Rachmaninov Concerto 3 - 10 famous pianists playing the regular cadenza
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 04. 2020
- Rachmaninov wrote two versions of the cadenza at the end of the first movement of the famous third concerto : the regular one and another one he called "ossia".
I selected 10 pianists (names below, chronological order) who play the regular cadenza.
0:10 Alexis Weissenberg
French TV - 1969 - Orchestra ? - Jean Martinon
1:42 Vladimir Horowitz
New-York - 1978 - NYPO - Zubin Mehta
3:23 Martha Argerich
? - 1982 - ? - Riccardo Chailly
5:08 Bruno Gelber
? - 1980 - NHK SO - Heinz Wallberg
6:49 Zoltan Kocsis
Budapest - 1983 - Budapest Festival Orchestra - Ivan Fischer
8:16 Joaquin Achuccarro
Madrid - 1987 - ? - Walter Weller
10:20 Stephen Hough
? - 1993 - NHK SO - ?
12:10 Lilya Zilberstein
Milano - ? - ? - ?
13:57 Nikolaï Lugansky
Moscow - 2014 - Russian NO - Alexander Vedernikov
16:05 Yuja Wang
Macau - 2019 - Wiener PO - Andres Orozco
Details (timestamps, year, conductor, Orchestra...) in the description.
Similar video with the ossia cadenza : czcams.com/video/2AGQ3lE6J-g/video.html
I really find the Argerich interpretation fascinating - and the most satisfying. I enjoy the unimpeded fluidity that grows in intensity - until the rapid chordal descent that really just feels momentous. And I love the percussiveness she brings out of the instrument in the last 1/4 of the Cadenza .
You are absolutely right, but the film is terrible: you hardly see her hands, but a sweating Chailly!!!!Argggggghhhhhhhhh, that's not what I want to see in this cadenza!
hair-raising!
All these masters are awesome, genius without a doubt... Horowitz makes it look easy... and the perfection of Martha and Yuja are outstanding, but all the masters are absolutely amazing!
Martha brilliant and still is even at nearly 80. Let’s not forget Stephen Hough he makes it look so easy . End of day they’re all brilliant
Bough is my fave here. So far. I’m up to his atm ha. Hold on….
Argerich and Yuja Wang shows that perfection can take multiple form
Y. W. is nothing
@@fb7876 Y.W. is far more than you will ever be.
@@wotansings Yawwwnnnnn.... you tiny little internet hero;-) Has your mom again given you access to the internet one time too much?
@@fb7876 my mom his given me education, something you're obviously missing
@@wotansings Why? Education and taste or not strongly linked to each other. How do you know about my education?
Kocsis caught at the height of his powers! I love his swift versions of the concertos....going to go pull out my CDs and give them a listen. Been a while!
Horowitz was a close friend of Rachmaninov and they always met each other. Horowitz played many of Rachmaninov's composed pieces before him and the composer once had said that Horowitz had owned the piece.
Having this fact in mind, by listening to his strong and powerful performance, you will be left mesmerized by the correctness and power of what he delivered at the piano. Stunning and powerful as usual.
All these people are masters of their class, however when referring to Horowitz, it's not just a simple reference to any master, but to a genius. Remember that you're referring to the last Romantic.
Yeah, Horowitz was great in Rachmaninov, but unfortunately, this particular performance of the cadenza isn't really that great. He misses 30% of the notes... I'd blame it on his age, but his recording with Ormandy and the NY Phil was done the same year and is WAY, WAY better. The Ormandy recording is probably a top 3 ever for the Rach 3.
A R Etazadi Martha Argerich said in an interview that Horowitz was the best. She also highly regards Daniel Trifonov. For me it would be Argerich or Gilels.
@@MattSmith-il4tc I agree, I wasn’t taken by his performance here. As you say a lot of missed notes and it seemed heavy and clumsy where Argerich’s was fluid and spirited.
Martha Argerich’s interpretation is insanity compared to other pianists and it’s incredible. Like her hands are on fire. Easily my favourite interpretation of Rach 3
Well, I have the suspicion that she only played it for actionistic reasons like "Look here, I can also play this hard piece." without ever having touched any other piece by Rachmaninoff... a bit strange...
Incredible - certainly. But certainly not insane.......
