tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post1654603715218813823..comments2024-03-28T12:59:05.739-07:00Comments on Iron Tongue of Midnight: Doing the ImpossibleLisa Hirschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-5891649577183273452009-03-22T08:16:00.000-07:002009-03-22T08:16:00.000-07:00Op. 17! I remember that.Op. 17! I remember that.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-5168153085579515832009-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:002009-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00Thank you.I believe I commented once before, many ...Thank you.<BR/><BR/>I believe I commented once before, many months ago.<BR/><BR/>You had written about a rarely-performed Brahms choral work.<BR/><BR/>By an odd coincidence, I had actually heard a performance--that very day.Drew80https://www.blogger.com/profile/17848576924497372868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-57060746579112264962009-03-15T11:17:00.000-07:002009-03-15T11:17:00.000-07:00Hi, Drew, and welcome; I think that was your first...Hi, Drew, and welcome; I think that was your first comment here. I liked Perahia's Goldberg Vars, which are straightforward and well done, so I agree with Philip on that point. I have not heard his Chopin or Schumann.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-4468799076461530042009-03-13T23:41:00.000-07:002009-03-13T23:41:00.000-07:00On Perahia playing Beethoven, I agree entirely, hi...On Perahia playing Beethoven, I agree entirely, his recordings of the sonatas quite bemusing me. In other repertoire, however, Chopin and Schumann, Bach and Handel, he can conjure very fine things indeed.Philip Amoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11739418522974972567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-51190880277223070552009-03-13T10:50:00.000-07:002009-03-13T10:50:00.000-07:00I don't "get" Perahia, either, and I always though...I don't "get" Perahia, either, and I always thought the problem must be me. I have not heard his new Beethoven disc, but his earlier Beethoven sonatas on Sony were, I though, awfully uninteresting.<BR/><BR/>Solti was the conductor for that televised Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1.Drew80https://www.blogger.com/profile/17848576924497372868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-68870811437379659372009-03-12T10:52:00.000-07:002009-03-12T10:52:00.000-07:00It is something else for me - yes, there's trying ...It is something else for me - yes, there's trying and not...quite...getting there - but for me that does not account for the dullness. I will try to do some kind of side-by-side with a few pianists I do like. Maybe I can figure it out.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-39150585773285964762009-03-11T21:20:00.000-07:002009-03-11T21:20:00.000-07:00I think "trying for" expresses why I find Perahia'...I think "trying for" expresses why I find Perahia's playing unsatisfying. A few years ago by sheer coincidence I saw him on TV playing Beethoven first concerto and Alicia deLarrocha on TV the next night doing the same piece. (She was with MTT and London Phil; don't recall who he was with.) It reminded me of how jazz players used to distinguish Coleman Hawkins from Lester Young: Hawkins had a big, rough sound, plenty of vibrato and tonal color; Lester, according to received opinion, had "the sound that comes with the horn," unaffected, un-fussy, serving the musical ideas but not overpowering them. DeLarrocha had the sound that came with the concerto; Perahia was trying too much and not getting out of the music's way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-26582253430120157062009-03-11T17:41:00.000-07:002009-03-11T17:41:00.000-07:00Hehe.Hehe.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-2487330135256222592009-03-11T17:35:00.000-07:002009-03-11T17:35:00.000-07:00I've always liked Perahia's Schumann. His Mozart ...I've always liked Perahia's Schumann. His Mozart I could take or leave.<BR/><BR/>The performer whom everybody else loves whom I find mindbogglingly boring is Yo-Yo Ma. I knew nothing about him when I first heard him some 20+ years ago, a recording of some unaccompanied Bach, and my thought was, "My god, this guy is so stultifying he could kill off the emerging classical revival all by himself." And as it has since subsided like a soggy souffle, maybe he did.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com