# Performances that 'killed it'



## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Recordings that brought the music being played to such a paramount beauty that it wouldn't be so bad if no one ever recorded that piece again. This is not a thread for very good performances, but rather ones that you would take with you into purgatory. I'm interested to see what you guys have to say 

Some performances that I considered to have 'killed it':
*Dinu Lipatti* _Bach: Partita no. 1_
*Sergei Rachmaninoff* _Rachmaninoff: Concerto no. 1_
*Michelangeli* _Rachmaninoff: Concerto no. 4_


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## gridweb (Jun 19, 2011)

Ah, for me that must be Schubert's Sonata D. 784 played live by Richter in Tokyo. I have several other recordings of this Sonata too, but not one comes even close. The sheer intensity of Richter's playing takes my breath away.

Willem


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Rather than killed it, I would say nailed it.

Barber's Konxville Summer of 1915 by Dawn Upshaw.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Sofronitsky killed this one.


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

I guess Nailed It is a more literal phrase, but the thread is already made so whatever.

@gridweb
I completely agree with you! I was bowled over completely by that recording the first time I heard it, and it's been my favorite Schubert piece ever since.

@HarpsichordConcerto
I definitely second that. I know it's vulgar to describe music like this, but that recording just kicks _so much_ ***.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Chopin's Ballades, Fantasia and Barcarolle by Krystian Zimerman and also his piano concertos of Beethoven. 

Chopin's waltzes by Arthur Rubinstein.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

A lot of Symphony Orchestras in the past have murdered many baroque masterpiece’s.
Luckily the original or period performance movement has put things to right.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)




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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Jacqueline Du Pre's recording of Elgar's cello concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli on EMI records.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I thought what you meant by "killed it" was that it was such a bad performance, you actually never wanted to hear that CD company or performing group ever again, even with another recording (you would have just such bad memories). I may have a few of those. Naxos.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

presto said:


> A lot of Symphony Orchestras in the past have murdered many baroque masterpiece's.
> Luckily the original or period performance movement has put things to right.


Stokowsky may or may not have 'murdered many Baroque masterpieces', but he did convert some of them into 'cyborgs', with pseudo-Romantic innards.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

violadude said:


> Jacqueline Du Pre's recording of Elgar's cello concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli on EMI records.


She nailed the extreme angst interpretation, for sure.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> She nailed the extreme angst interpretation, for sure.


My favorite kind of interpretation.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Earl Wild - The Chopin Etudes, Rachmaninov Concerti and Rhapsody, Grieg Concerto, Tchaikovsky Concerti, Rachmaninov Variations on a them by Chopin and many, many more...also, just about everything Glenn ever touched


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Webernite said:


>


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Tchaikovsky's piano trio, Gilels-Kogan-Rostropovich live.
Haydn's 6 SQ op.50, old Tokyo SQ
Saint-Saens's first violin son, Heifetz-Bay
Goldmark's v.c., Milstein
Taneyev's violin suite, Miaskovsky's and Kabalevsky's v.c. Oistrakh


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Odnoposoff said:


> Tchaikovsky's piano trio, Gilels-Kogan-Rostropovich live.


I'll have to listen to this recording, then! I've always like the Horowitz - Stern - Rostropovich.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Sofronitsky said:


>


Hey that's the video I always share with everyone! Richter really 'killed' that piano, you gotta admit. 

Ok, so solely from the piano repertoire, here are a few (edit: a few? hardly. more like a million ) performances that I feel have absolutely never been surpassed by anyone nor will ever be surpassed in the future.

Richter... the master...

Prokofiev - Concerto #5 (as PROVEN above) & Sonata #6
Scriabin - Sonata #5
Rachmaninov - Concerto #2
Schubert - Sonata d.960 (no, not even Brendel or Haskil...) & d.894
Schumann - Fantasy in C

Michelangeli... who despite having a very small repertoire may even have more hit performances than Richter.

