# Slooooooooooow recordings of usually not that slow pieces



## Boychev (Jul 21, 2014)

I'm loving the Claudio Arrau recordings of Debussy, he seems to be savouring every note, giving the pieces a quite richer flavour than the other, more "conventional" recordings like the ones by Gieseking. Anyone know other recordings that do the same? Period, genre, composer, and piece don't matter - just whatever you think is quality and slowed down.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Arrau's Schubert has slower tempi. His version of sonata D960 is my favourite, it's just right. In general many Arrau late recordings have slower, reflective pace. For Mozart symphonies I think the slowest I've ever heard was Bohm conducting symphony no.40, late recording as well, it was live, slow as molasses. I watched it on YouTube some time ago, so perhaps Bohm's later recordings have overall slower tempi. Initially I was very taken aback by that video, watched it more out of morbid curiosity than any thing else, but by the end of the clip that version rather hooked me.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Furtwangler & Bernstein's Tristan und Isolde and Knappertsbusch 51 & Levine's Bayreuth Parsifals. Some slow Beethoven 5ths such as Klemperer's also struck me.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Solomon on Beethoven's Moonlight sonata first movement.

Vengerov and Rostropovich made an embarrassing recording of Beethoven's violin concerto where the first movement was almost adagio


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

These Angelich performances of Brahms are definitely among the slowest but all the more gorgeous because of that.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Sergiu Celibidache - just about everything. Sometimes it works other times not so much.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Klemperer's Mahler 7


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Bernstein's Mahler 9 with the Concertgebouw, the Adagio. Not for everyone but I love it.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

A lot of it is more threadbare variety than interpretation (though the implication is that it's supposed to be the latter). Star pianists (or conductors) who have done so many rounds of the complete works of a composer that they have nothing left than to either speed it up or slow it down - or speed it up _and_ slow it down.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

isorhythm said:


> Bernstein's Mahler 9 with the Concertgebouw, the Adagio. Not for everyone but I love it.


I think his Enigma Variations are among the slowest too. It seemed at that period in his life everything was slowing down. Even his own recording of West Side Story is pretty slow.


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## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

Malx said:


> Sergiu Celibidache - just about everything. Sometimes it works other times not so much.


Some time ago, out of curiosity, I found a performance of his of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony on YouTube and listened to it. His habitual slowness completely changes the character of the piece in a way that I do not find appealing. This symphony is perhaps the wildest and craziest orchestral piece written up to that time, and slowing it down takes all the fun out of it. However, I see some value in his interpretation, if anything for people carefully studying the piece. In a slower performance, it is easier to pick out individual details, and notes that normally get absorbed into the frenetic pace of the music can be heard with great clarity.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Bernstein again. Bartok, _Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste_, Movement 1. I have a score that says that the movement should take 6:30 to play. Bernstein's takes 9:10-quite a slowing down of the specified tempo. But the effect is really nice. This is a movement that to me begs to be played slowly.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

There seems to be an ongoing tradition, dating back to middle period Bernstein, of slowing down the adagietto of the Mahler Fifth to almost unplayable tempi.

Arrau (again) did a Brahms d minor concerto with Haitinck that was slightly slower than normal, but not glacial, that was gorgeous.

There is a Germanic tradition of Beethoven's Ninth that I find ponderous (particularly the slow movement, that should flow ethereally). But for the choral work, Solti's is (to me) unlistenable.

The middle movements of Klemperer's "Das Lied..." are slower than is typical, but again gorgeous.

A slower, flowing tempo for the scherzo in the Schumann Third (like Gardiner's) is to me preferrable to one that sounds like an eight-man scull going past (Bernstein/NYPO for instance)..


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Goodall's Wagner Ring runs about 17 hours whereas the typical Ring runs 14 to 15 hours.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I don't know if it's available anymore, but Bernard Herrmann's recording of The Planets on Phase 4 from the early 70's was unbearable in his choice of slow, and wrong, tempos.


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2018)

Bernstein's recording of Sibelius 2 with the Wiener Philharmoniker is an obvious example. The first and second movements, in particular, are much slower than typical and really savor the music in a unique way. The same can be said of his recording of Tchaikovsky's 6th, particularly the finale.

