When great pianists play too fast

[slobone]

Recently I seem to have been hearing an awful lot of recordings of legendary pianists who get into trouble when they try to play too fast. I won't name names, but I could easily furnish a dozen examples, male and female  Most of the time, but not always, it's a recording of a live performance.

What usually happens is -- they're playing along, giving a dazzling performance, and all of a sudden they hit the hard part, or they do an accelerando, and it all falls apart -- sometimes a little bit, sometimes a lot. Maybe they don't literally make mistakes, but their playing loses its musical quality. The notes are there, but they're uneven, or not phrased, or the right hand is OK but the left hand turns to crap.

Am I being too picky? Should I cherish these recordings for their magical moments and ignore the not-so-magical ones? Has anybody else noticed this phenomenon?

Should I name names?

[counterpoint]

Should I name names?

Yes, please 

I too have the feeling, that there is a competition for who can play anything fastest.
It's really sad.

[nyonyo]

I think Richter often played too fast.....

[Petter]

Art Tatum

[pies]

a

[gyzzzmo]

Martha Argerich.....
Its like she had to pie all the time when she recorded the Chopin Preludes...

[rc]

I can understand the appeal of playing too fast, I get that a lot.  Anytime there's a section that gives me difficulty and I have to examine the mechanics, somehow I wind up trying to play it way beyond any sensible tempo   When I think back, I don't even realize it, my perception of the passage is completely warped.  It's like I'd been practicing it so long trying to bring it up to speed that I get stuck in that mentality and am forever trying to "bring it up to speed, just a little bit more..."

[optima]

When a "great pianist" plays really fast  because he preferes the certain intepretation and not because of technical insufficiency , then it is ok with me - In fact i tend to prefere those fast, passionate approaches to  musical pieces, like Martha Argerich does..

For example, on the time being I am practicing Schumann's  Second Sonata in G minor and Argerich's intepretation on this is really fast

, but that's what Schumann suggests! and notice how  beautifully legato and musical are the technically demanding octave parts..and notice also how she's in complete control of what she's doing - her sforzandi, her "deep"  sound at the chords, the melodic lines at the left hand - everything is there and the really fast tempo does not ruin it - instead it emphasizes it.. where us, when i heard Klara Wurtz's recordings of schumann(who is supposed to have a unique sensitivity) i was not that thrilled...i don't know, maybe i m wrong, but it seemed to me (in the fast parts, not in the "lyrical" ones)that she was having difficulty with the octaves - and though she plays at a slower tempo that Argerich, the melodic lines are not clear and the "dynamic spectrum"(p and f) not so evident..

I just wanted to give a specific example to show that really fast tempo does not necessarily mean luck of musicality..

[kghayesh]

just name Lang Lang and Kissin.. Have anyone heard his (Kissin's) Rage over a lost penny on youtube?? Isn't that just too damn fast but in the same time too amazing?

[minstrel]

When a "great pianist" plays really fast  because he preferes the certain intepretation and not because of technical insufficiency , then it is ok with me - In fact i tend to prefere those fast, passionate approaches to  musical pieces, like Martha Argerich does..

For example, on the time being I am practicing Schumann's  Second Sonata in G minor and Argerich's intepretation on this is really fast

, but that's what Schumann suggests! and notice how  beautifully legato and musical are the technically demanding octave parts..and notice also how she's in complete control of what she's doing - her sforzandi, her "deep"  sound at the chords, the melodic lines at the left hand - everything is there and the really fast tempo does not ruin it - instead it emphasizes it.. where us, when i heard Klara Wurtz's recordings of schumann(who is supposed to have a unique sensitivity) i was not that thrilled...i don't know, maybe i m wrong, but it seemed to me (in the fast parts, not in the "lyrical" ones)that she was having difficulty with the octaves - and though she plays at a slower tempo that Argerich, the melodic lines are not clear and the "dynamic spectrum"(p and f) not so evident..

I just wanted to give a specific example to show that really fast tempo does not necessarily mean luck of musicality..

That is one heck of a performance.. and I agree fully.

I think most of the time performers on the highest level have to good sense to choose appropriate tempi, even if it might be extreme for an amateur.  Though I'm sure there are a couple examples where that is not the case, like anyone else they are not exempt from overexuberant moments.

[counterpoint]

just name Lang Lang and Kissin.. Have anyone heard his (Kissin's) Rage over a lost penny on youtube?? Isn't that just too damn fast but in the same time too amazing?

Rage over a lost penny can never be played too fast 

In opposition to Schumann's Sonata in G minor "as fast as possible", which can be played too fast. (Not by me - of course  )

[minstrel]

Schnabel played Rage over a lost penny much quicker than Kissin even.. unbelievably quick. He probably has some relevance to this thread.