(and it surprises me too.....when only listen to the cadenza, i actually prefer Lugansky more than Argerich......... Though Martha full concerto is certainly my most prefered version).
Martha Argerich's is the first I ever heard of this concerto and is still my favourite.
@@IvanIV05 Yes, this is human - the first time is often held as reference. To me it is the same with Pogorelich performance of Chopin's second sonata or the F major Prelude in Warsaw 1980.
Sometimes she really looks like a witch at the keyboard x) no doubt she is just amazing. For the interpretation it misses sensibility for my taste i'm more of an horowitz person ^^
I've never heard Hough's recording but am definitely intrigued by his cadenza!!
For me Argerich and Yuja Wang are the best, Yuja shows stark contrast between the extremely light and playful first part of the theme (scherzo) with the ferocious and heavy climax at the very top. Meanwhile, Argerich has probably one of the most intense cadenza I've ever heard, like the piece and the devil is slowly possessing her hands :D.
sounds somewhat feminist... actually, it is not a piece for women at all...
I much prefer Yuja Wang's gentler approach, more feminine.
I love these little rubati Horowitz does, Weissenberg is just rushing through it
Lugansky and probably Wang for me. The sentimental favorite is Horowitz, but he was way past his prime here.
Kocsis with his transcendental technique and musical insight shades them all.
Damn, Zoltan, you're on fire. That clarity!
Fabulous video - every one of these masters is special in their own way. In awe.
Lilya Zilberstein is superb
Yes, she certainly is, alys21, and she confidently plays at her own tempo at the climax.
¡¡¡ZOLTAN KOCSIS!!!
I have no doubts, for me Argerich's interpretation is the best, the most beautiful, because of her fury, because of her great technique.
Best should only belong to man
@@zxavier1594 Do you really think what you write? or is it humor?
For me Argerich and Yuja Wang are the best, Yuja shows stark contrast between the extremely light and playful first part of the theme (scherzo) with the ferocious and heavy climax at the very top. Meanwhile, Argerich has probably one of the most intense cadenza I've ever heard, like the piece and the devil is slowly possessing her hands :D.
@@zxavier1594 music has a got a character not a gender.
@@rigel48 a crap attempt at humor too.
So glad you put Gelber's version. And I still don't get how Horowitz almost get a disaster in the middle of the cadenza and recovers.....
He must have played it so many times over the decades, it's like faltering during a conversation you mess up some of the words but overall you still know everything you are trying to say and how you are trying to say it, i guess.
There are all great, but I think Martha is on fire.
I have been listening to this cadenza for years and I loved it, but currently I think the Ossia is so much more intense
PS I'm loving Luganski and Yuja
Rachmaninov composed the Ossia as the original cadenza. Later, he decided that such an intense cadenza unbalanced the overall shape of the piece, and composed the (now) standard cadenza. The most serious artists (like Yuja and Luganski) not only play the standard cadenza in deference to the composer's wishes. They also tone down the virtuosity, again so the piece as a whole is presented as the composer intended.
I like the ossia as a pianist, as a fanboy. However the ossia is at level 10 intensity and dynamically it’s fff all the way through so that when you get to the actual climax (where the ossia and standard meet up) you have nowhere to go with dynamics and can only broaden with tempo, and you find with the ossia you have to stretch out that climax so much that it becomes distorted. Alternatively the ossia can be played briskly to allow the climax to broaden without distortion, but you rush past all the wonder of the large chords of the main theme.
Musically the standard cadenza is much better, it is balanced and fits much better with the climax. But the ossia is still more fun.
@@timothybolshaw
glad to read your comment, it fits perfectly my impressions. I would like to add St. Hough. I admire Argerich but IMO sometimes she exaggerates her virtuoso pianistic skills to the disadvantage of the composed. But once the fame is installed, it is praised shamelessly.
Luganski in particular clarifies the structure, the "musical content" and the "weight" of this cadenza in the dramaturgy of the entire concerto with a sovereign choice of tempi and timbres.
In the meantime - since 2022 - there is a new milestone in the history of the interpretation of Rach 3, played by 18-year-old Yunchan Lim at the Cliburn Competition 2022. He chose the standard cadenza.
czcams.com/video/GvKQKnIVy1I/video.html
Луганский! Один из лучших нынешних интерпретаторов Рахманинова.