Karajan's '63 recording of Brahms 4th symphony, first movement, is particularly broad in tempo and rich in detail.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Emil Gilels' recording of the Beethoven #5 Op10#1 Sonata Adagio clocks in at 11:52






Compare that with Barenboim's version at 5:03, less than half the length of Gilels'.


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

Many Gould recordings are much slower than is the norm, (many others are also much faster than the norm), his 1st mvmt of Beethoven's 13th Piano Sonata jumps to mind as an example of him being slower than just about anyone else.


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## Hermastersvoice (Oct 15, 2018)

Tempo is subjective, the real question is if it works. Richter spends 25 minutes lingering over the first movement of Schubert D894 but by God does it work.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

MarkW said:


> ... Arrau (again) did a Brahms d minor concerto with Haitinck that was slightly slower than normal, but not glacial, that was gorgeous...


Great description of the Arrau performance with Haitink of the Brahms. Arrau often favored broader tempos than other pianists but, at least to me, they seldom dragged... He was going for a certain richness and depth of meaning that he usually found. I like the impressive dramatic opening by Brahms that Haitink makes exciting and creates a feeling of expectation about what's to come. I've enjoyed this recording countless times over the years.






I've also found that Arrau 's slower performances of Mozart that he did later in his career can be quite illuminating and something to savor compared to the faster more standard performances by others. I like his contrast but highly doubt that his considerably slower tempos would be agreeable to most listeners. Nevertheless, I believe that he finds for more depth in Mozart than a shiny surface and I so enjoy that he plumbs its depth.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

lextune said:


> Many Gould recordings are much slower than is the norm, (many others are also much faster than the norm), his 1st mvmt of Beethoven's 13th Piano Sonata jumps to mind as an example of him being slower than just about anyone else.


Gould was disastrously slow in the Appassionata, a work he disliked. Saith Mr. Gould:

"The so-called Appassionata Sonata...is usually ranked with the most popular of Beethoven's keyboard works. But I must confess the reasons for it's popularity elude me...The Appasionata...is a study in thematic tenacity. His conceit at this period was to create mammoth structures from material that in lesser hands would scarcely afford a good sixteen-bar intro. The themes as such are usually of minimal interest but often of such primal urgency that one wonders why it took a Beethoven to think them up....The elaboration of these motives...are determined, combative and resistant to concession...No one had ever before composed with so belligerent an attitude...When it works - when Beethoven's furious onslaughts find their mark - one feels that music's rhetorical demands have been transcended by an affirmation at once personal and universal...and I think that in the Appassionata Sonata his method does not work...[placing it] somewhere between the King Stephen Overture and the Wellington's Victory Symphony."


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

On the bad side of this, the opening chorus of Klemperer's St. Matthew Passion is absurd and indefensible.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Gould was disastrously slow in the Appassionata, a work he disliked. Saith Mr. Gould:
> 
> "The so-called Appassionata Sonata...is usually ranked with the most popular of Beethoven's keyboard works. But I must confess the reasons for it's popularity elude me...The Appasionata...is a study in thematic tenacity. His conceit at this period was to create mammoth structures from material that in lesser hands would scarcely afford a good sixteen-bar intro. The themes as such are usually of minimal interest but often of such primal urgency that one wonders why it took a Beethoven to think them up....The elaboration of these motives...are determined, combative and resistant to concession...No one had ever before composed with so belligerent an attitude...When it works - when Beethoven's furious onslaughts find their mark - one feels that music's rhetorical demands have been transcended by an affirmation at once personal and universal...and I think that in the Appassionata Sonata his method does not work...[placing it] somewhere between the King Stephen Overture and the Wellington's Victory Symphony."


This quote shows that Gould could be an idiot of mammoth proportions. The moral: do as Richter did - if you don't like a piece don't play it.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

isorhythm said:


> On the bad side of this, the opening chorus of Klemperer's St. Matthew Passion is absurd and indefensible.


