I Know Who Plays the Best?

[shortyshort]

I know there's been quite a few posts regarding this subject, but I think it all goes back to the first time you hear a piece. If you first hear a piece played by Mr. XXX and fall in love with it, when you hear it at a later date played by Mr. YYY or Mr. ZZZ played slightly different, you think, "That’s not quite the piece I fell in love with", therefore you don't feel it is as good. (There are always exceptions, of course)

This isn't about who does play certain pieces better, but how we all choose who we think plays the piece better. From reading all the different post on the subject of who actually plays a certain piece the best, I thought it would be interesting to discuss how we choose who we do.

Cheers,

Shorty

[liszt-essence]

For you maybe. But I have experienced otherwise many times.

So many pianists, so many different versions. There is always that one that has your preference over all the others. If you're lucky you will find it in the first shot but for me it usually takes more.

Example: Leslie Howard.

Years ago, when I first discovered liszt (im 20) I had never heard much about him. So I came across this guy leslie howard who recorded the complete repetoire.

Since then I have heard many different pianist perform Liszt and now my current preference goes out to Artur Pizarro. Maybe that will change, when I come across a better interpreter. This is especially true for hungarian rhapsody no 6 which I fell in love with and have downloaded numerous times from different pianist since.

So you see, this is an on-going proces (For me) and I will never have a fixed preference, just one for the current moment.

[shortyshort]

hello liszt-essence,

did you see the link i put on your post about Moonlight Mvt III.

There seem to be lots of people all learning it together, so thay can all help each
other

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,16052.0.html


Cheers

Shorty

[pianistimo]

dear shorty short,

for me, it is the artist that emotes that gets my vote.  sometimes it can be someone who's not even famous that ends up playing a certain piece or pieces better than anyone you've ever heard. 

[pianowelsh]

Along that theory can you divorce an intepretation if you stop loving it and love another one better etc or you find that an interpretation has been UNFAITHFULL to the text?? Humans are really fickle I think we are really a bit more irratic than to be totally loyal to the first hearing of a piece Although I do agree that it often does shape and give a benchmark for future hearings of a work. Hence childrens music programmes are more important than adult ones in terms of quality - adults discern kids are fed music and told to like it or hate it or worse they are told 'this is classical music' - in walk the student string quartet who play something so dull and boring and so horrendously out of tune that the kids never want to hear it again.  Enculturation!! What they get a taste for is what will typically win through in the end.   I think we go through layers of development in regards to a specific piece. The more we know about it the wider we listen the more discerning in regards to that piece or composer we become. therefore its unsurprising our view often change.