# Speed



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Just a simple, curious question I ask: what's the fastest interpretation you have of any piece of music at all?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Maybe a Glenn Gould recording of the Bach A minor invention?


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Also, Glenn Gould's Mozart piano sonata in A minor


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Glenn Gould's Moonlight Sonata Third Movement (haha)





Sviatoslav Richter's Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 4




There's discussion about this video being sped up one way or another, but I've heard another recording of one of his concerts and he plays it at the same speed.
He only slowed it down at a higher age.


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## SilverSurfer (Sep 13, 2014)

Ligeti's *Continuum*, for harpsichord (there are other versions), is asked to be played _Prestissimo, as fast as possible_, so it usually lasts from 3' to 5', although I recall having heard it in even less than 3':


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^^^Thats an impressive feat! But there's something I kinda prefer about the more "normal" tempo.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Young Argerich:

B's Waldstein


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## AdmiralSilver (Sep 28, 2013)

Gardiner's Beethoven 5, never liked that.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

The trio of Rattle's BPO recording of Beethoven's Fifth.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Roger Norrington's ridiculously fast performance of the adagio from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

HIP to him is un-HIP to me!!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Speed, in the Black Beauty format, used to be popular at bluegrass festivals. All night field picking being as much a matter of pride as it was of pleasure.

Dunno what life-challenging formula is in use nowadays.

On-topic, Alkan has provided several challenges.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

DeepR said:


> Glenn Gould's Moonlight Sonata Third Movement (haha)


Wow that was...terrible.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Der Leiermann said:


> Wow that was...terrible.


Pretty much, he's just trashing it, not even trying to make a fun charicature of it.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

DeepR said:


> Pretty much, he's just trashing it, not even trying to make a fun charicature of it.


Gould considered the Moonlight a masterpiece.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Andreas said:


> Gould considered the Moonlight a masterpiece.


Interesting way of showing it.


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## SilverSurfer (Sep 13, 2014)

Many years ago, and after hearing the piece *GIC79* by Joan Guinjoan in several versions, I attended a concert where he conducted it, and surprised me that the final coda was slower.
Once I had the opportunity to talk about it with conductor Nacho de Paz, he told me that the coda was written faster, but the author himself admitted that it should have been slower, so that's how he played, and so does Nacho here:


__
https://soundcloud.com/nacho-de-paz_4%2Fjoan-guinjoan-gic-1979


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2014)

Some Howard Shelley concerto performances (Schumann, Grieg, etc) are notoriously fast, but I'm not sure if they're faster than some of the Gould stuff. 

Likewise, not *too* fast, but I find that Gilels plays the Pathetique sonata to its extremes. His slow portions are extra slow, but his fast portions are extra fast and percussive.


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Marc-André Hamelin playing Charles-Valentin Alkan, Grande Sonate "Les Quatre Âges", Op 33, first part : 20 ans (Très Vite) (which means very fast)
It's quite amazingly fast, indeed.





*Edit* I quite enjoy Gould's version on the third movement of Beethoven, actually. It's an intellectual challenge. A bit too much reverb on the recording, though.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Norrington conducts the Bruckner 9 adagio in 18 minutes.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I have a version of Russian Dance from the Nutcracker that's like 20 seconds long. It sounds ridiculous


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

1939 cycle- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Arturo Toscanini/NBC, first movement. Really a bit too fast.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Just a simple, curious question I ask: what's the fastest interpretation you have of any piece of music at all?


Simon Barere Schumann Toccata.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Brandenburg concerto #3 final movement on CD, a german group on period instruments. Scintillating!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

When recorded music was in its infancy, and one had to do a take of 3-3 1/2 minutes per side, performances were more rushed. They had to be to avoid awkward side breaks.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

OlivierM said:


> Marc-André Hamelin playing Charles-Valentin Alkan, Grande Sonate "Les Quatre Âges", Op 33, first part : 20 ans (Très Vite) (which means very fast)
> It's quite amazingly fast, indeed.
> 
> 
> ...


I really love the Gould version as well. It is very precise and like his hammered approach to the keyboard. Also emphatic of the rigorous intellectual take that he imposes on the piece.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

AdmiralSilver said:


> Gardiner's Beethoven 5, never liked that.


Then you probably appreciate the fact that it goes by so quickly!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Does anyone know what the slowest recording is?


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

^Interesting you should ask, because I was going to post "Maximianno Cobra in a parallel universe" as a response to this thread.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

arcaneholocaust said:


> ^Interesting you should ask, because I was going to post "Maximianno Cobra in a parallel universe" as a response to this thread.


Maximianno Cobra doesn't make music, he makes ****! I went to find recordings of his "interpretations" on Spotify and I was surprised to find quite an array of Mozart and Beethoven, all at half tempo. Yes, seriously, HALF TEMPO.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Maximianno Cobra doesn't make music, he makes ****! I went to find recordings of his "interpretations" on Spotify and I was surprised to find quite an array of Mozart and Beethoven, all at half tempo. Yes, seriously, HALF TEMPO.


Absurd, my friend, that likes should be unavailable at a time like this, no?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

There's also Anton Bhagatov, Valery Afanassiev.


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