Kristian Bezuidenhout...

[alessandro]

Please allow me to share some enthusiasm...   Anyone heard this pianist yet ? I hear him for a second time yesterday on the radio, in a Mozart sonata and for the first time in a Schumann-lied.   This pianist really is astonishing.   Really top, amazing.   I'm not a huge Mozart fan, but now, well...  this guy brings this music for me to life.   I hesitated very little, because he plays on pianoforte, to put this topic in "Instruments".   I never was particularly attracted to the pianoforte as an instrument, but really, this Kristian Bezuidenhout, please check that out.   Here is a link to a website with some audio-files...

https://www.askonasholt.co.uk/audio/artists/kristian-bezuidenhout

[m1469]

Lately I am listening to, conducting, and reading through all of the Mozart sonatas.  I've personally always enjoyed Mozart (the little, tiny amount I knew), but my recent project has blown my former appreciation out of the water and I suspect that appreciation will only continue to increase.  As I've been doing this, I can't help myself from thinking "I seriously can't believe that there are people who think they don't like Mozart!  What the hayflower?  How can somebody not like Mozart ... or, how can a person say it's 'quote' easy 'unquote' (with fingers in motions in the air to boot)??"  No offense, of course.  It's just, Mozart is such a brilliant dude!  Reading through his sonatas, I am amazed at his musical character and I don't even have a fraction of the glimpse quite yet.  I wonder recently if it's even possible for a performer to truly do his writing justice?  I don't know.  I was listening to Gould the last couple of days and I grew a new appreciation for Gould, too, and I thought ... "hee hee ... he's rambunctious!" but then I thought ... "I wonder, though, who's more rambunctious ... Mozart or Gould?" ... I'm not sure.  

Anyhoo ... thanks for the heads up on Kristian, I'll be sure to have a glance with my ears and my eyes, with my head, and maybe even with my very own heart!    

[alessandro]

Hi everyone, hi m1469,

You certainly have a more 'funded' appreciation of Mozart... 'conducting and reading through all of the Mozart sonata's'.   My knowledge of Mozart is small.   It's not that I hate the dude.  I'm not repelled by Mozart opera, of some themes of his adagios.  But I don't "click".   And thanks to this Bezuidenhout, I finally feel some suspense in his music.   Before, I quickly felt bored listening to Mozart.   There is this so called main, classical approach to his music (and of course, one should not necessarily agree with it) but I think, when listening to critics, or better, peoplo who appreciate Mozart and who (pretend ?) knowing something about him, I often heard the following sticky ideas : Mozart IS difficult to play, in exactness or preciseness, in the sense of 'not making mistakes or slips', playing Mozart could be more exigent than playing Bach, maybe it demands more focuss.   A second recurrent idea that I've grown up with is, Mozart is allergic to overacting, to effect, the music in itself (and here there can be a likeliness with Bach)  should be sufficient.   Another thing that did strengthen my 'dislike' is the so called 'good interpreters' of Mozart.   Always in the top 3, Uchida.   Well, if there is a 'famous' pianist that I really don't like, it is Uchida.   And I will not tell you why, it wouldn't be nice to read.   On the other hand, I'm quite sure I like the dude Mozart, in a biographical point of view.

This is why I'm absolutely flabbergasted by Bezuidenhout.   His interpretations are elegant and raw at the same time.   It sounds absolutely new, almost experimental to my ears, whilst there must be clearly a deep understanding of Mozart's music.   I've always found a big gap between Mozart the man and Mozart the music, and with Bezuidenhout's interpretations it's as if I finally hear what a funny, dare-devil guy Mozart truly must have been.   The interpretations of Christian sound often as joyfull improvisation, a just dose of 'show', and these are all the elements that, till now, with my small musical culture, I was missing in interpretations of Mozart.   I'm really a fan.

Kind greeting to you all.

xx

[franz_]

I knew him before this topic. I found him a nice guy, till he naid that the ego of E. Bozhanov is too big for the music that he plays.



Well, I'll listen to him anyway

[m1469]

Hi everyone, hi m1469,

You certainly have a more 'funded' appreciation of Mozart... 'conducting and reading through all of the Mozart sonata's'.   My knowledge of Mozart is small.   It's not that I hate the dude.  I'm not repelled by Mozart opera, of some themes of his adagios.  But I don't "click".  And thanks to this Bezuidenhout, I finally feel some suspense in his music.

