Ooooh, interesting.
G1/Glass: Yeah, I can see what you're saying about his technique here in this early recording. Poor guy's struggling somewhat; an obvious tell (to me) is the tiny hairpin pauses between phrases where he is shifting his fingers/hands. But there is something warm and aspirational about the warmth of his playing, and the way that the melodic line floats upwards reinforces this impression, as does the rubato. It feels hopeful.
G2: Yikes! This is very staccato and the repeated F is so violent-sounding that I can't help wondering if the pianist enjoyed playing this. It sounds physically tiring to execute that with such force. It is mentally tiring to listen to.
G3: This sounds a lot like G1 but with slightly more state-of-the-art playing and recording. Maybe because it's Glass, I don't really have anything else to say here.
G4: Oh goodness, with tempos similar to G2, this person adopts a much lighter touch, with a great deal more dynamic shading and, unlike the first three, this person switches between legato and staccato playing. By far the most romantic performance; the climax of the clip actually sounds like it was written in the 1910s! Even at the start, I appreciate the natural ease with which the repeated F's sail upward into a melodic line. Clearly, for people who don't like Philip Glass, this is the recording to seek out. So far.
G5: At 1:29, this one is just frikkin' nuts.
But the pianist's simultaneously both more machine-like than G2 and more interesting. They really attack the big climax as if it's by Rachmaninov, and the speed in the more Glassian sections of music creates an interesting series of contrasts between sudden flights of creative fancy and, well, fiddly sections of repeated notes. I'd like to watch video of this person playing.
G6: Is this pianist the first one to elongate certain repeated notes (like at 0:17 and 0:19)? Otherwise more in line with G3 and G1, not a lot of observation for me to make and not sure I could easily describe big-picture differences. The acoustic seems bigger and churchier.
My own preference is for G4, followed by G3/6, then G5, then Glass, then G2 last. Curious to see what other people think. This was a nice little mini-challenge.
