# Eccentric Recordings



## Freischutz (Mar 6, 2014)

A lot of the time, I think many listeners (including me) approach recordings thinking that there is a kind of ideal, Platonic, definitive version of a piece of music. Perhaps no one has ever got that close, and maybe no one ever will, but the art of performance is to try to get as close to it as possible, so when we laud things like Gould's Bach, Kleiber's Beethoven, Karajan's Strauss and so on (and not everyone even agrees on these), what we're saying as a community is that we feel these recordings have come closest to our shared idea of what these pieces of music _should_ sound like.

But then... then there are recordings that are a little crazy. They don't sound anything like how we expect a piece of music should sound like, but somehow, they're still compelling. One example of this, for me, is Pogorelich's recording of Chopin's 2nd Piano Sonata:










It is ridiculous. Particularly taking the first movement as an example, at the start, you might just think that this is a very fastidious interpretation of the music, but eventually Pogorelich reveals his very idiosyncratic understanding of the piece's rhythm and rubato in such a way as nobody else would play it.

But that's what makes it great - no one else would play it like that! Of course, part of the deal is that Pogorelich's technique and tone and structure is still absolutely magnificent even if all the other features are a little whacky, so he can get away with it. But with some extremely popular pieces, like the Chopin sonatas or the Beethoven or Mozart or whatever else, I think eccentricity should be a _welcome_ feature of recordings because we already have so many competing for "definitive" status. I want to hear a piece in a completely new and strange way as a means of understanding it better, even if it's not going to be the recording I go back to when I'm in "default" mode.

So do you have any recordings you enjoy that you'd never recommend as performances for how a work really should be, but which you nevertheless love just because they're a bit mad? Another one of mine would be Gould's break-neck version of Beethoven's Pathetique.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

GG is a great example for more than one work.

Avison Ensemble is doing some new fresh things with their Corelli releases.

Other freshness, Harding's Mahler Symphonies 4 & 10.

More that come to mind...

Europa Galante Vivaldi String Concerti.

Hamelin Haydn Piano Sonatas.

ESQ Late LvB String Quartets.

Gastinel & Guy LvB Cello Sonatas.

Gulda LvB Piano Sonatas.

Mendelssohn Piano Trios w. Swiss Piano Trio.

Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4 - 6, w. Pappano.

Dvorak Symphony 7, w. NYPO/LB.

Debussy w. Weissenberg.

Mahler Symphony 2, w. Scherchen


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2014)

Freischutz, if you think that Pogorelich disc is eccentric, then check out some of his more recent YouTube videos (from 2010 onward)--including a 19 minute Liszt Mephisto Waltz and a nearly 50 minute Liszt B-minor Sonata!!!

I enjoy this disc for Lipkind's highly charged romantic style, but he will not appeal to purists:


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