Breathing on recordings

[quasimodo]

I found Lisitsa's breathing fun to hear and interesting on this recording:

https://www.valentinalisitsa.com/MP3/ChopinFantasy.mp3

Anyone has other examples of recordings on which the perofrmer's breathing is caught so clearly (apart from humming like Gould and some others)?

Spotting the sloppiness in the ending of the Fantaisie is obviously off-topic  ...

PS: Best listening with headphones 

[brewtality]

Claudio Arrau, Walter Gieseking, Rudolf Serkin in plenty of recordings. It is not sexy.

[nicco]

Andsnes has developed a habit of inhaling veeery clearly, often in places where its easy to hear, like in a pp part, just before something forte-like. Its annoying, especially when ur using headphones.

[thorn]

Claudio Arrau, Walter Gieseking, Rudolf Serkin in plenty of recordings. It is not sexy.

On Arrau's recording of the Liszt Transcendentals, you can hear his nails too.

[brewtality]

On Arrau's recording of the Liszt Transcendentals, you can hear his nails too.

yes, quite. And in spite of this it remains my favourite set. Gieseking it probably the worst. I like Gould's humming, adds to the perfomance imo.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

On Arrau's recording of the Liszt Transcendentals, you can hear his nails too.

andras schiff with his mozart sonatas. hehe

sometimes they physically vent out the intensity of their involvement in their music making thru heavy breathing.
breathing clears my mind with all the uneccesary thoughts that are caused by the too much emotions, bcoz these cause me to physically get tensed. so i have to relax even at the most unusual moments of a piece.

[Kassaa]

Sniffing is worse than breathing. I believe Zimerman does it a lot (not sure though).

[minor9th]

I sort of like it--adds a bit of humanity.

[arensky]

Helene Grimaud's "Tempest" Sonata, 2nd mvt. It would be funny (reminds me of the monster from the movie "Alien") if it wasn't so distracting, it ruins one of the best performances I've ever heard of that work.

I remember hearing Richter inhaling sharply in a recording of Brahms' Ballade in g minor op.118 #3, and at the end of Horowitz' studio recording of "Vers la Flamme" you can hear him let his breath go and the pedal clunk down. These are the instances of breathing on recordings I can think of off the top of my head.

[jakev2.0]

Helene Grimaud's "Tempest" Sonata, 2nd mvt. It would be funny (reminds me of the monster from the movie "Alien") if it wasn't so distracting, it ruins one of the best performances I've ever heard of that work.

I remember hearing Richter inhaling sharply in a recording of Brahms' Ballade in g minor op.118 #3, and at the end of Horowitz' studio recording of "Vers la Flamme" you can hear him let his breath go and the pedal clunk down. These are the instances of breathing on recordings I can think of off the top of my head.

Heh, Richter makes a lot of noises in Scriabin Sonata 5. Ashkenazy also tends to make annoying sounds in his later recordings.

Also, if you listen to Rachmaninov's Gnomenreigen as carefully as I have, you can actually here him humming along!

[thalbergmad]

Willie "The Lion" Smith was worse then Gould.

Checkit.

Thal

[discturtle]

Glen Gould and his humming.... drives me nuts!!!

[pianistimo]

the only way to get around it is to leave your mouth open - a la murray perahia.  sort of open - shut -open - shut  like a fish.  at first i though he had a clogged nose.  i love his playing, though.  he's definately my kind of mozart.

[jre58591]

zimerman and his humming and breathing can be fun to listen to. ive noticed it to be most prominent in his recording of the ravel concerto for the left hand (in that beginning piano solo).

[ted]

Jarrett let's out an "Aaaaagh !" every so often , as if somebody has stuck a sharp object into him or he is experiencing bad pain from wind. I tried doing this myself during improvisation but it had little effect on my recordings and caused my wife considerable alarm.

[alejo_90]

Jeno Jando also has that Gould sindrome, so does Maurizio Pollini.

Best
Alex

[steveie986]

Believe it or not, Alfred Brendel hums in his recordings.

This is surprising. I don't even know if Brendull's mind is even switched on when he records.

Listen to his performance of the Arietta of Beethoven's sonata no. 32. 6:44 into the piece, at the beat before the entrance of the majestic "boogie-woogie/jazz variation," he lets out a groan. So apparently he's actually reacting to the music, which is very surprising and unusual for him.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

Believe it or not, Alfred Brendel hums in his recordings.

This is surprising. I don't even know if Brendull's mind is even switched on when he records.

Listen to his performance of the Arietta of Beethoven's sonata no. 32. 6:44 into the piece, at the beat before the entrance of the majestic "boogie-woogie/jazz variation," he lets out a groan. So apparently he's actually reacting to the music, which is very surprising and unusual for him.

i always thought this wouldn't be a surprise because he is so much involved with the music- one of the traits as a pianist why i love him so much!

[franz_]

I found Lisitsa's breathing fun to hear and interesting on this recording:

https://www.valentinalisitsa.com/MP3/ChopinFantasy.mp3

Anyone has other examples of recordings on which the perofrmer's breathing is caught so clearly (apart from humming like Gould and some others)?

Spotting the sloppiness in the ending of the Fantaisie is obviously off-topic  ...

PS: Best listening with headphones 

In fact, I don't want to open a new topic about it. But how difficult is this Fantasy? I'm now playing His Ballade No3 to give you an idea of my level. After that I would like to learn this one.

[quasimodo]

In fact, I don't want to open a new topic about it. But how difficult is this Fantasy? I'm now playing His Ballade No3 to give you an idea of my level. After that I would like to learn this one.

It seems a similar level as the Ballades ? But very long, however a big part is repeated.

[alejo_90]

Believe it or not, Alfred Brendel hums in his recordings.

This is surprising. I don't even know if Brendull's mind is even switched on when he records.

Listen to his performance of the Arietta of Beethoven's sonata no. 32. 6:44 into the piece, at the beat before the entrance of the majestic "boogie-woogie/jazz variation," he lets out a groan. So apparently he's actually reacting to the music, which is very surprising and unusual for him.

All right, he does have that humming habit, but you don't have to bash him like that.

Best
Alex

[tompilk]

martin roscoe seems to on the dohnanyi hyperion concertos...
Tom

[arensky]

Heh, Richter makes a lot of noises in Scriabin Sonata 5. Ashkenazy also tends to make annoying sounds in his later recordings.

Also, if you listen to Rachmaninov's Gnomenreigen as carefully as I have, you can actually here him humming along!

I haven't heard the Richter Scriabin 5 in years, my rec was stolen in college and it seems to be out of print.    I would like to hear it again... 

Rachmaninov makes  plaintive "ooohhh" sounds in the Kreisler "Liebeslied" and a loud one at mm. 51-52 in the Grieg Waltz, op.12 #2.  I will listen for the humming in Gnomenreigen.

[dnephi]

On Arrau's recording of the Liszt Transcendentals, you can hear his nails too.

Am I missing something with my technique if I never touch the keys with my fingernails? 

In all seriousness,

Daniel Baker