# Best you've heard performances



## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

Not asking for *definitives* (yet if you wish to use that term, feel free to do so, but do expect some contention)
Just a performance that others may have missed out on, perhaps at a local concert, YT upload, or a rare OOP cd/LP
.
I have sought great Debussy ever since the Gieseking LP days. 
There are some great recordings that have come along since then late 50's,. Everyone will have their personal fav in Debussy. 
Here is a YT upload of a Russian born pianist, Anna Zassimove 2012/Germany.

Estampes bk 1. 
I love her tenderness, and attention to crafting each phrase without rushing. Relaxed, never tense, allowing the works to just flow so poetically.

Which performance have you come across which displays a wonderous resolution of the work. 
Does not have to bea performance with a *big name artist*, many of these *top notch artists* are disappointed me over the years...propaganda goes a long way in classical music.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I always thought Van Cliburn was the best interpreter of Samuel Barber's Sonata Op. 26. He modeled it (I think) after Horowitz, who I've also heard, but Cliburn surpasses him in articulation and, I think, understanding. This is that kind of music where I don't know what it means, but somehow it seems to urgently communicate and resonate with me. It's like an alien intelligence from another world.
This is a 1965 live recording, in Leningrad. The Barber starts at 51:14.


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## StrE3ss (Feb 20, 2019)

For me this performance and pieces choices is perfect by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

Yes this is what I am looking for, performances that somehow sparkle, charm, mesmerize the senses,,,,drawing you in and holding your attention to a ethereal experience. 
While others may be excellent, there is one which just stands out as special.
Oh , and if you feel Anna Zassimova, does not capture what I feel, please by all means suggest your own performance. You may feel she is too meditative , not enough forward movement. We all have dif expectations of varying tempos/textures. 
I just feel Zassimova evokes colors and images, with such a delicate (feminine?) touch, which well suits Debussy, she never attacks the works, as difficult as they are.


Shimmering, iridescent crystal tear drops , falling as if like snowflakes from a celestial realm The score itself, ,~ the piano~ too just disappear,,,with only the music remaining,,and you.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

This is a bit like what you want I think


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

Yes, thanks for contributing your offering in Xenakis. We will all give it a listen

Others may find Zassimova above, to be perhaps a bit *methodological* at times = a bit mechanical,,but it is her approach to certain critical passages which , in many others, I had some issues with.
Take the section starting at 3:08. Now this is EXACTLY what I have been searching for, someone to make magic with that part, Others just rush through it and completely misses what Debussy was looking for.


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## brahmsgirl (Apr 4, 2019)

I don’t know if it could be *objectively* best performance, but what just blew my mind and teared up my heart: Turandot in Deutsche Oper Berlin, November 2015. 
I’ve left the House like drunk/drugged, with my hands and legs shaking, crying out loud, being basically in another dimension and weird state of mind, feeling only Puccini’s music and wondering what music (in general) can do to you, even phisically. 
I’ve enjoyed a lot of operas, chamber or symphonic concerts live or recorded*, but none* made such a massive impact on my body and head  

* although I’ve actually said really loud WOW (just like this recent “wow child” ) when I first heard Allegretto from Beethoven 7 by Szell and Cleveland Orchestra )


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Mny years ago I heard a concert of the Debussy Preludes by the then young Michel Beroff, which still remains a highlight for me of those works.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Best recorded performances:

Mozart - Great Mass in C minor - Leppard/EMI
Bach - Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier - Tureck/DG
Beethoven - Late Piano Sonatas - Pollini - DG
Shostakovich - Op. 87 Preludes and Fugues - Nikolayeva/Melodiya


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## iloveChopin (Nov 24, 2013)

Two I’ve heard recently. 

Conrad Tao and the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, Rach 2. Mr. Tao was so into the piece he was beating time on his leg with his right hand during parts in the third movement when only the orchestra was playing! He was so wound up at the end that the instant the music ended he did a fist pump at the piano! Needless to say, the house exploded.

Vienna Staatsoper, Fidelio, Act II overture, one of the usual Leonora overtures. Warhorse, sure, but half way thru it I knew it was the greatest perf of this piece I’d ever heard! The house (one of the most musically astute audiences anywhere) erupted at the end. Got the best ovation of the entire evening!


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## Rubens (Nov 5, 2017)

Rozhdestvensky LSO Rachmaninoff Symphony no 2.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

I have had problems with Brahms Symphony no 4, finding the right interpretation for me. Went to see local orchestra "Sinfonia of Leeds" and their performance was the best one that I have heard. The right tempo and its fullness. Could not fault it


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## Hermastersvoice (Oct 15, 2018)

I seldom/ never listen to recording of Verdi operas, yet I revisit Serafin’s Traviata with Victoria de Los Angeles more often than I care to count. This Violetta breaks my heart. And she’s got a beautiful voice to boost. Similarly, I almost never listen to Mozart’s violin concertos, yet there is a poetry in the Francescatti- Walter recordings of 3 and 4, that makes it my most listened to record.


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## 444mil (May 27, 2018)

I've discovered this recently, based on a recommendation. Listen to his 109 first and second movements, and the first movement of op 111.

One of the few albums i think is worth the bad sound for the interpretation/musicality.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

444mil said:


> I've discovered this recently, based on a recommendation. Listen to his 109 first and second movements, and the first movement of op 111.
> 
> One of the few albums i think is worth the bad sound for the interpretation/musicality.


I have that album and think the sound is fine. Agreed though, an amazing performance.


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