My take is that although the tempo is quite slow, the interpretation is compelling.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> Gould was disastrously slow in the Appassionata, a work he disliked. Saith Mr. Gould:
> 
> "The so-called Appassionata Sonata...is usually ranked with the most popular of Beethoven's keyboard works. But I must confess the reasons for it's popularity elude me...The Appasionata...is a study in thematic tenacity. His conceit at this period was to create mammoth structures from material that in lesser hands would scarcely afford a good sixteen-bar intro. The themes as such are usually of minimal interest but often of such primal urgency that one wonders why it took a Beethoven to think them up....The elaboration of these motives...are determined, combative and resistant to concession...No one had ever before composed with so belligerent an attitude...When it works - when Beethoven's furious onslaughts find their mark - one feels that music's rhetorical demands have been transcended by an affirmation at once personal and universal...and I think that in the Appassionata Sonata his method does not work...[placing it] somewhere between the King Stephen Overture and the Wellington's Victory Symphony."


Of course, at the very least, Gould was eccentric and that includes some of his opinions. Sometimes intelligence in one area does not mean great wisdom in all others.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DavidA said:


> This quote shows that Gould could be an idiot of mammoth proportions. The moral: do as Richter did - if you don't like a piece don't play it.


I've read that Columbia was quite insistent that Gould do an LP of Ludwig's "Big Three," which were then the Moonlight, Appassionata, and Pathetique. Gould didn't want to do it but finally gave into the pressure. But he had his revenge, in both the liner notes and the performances.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

DavidA said:


> This quote shows that Gould could be an idiot of mammoth proportions.


It most certainly does not. It shows that Gould had a strong (and well-informed) opinion about that particular sonata. Your disagreement with Gould's opinion does not make Gould an idiot of any type. What a ridiculous comment.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Bulldog said:


> My take is that although the tempo is quite slow, the interpretation is compelling.


That's the prevailing view but I'm sticking to my guns on this one.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

isorhythm said:


> That's the prevailing view but I'm sticking to my guns on this one.


I always defer to the man with the guns. 

Seriously, I much prefer period performances of Bach's sacred choral music, but I can't deny that Klemperer's opening chorus draws me in.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Among conductors, there are ten that come to mind, who often get criticized for their tendency to adopt slow tempi (sometimes fairly, but often unfairly so, in my opinion): They are Carla Maria Giulini (especially during his later DG & Sony years), Sergiu Celibidache, Sir Reginald Goodall, Leonard Bernstein (in many of his later DG recordings, which I can have issues with--such as his Elgar Enigma Variations), Eugene Ormandy (who has a tendency to plod), Wilhelm Furtwangler, Eugen Jochum, Otto Klemperer, Leif Segerstam, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. While some of these conductors can occasionally become too slow, even for my tastes--such as Celibidache's ridiculous 9 minute Ravel "Pavane for a (very) dead Princess": 



 (a piece that normally takes about 6 minutes!), or Celi's extremely slow clouds moving across the sky in Debussy's Nuages from Trois Nocturnes (worth hearing for the novelty of it: 



), or his 15+ minute Debussy Prelude a l'apres d'un faune: 



---here's a selection of recordings from each of the ten conductors that I'd strongly recommend (& I should add that I expect a number of these conductors, if they were still alive today, would be very surprised to find themselves on a list of "slow" conductors; however, the period movement & its scholarship has brought a new understanding of musical style from earlier centuries, & consequently, our way of hearing music has changed since the days of the earlier conductors on this list):

1. Carla Maria Giulini:

Bruckner 9: 



Bruckner 8: 



Bruckner 7: 



Beethoven 6: 



Mahler 1: 



Mahler 9: 



Debussy La Mer: 




2. Sergiu Celibidache: Celibidache's live Bruckner Japanese Sony recordings, with the Munich Philharmonic, are favorite discs in my Bruckner collection. People often talk about how slow Celi's conducting is, but there are recordings by Giulini that are even slower, and Celi isn't always extremely slow, such as with his DG Bruckner--which is generally faster than his EMI Bruckner. But yes, Celi tends to favor slow tempi, & sometimes very slow tempi. The advantage is that, when it works, the slowness allows the listener to hear every detail of the score:










The following Japanese imports go with me to my desert island (I bought the box set several years ago on Amazon Japan):

https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Sym...=1540581031&s=Music&sr=1-1-catcorr&ref=sr_1_1
https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Sym...2&s=Music&sr=1-1-fkmrnull&ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1
https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Sym...0&s=Music&sr=1-1-fkmrnull&ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1
https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Sym...0&s=Music&sr=1-1-fkmrnull&ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1
https://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Sym...8&s=Music&sr=1-2-fkmrnull&ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2

