Rach 2 transcription

[George K]

Link to video

I'm of mixed feelings on this.

I'm reminded by the statement by Samuel Johnson...

“Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

[Klaus]

I was already pissed off when she broke the LH chords at the beginning of the piece.

[Horace]

I've heard some of her WTC fugues. I guess she wants to put her own touch on pieces everybody is familiar with. I don't take it personally, but I don't enjoy the music much, even though she is clearly a top level technician.

[George K]

@Horace said in Rach 2 transcription:

some of her WTC fugues

This is ... interesting.

Link to video

She makes the first prelude almost Debussy-like.

[George K]

Listening to a smattering of her Beethoven sonatas.

She seems to have two tempi - really fast and really inconsistent.

[Renauda]

@George-K

It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

If it was worth doing in the first place, the likes of Vladimir Horowitz or Earl Wild would have done it years ago.

I do however imagine a transcription for 2 pianos could work.

[George K]

@Renauda said in Rach 2 transcription:

I do however imagine a transcription for 2 pianos could work.

Link to video

[Renauda]

@George-K

She makes the first prelude almost Debussy-like.

And I thought Khatia Buniatishvili could at times be a bit too idiosyncratic!

I was expecting Lim to transition into Liszt’s Leibenstraum rather than the fugue.

Please tell me she wasn’t playing Bach.

[George K]

@Renauda said in Rach 2 transcription:

I thought Khatia Buniatishvili could at times be a bit too idiosyncratic!

She makes Gould look sane.

And although she can play fast, in her transcription butchering of the Rachmaninoff, I could swear I heard a lot of slop.

[Renauda]

@George-K

I like Gould’s Bach and love his Hindemith Sonatas.

Overall I enjoy Buniatishvili; her Liszt Sonata is among my favourites.

But this? It’s awful.

[George K]

@Renauda said in Rach 2 transcription:

I like Gould’s Bach

Oh, don't get me wrong! I enjoy it as well. He's faithful, musical, but yeah, still, at times idiosyncratic. Listen to his Mozart K.331!

He pushed the envelope without setting it on fire.

If you've had enough whiskey, give her Beethoven a listen.

[Renauda]

Thanks, but I’ll stay with Buchbinder’s Beethoven.

But with Gould, I like his Bach and his recordings of 20th C composers. Never heard his Mozart and his recordings of Romantics that I have heard left me cold. Couldn’t stand his recording of Scriabin’s 3rd Sonata. But as noted above his Hindemith is superb - “Gould really gets it” as a now deceased close friend used to say when he heard a recording or pianist he really liked.

[George K]

@Renauda said in Rach 2 transcription:

Thanks, but I’ll stay with Buchbinder’s Beethoven.

Aw, c'mon.

Waste Devote 5 minutes of your life to this.

Listeting to her interpretations is inspiring.

[Renauda]

Perhaps tomorrow, still recovering from the cacaphony of notation and a whole lot of nothing I heard an hour or so ago.

[jon-nyc]

There are other transcriptions of the Rach 2 and they sound better.

Kudos for those chops though.

[Axtremus]

About the Rach 2, the original has explored the modern piano solo and the modern symphonic orchestra so fully that it's hard to "reduce" it to a lesser configuration.

Is it "worth doing"? Worth it to whom, compared to what?

She did it, she seems happy about it, and enough people buy tickets to go hear it live. I suppose that passes some criteria for "worth it." The critics can go to heck.

[Renauda]

I agree, in the big scheme of things it doesn’t matter whether it was or was not done. As Jon pointed out there are other transcriptions that he says sound better. Regardless, the time and effort must have been worth it to her.

Will just have to see how her transcription stands up to the test of time.