I had the privilege, and memorable experience, of singing in the chorus for Ogdon's performance with the National Symphony.at Constitution Hall, Washington D.C, in 1968 I believe (probably following this recording by him in 1967). I remember learning the German, and standing quite a long time before we got to the the chorus's big part in the last movement! And I remember well John's marvelous, muscular playing. Quite a forceful but gentle bear, I thought! It was tremendously exciting to be even a tiny part of that event.
Just been reading about a performance in Auckland, NZ, the same year, in which Ogden banished contraltos from the (offstage) choir and the conductor (Matteucci) switched the choir's language from German to Italian (why not Danish?) at the last minute.
This is a magnificent work, played here by one of the greatest pianists ever. Ogden was incredible, he could sight read and remember anything. A sad genius, tragically missed
It's the first time I hear this concerto. I love it, I'm going to practice and get it in my fingers. I knew of Ogden, but not listening. My lost, this is vey very beautiful
In a radio programme on John Ogdon, the passage at 28:30 was played as an example of the astonishing clarity of his fingerwork in the usually muddy base of a piano. It is amazing.
I have all of the performances of this concerto on cd. My favorite pianist in Hamelin and I've flown across the country to see him play. But this is without a doubt the greatest recording ever made of this colossal piece. Hamelin recording is fantastic but this one...divine.
Completely agree. Both recordings are a must for this concerto. Hamelin is spectacular, and exquisitely musical, but a little too fast for clarity in some spots. Ogdon edges him out in every category, I think.
This is a really GREAT performance of the work, and was the first one I ever heard. I love Ogdon's power and majesty at the piano and hope more of his recordings will become available again...his Beethoven "Hammerklavier" is without peer.
Not the finest conductor to have tackled this magnificent work, nor the most refined orchestral playing of its rich and splendidly orchestrated score, but John Ogdon's account of it is peerless. The concerto has since had quite a few recordings and performances but is still not as often heard in public as it deserves to be.
As long as I live, I’ll never forget hearing this on the radio. I knew of the work dit didn’t dream I’d be able to hear it. Then I look in the Schwann catalogue and discovered that it was recorded and got the recording that very night. That was about fifty years ago.
Ferruccio Busoni, unnachahmlich, skurril, genial, merkwürdig, mutig, freigeistig, viel Lärm um Nichts, Neurer, mit einem Wort: rätselhaft! - Ich bin froh, dass er hier in Berlin begraben liegt und es würde mir etwas fehlen, wenn ich nicht wenigstens einmal im Jahr dort eine Rose hinlegte. Ich verehre ihn! 🤍 🦢
The work is as long as it is Christof and that's fine. Creativity sometimes works like this. One might as well say that the Wagner Ring Cycle is too long. The Brahms Concertos are also long. So what. Either the music has something to say or it doesn't. In this case it says a lot. One shouldn't superimpose a preconceived idea onto any original work of what a concerto should be.
The work itself is rather overlong and uneven, but John Ogdon's performance is maybe the most breathtaking keyboard performance I've heard in my entire life!
Sviatoslav Richter said Busoni never really made it as a composer....i guess it comes down to what richter expects a piece to bring. ppl measure in different ways
I agree. Music is not always measured by the written score but how a person can relate to it. Music can fit like a glove with your emotions and feelings.
C'est la plus grande interprétation de ce concerto, John Ogdon en est presque l'auteur comme Rachmaninov dit un jour d'Horowitz qu'il venait de découvrir avec Horowitz ce qu'était sa deuxième sonate.
"It's too long" "It's structurally messy" "The piece is uneven" Blah, blah, blah... I don't care. This piece is amazing. It's not too long for me. I'd love if it kept going and going...
Ogdon was clearly a genius and as such unique. But genius is linear. From Ogdon it goes back from master to predecessor, from Busoni back to Liszt for whom Busoni performed at the age of seven. All three were pianist-composers. Great gifts are, like the Nile, great destroyers. Liszt , who was in holy orders, ended his life in a form of pious simplicity. An atheist, Busoni pioneered micro-tonality. Ogdon could play even the most complex new music at sight and went mad.
Keith Botsfordd As far as lineage goes - we should mention Ogdon's link to Busoni - Egon Petri. "Petri considered himself more of a Busoni disciple than student". It was clearly this great admiration that he passed on to Ogdon.
s1earle because it's not about superficial brilliance. And I knew Ogdon and have heard Hamelin, John produced a titanic sound that makes Hamelin seem like a very agile mouse. This is something one can only know about from live performance.
