You may not know that when Zimmerman performed at Disney Hall several years ago, he came out in the second half and told the audience how terrible America is!!! His playing was dreadul all night--he pounded the piano and rushed everything because he thought American audiences were too stupid to notice. He changed the second half of the program and instead played Polish military marches! He certainly has no problem cashing American checks. We made his international career, and he rewarded us by basically telling Americans to go to hell. He doesn't deserve to be listened to at all anymore. The beautiful, young pianist he once was is gone forever. I wrote about this incident in the Los Angeles Times, and it got published, so I know what I am talking about.
@@maestro7PL I mean, it may be a pretty immature way to express it, but I understand why he holds a grudge. When he came to the US to perform a concert in 2006, the TSA destroyed his custom-made personal piano because they were worried it might be used to smuggle explosives. His stake as a Pole in certain US foreign policy decisions probably doesn't make his outlook any rosier.
The 2nd Rach Concerto truly is a miraculous concerto. It would be a miracle whoever composer made it. And Zimmerman certainly is not slouch, either. Many thanks for posting this performance here 👍
Every single Rach concerto brings its immense weight and charm along... The 2nd one is simply overplayed, overmediarized (yes, I made it up) and simply it's everywhere on concert programmes. I'd rather hear more of his 4th original versions being played.... His 4th is an extension to all his sonatas, that are simply out of this world.
As always Zimerman making such an excepcional performance, not too fast like the others do, just the right tempo in my opinion, this is my favourite Concerto N.2 performance now
😊 in terms of an appropriate and wonderful tempo is very hard to define, like pornography (please pardon this analogy), you will know it when you hear it! As a professional classical guitarist, it seems my first reaction to pieces that I am familiar with played by another is first with regard to the tempo choice. In a way, I think it is the most important decision which effectively communicates one's own artistic version of what they consider getting the most out of what the composer intended. Interpretation, therefore, is driven by this decision, and in a certain way, in retrograde! Sort of a chicken and egg thing!
In this concerto there is an infinite spaciousness, a sense of perennial expansion, just like in the universe itself. Krystian Zimerman takes time to breathe in the unending beauty in every phrase and note. His playing is powerful and extremely refined at the same time, never being sentimental for its own sake. Thanks for the upload!
@@gabrielsaavedrapina9215 Lang Lang is a prodigy, he can play a Chopin etude with an orange, he has good bonds with his father (even performing with him) and he is a very emotional and expressive pianist. Don't expect that people would flock to Zimmerman while leaving Lang Lang in the dust. Lang Lang is an excellent pianist, but Zimmerman is also one too. But using Lang Lang as an insult to make someone look like an "NPC" is immature as fuck.
@@gabrielsaavedrapina9215 it's clear you don't know what actual skill is. people in the classical community who are immature and not very smart often value how niche or unknown a composer or performer or work is rather than the actual skill or talent someone has. "oh you like [insert performer]? well [insert other performer] is better and your performer sucks!"... yeah I bet you feel really special and superior now lol.
This is my favourite piano concerto and my favourite piece of music. Listening closely to this movement, without distractions, takes me to a place of calm. ❤
Have been in love with Rach2 since 17 years old decades ago. Rach 3 always seemed inferior until last year when Yunchan Lim did his earth-shaking performance of it at the Clyburn. Great quality recording on youtube. Still love 2 but 3 is now my favorite.
I was first introduced to Rachmaninoff as a teen. I recall my first recording - a Red Seal album which was by far the most expensive record I purchased back in the late 70’s. I prized that recording of Rach’s third concerto. And where his second is unquestioned beauty, it is his third piano concerto that I find most revolutionary. It is a challenge for new listeners to appreciate and daunting for new performers. But it’s allure is true for the experienced ear.
I so love to feel this passage under my fingers that sometimes I forget there's more to this concerto to play. The orchestra was remarkable and the conductor was very sensitive to Zimmerman's rubato, and phrasing.
Absolutamente HERMOSO. Me hace recordar la mejor interpretación de éste concierto en mi opinion la de Werner Hass en 1974 ( Muerto trágicamente en un accidente en Nancy Francia en 1976 ) se cumplen 50 años de esa interpretación, qué pueden escuchar también aquí en RU-vid. Cómo también la de Rapsodia sobre un tema de Paganini op.43 ( dónde todos recordamos somewhere in time de Christopher Reeve y Jane Seymour) Gracias por éste precioso momento.
These bits of music are insufferable: Imagine being in a restaurant and having your main course taken away from you when you are only half way through it!
Horowitz playing theRachmaninoff Third Cto in Dm. Given that Rachmaninoff came up on the stage and stated that Horowitz cuold play it better than he could?
