Opinion- my favorite interpretations on some very famous classical piano pieces

[garrett]

Hi!

I have a problem where I fall in love with one particular interpretation, and I get "Locked in" to only listening to that particular recording. I am sharing this list so I might be able to show  you guys a new performance of a piece you may already like but haven't heard the particular performance in particular. ALSO - I want you to challenge my list and disagree. Please link me your Favorite interpretations of any pieces listed here so I can expand my pallette! Please don't take this list as me being a bully telling you what is "THE BEST". I'm here to share and I want some links from you people so I can see what other people think!

Starting with: Debussy's la terrasse des audiences du claire de lune, performed by rubinstein

Deliberately breathing between phrases, but not overdoing it. Confident fast parts make musical sense. It seems confident, mysterious, and proud all at once. Sounds victorian.

Chopin's Etude op.10 No.3 'Tristesse' performed by Pollini

This is the only rendition where the left hand's rubato seems the most deliberate. Other interpretations seem to dwell too much, and I feel it ruins the pace of the picture being painted in my mind. The way the left hand chords slow and speed up each measure reminds me of plucking violins as a supporting melody. Many other interpretations overdo the slowing down in this piece, and it actually can slow to the point where my imagination "loses focus" and I forget what the musical phrase was conveying in the first place.

Ravel une barque sur l'ocean performed by Vitaly Pisarenko

A lot of people online disagree with me, and think that Andre laplante's version is better. I agree that Andre's is also very damn good, but Vitaly's performance here wins my vote simply because of the final 20 seconds or so. You can hear the boat leave the eye of the storm into peaceful waters at 7:00 mark and forward, and Andre's interpretation fails to make as good of a contrast there. With how hectic this piece gets in the middle, there NEEDS to be a very very calm ending to it for the piece to be maximally beautiful - in my opinion.

Debussy's Pagodes from Estampes - Anna Zasimova

Good impressionistic performance. For me, it reflects a foreigner's observation of asian architecture and imagining of what their people's lives are like. She kills it. Other people play it too fast in my opinion. I honestly have heard only a handful of other performances, so I don't have much of a strong opinion here.

Chopin's ocean etude - Cziffra

This entire performance is slightly slower than the sheet music, and it serves it well when voicing the important parts. 1:33-1:40 is clearly a pathetic, helpless, begging moment. To me, there is nothing "ocean" about 1:33-1:40, and Cziffra is clearly aware of this and plays into it. 1:33-1:40 sounds almost like a soldier witnessing something traumatic in slow motion that will later cause him PTSD: perhaps a villager being thrown down a rocky cliff, or maybe a beloved building slowly collapsing brick by brick, and then SNAP - he snaps out of the PTSD episode it into the usual speed of the song. Sokolov is the more popular interpretation, and I would say his is better in terms of speed and percussive style of playing. Sokolov is a monster virtuoso with this piece.

Ravel Jeux D'eau - martha argerich

It's "water games", and Martha does the best at this. Other interpretations seem to think it means "linearly-firing machine gun", which is why I keep combing back to this one

Ravel Pavane Pour une infante defunte - Ravel piano roll recording

Most piano roll recordings  suck, but this one captures dynamics quite well. The bass notes 4:15-4:20 are incredible. Almost doesn't sound like a piano in some places.

Let me know what your favorite recordings are!!
-g

[ranjit]

If you haven't already, you should take a look at Cziffra's Jeux D'Eau. I'm afraid I can't help you out with the other ones.

[garrett]

If you haven't already, you should take a look at Cziffra's Jeux D'Eau. I'm afraid I can't help you out with the other ones.

That was fantastic. I cant believe i havent heard this one. I love cziffra. Thanks for sharing! The sound quality is much better than the argerich recording, and i like how he plays it