Hamelin!!!

[tompilk]

I've spotted Hamelin is performing the Busoni PC Op. 39 in Zurich 8th July 2008 (funnily the same day I saw him play the Alkan solo concerto this year!). I live in England and I will have to put up a good fight to get my parents to let me go, so have any of you had experience of travelling all that way to end up finding out it's cancelled? That would be horrendous. Is it worth the risk? It would be nice to know if Hamelin is still reliable - he's not turning into an Argerich or Zimerman is he?
I don't really want to book flights too early though. But I guess it's hard to turn away a 200-strong choir and say that they've got pianist X to perform a Mozart concerto instead?
I'm really desperate to see him play this. It'll probably be one of my last oppertunities!
How much does this type of thing end up costing? I've got to persuade my parents. I'll have to bargain with them...
Thanks,
Tom
PS The tickets are going fast. Perhaps I should buy them now just in case I decide to go... after seeing him play this I think my life will be complete, although if he does another "Hamelin Weekend" at Ruhr, I'd rather spend my money on that!!! Decisions, decisions!

[thalbergmad]

I would books the tickets now Pilky and deal with the rest of the arrangements later.

You can always sell them on e bay if you get grounded.

I would probably give you a fiver for them.

Thal

[tompilk]

I would books the tickets now Pilky and deal with the rest of the arrangements later.

You can always sell them on e bay if you get grounded.

I would probably give you a fiver for them.

Thal

the cheapest would cost me £120 for 2 tickets!!!
but i might just go ahead. I'll just go for it. Im leaving for uni next year and I'll have just finished my exams, so i'll probably just go for it.
I wonder if Alistair has heard of this performance? Is it a reliable orchestra etc?

[thalbergmad]

Sounds a bit on the expensive side, but if you like him then go for it.

Thal

[pianovirus]

If you book the flight, we could arrange a little piano party in Basel (1h by train from Zuerich), where at least two members of this forum (wolfi and me) are living... 
Btw, the orchestra itself is a very good one (the oldest of Switzerland)....

[pianowolfi]

If you book the flight, we could arrange a little piano party in Basel (1h by train from Zuerich), where at least two members of this forum (wolfi and me) live... 
Btw, the orchestra itself is a very good one (the oldest of Switzerland)....

Would be really cool but I am in all probability heading off to Spain at that time

[pianistimo]

i'd like to hear hamelin play anything but the busoni.  that's just my taste, though.

[franzliszt2]

I've spotted Hamelin is performing the Busoni PC Op. 39 in Zurich 8th July 2008 (funnily the same day I saw him play the Alkan solo concerto this year!). I live in England and I will have to put up a good fight to get my parents to let me go, so have any of you had experience of travelling all that way to end up finding out it's cancelled? That would be horrendous. Is it worth the risk? It would be nice to know if Hamelin is still reliable - he's not turning into an Argerich or Zimerman is he?
I don't really want to book flights too early though. But I guess it's hard to turn away a 200-strong choir and say that they've got pianist X to perform a Mozart concerto instead?
I'm really desperate to see him play this. It'll probably be one of my last oppertunities!
How much does this type of thing end up costing? I've got to persuade my parents. I'll have to bargain with them...
Thanks,

Tom
PS The tickets are going fast. Perhaps I should buy them now just in case I decide to go... after seeing him play this I think my life will be complete, although if he does another "Hamelin Weekend" at Ruhr, I'd rather spend my money on that!!! Decisions, decisions!

I would only pay to see this if he did turn into Argerich or Zimerman  Although I did get to see Argerich do Ravel concerto for 5 pound  ;DI wouldn't spend that money to see Hamelin. If you are in England why not come to London and see the amazing concert's at Festival hall and Barbican etc....You could see so many more concerts, with more interesting pianists. Zimerman is comign I think!! Just go a few hours early, and wait for return tickets if it's sold out. Perahia is coming as well!!

[retrouvailles]

You'd go see Perahia and not Hamelin? Wow, you definitely have problems.

[franzliszt2]

I prefer to listen to a musical performance than watch a circus act  Perahia has an amazing sound, Hamelin doesn't. I'd rather hear the sound of Perahia. The effect last longer, the Hamelin effect lasts 1 minute. I think most sources would say Perahia is the better musician by far.

[retrouvailles]

Um, no. You obviously haven't heard Hamelin lately. He has matured into quite the musician. In his earlier years, he was much more virtuosic than he is now. And hamelin is no circus act. Lang Lang is. And who gives a f*ck about sources? And btw, Zimerman retired, so don't expect to see him.

[franzliszt2]

Well the general opinion of the worl seems to agree that Perahia is the greater musician. I mean just listen to his Goldbergs, his Mozart concerto's. Monuments. Hamelins latest Alkan concerto is impressive I'll give him that, but it still doesn't give me the same emotional surge as a lot of other pianists.