Claudio Arrau is mentioned several times below! What do you think of his comment about the Rach being a "shallow composer" or when he stated that Rachmaninoff wrote "parlor music!"
Ah fringe composer who was a grandmaster of form but lacked Rachmaninov's talent for memorable melodies. Which is why no one ever listens to his stuff. And that's why his works can't be the greatest.@@teodorb.p.composer
@@Quotenwagnerianer Wouldn't use the word "memorable" for what Medtner's melodies supposedly lacked. You really don't have to look far whatsoever in his oeuvre to find incredibly catchy melodies (see HIS second piano concerto, B theme of the first movement, op. 17 no. 1, his sonata-ballade, sonata romantica, skazka op. 26 no. 1, skazka op. 51 no. 3, etc. etc. etc.). Honestly, even a cursory glance of his catalogue of works would've revealed to you how silly (and yet common) a criticism this is. But I digress. Maybe you meant the "grandeur" or "it-factor" was always present for Rachmaninoff, but not for Medtner, which is fair. Rachmaninoff's soaring melodies that seem to last for literal pages would do horribly if subjected to the same obsessive melodic transformations, diminutions, and augmentations that Medtner was so adept at. Two different composing philosophies.
Who determinded that Zimerman is the greatest pianist, and that Rach's second is the greatest concerto ? Zimerman sure is a great pianist. But there are other as great. Rach's second is a great concerto for some people, not for others. There are other great concertos.
@@Marcel_Audubon Now listen, Marcellino piccolo, nobody needs neither luke-so-and-so's judgement nor your own little opinion about great concertos and great pianists. Get that into your small pin's head and go out for a large breath of fresh air, it'll do you a lot of good.
@@luke9947 Oh, YOU did ? Gospel word, then. Oyez, oyez, people of the earth luke 9947 has judged, let this be engraved in marble and bronze, world without end !
i love what eric carmen did with Rach's music - in though i heard just a hint of one of the melodies in this piece. Gotta go back and look at pieces eric carmen took the melodies from for his two hit songs
I happen to like Op.18 and Rachmaninoff BUT labeling this work and the pianist as the Greatest in the greatest is hyperbole! Certainly, the composition and the pianist are excellent but the author has not presented the basis of the ratings.
Glad you like this pianist, and maybe he's got some recordings out there, but I think this excerpt is very average. He hits all the classical piano cliches, especially the elongated pause in the first count of every measure. I'd recommend Kissin's Rach 2 for something great. But thanks for posting, it's always nice to learn about recordings I've never heard before.
I think it's a good idea to refrain from such arrogant critisisme about a pianist who does exactly the opposite of what you're blaming him for. Keep working on developing cognitive faculties..there' always hope.
I (played) this work. All 3 movements. I say this not to aggrandize myself, because I could never play it well enough to do it with an orchestra. My point is simply that there are tens of thousands of amateur pianists who can actually do this. Rach 3 is a whole different matter. I could never do that as well as Rach 2. Not that either are easy. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Music is not about the technical difficulties of the work. In that case, for example, Paganini would be far superior to Mozart, Chopin's Nocturnes would not be particularly "great," and Godowsky's etudes would be the cream of the cream. 😉😇
@@luke9947 C’mon. I NEVER said I could play it better than Zimmerman. I’m a retired doctor. My point is the astonishing fact that (probably) hundreds of people around the Globe can play it. Please don’t put words in my mouth. If I were good enough to become an artist, I might have done it. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Don't confuse "greatest"with the most "popular". Rachmaninoff 2 Is arguably the most popular computer ever written, and for good reason. It's a very beautiful fantastic concerto, despite what the snobs think about it. But greatest, I don't think so. Rachmaninoffs own third concerto is far superior.
I'm not very fond of this recording simply because the piano part takes too much place and doesn't highlight the genuine creativity of the orchestral part. Zimerman is great, Ozawa too, but the recording isn't.
@@thegoodgeneral That's why I'd rather listen to Richter/Wislocki or Weissenberg/Karajan (even though Karajan has his tendency to slow the tempo too much). Rachmaninoff had a great orchestrator talent that needs to be honored.
What genuine creativity of the orchestral part ? Rachmaninoff's concerti have among the most uninteresting and badly written/orchestrated orchestral parts among all well known romantic piano concerti
What is the point of a comment like this? You can't possibly mean this is inadequate in some way. Besides, music isn't a competition. You can like different interps.
Siempre he tenido debilidad por el Concierto 2, desde mi adolescencia. En cuanto al tercer concierto aun no sé porqué tiene tanta fama, me parece una obra totalmente fallida. A no ser que una obra deba ser alabada por su dificultad técnica
Both concertos are masterpieces, but the Rach3 has the composer bearing his soul, expressing a lot of the tragedy he was feeling, and if you know his story it makes sense. It is dark, it is full of raw emotions, and at times he finds moments of resolution. I listened to it about 20 times and then got completely hooked. You've got to be prepared to go on the journey of self-discovery with him. Good luck.