It's nice to know that the composer himself played this version.
Apparently he thought the ossia cadenza was too climactic
I wish Martha loved Rach as much as I do. If she plays this with as much love as she does Chopin, I would be in musical heaven.
MARTHA!!!... legendary performance, and connection with director, orchestra! articulation, MUSICALITY!... you hear the music, orchestra is mesmerized!...
Hard not to love Yuja, although Kocsis is pretty phenomenal
God Zoltan, so clear, so musical...
There is no known film of Rachmaninoff playing, but you should have included the audio recording of him playing the cadenza as a comparison with these pianists to the composer himself.
Lilya Zilberstein was playing ( obviously) at Teatro alla Scala, Milano.
Wow. All are great but Argerich just blew it away. She could have played that part in a honky tonk (even her piano clanged!) I had never heard of Lilya Zilberstein before, but she was absolutely superb. Second best by a 32nd note!
Martha the best one
Argerich, of course. The sheer emotional intensity of it... omg ❤ Kocsis is also fascinating, Horowitz's performance here is unfair to compare since he is way past his prime at the time of the recording. Lugansky and Zilberstein both did very well but I'd like to see more pianist personality in there. They certainly do justice to the cadenza.
I am a bit surprised at all the Yuja stans. Her technical ability is superb, needless to say, but when it comes to most of her repertoire, it just seems like she is very reluctant to dive in below the notes and dig out something that packs an emotional punch. As much as I love the fact that Argerich is so technically brilliant, she is my favorite because of the depth and the intensity. She simple owns every piece she plays. I like Yuja's Prokofiev and her Bartok, but Rach, Chopin, et al. - her performances sadly stir nothing in me. It seems well played and somewhat playful but with no heart, no emotional investment that I could feel. :-/
Analisi fantastica e competente. Grazie!
Martha Argerich.
Martha is a god. She's insane. I love her.
Stephen Hough though
Kocsis riesce a legare le note alla perfezione; Wang ha una bella intuizione suonando la cadenza in accellerando e crescendo
Martha and yuja are simply... Perfect!
Martha's interpretation is the most perfect, the most ideal combination of technique and musicality. She is truly the best. She has no equal.
Wow !,, Martha was truly young ..she got it right! Her grandson David Chen..is awesome also!
Martha Argerich is the best!!
No. Too hectic. ;)
@@Exelsio it's a hectic cadenza
Of the ten, I think Yuja Wang has the most musical interpretation. It has the best flow and is easier for the listener to hear the continuity of the entire passage. The others were more disjointed in their tempi and I think they concentrated too much on the flashy pyrotechnics and speed than on the musicality and phrasing.
is not here, but on my opinion Yuncham Lim's cadenza It is by far the best performance ever...
This student Yunchan Lim played colorless dry cold piano sound Rach concerto no 3 in the Cliburn Finals! Dimitri Bashkirov her teacher Anastasia Virsaladze teach saying to Bashkirov the most important lesson is the love of beautiful colorful piano sound! This was already in 1930s! Really shocking!! Now totally crazy deaf people claming student Yunchan Lim is the greatest ever! Crazy world we are living! All the modern players are colorless cold dry piano sound players like Krystian Zimerman Evgeny Kissin Mikhail Pletnev Marc Andre Hamelin and latest hype student Yunchan Lim! All the beautiful colorful sound players are gone dead like Emil Gilels Radu Lupu Wilhelm Kempff Artur Rubinstein Vladimir Ashkenazy!
@@RaineriHakkarainenWhat is your opinion on Katsaris and Nelson Freire??
Thanks! I ever thought that the Ossia was written by someone since I have not found the recording of Ossia played by Rach.
Actually Rach only composed the ossia cadenza but he felt that it was too climactic for the first movement so he never played it but published it anyway for other people.
El Maestro Nikolai Lugansky el Mejor!!!!!!👏👏👏👏👏
I find that Olga Kern's performance (not shown here) of the Rach 3 at the 2001 Van Cliburn to be the most spirited satisfying
performance along with the original Van Cliburn in1958 at Carnegie Hall.
Van Cliburn does not play this cadenza.
