all there people who made it to 100 who smoked cigars and cigaretted daily, drink tons of alcohol and ate mostly fried meat. Anyway there are enough compelling evidences to discourage such practices and to consider those people "exceptions to the rule".

Most of the injuried pianists I have known developed their injury from "overexpression" of the same kind (yet of a smaller degree) than the one portraied by Lang Lang.
Their re-training consisted mostly on more efficient and economical way to play the piano expressively without damaging their nerves, tendons, ligaments and muscles.
to cut a long critisization short, all asian pianists are bad. ain't that right?

Offline ultraviolet

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 48
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #48 on: October 30, 2007, 12:09:57 AM
Vote, and say why. :)

Martha Argerich.  It doesn't ever seem like she can get anything up to tempo.

Sviatoslav Richter.  His fingers are bigger than sausages and he's always hitting multiple notes because he can't fit between the keys.

Emmanuel Ax.  His hand position is totally improper.

Offline mike_lang

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1496
Re: Which professional pianist has the worsest technique?
Reply #49 on: October 30, 2007, 12:17:07 AM
Martha Argerich.  It doesn't ever seem like she can get anything up to tempo.

Sviatoslav Richter.  His fingers are bigger than sausages and he's always hitting multiple notes because he can't fit between the keys.

Emmanuel Ax.  His hand position is totally improper.

You forgot Pletnev - he doesn't dance around like a clown enough when he plays.
For more information about this topic, click search below!
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert