The Romantics in Period Performances

[FideLeo]

More in comparison to my Desert Island Disc of the works, played by Brendel. It's almost like Lubimov missed a note, or something.

Looking at the score might help to clarify this even more 

[Opus106]

Looking at the score might help to clarify this even more 

And looking is all I can do.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Oh, goodness, that's beautiful playing. My wallet is cowering in fear.

I agree. It's beautifully phrased. One especially fine moment: how he delays the downbeat at 3:43, when the melody soars to the high G natural. It's a very tricky piece to play, because the texture is so uniform (melody, bass line, inner arpeggios) that in the wrong hands it can easily become monotonous.

[Antoine Marchand]

But all of it is stuck on Melodiya LPs, never made to CD. LP rips of some of it can usually be found on various Russian file sharing sites.

It would be great if some day those old LPs were re-released on CD. I have found some of them in the web (Bach, Bach's sons, some French Baroque). Anyway, I would like to see another Lubimov's big project (like his set of Mozart piano sonatas), but then I think that maybe his own personality doesn't naturally tend towards that kind of projects. 

[FideLeo]

Very 'HIP-sounding' Chopin on a Broadwood fortepiano 

http://www.youtube.com/v/GJ5nb7CWsBg

[asin]B000777IQA[/asin]

Love the cats!

[(poco) Sforzando]

Very 'HIP-sounding' Chopin on a Broadwood fortepiano 

You like this? What is the "historical" justification for those uneven rhythms in the main theme?

[FideLeo]

You like this? What is the "historical" justification for those uneven rhythms in the main theme?

Go ask Mr Khouri yourself.  It's fun to listen to, historical or not.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Go ask Mr Khouri yourself.  It's fun to listen to, historical or not.

I'm asking you. I bought one of this guy's other recordings before (used!), a set of Beethoven sonatas, and I was frankly appalled at the rhythmic inaccuracies and distortions (most annoying as I recall in the finale to Op. 27/1). As far as I'm concerned this isn't "historical" performance; it's simply sloppy, and the disc hit the trash after one hearing.

[FideLeo]

I'm asking you.

Me, whatever for?  I didn't perform on those recordings you bought or listened to. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Me, whatever for?  I didn't perform on those recordings you bought or listened to. 

Nor have you performed on any of the dozens of other HIP recordings you have advocated over the years. But since your interests appear to lie primarily in historical performance (and I do appreciate all these YouTubes you've uploaded to let the rest of us sample these recordings), I would hope you'd offer more substantial justification for some of these performances than (as M Forever put it a while back) than "just contributing a few hollow one-liners..."

[FideLeo]

Nor have you performed on any of the dozens of other HIP recordings you have advocated over the years. But since your interests appear to lie primarily in historical performance (and I do appreciate all these YouTubes you've uploaded to let the rest of us sample these recordings), I would hope you'd offer more substantial justification for some of these performances than (as M Forever put it a while back) than "just contributing a few hollow one-liners..."

Don't see where the forum rules state (hollow) one-liners are outlawed... Besides, as you said I have contributed more than one-liners now  Now, I think you'd better go to the performers themselves if you need to blame someone for your own response to the music they made.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Don't see where the forum rules state (hollow) one-liners are outlawed... Besides, as you said I have contributed more than one-liners now  Now, I think you'd better go to the performers themselves if you need to blame someone for your own response to the music they made.

Neither I nor anyone else needs to "contact" any performers directly to ask them to explain their interpretations. The recordings have to make their own case, and we are each free to say yea or nay as we see fit. In the present case, there is no other "blame" needed than to respond to the recording itself.

[FideLeo]

Neither I nor anyone else needs to "contact" any performers directly to ask them to explain their interpretations. The recordings have to make their own case, and we are each free to say yea or nay as we see fit. In the present case, there is no other "blame" needed than to respond to the recording itself.

Exactly.  So we agreed not to have the same response to John Khouri's performance here (I have not heard his Beethoven). What more is there that I need to answer for? 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Exactly.  So we agreed not to have the same response to John Khouri's performance here (I have not heard his Beethoven). What more is there that I need to answer for?

You don't "need" to do anything. I am simply trying to understand what you like in this performance, and so far all you've said is that it is "HIP-sounding" and "fun to listen to," where I find it graceless and crude. If you don't care to respond further, that is obviously your prerogative. But the suggestion to "ask" Khouri himself originated with you.

[FideLeo]

But the suggestion to "ask" Khouri himself originated with you.

You want to know how 'historically-informed' Khouri's interpretation really is, and for that I don't think I can make a more sensible recommendation than to go to the performer himself.  OK?   


edit. To respected moderators: I am not sure that all exchanges here are really on topic. Could you help with the removal if some of them should actually go?

[(poco) Sforzando]

You want to know how 'historically-informed' Khouri's interpretation really is, and for that I don't think I can make a more sensible recommendation than to go to the performer himself.  OK?   


edit. To respected moderators: I am not sure that all exchanges here are really on topic. Could you help with the removal if some of them should actually go?

I see nothing here that would call for deletion or other moderator intervention.

[FideLeo]

http://www.youtube.com/v/ws8HzRsFHf0

only available from czech sources I think: such as http://www.arta.cz/index.php?p=f10114en&site=en

Antiquarius Quartet Praga
Václav Návrat - violin (Franz Anton Wild, Brunn 1792)
Simona Tydlitátová - violin (Johann Christian Partl, Wien 1791)
Ivo Anýž - viola (Michael Wuller, Pragae 1785)
Petr Hejný - cello (Pellegrino Zanetto, Brescia 1581)

[PaulSC]

Antiquarius Quartet Praga
Václav Návrat - violin (Franz Anton Wild, Brunn 1792)
Simona Tydlitátová - violin (Johann Christian Partl, Wien 1791)
Ivo Anýž - viola (Michael Wuller, Pragae 1785)
Petr Hejný - cello (Pellegrino Zanetto, Brescia 1581)

That's an unusually old cello, isn't it?

[FideLeo]

That's an unusually old cello, isn't it?

Since Antiquarius Praga's repertory usually focuses on pre-classical works, the cellist (a gambist too - I have a recording of him doing Abel) may simply use the same cello as when he plays, for example, František Tůma.  Varying bass instruments (e.g. changing a small violone to a bass violin etc.) usually matters less in overall sonority anyway in a performance.

[PaulSC]

Oh, yes, I didn't mean inappropriately old -- and I don't presume the instrument would sound significantly different than one crafted, say, 75 years later. I just didn't imagine many pre-1600 cellos were still in regular use. And I'm no expert, so it was a genuine question, not a rhetorical one.

Anyway, thanks for posting the clip, I'll listen soon!