Yes I also very much liked Olga Kern s version
Joaquín Achucarro is playing with the Spanish National Orchestra. At that time Walter Weller was principal guest condutor, and I was subsciber of this orchestra. ( I still am ) and I rememeber very well the musicians at that time
Horowitz's musical phrasing is second to none. He's just quite old here. He will always be the best
Second to none in the bad direction unfortunately. There are only a few good Horowitz records like 6th hungarian or tschaikovsky concerto.
@@cantkeepitin his Schubert Impromptu No. 3 is legendary
Yuja easily gets my vote because she plays it with such relaxed technique...she is not even going full power!
I like Yuja the best, not sure why just something about her.
As an ardent amateur, I can not pass judgement on technical expertise. What I can say is that this piano concerto is unsurpassed. And that Yuja Wang’s hands look like an extension of the piano. Thanks for posting.
Hough and Wang.
Alexis Weissenberg - super rushed. Disliked
Vladimir Horowitz - past his prime. Disappointing as I usually love his playing
Martha Argerich - all out intensity. Jeez, my heart! Great audio - could hear everything
Bruno Gelber - HORRIBLE audio. Couldn't hear a thing
Zoltan Kocsis - Different. I'll give him that. He hit all the right notes...I just didn't get it
Joaquin Achuccarro - beginning is great. Rhythmically challenged at the end
Stephen Hough - Wow. That was great
Lilya Zilberstein - loved it
Nikolaï Lugansky - Superb. Close second for me
Yuja Wang - My favorite. Just perfect. Delicate and slow at the beginning and building intensity through-out. Everything was just sublime. Nowhere near the intensity of Martha but somehow I connect so much more with this interpretation
Interesting hearing them all one after the other. I didn't know I had preferences in how this cadenza should sound, but I definitely do. Don't know if my preferences are worth anything though :) On to the Ossia now. Excited! That one is all about intensity so it will be different
Fair assessment; slightly higher markings for Kocsis and Lugansky for me - but I'm perhaps prejudiced because I heard the latter perform it live, and it was entirely captivating even for someone who isn't really in love with Rachmaninov.
Always Martha. Two from Argentina: Gelber and Argerich. 🇦🇷♥️
Thanks from TAIWAN
Wasn’t this “regular” cadenza the one preferred by Rachmaninov? To me it sounds way more polished and subtle than the rough ossia cadenza. Thanks for sharing; rare to hear it played on CZcams or anywhere! Although I prefer slower, more agogic interpretations than these ego-driven, rushed playings. I think we should appreciate true virtuosity more, which doesn’t always mean maniac prowess but suppleness. Also, if notation tradition is to be respected, different note values should mean something to musicians.
actually, yuja wang and and the two before her [both russians, huh] seem to have the most musical approach ... much as i admire argerich, she misses the boat here ... bl gelber is the best of the 'virtuosic' approaches here ...
agree with you. I like the this regular cadenza better. The ossia cadenza sounds clumsy and broken...
Luganski is my favorite for this cadenza and the Ossia as well. ❤
i like Kocsis's - or maybe Gelber's version
I am unable to say "ever" but of this part of the concerto and these 10 marvelous pianists Argerich is easily the best.
I suspect that none of you have ever heard this performed by Thea Sjaegerud or Lydia Jungner.
Wang and Kocsis
A Martha Argerich é a Melhor! 😍❤️
Lilya Zilberstein and Nikolaï Lugansky are my favourite
Billy Joel's in trouble !
And which one was considered the more difficult?
ossia
The diabolic concerto !
Martha Argerich is the best in my opinion (the film is terribly annoying SHOW THE HANDS!!!) but she plays so well! She builds in intensity where other pianists play some parts softer she goes full out.
Thibo, I so agree. I get so frustrated by the number of idiot video producers who take the camera away from the hands, especially at the moments of extreme virtuosity. Don't they realise that the amazing technical dexterity adds even more pleasure to the listening?! I don't want to see the conductor's beard, nor the piano woodwork, nor even Yuja's pretty face. I want to see the HANDS!
Martha Argerich!!!!!
Martha and Yuja
Horowitz is the classiest - he plays like Zidane used to play football. Both were geniuses who played in a different space-time to everyone else. Notice how Horowitz plays every note distinct from every other note, how he tames the piano as an instrument in an effortless way without any vulgarity, and most incredibly of all how he creates the illusion of having greater time on his hands. He gets in between each note and chord like a zen master inhabiting the moment with transcendent ease. And then there's the character of his playing, an individual, unique, artistic personality making the other pianists like Wang & Hough & Lugansky just sound bland and boring. If it ain't got character it ain't got class!