Also, Celi's two recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (in Munich & Stuttgart): 




https://www.amazon.com/Celibidache-...akov&qid=1540581221&s=Music&sr=1-4&ref=sr_1_4
https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-F...=1540595884&s=Music&sr=1-1-catcorr&ref=sr_1_1
https://www.amazon.com/Rimsky-Korsa...=1540595884&s=Music&sr=1-2-catcorr&ref=sr_1_2

& his Beethoven 5th: 




3. Sir Reginald Goodall:

Tristan und Isolde: 



Parsifal (live at Covent Garden in 1971, with Jon Vickers in the title role): 




4. Eugene Ormandy:

Sibelius Pohjola's Daughter:



Sibelius The Swan of Tuonela: 



Sibelius Violin Concerto (with David Oistrakh): 



Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (with David Oistrakh): 



Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances: 



Barber Adagio for Strings: 



Strauss Also Sprake Zarathustra: 




5. Wilhelm Furtwangler:

Beethoven 5th: 



Bruckner 9th: 



Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream Overture: 



Wagner Tristan und Isolde: 



Beethoven Symphonies 1-9: 



Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (with Edwin Fischer): 



Schumann Symphony No. 4: 




6. Leonard Bernstein:

Despite that it is considerably slower than the majority of today's period Haydn recordings (from the likes of Bruggen, Kuijken, Gardiner, etc.), most of Bernstein's Haydn is still well worth seeking out--early & late (and I could say the same thing about Sir Colin Davis's excellent, but now old-fashioned Haydn Symphony recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra on Philips):










Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" (Bernstein was very special in Beethoven's Eroica):








Mahler 6th: 



Mahler 7th:



Mahler 2nd: 



Wagner Tristan und Isolde (one of the slowest Tristans on record, I expect): 



R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier: 



Berlioz Harold in Italy (with Donald McInnes):




However, as noted, I tend to prefer Bernstein's earlier Columbia recordings, especially his 1960s New York Mahler cycle, & the truth is Bernstein only started adopting slow tempi in his later Philips & DG recordings.

7. Otto Klemperer:

Brahms German Requiem:



Beethoven Missa Solemnis:



Mahler 9th:



Mahler Das Lied von der Erde: 



Mahler 7th: 



Wagner Overtures & Preludes:




8. Leif Segerstam:

Sibelius 7th (Segerstam's Sibelius, in general, tends to be very spacious, sometimes to the point where the music almost becomes hallucinatory in feel--though his Danish 7th is a great & moving experience): 



Mahler 5th: 












Mahler 9th: 




9. Wolfgang Sawallisch:

Schumann Symphonies 1-4 (Staatskapelle Dresden): 



Mendelssohn Symphonies 1-5 (New Philharmonia): 



Schubert Symphonies 1-9 (Staatskapelle Dresden): 



Wagner Tannhauser: 



R. Strauss: his opera: Capriccio: 



---Sawallisch was especially devoted to the music of Richard Strauss throughout his career, recording virtually (if not) every note that Strauss ever wrote (that was his goal), both as a conductor and pianist (or accompanist).

Soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkopf was once asked which of all the great conductors she'd worked with throughout her career, she'd like to work with again, if given the chance, and she replied, "Wolfgang Sawallisch". That's high praise.

10. Eugen Jochum (a favorite conductor of mine):

Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 (Concertgebouw): 



Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 (London Symphony Orchestra--especially Jochum's LSO performances of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, & 9th Symphonies): 



Brahms Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 2 (with Emil Gilels): 



Bruckner 9th (Münchner Philharmoniker--live): 



Bruckner 5th (Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, live, 1986--arguably the finest Bruckner 5th ever recorded): 



Bruckner Symphonies 1-9 (his DG set): 



Bruckner Symphonies 1-9 (EMI-Staatskapelle Dresden): 



Haydn Symphonies 93-104: 



Haydn Symphonies (Staatskapelle Dresden): (not available on You Tube).
Brahms Symphonies 1-4 (LPO-analogue, or BPO--mono):



Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Maurizio Pollini): 



Beethoven Violin Concerto (with Wolfgang Schneiderhan): 



Schubert Symphony no. 9 (I was once told that Jochum's Schubert recordings were among the recordings that he was most proud of): 



