Best and worst interpretation of Rachmaninoff G minor Prelude

[point of grace]

I'm talking about Op. 23 No. 5 by Rach...

i'm studying it right now... i cannot believe i can play it because 4 years ago i listened to it for the first time to my piano Teacher (in my first year) and it ¡s been always a dream for me to play it, so now it feels so good!

For this 4 years my favourite rendition has been Gilels':

i think it's just perfect... I also heard Kissin, Richter, Lisitsa, Lang Lang, Horowitz perfoming this teriffic prelude and i only found that they miss the point in every interpretation.

No crazy tempo for Gilels, not showing off, not carring the burden of having to prove he is a genius.
It seems to me that he had some real feelings exposed here and that's why his performance is slightly "better" than the others.

At least i can play it better than Bang Bang's (the worst IMO)
here:

PL&index=6

[georgecziffra]

The best interpretation I've heard of this Rachmaninov prelude is, oddly enough, George Cziffra's. There is great contrast between the outer sections and the middle one, and he plays the middle section so lyrically.  He also takes a few liberties with it, which I usually don't like but I think Cziffra pulled it off perfectly in this one. Here's the link to the recording:

[alessandro]

Richter.  There are lots of recordings of this prelude by him.  There is one particular one that I like, it comes out of a documentary film about him, it is played in open air in some kind of a warzone, with ruins of buildings in the background and soldiers walking through the image...
I think Richter's personality suits this particular prelude very well; he can be rude, harsh and raw.
Down here is a version (not from that documentary film) by Richter.   I really like his style.

No crazy tempo for Gilels, not showing off, not carring the burden of having to prove he is a genius.
At least i can play it better than Bang Bang's (the worst IMO)
here:

PL&index=6

If you like the Gilels because it's not "show off" than I think Richter won't disappoint.   And for me, but it's always personal, this prelude can handle a good dose of "bang bang" (but indeed not all the way...)

Hope I will be able to play it one day.

Kindly

[point of grace]

Richter.  There are lots of recordings of this prelude by him.  There is one particular one that I like, it comes out of a documentary film about him, it is played in open air in some kind of a warzone, with ruins of buildings in the background and soldiers walking through the image...

i really liked his rendition, but im pretty sure it was not recorded live, as Gilels did in the video...

i'd love to see that documentary!! i can see war, planes, bombs, soldiers while i listen to the prelude

[jbmorel78]

Though I make no claims to it being a superlative performance, I was rather moved the other day listening to a very old recording of Josef Lhevinne - anyone else has heard this recording?  Really stunning pianism throughout the disc.

Best,
JBM

[gyzzzmo]

I like my own the most, ofcourse 

[alessandro]

i really liked his rendition, but im pretty sure it was not recorded live, as Gilels did in the video...

i'd love to see that documentary!! i can see war, planes, bombs, soldiers while i listen to the prelude

I'm quite sure (please don't kill me if I'm mistaken) that the fragment comes out of this very well made documentary "Richter, The Enigma" --- I found it nicely loaded in two parts...

Here is part I

https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6317314286098314769#docid=7977788071425317946

and here is part II


https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6317314286098314769&ei=0sJ1S5qgLdWx-AbGmIVG&q=the+enigma+Pt+#

Even if I'm mistaken, it's really worth watching...

Kindly

[pianoplayjl]

The worst interpretation I've heard is Lang Lang and the Best is Horowitz despite the ton of wrong notes there were. Cziffra's interpretation was interesting as well as Rachmaninoff's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2_wJoKEFY

JL