Bronfman - Rach3

Alan et al - Thought this would be interesting for discussion - Bronfman's Rach 3. I purposely linked to part 2 of the sequence so you can hear his cadenza (the longer one with ossia) which begins at about 2:45. Took my breath away the first time I heard it. What power !

WOW!!! This is really something. The power you speak of comes through an amazingly complete contact to the key. All Bronfman's heart and soul, every iota of his emotion and devotion goes to make the piano a monumental orchestral tower of sound. When I first looked, I thought I saw the hints of a collapsed arch, but on closer inspection I realize I was wrong. Bronfman's hand is an example of an arch that doesn't need to be pronounced in order to be functional. The metacarpal-phalangeal joints it must maintain its potency and ability to activate the movement of the fingers. And then there are moments such as at 6:26 where he forms his hand into a firm 'bird beak' that possesses all the structural power possible in the hand. More proof that the guy has really got it down big time. I hadn't been aware that he had put on so much weight, and it is tempting to attribute his gargantuan sound to the size of the torso producing it. I dunno, maybe there is something in it - his sense of all of his not inconsiderable self just plunging into the piano and making it resonate - but nonetheless, his skeletal frame is extremely well organized to handle and transmit the bulk of these forces... A wonderful performance and also enlightening from a technique point of view. Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention! AFF PS Sorry to take so long to get around to watching this, I have had a lot of deadlines to meet recently...

Not a problem. I know how that goes. I've been tied up myself. I enjoyed reading your analysis. Bronfman definitely has chops to burn ! Speaking of the Rach3, I read an interesting quote recently from Rachmaninoff the first time he heard Horowitz perform it. His exact words were: "He swallowed it whole" - Somehow I can imagine that was a very appropriate description. And he never played it publicly after that.

Apparently he also said something along the lines of, "I wrote that concerto for elephants but you have made it into a concerto for gazelles." A shame that he never played it again... AFF