Okay.  Well, I find it somehow strange that I'm actually responding again, not because I think it's a strange conversation, but apparently I feel rather passionately about this, I am realizing.  For me, I definitely had this really big click with Mozart and it changed my world.  I had already decided several months before that, that I wanted to seriously study piano and started putting in the effort and such.  But, then I switched teachers at the beginning of that Fall and was asked to find myself a Mozart sonata, and upon looking through and playing a little, I chose the Fantasy and Sonata in c minor.  I still remember very distinctly the precise sensation/feeling I got as I played through it.  I had no idea the depth behind Classical music (in the bigger sense than just the era itself) -- I had actually scarcely even heard it before that.  I think that's pretty significant.  

I often heard the following sticky ideas : Mozart IS difficult to play, in exactness or preciseness, in the sense of 'not making mistakes or slips', playing Mozart could be more exigent than playing Bach, maybe it demands more focuss.

I'm not sure if you agree with these ideas or not, I can't quite tell.  I think what it is with Mozart that seems "difficult" to me is not the notes nor the technicality, etc. (though I'd have to work at those, too).  It's that there is something extremely unique "behind" it all.  It's as though you can actually hear (with some sense besides just an ear) that he conceived his music all at once, like in a flash, and I guess that's part of what I mean by wondering if it's actually even possible for a performer to truly do his writing justice.  It's almost as though it's untouchable in another realm or something, and I don't mean that as disrespect to performers of Mozart.  It's as though it's impossible or something, like its most perfect state is in some golden concept, and to actually play it is already a fall from grace, no matter what, no matter who.

A second recurrent idea that I've grown up with is, Mozart is allergic to overacting, to effect, the music in itself (and here there can be a likeliness with Bach)  should be sufficient.

Again, I'm not sure whether you agree or not, or in other words, if you are saying that this is a reason you like or dislike Mozart.    

Another thing that did strengthen my 'dislike' is the so called 'good interpreters' of Mozart.   Always in the top 3, Uchida.   Well, if there is a 'famous' pianist that I really don't like, it is Uchida.   And I will not tell you why, it wouldn't be nice to read.   On the other hand, I'm quite sure I like the dude Mozart, in a biographical point of view.

Well, I have a few different performers of the sonatas (the CD's I bought a number of years ago by now, trying to start this project quite awhile ago), the three I have listened to recently have been Gould, Schiff, Uchida.  I actually think Uchida does have a special sense, though when I think about who I want to listen to each morning, lately I'm not drawn to her but rather Gould.  I like what you say here:

This is why I'm absolutely flabbergasted by Bezuidenhout.   His interpretations are elegant and raw at the same time.   It sounds absolutely new, almost experimental to my ears, whilst there must be clearly a deep understanding of Mozart's music.   I've always found a big gap between Mozart the man and Mozart the music, and with Bezuidenhout's interpretations it's as if I finally hear what a funny, dare-devil guy Mozart truly must have been.   The interpretations of Christian sound often as joyfull improvisation, a just dose of 'show', and these are all the elements that, till now, with my small musical culture, I was missing in interpretations of Mozart.   I'm really a fan.

Kind greeting to you all.

xx

Those are interesting characteristics to listen for.  I started listening earlier today to the Fantasy on Kristian's page, but my speakers on my computer are quite horrible.  I could tell I will like it though.  I'll have a listen again sometime soon, through better speakers or earphones.

Best .

[m1469]

Well, having just read through K. 310 (I went in the order that my book lists them and read through 311 yesterday), I'm once again completely intrigued by Mozart himself.  I'm currently not super duper fond of the first movement, but that's mainly because I have a certain sound stuck in my ear ... but, I've decided that's changeable .  The second movement is quite wonderful, but third is just ... another world to me.  I love it.  And, playing through, I just was absolutely loving it the whole time (of course, yes, I'm practicing sightreading but have made an executive decision that I will read WAY under tempo so as to practice particular aspects within my reading and thinking in general ... very enlightening for me!).

If I were to work on a Mozart sonata, out of all of the ones I've read this past several days (K.279 -- K. 311), I'd choose K. 310.  I still have the second book to go though .  You know, it's strange but I feel this awakening some more in my musical life, and I wonder how many "awakenings" a person has in a lifetime?  Sometimes it's as though a certain piece or something just turns a key inside and everything is just sitting right there in plain view.  But, maybe it's in conjunction with the concert I heard last Sunday.  Anyhoo, Mozart!

[alessandro]

Quote from me, Alessandro

A second recurrent idea that I've grown up with is, Mozart is allergic to overacting, to effect, the music in itself (and here there can be a likeliness with Bach)  should be sufficient.

You, m1469:

I'm not sure if you agree with these ideas or not, I can't quite tell.  

Quote from me, Alessandro

A second recurrent idea that I've grown up with is, Mozart is allergic to overacting, to effect, the music in itself (and here there can be a likeliness with Bach)  should be sufficient.

