Best prerformance on La Campanella?

[njalli]

?

[arvhaax93]

The one played by Yundi Li I think is the best one out there.

[hemlock]

Yes, I also like Yundi Li's version best.

[tea cup]

György Cziffra or André Watts.

[pianisten1989]

&index=0&playnext=1

Alice de Larrocha plays it with kind of the same tempo as Mr. Li, but it's just... better somehow.

[michel dvorsky]

Hofmann and Friedman are my favorites.

[prongated]

For live performance, definitely for me Alexey Koltakov's at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition a few years' back. It's on Youtube if anyone's at all curious.

[weissenberg2]

Hofmann

I read that he would play it perfectly even though he was too drunk to walk or talk 

[hooray]

Evgeny Kissin's version:

I personally prefer Kemal Gekic's version:

Gekic improvised in some places. Note particularly the final. Sounds like he would play the melody in octaves within the canon. I'm not sure, but it sounds good!

[slow_concert_pianist]

Do a P2P search for Busoni's piano roll or Horowitz, but I do like Kissin's interpretations (be it he occassionally seems to be reading a different score ).

I look for clean execution of detail and not "showmanship"

[furtwaengler]

I look for clean execution of detail and not "showmanship"

Then, my friend, you look for Jeanne-Marie Darré.

[canardroti]

Andre Watts..yes indeed..The most magical and best interpretation..a few mistakes at the end..but it does not take away the energy behind his interpretation!

[theone7]

So there is this version on YT with Jun Asai...and she completely made me want to leave work and start playing this piece immediately. Scary good.

Any thoughts?

[miken49]

Dammit, now someone tell me where she's hiding that damn bell...Please

[gyzzzmo]

Yundi Li

[miken49]

To me everything Yundi Li plays is stiff, but he certainly captures the mood

[pianowolfi]

To me everything Yundi Li plays is stiff, but he certainly captures the mood

How on earth could these two get together?    

[miken49]

I'm not talking about interpretation. I'm talking about technique. His technique looks and sounds stiff which I suppose accounts for the almost metallic tone he produces out of the piano.

[asianpianoer]

DEFINATELY YUNDI LI

[theone7]

I know this post is really old, but I couldn't help replying anyways. For me, hands down Jun Asai's version:

[emilye]

A. de Larrocha. Amazing.

[pbryld]

Valentina Lisitsa.

[pinball_wizard]

I'll put in another vote for Evgeny Kissin.

[ponken]

This question is perhaps a matter of taste but I personally think Yundi Li's performance is by far the best. I especially love his ending. I can't help myself from listening to it over and over.

[ch101]

used to like cziffra but I found out that yundi li is far more precise in his playing. the coda is quite inspiring.

[wyman]

Hoffman is my favorite by I like Yundi Li as well...

[danhuyle]

Yundi Li hands down. It's unrivaled in all aspects.

[pianoplayjl]

my favourite 3 reocrdings: cziffra, yundi li and george li.

[chopinfrederic]

Definitely Kissin's!

[muntjack]

Yundi Li's doesn't necessarily have any flaws, I just find Kissin's version much more cohesive.  His coda is an incredible release of tension that has gradually built throughout. 

[chopinfrederic]

Definitely Kissin's! I've heard lots of "La Campanella" version played by different people, and so far he stands out, it's just simply marvellous.

[future_maestro]

I have to give this one to Yundi Li. He is well known for his interpretation on La Campenella.

Kissin's version is very stiff pedaled. Some people say it makes it sound more like bells, but I believe that it makes it sound a little to awkward. But that's just my opinion.

[bronnestam]

Noo, this is my favourite ... so soft and wonderful. 

[stevenarmstrong]

Cziffra!!

[rjgrech]

natalia kartashova

[nanabush]

I love the recordings that really make it sound like the pianist is tight rope walking while playing it.  Delicate, fast, virtuosic, crisp.  And then they can bang away on the last page if they like 

I enjoy about two dozen recordings of this piece haha... the only ones I don't like as much are the more amateur ones (but I can't really criticize... it's usually a student who is still working on it).  But ya, I'm easily pleased with this piece however it's played.

[vansh]

Musically I like Yundi Li's version the best, in terms of how he draws out the phrasing. From a technical standpoint though Evgeny Kissin's is better (Yundi skips some notes and rearranges which hands plays which notes). Alicia de Larrocha's version is just magically crisp and clear. For sheer amazement though I think this one is great (10 years old):

[marik1]

Although very different, I like Grigory Ginsburg and Josef Lhevinne.

Ginsburg has a video version (which is on youtube) made in his late years (when he was already very ill), but also there is an earlier studio recording, which in my opinion is spectacular and is one of the very best ever made, where every note is like a diamond.  

Lhevinne plays Busoni version. I am yet to hear any modern so called "virtuoso" to match or for that matter just to get anywhere close to such refinement and ease of truly transcendental and just fabulous virtuosity--also on youtube.

While you are on that check out his Schultz-Evler - The Blue Danube, which is possibly the one single pinnacle of piano achievement...

Best, M

[thalbergmad]

Ogdon also played the Busoni version but I don't recall much refinement.

Thal

[marik1]

Ogdon was an enormous talent--a man of big ideas, great courage, and global thinking. Refinement was just not his aesthetics. But we love him for different reasons (of course, with all his ups and downs). I remember his la Campanella from Tchaikovsky competition--it was pretty outstanding (and of course, Ravel Oundine and Liszt Mephisto Waltz).

Best, M  

[maxy]

Although very different, I like Grigory Ginsburg and Josef Lhevinne.

Incredible choices! A bit of a cheap shot considering both of these legends easily bury any modern pianists! It makes me feel slightly classless to suggest:

Not the best, but certainly one of the most entertaining.

[ignaceii]

Another waste of time to comment on an encore-piece. Why not für Elise.

[chopinfrederic]

Another waste of time to comment on an encore-piece. Why not für Elise.

Why not post a new topic by yourself and stop talking negative?

[ignaceii]

Why not post a new topic by yourself and stop talking negative?

I have Frederic, I have keep looking. I'm not the only one who thinks about thes "best  .... by". Look for similar posts.
Ok, we've debated on the issue in the best of Beethoven interpretation. I explained clearly my point, and others agreed, no ? This is not negative, but ironic. Stop it here. I understand your view but disagree. Ok . Fine, let's go on.

[duxlee]

Alexei Grynyuk

https://www.allmusic.com/album/liszt-piano-sonata-petrarch-sonnets-mephisto-waltz-la-campanella-mw0002546060

Unfortunately, his La Campanella is not yet available in youtube.

[angelmorph]

Youri Egorov's version is one of the best interpretation I've ever heard

[pianoman8]

Ignaz Friedman (Busoni Version)

[marijn210999]

I think Busoni's performance is the best of all.

[thomasmgill]

I nth Kissin's interpretation. It is a shame that the famous YouTube performance was as an encore at the end of an exhausting recital for the young Russian.

You can see fatigue setting in and sweat clearly dripping off his face, not in single droplets but a steady stream. I believe he also loses a hair in the performance.

Also, it is riddled with technical errors. And it's really fast for an Allegretto. But the performance just strikes a chord with me for some reason.