Bach-Busoni - Chaconne (THE single most definitive performance of a work in the history of music)
Chopin - Prelude, op. 45
Rachmaninov - Concerto #4
Liszt - Totentanz
Debussy - Preludes & Images (do I hear some Gieseking fans out there? )
Ravel - PC & maybe Gaspard
Brahms - Paganini Variations
Scarlatti - practically any sonata he played

And others -

Sofronitsky... any Scriabin I've heard besides 5th Sonata
Cortot... Chopin's Preludes & Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze
Horowitz... Funeiralles from Liszt's Harmonies & Rach 3
Serkin... the Waldstein & if not for Richter and Rubinstein Schumann's PC
Gilels... Prokofiev's 3rd Sonata & Brahms 1
Hamelin... Alkan's three big pieces - Concerto, Symphony for Solo Piano & Sonate
Kapell... Liszt's Mephisto Waltz
Pollini... Boulez's 2nd Sonata
Argerich... Prok 3 & Rach 3 too if not for Horowitz
A.Fischer... Beethoven's 3rd Concerto, also really like her late Beethoven Sonatas
Haskil... Mozart #23
Aimard... Ligeti's Etudes

Darn, I want to do Feinberg for Bach's WTC, but Edwin Fischer is in the way... and leaving off Schnabel, Rachmaninov and Arrau feels criminal... there's still somebody missing I feel... RIGHT. *Josef Hofmann - Chopin's 4th Ballade*. Backbreaking intensity - changed my life! 

Now I can conclude this post in peace.


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Air said:


> *Josef Hofmann - Chopin's 4th Ballade*. Backbreaking intensity - changed my life!


I completely agree with this! I hate when people say that pianists like Sofronitsky and Hofmann disgrace the composers they played with their so-called unfaithful interpretations. If I was at a concert where a pianist played the 4th Ballade like that, I would stand on my feet clapping until I was silenced by ushers. And that's if I could stand up.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Two other Chopin's pieces recordings I know since I remember and never heard superior interpretations:


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I love the art of Piano Smashing. It's quite unique.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Michelangeli's Recording of Ravel's Concerto in G, and that waterfall sound like of trills in candeza ... ! what a performance ! Never heard a trill playing so perfect and so gentle like this .


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Just remembered one more : Lhévinne's Recording of Chopin Etude Op.25 No.6 in G sharp minor, thirds flow down like raindrops, extraordinary fast but completely brilliant ... just listen to it , incredible performance !


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## Nix (Feb 20, 2010)

Steve Isserlis: Bach Cello Suite #6. The gigue is breathtaking... as well as the rest of it. 

Neville Marriner: Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields- Mozart: Symphony #41

Quatuor Ebène: Debussy String Quartet. A lot of people 'respect' this quartet, but don't love it to the level they do the Ravel. This is honestly the only recording I've heard that really gets the piece, and there is no way I'm going to be able to express how much I love it. 

Anatol Ugorski: Beethoven Diabelli Variations. 

Alfred Brendel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mozart Piano Concerto #20


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## Mike (Jul 10, 2011)

This:






Nothing else will do.


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## phalsey (Jul 8, 2011)

*Lang Lang* R. Schumann "Traumerie"
Rekindled my interest and got me through the doldrums.


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Mike said:


> This:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Heifetz will, although that perfomance is excellent.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 - Van Cliburn/Kondrashin
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde - Bohm/Nilsson/Windgassen
Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 - Sir Neville Marriner/LSO


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 - Van Cliburn/Kondrashin


What's so special about that recording? Don't get me wrong, Van Cliburn is a great pianist, but I feel like it's Russian pianists who really "own" that concerto.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Webernite said:


> What's so special about that recording? Don't get me wrong, Van Cliburn is a great pianist, but I feel like it's Russian pianists who really "own" that concerto.


It was recorded right after he famously won the Tchaikovsky Competition with it, as an American playing Russian music in the USSR at the height of the Cold War.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Couchie said:


> It was recorded right after he famously won the Tchaikovsky Competition with it, as an American playing Russian music in the USSR at the height of the Cold War.


That's interesting. I didn't know that... But it doesn't affect how good the performance is!


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Webernite said:


> That's interesting. I didn't know that... But it doesn't affect how good the performance is!


Have you listened to it yet??? Everything, the tempo, the flawless technique, the build up in tension.. it's perfect!


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Have you listened to it yet??? Everything, the tempo, the flawless technique, the build up in tension.. it's perfect!


I haven't heard it in ages, but I don't remember it making much of an impression on me at the time. I'll have to listen to it again.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Webernite said:


> What's so special about that recording? Don't get me wrong, Van Cliburn is a great pianist, but I feel like it's Russian pianists who really "own" that concerto.