You, m1469:

Again, I'm not sure whether you agree or not, or in other words, if you are saying that this is a reason you like or dislike Mozart.    

I really don't know neither ! I just find it so damn typical for 'critics' or 'appreciators' or 'connoisseurs' of Mozart that they have this solid-as-rock-type of view of how Mozart should be interpreted and that, but that's my opinion, none of them makes the music, for me, interesting.   You know, I wish you all the best with your Mozart, cause it might as well be that he is just one of the composers that still can be interpretated in a truly original way.   I'm looking forward to hear more very personal, punky interpretations of his music.   And actually, yes, I'm a little bit fed up with the 'classic' Mozart.   It might be that Mozart should still be discovered, that there's more to it than we can imagine.


I'm not fond of the third movement of the 310.   There are ornaments in it, and 'changes' that I don't like.   Just as if there's this pattern that he had to follow (to write a sonata) and sometimes he had to fill it up or invent some kind of "forced" (to my ears) things and ways to glue the different bits together or to lighten it up.   I also sometimes hear some lack of imagination in Prokofievs piano-concerto's, this non-imaginative "passage" from one motiv to another, from one fragment to another, to glue the piece together, but in Prokofiev's case... I don't mind (I forgive him :-)), it amuses me.   It's just just as if Prokofiev was aware of it and said to himself 'well, I don't mind, it maybe doesn't sound absolutely  right or coherent, but whatever, it sounds at least a little bit weird-funny".

The last music I heard by Bezuidenhout's Mozart, and that I really found appealing is the Allegro assai from the Sonata in C, K457.

I knew him before this topic. I found him a nice guy, till he naid that the ego of E. Bozhanov is too big for the music that he plays.

I do not agree with Mr. Bezuidenhout on that; I like Bozhanov.   But still, he plays nice Mozart.


Kind greetings to you all.

[birba]

Ornaments in the last mvt of k.310?  I think there are about 3 or 4 trills (and they're not even played as trills).  Are you sure you're talking about the one in a minor?
At any rate, I too have been working on it again, and it is truly some of Mozart's finest music.  I'll never forget a performance by Kempff I heard years ago.  That last movement is a tragic mouvement perpetuel.  On the same lines as beethoven's tempest sonata.  The perfect denouement to what went before.
p.s.  I don't care for Uchida, either.   

[m1469]

Well, just listened to K. 330 with Badura-Skoda playing on a pianoforte.  I haven't listened to his CD set at all for quite a while, and it was somehow a strange experience.  I'm going to use him especially to compare with Kristian, on a sonata that they share.  Something interesting is that I couldn't stop listening to his pianism and was thinking more about that than the music.  This is significant to me.  I also think it's very interesting to listen to him from the perspective of the fact that he is considered a Mozart scholar, in that my impression so far is that his interpretations tend to be very "textbooky" and score-related (not that score-related is wrong IMO, but it's like the sound itself almost never left the paper in front of him and textbooky thoughts in his head, if that makes any sense).  And, perhaps more on the intellectual side of those than anything else, with the exception of the passages that I am guessing were more difficult for him and so he had to sweat over more in practice, perhaps bringing a little more of his own heart out in those.  At the same time, maybe none of this is a very fair assessment, as I think the pianoforte is a quite exposing instrument, which I actually happen to love.  Plus, what do I know?  

But, see, I'm thinking, what am I going to hear whence I listen to the Kristianator?

[alessandro]

Ornaments in the last mvt of k.310?  I think there are about 3 or 4 trills (and they're not even played as trills).  Are you sure you're talking about the one in a minor?

Yes, I had probably a bad choice of words, but it is indeed the one in a minor that I'm talking about.   I really have nothing against trills and other ornaments.   Particularly for the recurring repetitions of movements, ornaments are indispensable for the suspense in my listening-experience.  (I don't play a lot of Mozart :-), though I'm having a look at Fantasy and Sonata in C minor K.475).   And in this repetition of movements I find the right moment and the exquisite oportunity for experiencing glimpses of originality, and sometimes even risk in the improvisational aspect of them.  But back to k.310, these few trills bother me.   We shouldn't feel sorry for that.  I'm even often disgusted by them.   I can feel a very little bit of the 'haunting' character that is labelled to this movement, but overall, it is 'not my type of piece' (yet ?).

p.s.  I don't care for Uchida, either.   

Hehe, I'm glad.   When I expressed (as I did some day in another topic) my 'dislike' of Uchida, I felt a little lonely :-).

