pogorelich

[ax166]

hi, what do you think about ivo pogorelich? for example, i think his chopin's first scherzo recording has nothing to see with any other recording

[bernhard]

Pogorelich is on of my favourite pianists. He has superb technique but beyond that his interpretations are unfailingly interesting.

Both his Chopin Preludes (DG) and Scarlatti sonatas (DG) are among the five best I've heard.

He seems to have disappeared from the musical scene lately.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Noah]

Check out his Gaspard de la Nuit and his Prokofiev 6th sonata too.
Apparently he's coming to London next year to play Prokofiev's 3rd concerto :-)

[ravel]

i recently discovered pogorelich, when i read reviews of his eccentric interpretations, and how some people thought he had completely spoiled those pieces.
then i downloaded some chopin , what ever i could find on the internet, his scherzos , two of them, and a couple of his preludes, ... i knew he had to be a genius
and then i got a cd from the library  of him playing pictures at an exhibition and ravel s valses nobles et sentimentalis,  and i loved both, specially ,  i have to admit i have never heard any other interpretation of the valses as unique and different sounding as his. i found some parts too slow initially , but everything in his exxentric interpretations , its seems, has a reason, because in no time, i really started liking it tht slow, it gives a completely different feel to the music.
he has to a be a genius.
sssssso want to hear him play prokofie  6th sonata, cuz i love that sonata to the core.

[Ecthelion]

I think the perhaps best recording of the Beethoven op.111 is from Pogorelich. For the other Sonatas Gilels  

regards, Ecthelion

[Beet9]

yeah, seriously, i don't know why everyone seems to diss pogorelich.  i have a recording of him playing the scarlatti sonatas and i love how it's more flexible than horowitz's playing of them and its crisp and rhythymic at the same time.  
plus he's HOT  

[ax166]

let me add that the fact he is hot does not always depend on his skills in piano...  (and i personnaly prefer martha argerich )

[chromatickler]

plus he's HOT  

WAS, very. But now he looks like a freak.

[trunks]

Oh yes Ivo was very hot when he came to Hong Kong twice for recitals in the 1990s. I went to one of them, where he played the Chopin Sonata Op.58 among others. He played the Islamey as encore. I took his autograph on one of his CDs that I have and shook hands with him. My - he was so handsome, and his hands are sure large!

His looks and technique were alike - very hot indeed!

Yet I still disagree with his eccentricity the same way I disagree with Martha Argerich's eccentricity. Their eccentricities are in some way similar to each other. No wonder why Martha protested after the announcement of the winners of the 1980 Chopin Competition, where the Vietnamese-Chinese Dang Thai-son got First Prize and Ivo got Second (and imagine Ivo's charm in 1980 when he was only a young 22)!

[ravel]

hnmmm,  i see the topic is no more the same
hehe,  

[green]

I heard he wrote out the Koran over 5 years...with his own blood!

[steinwaymodeld]

Oh yes Ivo was very hot when he came to Hong Kong twice for recitals in the 1990s. I went to one of them, where he played the Chopin Sonata Op.58 among others. He played the Islamey as encore. I took his autograph on one of his CDs that I have and shook hands with him. My - he was so handsome, and his hands are sure large!

His looks and technique were alike - very hot indeed!

Yet I still disagree with his eccentricity the same way I disagree with Martha Argerich's eccentricity. Their eccentricities are in some way similar to each other. No wonder why Martha protested after the announcement of the winners of the 1980 Chopin Competition, where the Vietnamese-Chinese Dang Thai-son got First Prize and Ivo got Second (and imagine Ivo's charm in 1980 when he was only a young 22)!

NO.

Pogorelich didn't even made it to the Final, that's why Argerich walked away.

It's not true that he came in 2nd.

[tph]

I also admire Pogorelich's playing.  His technique and tonal control are exceptional, and I've heard that he can be electrifying in concert.  Apparently, his performances of Islamey and Prokofieff's 3rd Piano Concerto were roof-raising, especially the latter's execution during the 1980 Montreal International Piano Competition.

(By any chance, does anyone have a bootleg of either of these pieces performed by him?)

