lot of people say zimerman's ballade 1 recording is bad , why?

[eee-_-]

I heard quite a lot of recordings on the ballade no.1 and i dont understand what about the recording of zimerman makes people say " that recording has no music " in it , while i am on this topic i dont understand why horowitz's recording is considered the 'best' either , i am not saying horowitz is bad or zimerman is the best , i am actually curious behind the reasoning on both of the topics .

A lot of people I see on internet say " zimerman's ballade 1 has no music , no soul " , but why ? , i have heard quite a lot of recordings of this piece and i still dont know what makes that recording " emotionless " can someone clarify exactly what makes that recording emotionless ? While on this topic i also want to know why horowitz's recording is considered " The best " for this ballade . I am not saying zimerman is best or horowitz is bad i am simply curious on what makes people say " zimerman's ballade have no music " and " horowitz's ballade 1 recording is genius "  . I have seen many vague reasons like " zimerman's technique is stiff ( completely disagree with that one btw ) , or his performance is " weird " , i want a logical response on this instead of vague answer like " no soul " what exactly about that recording makes it " souless " ?

[liszt-and-the-galops]

To add to this, Zimerman's Chopin Ballades are just weird in general. His B1 and B4 are pretty bad, his B3 is okay, and his B2 is the best one out there lmfao.

[eee-_-]

To add to this, Zimerman's Chopin Ballades are just weird in general. His B1 and B4 are pretty bad, his B3 is okay, and his B2 is the best one out there lmfao.

thats not an asnwer tho , how are they bad , like what about his playing makes you say that , i am not defending zimerman i am just curious what makes you feel that way about those recordings

[liszt-and-the-galops]

thats not an asnwer tho

I know it's not, I'm just adding this on.

I should have clarified that I'm also wondering why this is the case, lmao.

[essence]

Who are these people?

Certainly Zimerman is restrained, but that does not mean it has no soul.

[eee-_-]

Who are these people?

Certainly Zimerman is restrained, but that does not mean it has no soul.

A lot of comments under these ballade recording claim that he has no music , also some students i have met claim the same . Same thing for horowitz , however for that recording there are videos from channels like tonebase praising his ballade , there are also videos on zimerman ( someone with the channel name "dr.mephisto" on youtube made a video named "Why Zimerman is Overrated: A Pianistic Profile" and starts with " zimerman is the worst thing to happen to Chopin ") claiming that zimerman is bad for romantic music

[essence]

It's just noise.

Ignore it.

Lots of others say he is wonderful.

Find your own style.

[dizzyfingers]

I recall listening to Zimerman's Chopin (ballade 2 and 3 perhaps) about 5 years ago, and going from memory I can say this:   it's highly polished, finely crafted, beautiful and elegant;  perhaps too planned out, too crafted, too elegant - not spontaneous enough, not raw, not edgy enough ..  that may be why people dislike it.

[essence]

i agree. I don;t think i would want to listen to him for a full ballade - it has to be something exceptional for me to listen, probably an old master, but even then....

[lostinidlewonder]

Zimerman’s Ballade No. 1 is masterful in every musical detail. Anyone calling it ‘bad’ is likely just a backseat driver loudly critiquing without the skill or understanding to actually play it. Only a small minority criticize him and if we debated them with real musical reasoning studying the score and his interpretation their arguments would collapse under the weight of their own ignorance. I’d crush anyone who tried and laugh while doing it because their so called ideologies would expose the comedy of their understanding.

[eee-_-]

Alright by looking the replies i assume the people who said bad stuff about Zimerman either had no idea what they were talking about or were exaggerating by a lot .which is what i initially thought , thanks for clearing this question , i thought there was an actual reason for people hating zimerman which i couldn't figure out .

[lelle]

Zimerman’s Ballade No. 1 is masterful in every musical detail. Anyone calling it ‘bad’ is likely just a backseat driver loudly critiquing without the skill or understanding to actually play it. Only a small minority criticize him and if we debated them with real musical reasoning studying the score and his interpretation their arguments would collapse under the weight of their own ignorance. I’d crush anyone who tried and laugh while doing it because their so called ideologies would expose the comedy of their understanding.

I'm in the camp of people who don't particularly like the recording. Zimerman has impeccable technique and musical craftmanship and has a thouroghly thoughtful interpretation. I just prefer the wilder playing of someone like Cortot over Zimermans more measured approach. So my critique would be that it feels too restrained in spots where I wish he would "go for it" more. Sort of like two painters who are masters of their craft, one meticulously paints a detailed depiction of a house, whereas the other paints more fast and loose. Both paint the same house from the same direction but the second depiction has a certain kind of life to it that I just prefer.

[lostinidlewonder]

What you prefer is fine but you cant say hes bad. That you prefer others over him doesn't take away hes one of the best Chopin interpreters. People can have very narrow tastes but thats is meaningless when objectively judging something.