Ravellian said:


> Have you listened to it yet??? Everything, the tempo, the flawless technique, the build up in tension.. it's perfect!


It's a magnificant recording but not as much as that famous ones Horowitz recorded with Toscanini or Richter with various conductors (the best was with Mravinsky conducting Leningrad State Symphony, I think), anyway it's noticable that Van Cliburn's piano master was Rosina Lhévinne, a russian !


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 - Van Cliburn/Kondrashin


I once heard Cliburn play Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto live. Though he was much older by then, of course. It was still cool.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Forget Cliburn, Richter, and Horowitz. I present the definitive version:


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Couchie said:


> Forget Cliburn, Richter, and Horowitz. I present the definitive version:


YES! That's what we watch in the music library at school when we're supposed to be studying.


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Meaghan said:


> YES! That's what we watch in the music library at school when we're supposed to be studying.


That's funny, because we watched this in piano literature :lol:

I can't say I agree with Sarah Chang having the definitive performance of anything, to me her playing has always been without risk or sometimes even without passion. I guess I'm just cold to her playing.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Oh, also this:





(kind of related?)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Like member Air above, I can "go on and on." Here's some performances that I know which immediately spring to mind:

A lot of *Mstislav Rostropovich's* recordings as cellist, especially of works he commissioned (eg. cello concertos by Lutoslawski & Dutilleux) & he was also great as a conductor, esp. of the Russian repertoire.

Soprano *Maria Callas* singing the role of _Lady Macbeth_ by Verdi, her shrill, shreiky and kind of crying voice was perfectly suited to this, imo (she did a studio recording in stereo of all of the main arias from the opera, the earlier complete recording of the opera was in mono & done live, so the sound quality kind of "kills" this performance, so to speak  ).

Pianist *Vladimir Horowitz's* account, put down at Abbey Road in London in the 1930's, of Liszt's _Sonata in B minor._ I have this on an EMI disc, the accompanying pieces by Liszt (_Funerailles_), Chopin, Schumann, & an etude by Debussy are no less good, imo.

Australian conductor the late *Stuart Challender's* accounts of contemporary Australian composers. One that I have is a set of works by Peter Sculthorpe, based on natural themes (_Earth Cry, Mangrove, Kakadu_ with the Sydney Symphony Orhcestra). It was on the ABC Classics label & I think it's now sadly out of print. Maestro Challender was one of the most talented of our conductors & the first one to actually stay here & make a career here in Australia. He died of AIDS in the early 1990's and his passing has kind of left a vacuum ever since - nobody else "born and bred" here had such a broad repertoire, encompassing everything from the classics to seminal local performances of things like Mahler's _Resurrection_ symphony, Elliott Carter's _Concerto for Orchestra_ & Berg's opera _Lulu_. He conducted many premieres of international music as well as works of Australian composers.

American composer-conductor (& all-rounder in many ways) *Leonard Bernstein's *performances of his own works, some of which I have been getting into of late.

American violinist *Isaac Stern's* performances of c20th violin concertos always have "that certain something." Listened to his account (with Bernstein) of Berg's _Violin Concerto_ last night, & to my ears, this is definitely "hard to beat."

Hungarian conductor *Ferenc Fricsay's* recordings of his countrymen's music (I've got his Kodaly disc on DGG & it is a whopper!), same with conductor *Rafael Kubelik's* & pianist *Rudolf Firkusny's* accounts of their Czech repertoire (I have their Janacek recordings, also on DGG, and these are "to die for").

Argentinian composer-musician *Astor Piazzolla's* recordings of his own music, many tangos & songs, which spanned his entire career & incorporated more "classical" type instrumental combinations to those of a more modern bent - with things like synthesisers and electric guitars.

I can go on and on, but as Arnie said, "I'll be back!"...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Some claim that's Argerich's Liszt Sonata is ultimate but I'm not sure. Same about to her Chopin 3rd. The latter especially has some defects in recording quality.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Aramis said:


> Some claim that's Argerich's Liszt Sonata is ultimate but I'm not sure. Same about to her Chopin 3rd. The latter especially has some defects in recording quality.


If anyone could really present us Chopin's 3rd as a Performance that 'killed it' , he was only Lipatti, as he did.


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