Some Pianists Whose Playing Haven't Been Discussed Here Yet

Would love to hear your comments and Alan's on some amazing pianists and their way with the instrument that haven't been discussed here yet (I believe). I would be particularly intrigued about what you guys thought re: Bolet's performance of the slow movement of Chopin's 3rd Sonata (one must listen to the whole movement and with good speakers for full effect). Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, my fellow pianophiles!!! Josu De Solaun:) Bolet Sokolov Hamelin Achucarro (foremost student of Gieseking) Tagliaferro Elisso Virsaladze Solomon Casadesus

Josu, thank you so much for these posts! I will respond one at a time because each one is so impressive to me and demands much thought! To start off, Jorge Bolet I never knew he played so great! This is far greater playing than I heard from him live in Montreal (how many years ago was that?) or from any of the recordings (not that I listened to many of his records...) But this is sublime. Such poetic sensibility - he understands and feels this music so well, and he executes 100% of what he feels and understands. His hands are beautiful and "skeletal." The skin is almost translucent because the internal function of the hand is so finely tuned - both ultimately sensitive and ultimately powerful. My first impression was that he moves too much. Sometimes the classic wrist-down-and-out-to-the-side that I harp on about so much, sometimes a kind of waving the hand before bringing the finger into its singing key... But each one of these so-called "overmoves" is perfectly aligned with the expressive device he is calling into play at that moment. It is his way of bringing into Being his highly personal interpretation of this music. Highly personal interfere with the fundamental pulse or phrase shape. So my hat's off to a newly discovered (for me at least) Jorge Bolet! Thanks once again, more later... AFF

Sokolov These wonderful submissions are proving a great way for me to start my day. This performance reveals to me a Sokolov greater than the one I knew, the same as the previous did for my understanding of Bolet. What wonderful sound, and what wonderful understanding. The best of it all was the return of the opening theme - finally played with real poetry, intimacy, sensitivity, a true expression of that inexpressible entity, the Russian soul... Again I might say that he overmoves, but in this case such a statement would indicate my limited understanding more than anything else... This is something I have to admit when I see this kind of playing - I am far from understanding everything about piano technique. The Russians at their best achieve something wonderful through means with which I am not entirely familiar but which I revere. Perhaps the key word is "suppleness," which Neuhaus mentions so often - it's relaxation AND connection, big bear paws that are super loose yet SO powerful, anything but impotent! Amazing! AFF

Achucarro (foremost student of Gieseking) His technique has the "classic" look about it. Nothing wrong with it, for sure - he really knows how to make the piano sound well. I am a bit unmoved by his playing however - musically it seems a bit uninspired. He does his job very well in terms of sound, but in terms of expression he just doesn't 'take me there...' AFF

Sokolov These wonderful submissions are proving a great way for me to start my day. This performance reveals to me a Sokolov greater than the one I knew, the same as the previous did for my understanding of Bolet. What wonderful sound, and what wonderful understanding. The best of it all was the return of the opening theme - finally played with real poetry, intimacy, sensitivity, a true expression of that inexpressible entity, the Russian soul... Again I might say that he overmoves, but in this case such a statement would indicate my limited understanding more than anything else... This is something I have to admit when I see this kind of playing - I am far from understanding everything about piano technique. The Russians at their best achieve something wonderful through means with which I am not entirely familiar but which I revere. Perhaps the key word is "suppleness," which Neuhaus mentions so often - it's relaxation AND connection, big bear paws that are super loose yet SO powerful, anything but impotent! Amazing! AFF What do you think about Volodos? He has the most effortless technique I've seen. His knuckles occassionally relax, but would you describe it as skeletal (underneath that huge mass of flesh) or something different?

Tagliaferro Hmm, she plays well, with pretty good sound. Pity we can't see her hands most of the time. I guess my negative comment would be: if someone relaxes her arms up into the air like that all the time, she hasn't integrated the knowledge totally yet. A crass way of putting it would be to say she plays like a student. Nice round movements, yes, but I like to see them more internalized... I think this would allow more focus and more variety in her sound... AFF

Volodos Here is a nice recording of him playing some serious music! Volodos is a superb pianist and musician and yet whose technique gives cause for discussion. You see hear a pianist obviously trained in the arm weight school, and his playing demonstrates both its strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: wonderful tone, strong, colourful, full, beautiful... and he can do ANYTHING he wants musically - there is no sense of the artist being limited by his schooling (as there is a bit with Tagliaferro). Weaknesses: when you play with your arm that much, a certain limitation is placed on your fingers. A certain stress comes from the arm down through them into the key, and they have to resist this stress. You can detect this at some points. Of course Volodos can do anything he wants with his fingers... I just wonder whether he might be able to do even more if he developed a more purely finger approach. Anyway who am I to question him, he is a colossal pianist! And it is way of playing, totally natural to him and totally appropriate to him. In 'skeletal' playing the use of 'arm weight' is less overt. It's a more balanced system. AFF

Here is another rising star

Hi Alan, here is a video of Volodos playing less with arm weight and more with finger. For example, from 0:50. Any thoughts?