Schubert Symphony no. 8 (1st movement): 



Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 (with Edwin Fischer)--later in his life, Claudio Arrau said that Eugen Jochum was the only conductor he'd ever worked with in his career that truly understood Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto: 



Beethoven Missa Solemnis: 



Wagner Lohengrin: 



Wagner Tristan und Isolde: 



Wagner Parsifal: 




Jochum's former protégé in Amsterdam, conductor Bernard Haitink has a tendency to slow down too, at times (such as with his Brahms German Requiem, for example), as did Herbert von Karajan; however, in Karajan's case he also had a tendency to seriously drag the music, as with his DG Haydn The Creation, etc., but not so for his Bruckner, Wagner & Strauss. Karl Böhm similarly had a tendency to slow down in his later DG recordings, such as his Brahmsian styled Mozart Symphonies, & final Beethoven Ninth--which is way too slow for my tastes, along with his highly praised Beethoven 6th for DG (which I didn't overly care for). Finally, Sir Colin Davis's Beethoven Symphony 1-9 cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden is likewise sluggish & surprisingly dull, in my view (& was a disappointment, considering that the Staatskapelle is one of the great orchestras in the world).

(EDIT: I thought of one more: Serge Koussevitzky's Beethoven 5th. If I'm not mistaken, Koussevitzky is even slower than Furtwangler (on his slowest recording) in the build up to the critical transition between the 3rd and 4th movements, as SK extends the "death note" to a very unusual length--it's wildly expressionistic. But, in my view, both conductors understand the musical content of this important transition more deeply than any of the period conductors, who foolishly speed though, glossing over & totally ignoring its profound meaning: 



)

Of course, it'll take you many hours (likely months) to get through all of the above recordings, but if you do, I don't think you'll regret the time spent, as I expect you'll make many new & wonderful musical discoveries.

P.S. Nevertheless, I'll make a separate post for 'slow' pianists, which will include Arrau, Pogorelich, Afanassiev, & others.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I'm rarely a fan of slower than usual tempi, which is why I don't like Bernstein. His Mozart (especially the Requiem) is hard for me to get into. But there are a few exceptions, notably

Klemperer's Bach St. Matthew Passion, and Maher 7
Dutoit's Tchaikovsky 5
Haitink's Brahms Symphonies


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Malx said:


> Sergiu Celibidache - _just about everything_. Sometimes it works other times not so much.


I've seen him give some regular-tempo performances, and all of them very fine. He did some great recordings of Brahms 1st Piano Concerto and Ravel's


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

DG Celibidache can be quite normally fast tempi, though very flexible;
EMI Celibidache often isn´t.

Bernstein in the DG Pathetique symphony´s finale: 17:12, versus for example Mravinsky 9:49

Pogorelich´s late live Groningen performance 2012 of the Liszt piano sonata: 49:12, versus his studio DG recording 33:57

Richter´s D960, 1st movement, Praga recording: 25:44

Colin Davis, Das Lied von der Erde, Philips performance; last movement: 34:58


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Re: Malx, post #6, I read that Celibidache based his tempos on the resonances of the halls they were recorded in. He must have recorded in some very resonant halls.

Re: KenOC, post #29, Glenn Gould and slowness, he slowed-down the Sinfonia Nr. 9 in F major (AKA two-part invention) and gave it new life, new profundity. Nobody else plays it this slow.


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## derin684 (Feb 14, 2018)

Richter's D. 960 and Mahler 7 for me too.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Bluecrab said:


> It most certainly does not. It shows that Gould had a strong (and well-informed) opinion about that particular sonata. Your disagreement with Gould's opinion does not make Gould an idiot of any type. What a ridiculous comment.


If I had so much ability and put so perverse an interpretation on record I would consider myself a childish idiot.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Bluecrab said:


> It most certainly does not. It shows that Gould had a strong (and well-informed) opinion about that particular sonata. Your disagreement with Gould's opinion does not make Gould an idiot of any type. What a ridiculous comment.


The Gould quote even features the ultimate hallmark of an idiot: the possessive determiner "its" spelled with an apostrophe. Boom, case closed, good day to you sir :tiphat:


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

BiscuityBoyle said:


> The Gould quote even features the ultimate hallmark of an idiot: the possessive determiner "its" spelled with an apostrophe. Boom, case closed, good day to you sir :tiphat:


It's unlikely that Gould himself made that error.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> It's unlikely that Gould himself made that error.