We could also discuss virtuosity and what it actually is...becasue in my terms Hamelin is a greater virtuoso now than he used to be. He produces some amazing effects in the Alkan, which require great virtuosity in the true sense of the word. Maybe he played faster when he was younger, but thats not virtuosity at all. It's just a small fragment.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar/productions/krystian-zimerman-1170

  Now there is a concert I will be going to! I have my ticket           So I am actually expecting to see him

[franzliszt2]

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar/productions/mitsuko-uchida-1166

I would see her...if it was someone else playing like her. She's the most arrogant, ignorant rude women I have ever met in my entire life!!! I seen her yesterday...(dunno why she was here, but she wa sin the library) and a friend of mine said "hi" and smiled....and Uchida was really nasty, and asking her why she said hi, and was really rude and awful.

Fantastic pianist though! But I'd pay to see Hamiln than pay to see her

Random post 

[rob47]

Well the general opinion of the worl seems to agree that Perahia is the greater musician. 

The general opinion of the world eh?

[Kassaa]

btw, Zimerman retired, so don't expect to see him.

orly
https://meesterpianisten.nl/recitals.php?RecitalID=229

hamelin owns perahia.

[retrouvailles]

Well, thats just what I was told. I guess he hasn't done it yet. But look out, he might start canceling more concerts (he has already cancelled a ton of them). And yes, Hamelin owns Perahia in every way.

[dnephi]

Surprisingly, Hamelin has really come to the point where I can trust  his interpretations pretty generally.

[thalberg]

orly
https://meesterpianisten.nl/recitals.php?RecitalID=229

hamelin owns perahia.

Um....no.  No one owns Perahia. 

Anyone who questions Perahia has not heard him live.  It is life-changing.  The man is a genius, not just in his sound, but in his understanding of the musical structure and aesthetics.  It is piano playing from out of this world.  I would mortgage my house to go hear him.

This is not to take anything away from Hamelin.

[retrouvailles]

Um....no.  No one owns Perahia. 

Anyone who questions Perahia has not heard him live.  It is life-changing.  The man is a genius, not just in his sound, but in his understanding of the musical structure and aesthetics.  It is piano playing from out of this world.  I would mortgage my house to go hear him.

This is not to take anything away from Hamelin.

On the contrary, I have heard him live. I have also heard Hamelin live. However, I have seen Hamelin live many more times than i have heard Perahia live. Perahia was just boring. Sure, he may have great musical ideas, but he isn't as efficient at communicating them to the audience as Hamelin is. So yeah, Perahia is owned.

[Kassaa]

On the contrary, I have heard him live. I have also heard Hamelin live. However, I have seen Hamelin live many more times than i have heard Perahia live. Perahia was just boring. Sure, he may have great musical ideas, but he isn't as efficient at communicating them to the audience as Hamelin is. So yeah, Perahia is owned.

And besides that, I can't stand Perahia's tone,it's way too careful, even his coda of the fourth Chopin ballade, his Beethoven doesn't say anything to me, his Bach is boring. He sure is a good pianist, but he simply makes me feel aggressive o_O

[dnephi]

Perahia is a fine pianist whose style I  just don't quite like. 
He never does anything unexpected. 

[jakev2.0]

On the contrary, I have heard him live. I have also heard Hamelin live. However, I have seen Hamelin live many more times than i have heard Perahia live. Perahia was just boring. Sure, he may have great musical ideas, but he isn't as efficient at communicating them to the audience as Hamelin is. So yeah, Perahia is owned.

Just because one is boring doesn't mean that the other is automatically absolved.

They are both irrelevant musicians.

[retrouvailles]

Wow, you're sure on a rampage to push people's buttons tonight.

[thalberg]

Well, Perahia has won enough Grammy awards to show that I am not alone in my high opinion of him.

[retrouvailles]

Well, that is because Perahia is very safe with what he plays. He hasn't once recorded anything that is even remotely obscure. Because Hamelin has recorded almost nothing but obscurity, it is harder for him to win awards. He is not without recognition though.

[thalberg]

Well, that is because Perahia is very safe with what he plays. He hasn't once recorded anything that is even remotely obscure. Because Hamelin has recorded almost nothing but obscurity, it is harder for him to win awards. He is not without recognition though.

Perahia was not awarded for his safety.

[mephisto]

Both of them are great, it is just person oppinio wether one is better than the other. But Hamelin's repertoire is certainly more interesting than Perahia's.

[mikey6]

You're all nuts!

[viking]

HAHA
I saw him do the Busoni live in Winnipeg, and now I'm 99% sure Im going to see him do it again in Zurich!!

Can't wait...