Wang & Hough & Lugansky boring? So ein Quatsch. Accepted as subjective opinion - worthless as objective judgement.
the conductor at 13:57 is not Alexander Verdenikov but Yan Pascal Tortelier
I’ll go with #2, along with #3, who deeply admired #2. But they’re all wonderful.
Martha, and Zoltan. Like twins.
Pourquoi s'arrêter à dix. La liste aurait pu être plus longue,Emil Giles ,Katia Buniatosvili ect....
Argerich and Wang were the best. My opinion - Yuja has the edge. She plays it like she owns it. I'm pretty sure Horowitz was once the best, and the advantage (perhaps) of actually having Rachmaninoff as a friend, giving him some insight.
Yuja has nothing
It would be appreciated if you could include Yefim Bronfman in the list!
Definitely the king of rachmaninov.. but I never heard of him playing original cadenza
Yuya 11/10
Where is Gilels ?????
Best with Kondrashin
Didn't find Gilels 's video footage
If I had to choose from the ones shown here, I like Lugasnky's the best.
I like Hough's "walk in the park".
All of them can play piano !! ❤
Argerich is the only one that plays it the closest to how Rachmaninoff himself did. Both quickly with that fire spirit!
Achúcarro plays with the Spanish RTVE Orchestra.
😍😍😍😍😍
If we have a blind test who is going to be the best? Not horowitz for sure
True, but the sound he makes with the piano is how I like it. I wish there was someone today with his sound and less mistakes. Ofcourse he was old. If you listen blindly, you immediately know when Horowitz is playing. Thats something special which no other pianist has.
Horowitz has such a unique sound and style that he’s easily recognizable. And his rachmaninoff interpretations are rarely not the best, although argerich is definitely up there too
They’re all great but the Ossia Cadenza is the BEST!!!
Marta y yuja !! The BEST !!
Le début de la cadence est une variation d'un épisode antérieur , lui même basé sur le thème principal du morceau. Seule l'interprétation de L.Zylberstein permet, par sa clarté et son tempo modéré, de faire vraiment le lien avec cet épisode ( à un moindre degré c'est également le cas de J.Acchucaro et de S.Hough). Toutes les autres versions rendent ce passage presque incompréhensible pour cause de rapidité excessive, le pire étant peut être À.Weissenberg, grand pianiste par ailleurs, mais ici "hors sujet", il me semble. Au fait, l'orchestre qui l'accompagne est " l'orchestre national de l'ORTF", aujourd'hui orchestre national de France.
What idiot video editor cuts to a shot of the conductor’s face in the middle of Argerich’s cadenza?!!! Blasphemous
Terrible indeed! There is another really bad film of her playing Tschaikofsky 1 with Dutoit (from the 1970's) where the lights on the ceiling are filmed when she plays the double octaves!!!
I have also wondered this same thing. A live performance from Germany in 1982 never to be forgotten! I did not see it but heard it live on the radio in the USA.
Lugansky for me. 😊
Argerich's interpretation is truly superior, she plays so quickly and clearly that every note of the cadenza can be heard, the level of perfection that this woman reached is impressive
Favorite: Zilberstein!
3:36 time to take a break guys!
Horowitz, of course
Martha is the best, of course.
개인적으로 바이젠베르크의 남성스럽고 강력한 타건에 의한 꽉찬 음색이 가장 매력적
Funny how we all hear something different. Gelber, Hough, and Zilberstein for me. Some quirk of the sound quality might be preventing me from embracing the Argerich inclusion-- sounds like a toy piano with one volume.
I’m not sure if Rach was a sadist or a masochist or both! I think this section emulates the feeling of giving birth! Lol.
He loved Horowitz version
It's Lugansky and Yuja Wang for me. Though Yuja comes out well ahead in the thigh department!
Holy dang-it. I'm going to close my eyes and pretend I'm playing this.
When I try to play it I pretend I’m Horowitz and - somehow it doesn’t work haha.
Yuja and Kocsis!
Difficult to find more dissimilar interpretations!
confermo