Variations of Chopin's #2 Op. 25

[allchopin]

Hearing of Liszt's feat of playing this study in all octaves in the right hand, I was impressed.  But now I have come across Brahms' version of the etude-- it is even wilder.  He uses 6th's and 3rd's instead of octaves, and it is a barrage of notes.  You must admit, this tops Liszt completely.

[comme_le_vent]

in Godowsky's version 3b of this etude the right hand is completely in octaves, and the left hand plays an incredibly complex etude of it's own, beat that!

[e60m5]

Heh, yeah. That Godowsky one is a monster.

[allchopin]

The question then remains- why was Liszt's feat so popular when Godowsky sent him back to school 50 years later?  
And yes, that etude, after listening to the midi, is impressive- could Godowsky himself play it (actually, I have to wonder)?

[comme_le_vent]

according to one of liszt's pupils, godowsky had superior technique(in some 'metiers') to liszt. of course godowsky could play all of his own music, and pianists after godowsky - libetta, hamelin, grante etc. - have all been able to play his music.
liszt did the op25 no 2 octave thing only once, its a famous story that dreyschok played the revolutionary etude in left hand octaves, liszts feat was a reply to that. liszt always had to have the last laugh.
the fascinating thing about these feats are obvioulsy the velocity of the octaves, which seem impossible to us mere mortals. the best recording of the godowsky etude in my opinion is on a dvd, played by libetta - a totally perfect performance - and the octaves are incredibly fast too.
the most incredible octave speed ive ever heard is the left hand in cziffra's heroic polonaise, he plays 8.5 octaves per second(in the LEFT HAND!) over quite a long time, again...BEAT THAT!  

[comme_le_vent]

for the record, 8.5 per second is like 130 bpm in 16th notes, the metrenome speed i have on rev etude is 112 , so cziffra could have played the revolutionary etude faster in octaves than most people in single notes.

[allchopin]

I'd have to hear it to believe it.

[comme_le_vent]

its on the EMI classic archive dvd, its very good!
and his cd recording of the same piece is alot slower, so dont go off that.

[chopiabin]

The thing that was amazing about Lizst's feat was that it was unrehearsed. He just sat down went through a few lines in octaves, and then played the whole thing through in octaves. Dreyschock spent months, if not years, perfecting the Revolutionary in octaves.

[chromatickler]

could someone time yundi li's octave reiteration of the theme in la campanella. Might give cziffra a run for his money.