Sam

[soliloquy]

I want to be pointed towards these "definitive sources", and apparently the ENTIRE WORLD thinks Hamelin is inferior to Perahia (a total judgement call, and of course it's absolute bullshit; like there are a bunch of musicologists sitting around going "Who is better, pianist X or pianist Y?" and they go, "Let's refer to Marc-Andre Hamelin and Murray Perahia, because that's what all the other musicologists are talking about) so since it's EVERYONE, it shouldn't be hard to show us some sources.  Unless it's a ridiculous lie.  Which it is.  So spare us.  By the way franz, still waiting on at least a single one of the many "dissertations" and "essays" you have written on only the most complex and esoteric aspects of music at the behest of none-other than only the most regarded and esteemed minds in music today.  Perhaps these great minds, which it has been made abundantly clear do not exist, are the same people you're writing for?  Perhaps you should seek psychological evaluation.  I have seen Hamelin and Perahia live; Hamelin is exciting, Perahia is like going to a lecture on "how quiet and slow can I play some Chopin piece you've already heard 60000 times?".  Playing quiet and slow and like a MIDI file does not make you some unique interpreter with this other-worldly understanding of music; it makes you quiet and slow and boring.  Sure, Hamelin's interpretations don't always have the utter-most tact, but at least they're entertaining and fun, which I think is what a concert should be.  No need to be some stuffy old snob about music; if that's what you like about music, quit trying to play the piano and go read some Stockhausen essays or something, because that's not what pianism is, or has ever been, about.

[zheer]

  The concerto by Perahia, is something special, so much energy in it, in a word its electric.

[retrouvailles]

It's as electric as a potato in some kindergartener's science experiment.

Listen to watch Hamelin's performance of the Busoni concerto and I guarantee that you'll be saying "Murray who?" His Busoni concerto is exciting and satisfying in every way. Emotionally, technically, musically, everything.

And I pretty much agree with what soliloquy has said.

[mephisto]

Some people say:

Ok Hamelin is good, but he is always boring and no fun. What is the need for music if it is boring and no fun?

[dnephi]

Some people say:

Hamelin unleashes the fury.

[soliloquy]

Some people say:


 


By the way dnephi, I've had you on my AIM for like a month now but every time I see you your status is "ZzZzZzZzZz" =/

[mephisto]

Some people say:

Hamelin unleashes the fury.

I agree with this oppinion

[counterpoint]

Sure, Hamelin's interpretations don't always have the utter-most tact, but at least they're entertaining and fun, which I think is what a concert should be. 

I must have really missed something. Hamelin is entertaining and fun? When was that? 

[retrouvailles]

Since the day he started giving concerts. You must be trying to not feel the entertainment and fun in his performances. Even when you talk to the guy he is entertaining and fun(ny).

[thalberg]

You who criticize Perahia have one thing in common--you're all very young.  I know the young people at CIM made astonishing criticisms of some amazing pianists.  It's the age.  You will learn.

Still, notice, I have not said a word about Hamelin because I don't care to compare the two.  I have nothing negative about Hamelin.

I simply feel very strongly that Perahia is a genius.

[retrouvailles]

How do you know I am young? My profile could lie. And besides, I know people in their 30s who feel the same way I do, so it probably has nothing to do with age, but personal preference.

[thalberg]

How do you know I am young? My profile could lie. And besides, I know people in their 30s who feel the same way I do, so it probably has nothing to do with age, but personal preference.

How do I know you're young?  You and I have talked in chat, remember?  You go to Colburn, I know Jeanne and Babayan.....  starting to ring a bell?

You're certainly free not to like Perahia.  He sure doesn't need the likes of me to defend him.  And your data is correct anyway--he does play mainstream repertoire etc etc. 

[retrouvailles]

Well, fair enough. We should just call it a matter of personal taste and move on.

[jpowell]

Um, no. You obviously haven't heard Hamelin lately. He has matured into quite the musician. In his earlier years, he was much more virtuosic than he is now. And hamelin is no circus act. Lang Lang is. And who gives a f*ck about sources? And btw, Zimerman retired, so don't expect to see him.

I would second all this, having just heard part of MAH's Iberia for the first time.

[mephisto]

It would be interesting to hear Hamelin play some of Feinberg's piano sonatas. He plays at least the Berceuse and a Bach transcription. And given his love for Scriabin and Roslavets, this should be music for his ears.

[faulty_damper]

I recently heard Hamelin live playing Chopin's 3rd piano sonata, Haydn's B minor sonata, and Debussy's Preludes Book 2.  The Haydn was superb and the Chopin the best I've ever heard.  He's not a just pianist but a musician.  Too bad this isn't true for many.

[tompilk]

I recently heard Hamelin live playing Chopin's 3rd piano sonata, Haydn's B minor sonata, and Debussy's Preludes Book 2.  The Haydn was superb and the Chopin the best I've ever heard.  He's not a just pianist but a musician.  Too bad this isn't true for many.

you're in luck, that program is due for release on DVD next month!
https://www.euroarts.com/artikel/dvd/?id=005578_legato_world_of_the_piano_part_4_hamelin_nicht_im_vertrieb
The trailer looks stunning - more wrong notes than usual, but musically amazing!