Something interesting is that I couldn't stop listening to his pianism and was thinking more about that than the music.  This is significant to me.  I also think it's very interesting to listen to him from the perspective of the fact that he is considered a Mozart scholar, in that my impression so far is that his interpretations tend to be very "textbooky" and score-related (not that score-related is wrong IMO, but it's like the sound itself almost never left the paper in front of him and textbooky thoughts in his head, if that makes any sense).  And, perhaps more on the intellectual side of those than anything else, with the exception of the passages that I am guessing were more difficult for him and so he had to sweat over more in practice, perhaps bringing a little more of his own heart out in those. 

I had for a moment the feeling that somewhere we are heading with one of our thoughts in the same direction.
There is mainly structure and maybe logic in the score.   On another level, (though I'm absolutely not a reader of scores, I take the sheet directly to the piano, I just play the piano for individual fun) there is sympathy and gentleness noticeable in the score.  But when it comes to playing Mozart, really, I would go for freedom and viscerality.  I would go for more flesh than mind.  I would almost convulsively aim for some 'comedia dell arte'.   For some 'Emperor's New Clothes'.

...the pianoforte is a quite exposing instrument, which I actually happen to love.

I have never felt any particular attraction to the pianoforte.   On the contrary, I've always liked more piano to pianoforte.   But... (I'm sorry), this Bezuidenhout defenitely changed my point of view.   The instruments he plays on are I think not extremely "pianoforte" if I may state this so bluntly, they are not really old-old, but the sound that the instruments he plays on produce, the sound he gets out of them, you should hear that.   And one should probably hear it live.   It is full of warmth and tenderness, but also harshness and shock; murmurs and heartrending screams.   I think he has really some taste in picking the instruments that he plays on and not only in interpreting Mozart.   It wouldn't surprise me that he has something of a maniac.   And yes, Mozart and the pianoforte, are (and I hope not only in Bezuidenhout's case) a perfect match.   Even if it only were for making me discover the beauty of some Mozart sonata's, no ?

Kind greetings.
 

[m1469]

There is mainly structure and maybe logic in the score.   On another level, (though I'm absolutely not a reader of scores, I take the sheet directly to the piano, I just play the piano for individual fun) there is sympathy and gentleness noticeable in the score.  But when it comes to playing Mozart, really, I would go for freedom and viscerality.  I would go for more flesh than mind.  I would almost convulsively aim for some 'comedia dell arte'.   For some 'Emperor's New Clothes'.

Again, interesting for me to read.  Right now, since I am in the process of deciding and discovering more thoughts on Mozart and his writing, as well as the Classic era and sonata form itself, I reserve whether or not I agree.  I just don't quite know yet, and so I enjoy having a person's opinion to consider as I listen.  Sometimes that's good, sometimes not as good, but in your case I enjoy it.

I have never felt any particular attraction to the pianoforte.   On the contrary, I've always liked more piano to pianoforte.   But... (I'm sorry), this Bezuidenhout defenitely changed my point of view.   The instruments he plays on are I think not extremely "pianoforte" if I may state this so bluntly, they are not really old-old, but the sound that the instruments he plays on produce, the sound he gets out of them, you should hear that.   And one should probably hear it live.   It is full of warmth and tenderness, but also harshness and shock; murmurs and heartrending screams.   I think he has really some taste in picking the instruments that he plays on and not only in interpreting Mozart.   It wouldn't surprise me that he has something of a maniac.   And yes, Mozart and the pianoforte, are (and I hope not only in Bezuidenhout's case) a perfect match.   Even if it only were for making me discover the beauty of some Mozart sonata's, no ?

Kind greetings.

Well, I have obviously preferred the modern piano generally, as I have never actually taken up the study of the fortepiano (I guess I called it backwards before) nor truly considered switching.  However, I have played the fortepiano a few times, once being a Masterclass with Richard Fuller and playing a Haydn sonata.  It was a memorable experience for me, not just the teaching, but the actual playing itself.  Actually, it is one of my favorite performing experiences.  I realize at the moment that I actually have some favorite performing experiences .

Anyway, believe it or not, despite the fact that I listened to Kristian for only a few minutes and through lousy speakers, what you describe regarding the sounds he gets from the instrument were actually some of first surprise impressions.  But, still, I like to let it perculate a little, and I will continue to learn and go back to listen more fully.  Regarding Mozart and fortepiano being a perfect match, that's a very interesting concept to me at the moment and one that seems a lot deeper than I had ever before considered until in the last several weeks.  Somewhere deep within I'm trying to piece something together that has to do with your comment regarding that, but I still have more learning to do I guess before the verdict in my mind is quite in yet.  However, yes, I suppose for a person who thought little of Mozart before but has changed his mind for any reason, I would tend to celebrate along .


PS -- I have looked up Richard Fuller online and will link here; it automatically sounds a Haydn sonata and it's pretty great :  https://www.richardfullerfortepiano.com/