Saying this is “the greatest” implies there is no other way to interpret this music. As if every slight change in tempo and chord voicing he does is “correct” and if anyone doesn’t perfectly mimic him they are not “the greatest”. Even Zimmerman would argue it is not possible to give “the greatest” performance. He’d ask you why you think your knowledge of Rachmaninoff is “the greatest” and what gives you the right to rank performers? You realise Rachmaninoff recorded this? You’re saying this is better than Rachmaninoff’s performance! Why not just say you love his playing?
@@Marcel_Audubon luckily this “dope” has found someone to direct and correct him. Please explain the correct way to interpret the meaning of these words. I’m so grateful that someone is here to tell that I’m a dope and educate me. I love it when random people on the internet insult me. It makes them feel so much better, and makes me feel so terrible and little. Hey look at me everyone - I’m a broken man. Marcel’s staggering intellect has crushed me like an ant.
@@whoisthispianist194I'm not here to educate you, just to tell you you're a dope. You'll have to educate yourself, and please do it before commenting again.
Why in the name of heaven isn’t the piece being played identified? One comment says Rachmaninoff #2 and another says Rach 4. Performer’s name would be nice too but one comment says Zimmerman.
It's rach 2, mvt 2 as mentioned in the video's description - starting from bar 119. The description also has a tagged music video from Zimerman's rach 1-2 album and it does match the audio, it's easy to figure that they are the same from his rubato and use of dynamics.
I really like this movement, but don't see anything particularly special about the performance. It pretty much sounds like this when played by any top-shelf pianist. Nothing critical intended here. Happy listening.
Greatest is subjective of course. Beethoven 4 is great, as is Mozart 20, Schumann, Saint-Saens 2 for example. All have their special moments and are compositions of the highest order just like Rachmaninov 2 or 3.
@@philinh9169 Brahms 1, Brahms 2, Schumann, Tchaikovsky 1, Tchaikovsky 2, Tchaikovsky 3, Beethoven 1, Beethoven 2, Beethoven 3, Beethoven 4, Beethoven 5, Bartok 1, Bartok 2, Bartok 3, Ravel G, Ravel left Hand, Prokofiev 1, Prokofiev 2, Prokofiev 3, Prokofiev 4, Prokofiev 5, Poulenc, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Schönberg... I can go on for a while if you want. Basically any concerto by someone who knew how do a proper orchestration. Yes, Rachmaninoff's piano concerti, just like Chopin's, are on the same level as Domino's Pizza.
I am sorry but even though Zimmerman is an excellent pianist, there is no comparison with the greatness of Arrau. Arrau’s technique, interpretation, tempo, touch, understanding, has no equal. In my opinion only Richter and Argerich come close to Arrau’s mastery.
Come on Boris! Wilhelm Kempff and Emil Gilels more colorful beautiful piano sound than Arrau! The Greatest are Really=Artur Rubinstein(The God!) Emil Gilels( The King Pianist!) Sviatoslav Richter( the Genius!) Grigory Sokolov( The Giant Of Piano! The Titan Of Piano!) Radu Lupu( the most colorful piano sound!) Wilhelm Kempff( the most beautiful piano sound!) Solomon Cutner( the best structure for music!) Krystian Zimerman is a dull boring Robot! Zimerman his Grieg concerto with Karajan have cold dry piano sound! Zimerman his Brahms piano concerto no 1 with Bernstein had the most boring mechanical dull first movement coda!
@RaineriHakkarainen I'd add Stephen Hough in there. I know he's not fashionable to mention but he never performs anything which isn't technically brilliant and interpretatively outstanding.
@@RaineriHakkarainen The greatest pianist of all time is Hansi Wurst, born in 2357. And the greatest piano concerto has not yet been composed. Please be patient, it will be time for it after the next ice age. And of course, Bernstein is an ignoramus - how can he work with Zimerman?
I don't think Zimmerman is even close to the greatest pianist living, let alone the greatest ever. He also hates Americans and will not tour in the US. He's a punk.
My grandfather was American, I’m not, but as an outsider I completely understand why he won’t go to the USA. I certainly won’t visit again until the orange man is gone.
and this would be the "greatest piano concerto"? It seems to that it is "your preferred piano concerto", which is a completely different concept, my dear.
However Zimmerman is not Rachmaninoff by any stretch. Listen to Rachmaninoff play this movement. There is no number 1 pianist of all time as Zimmerman can be a bit eccentric and what about Kissin, Agerich, and Hough? sorry Christian, you're good but not the top of the heap.@@TylerHumphrey05