Indeed. The quote (which I supplied) was copied from another web site, which was itself quoting what I believe was Gould's liner notes to the LP of Beethoven's "Big Three" sonatas.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Tallisman said:


> I've seen him give some regular-tempo performances, and all of them very fine. He did some great recordings of Brahms 1st Piano Concerto and Ravel's


I think Celibidache's slow period was mostly during his time with the Munich Phil. I think they are the finest things he did. You should probably not listen to them straight after a normal speed recording of the same work and you should always withhold judgement until after he has finished as often what seems at first to be perverse makes special sense later. I am often not that conscious of speed during a performance but am very conscious of life and most times Celibidache's recordings are full of life. I am not the greatest fan of his Munich Beethoven, though. This is less to do with speed than a smoothness that sounds wrong in Beethoven to me. They are fine accounts, for all that!


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Some of the slowest of all performances are Richter's in Schubert sonatas that start with a moderato movement (as does, for example, D894 - number 18). He plays those movements with great concentration and magic but slowly, very slowly.


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

Giulini's VPO Brahms 4 comes in at 46:41 It's majestic and beautifully played. Some parts sound incredible, but in places (particularly the last movement) it just feels too slow and loses momentum, not quite fitting the 'allegro energico e passionato'. Giulini's 43:00 CSO recording from 1969 is better in that sense. Bernstein's 1998 Lucerne VPO Brahms 4 also on the slow side (46:07), but where Giulini sounds humane and noble, Bernstein sounds highly dramatic and emotional. I prefer the former. For reference, Haitink's excellent Concertgebouw recording is 40:35, Kleiber VPO 39:45, Gardiner 37:05.

Regarding Celibidache's glacial MPO recordings, I very much like the Bruckner. Although I prefer more conventional tempi, listening to them, particularly the 8th, can be an incredible experience and has helped me understand the works better. Can completely understand why others might hate them.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

It's strange that Maximianno Cobra has not been mentioned in three pages. He's basically the "champion" of slow motion classical music. If one is into this sort of weird thing.






"In praise of slow" from his site:
http://https://maximiannocobra.net/en/news/mcs-notebook/in-praise-of-slow-2


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Kollwitz said:


> Regarding Celibidache's _*glacial *_MPO recordings,


Oh I don't like that word "glacial" as I cannot think of a less appropriate adjective for describing what Celibidache does. If anything he thaws the music!


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Have a recording on vinyl of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no 1 
performed by 
Vladimir Ashkenazy 
LSO
Conducted by Lorin Maazel

Find the performance too slow for me


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

I suppose I think of glaciers as enormous, powerful, beautiful but full of grit, moving extremely slowly but inexorably and leaving a deep impact on the landscape, rather than the sense of cold and austere (as in 'a glacial beauty'.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

joen_cph said:


> It's unlikely that Gould himself made that error.


Of course he didn't. Gould spoke in beautifully constructed sentences where elaborate subordinate clauses were always elegantly rounded off. You can only pull this kind of thing off if you have a keen grasp of how grammar works. My tongue-in-cheek comment was intended as a spoof of online arguments in general, including one on whether Gould was or wasn't an idiot.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Jascha Horenstein, a conductor I have always admired, nevertheless comes a cropper with his somnolently paced Janacek Sinfonietta. I suspect it had something to do with the capabilities of the orchestra.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Barbirolli's Mahler 6: Yessssss....

Klemperer's Mahler 7: Noooooooo!


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Totenfeier said:


> Barbirolli's Mahler 6: Yessssss....
> 
> Klemperer's Mahler 7: Noooooooo!


Barbirolli's Mahler 6th recording was a bit of an aberration. He performed it with the same orchestra at the Proms a couple of days before the studio recording and the 1st movement was about 2mins faster. He did start off slow but didn't stay that way.


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## Byron (Mar 11, 2017)

Reginald Goodall's recording of Wagner's Ring has notoriously slow tempi; I think overall it's about 2 hours shorter than my cycle by Karl Böhm. That said, it has a lot of strengths and there is a lot to be recommended in it.


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