I have Rachmaninoff Concerto N°2 on CD by two excellent, famous pianists. After listening to Richter's version just once, I am not sure I will want to listen to those CDs again. Richter's version is absolutely out of this world.
My version is waaaaay more superior than this version... Heinrich Neuhaus did not receive the spirit of Robert Schumann, I did! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ta4MwktQCB4.html
The way he plays it takes away all the drama of the piece. He breakes the tension all the time. Listen to Sofronitsky, you'll understand what I'm saying
Wow. I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke. Blows away the other Vladimir by a mile. Absolutely brilliant! I’ve never heard Vers la Flamme played like that. Amazing. My new gold standard for that famous Scriabin work.
A fiercely modernist 'found' duet for piano and cough. The dissonance of the second voice, set against the ineffable beauty of the Ravel, produces a striking effect: a paradoxical desire to do actual bodily harm one would never feel with louder, more persistent, unaccompanied coughing. 70 years later, fine music maintains its capacity to produce more coughing than the most virulent bacterium or virus. It is a sign of art's fragility amidst the not-so-still, sad music of humanity. Of course, the masterly Richter and most of that devoted but afflicted audience are well beyond the reach of any indisposition now. May they rest in peace, even if we can't.
sofronitsky never fails to completely butcher scriabin's music into an incoherent mess, the fact that anyone respects this hack musician is proof that art is dead.
