Quote:
Originally Posted by Pio1980
Incredible indeed!
The Simon I think is later 1970s, w/ Slatkin/ SLS. Looking fwd to hearing it by him.
The Horowitz/Ormandy is also late 70s, the Carnegie Hall concert. Nobody plays it like Horowitz, nor should they try. A breath taking, broad ranging, cinematic aural experience. The composer reputedly said that Horowitz plays his works better than he himself.
The Tibaudet /Ashkenazy is relatively recent all digital recording. Tho the inexplicably harsh technology sound itself is pretty awful, Tibaudet gives it a delightful balletic 'French' interpretation, a keyboard dance that I think the composer would have enjoyed.
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Heard the Simon / Slatkin last week, technically the best sound of the three, the performance sounds Midway between Russian and German romantic, not a bad thing at all.
Tonight, the Tibaudet /Ashkenazy, the technical sound is worse than I remember, excruciating. The performance however delightful. Tibaudet is absolutely fearless, yet easily lyrical, his fingers dancing joyfully thru the difficult runs, the 2nd movement rondo is just radiant as a swift mountain stream at midday.
To my ears, a French take on a Russian delight.
Followed by the Horowitz /Ormandy.
Technically, SQ is between the other two, closer to the Simon but I wish it was better.
What to say, this is probably now my favorite version, Horowitz takes his time to show it all with verve and feeling, and the orchestra has his back all the way. Musically, the most satisfying of the three, had I been in the audience at Carnegie that night, this would have stayed with me as one of the best nights of my life.
Btw, the online remaster is pretty good if you'd like to hear it.
https://youtu.be/CHbf1CSUFvI