Yet I still disagree with his eccentricity the same way I disagree with Martha Argerich's eccentricity. Their eccentricities are in some way similar to each other. No wonder why Martha protested after the announcement of the winners of the 1980 Chopin Competition, where the Vietnamese-Chinese Dang Thai-son got First Prize and Ivo got Second (and imagine Ivo's charm in 1980 when he was only a young 22)!

As has already been mentioned, Pogorelich was knocked from the semi-finals, and it was in fact Tatiana Shebanowa who won 2nd.  Dang Thai Son, who is Vietnamese (not Vietnamese-Chinese), swept the entire competition by winning every single special prize available to him in addition to capturing the 1st Prize and Gold Medal.  Interestingly, he was also the only pianist to receive a perfect score (25/25) for his 3rd round recital in the history of the competition, and among the rare to be ovationed by the jury.

I don't believe Argerich's eccentricities (which I consider more spontaneous impulse than strangeness) are similar to Pogorelich's.  I think that his is a result of a deliberate attempt to re-invent the music before him, and to push the possibilites of expression to new limits, whereas Argerich's is guided by inspiration and whim.

The reason for Argerich's resignation from the 1980 Chopin jury had more to do with her perception that a block of jurors were marking as a group (whom she describes in French as "de mauvaise foie"), and this resulted in unfair eliminations, notably Pogorelich's.  Paul Badura-Skoda, who was also on the jury (but who does not entirely agree with Argerich's claim of certain jurors' ill-will), specified that he would have liked to hear certain ousted candidates play with orchestra in the finals, but that did not mean that they deserved a prize.

While there is no suggestion of this in PeterHK's quotation, but in case there is confusion - as I've had the chance to observe in other piano chat groups - Argerich's resignation had nothing to do with the actual finalists or the awarding of top prize to Dang Thai Son.  In fact, she openly declared in TV interview at that time that she had nothing against the candidates themselves.  In fact, she actually telegrammed Dang Thai Son after his win to congratulate him, and closely associates with 5th prize winner Akiko Ebi.

Sorry if this post digresses slightly from the inital topic!

tph

[trunks]

Thanks SteinwayModelD and tph for the corrected information.

Oh, on Dang Thai-son. I should've typed Chinese-Viet rather than "Vietnamese-Chinese". Dang is of Chinese descendant, but born in Vietnam thus acquiring Vietnamese nationality. Hence Chinese-Viet.

[tph]

Oh, on Dang Thai-son. I should've typed Chinese-Viet rather than "Vietnamese-Chinese". Dang is of Chinese descendant, but born in Vietnam thus acquiring Vietnamese nationality. Hence Chinese-Viet.

At the risk of sounding nit-picky (and I apologise greatly for this), while there is Chinese blood on Dang Thai Son's mother's side (I think his maternal grandfather or great-grandfather was half Chinese, half Vietnamese), and I'm not entirely sure about how far back Chinese blood goes on his father's side, I think that Mr. Dang would identify himself first and foremost as Vietnamese.

Sorry again about digressing so far from the original topic.

tph

[tph]

If only to redeem myself for the previous digressions, I'll post a comment on Pogorelich.  

The element I like best about Pogorelich (at least in his recordings, as I've not had the pleasure to hear him live) is his intensity.  For example, I found his Brahms album initially incomprehensible.  Rubato was all over the place, and his tempi were outrageously slow, yet there was an elusive cohesion to it all.  (I think a lot of it has to do with his tonal control.  He listens so carefully, especially to the depth and length of the notes, that he can keep the structure moving forward.)  

Like 'ravel', upon further listening, I became accustomed to the tempi, and began to appreciate them.  It's almost like Japanese theatre, which can extend over many days.  Certain experiences can only be had at a different pace of life.  In standard repertoire, one tends to hear standard interpretations, which don't deviate too greatly from the norm.  However, such interpretations often share similar conceptions or general insights about a work (of course, I'm generalizing crudely).  For me, the fascination with Pogorelich, is in his ability to alter the 'space-time' of a work or composer more than most pianists, but in a coherent and intense way.

tph