Elegie by Rachmaninov

[pytheamateur]

Sorry this is not me playing, but Idil Biret.  If I had proper recording equipemtn, I'd happily post my recording it.

Just wanted your views on her interpretation.  I note her took a lot of liberties with the rhythm in the left hand accompaniment.  You call that rubato?  Is that good taste?  

When I learnt the piece, my teacher asked me to play the left hand more steadily, and a bit slower than Biret did.

The first time I heard this piece was actually through her recording.  I fell in love with this piece and decided to learn it.  I might have picked up some of her habits.  Now having studied with my teacher, I find her tempo was fluctuating too much for my taste.

[coda_colossale]

Well, she tends to do that a lot and is notorious for it, but sometimes it is very effective. Most of the forum members I think would find it cheesy. It is a matter of taste and requires great mastery to not sound so. Everybody likes rubato when it's used properly.

Personally, I would rather listen to the interpretation of an übervirtuoso than my teachers opinion (also considering that her teachers were Cortot and Kempff). But again, it is a matter of taste.

[pytheamateur]

I mentioned this to my teacher.  He said he liked Biret's Chopin but had never listened to her Rachmaninov so he couldn't tell.

Later I bought a recording by Dmitri Alexeev.  His interpretation seems to match closer to what my teacher was saying.  I wonder if it has something to do with the Russian style of playing (my teacher is also Russian trained).

[pianist1976]

Rachmaninoff himself didn't use a stiff tempo at all. Please, listen his own interpretation. What a master! In my humble opinion the equilibrium between a "cheese", corny, unjustified rubato and a tasteful, sincere and moving interpretation is very delicate, and its IMHO one of the factors that makes really great the great pianists.

The risk of sounding corny or random may be the reason why many scholars and academicians prefer not to take risks and play (if they can) on an unimaginative and conservative way and, worst of all, they want their pupils learn this way and they try to kill their creativity, instead of teaching how to channel this creativity and reach the equilibrium point. Both extremes are terrible: both a stiff, square interpretation and a so free interpretation that the ear can't follow the rhythm and the coherence of the musical discourse. The ideal, in my opinion, is a middle point, reached by great masters such as (name here your favorite...) Horowitz, Rachmaninoff, Benedetti Michelangeli, Arrau...

I don't mean yours is bad teacher (I don't know him) nor I mean every teacher is bad. But unfortunately there's a bunch of mediocrity on many conservatories classrooms.

This is a piano roll modern (with the limitations of that system) recreation of Rachmaninoff playing of this piece:

[mjames]

how the *** does an interpretation sound cheesy