Most likely so; Alistair Hinton, the chairman and curator of the Sorabji Archive might say Jonathan Powell but I disagree with him. Personally, I think only Thibaudet and Katsaris come close to Hamelin; MAYBE Zimerman.
In terms of unprecedented technique and the best octaves of all time, he is the greatest living pianist. Besides playing the standard works as well as anyone, his foray into the most difficult repertoire, such as Alkan and Godowsky, is unmatched. Just a scintillating technique controlled by a razor sharp musical mind.
Marc-André Hamelin is a real piano legend living among us with true virtuosic talent rooted deeply in his pianism and clearly manifested in all his performances.
Played by the best virtuosic concert pianist of all time! MAH. Brahms/Hamelin, Liszt/Hamelin. Any composer/Hamelin. The highest level you will ever hear imo!
Hamelin the cyborg!! The greatest pianists of All Time Are really Artur Rubinstein ( The God) Grigory Sokolov ( The Titan The Giant of The piano) Emil Gilels ( The King) Wilhelm Kempff ( The most beautiful piano sound Ever!) Sviatoslav Richter Radu Lupu ( Brahms piano concerto no 1 with The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra video RU-vid! Lupu a class of his own playing Brahms piano concerto no 1) Stanislav Igolinsky ( better than Lipatti and Joseph Hofman)
NOT TRUE!! Vladimir Horowitz The. Attack was better! Mikhail Pletnev plays harder More Power than Marc Andre Hamelin! Grigory Sokolov his Brahms piano concerto no 2 playing is Much Better than Marc Andre Hamelin's Brahms piano concerto no playing!! Artur Rubinstein Emil Gilels Radu Lupu Wilhelm Kempff Vladimir Ashkenazy =These better More beautiful colorful piano sound than Marc Andre Hamelin his piano sound! More Genius Than Marc Andre Hamelin! Maurizio Pollini Sviatoslav Richter! Alexei Lubimov! .
@@hiobaname Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli played The second-rated concertos like Mozart piano concerto no 15 Haydn concerto G major Liszt piano concerto no 1! ABM never played The Best piano concertos like Mozart 24 Brahms 1-2 Chopin 1-2 Prokoviev 1-3 JS Bach Piano Concerto no 1 ( Harpsichord concerto 1052!) Rachmaninov 1-3 ABM played Grieg concerto With The brutal accent after brutal accent after brutal accent after brutal accent!!
The second movement has always touched me deeply.. the elements of Bach merging to Brahms now and then… but the yearning, the pathos, and ultimately the expression of peace.
Radu Lupu with the Finnish Radio Symphony video from 1996 Brahms concerto no 1! Lupu had the most colorful piano sound for Brahms no 1! Lupu More relax than Wang Hamelin Grimaud and more colorful sound! Maria Grinberg fire and passion better than Grimaud and Wang!!
just a positive aside...my youngest daughter 37 who does hair always watched people's hair with me since she was 4....I JUST VE the hair of this very facile, capable and very talented conductor
I saw Yuja Wang play this with the New York Philharmonic recently. I had front row, right under her hands, 8 feet away, max. It was one of the greatest nights of music I ever experienced, and the best Brahms First I've ever heard, by far. (And I'm no youngster.) She keeps getting better and better. Now I look forward to the same seat for Bertrand Chamayou playing the Mendelssohn G Minor in May.
My wife and I attended M. Hamelin's recital in Portland recently, from the first row, so close that we could hear the squeak of the sustain pedal. We've been fortunate enough to watch Yuja Wang play twice, but from balconies. Both are masters of our time!
Okay, I take back and deleted my comment about the conductor. He is apparently a rare humble person to have remained offstage for so long, allowing the pianist to take a bow on his own. I've never seen this before. Bravo, conductor, for that. Most conductors put themselves on the same level as the soloists during concertos, which is absurd.
You should look at the original score engraving title. It says something like "Symphonic Concert with Piano" or something similar [in German, of course]. It does NOT say "piano concerto". And that actually explains a lot of how it's different from the typical piano concerto: in this one, parts where the piano accompanies the orchestra are just about as abundant as where the orchestra highlights the piano.
I believe this work began as a sonata for two pianos, but Brahms was not satisfied. He then set out to turn it into his first symphony, but that didn't work either. Finally, he decided to split the difference. It developed over several years.