Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Wagner-Liszt 'Overture to Tannhäuser'

1954.
Many thanks to 'steinwaymodeld' for sharing this great video with me.

[@ThePianoFiles]

Notice the distinct absence of facial contortions - he wasn't playing for 'show'. No extraneous movements - there's enough to keep him busy just playing the piece. And what playing! Bravo!

[@GrishaKrivchenia]

I tend to agree... But how are you able to see his face at this distance and video resolution?

[@ThePianoFiles]

@@GrishaKrivchenia have you watched the whole video? the camera gets closer and closer throughout, and ends up very close ...

[@GrishaKrivchenia]

@@ThePianoFiles Haha! No... I put the phone down and listened on my headphones! LOL! I'll have to listen (and watch) again later... :)

[@louisehollyhead6807]

The thing is sometimes facial expressions are involuntary. My own are. Though I'm working really hard to stop them because of the fact that they detract. I do agree with your comment.

[@Rach-Fanatic]

@@louisehollyhead6807it’s not necessarily bad to do that. Making faces perhaps may help the musician. But I haven’t seen such a thing work.

[@urherman1]

one of the greatest most elegant and patrician of painists. This is an example of miraculous playing. Everything he plays has a beautiful tonal sheen, great technique, color. taste and intelligence, Listen to his Schumann and Brahms..

[@keybawd]

Yes, it's wonderful to see these great 'romantic' pianists - they don't throw their hands in the air, make grimaces or rock about as so many of the young generation do. They produce a beautiful sound and all so musical. I've loved Moiseiwitsch's playing since I first heard him 60 years ago. He was truly one of the gods of the piano. A great musician.

[@johnrichardson6296]

Staggering, stupendous playing. Must be one of the most remarkable musical performances on record. He makes the piano sound like a complete orchestra. Amazing. And no swaggering ego - as others have so rightly pointed out. The music, with all its different voices, power, richness and subtleties, comes first and last. What a revelation of true musicianship. Fantastic!

[@oli6909]

I agree. A wonderful performance for this (almost) impossible piece.

[@newyorkguy158]

After watching many times, I have come to the conclusion that this is the greatest performance I have ever seen or heard. Really beautiful artistic whole with every nuance and very exciting.

[@anthonywilliams6764]

I have never heard the equal to this performance, the most striking element being the light and shade that BM brings to the orchestration, a masterpiece of musical maturity and inspiration. Thank You for this upload.

[@johnschlesinger2009]

This man was wonderful, both as a musician and as a supreme pianist. He is completely at one with the instrument, and his sound is so rounded. Rachmaninoff said that Moisiewitsch played his music better than himself, and that's saying something!!

[@chazinko]

Liszt was a visionary to create a pianistic tapestry of this magnitude and still maintain the expressive power of the orchestral version. That Benno played it this well with drama, balance, poise and eloquence is a testament to his great artistry. Bravo!!!

[@orioninthepolder]

This is truly a remarkable document, the piano playing (with or without wrong notes and who cares honestly) is out of the top drawer because the listener is totally focussed on the music and wonderful range of sound. The acknowledgement at the end really puts the role of the performer into perspective, he is there simply to convey what Wagner and Liszt put down on paper totally without the "look I'm a virtuoso, adore me" demand for adulation. He has said everything there is to say in the preceding 15 minutes and good night is the perfect way to end this marvellous film.

[@schnabelite]

👏👏👏

[@mwsc04]

I first saw this on a Gyorgy Cziffra DVD many years ago, and was so happy to find it uploaded here! Phenomenal performance - even with the low-fidelity audio you can tell his tone is nothing short of immaculate. So glad this was a profile shot the entire time - a lot to be learned from his arm movements, which economically and gracefully offsets muscular tension and relaxation between rapid-fire changes in musical texture that is fundamental to pulling off something like this.

[@pianotreasures]

14:49 Good night, and bonsoir...

[@meredith218461]

A majestic account of this daunting arrangement by Liszt. Moiseiwitsch was in his early 60s when this was broadcast, he showed an extraordinary command given his years.

[@newyorkguy158]

Such a great musical intelligence and so exciting to watch. One of the greatest and most sincere of artists. What a joy to watch and listen to. I'm really grateful to the person who uploaded this performance for us. Thank you.

[@philiprostek]

the mixture of polish and great musical finesse... juxtaposed to a very refined yet dramatic theatricality is so interesting to watch. It all about the music. What a great artist he was!

[@johnspradling7906]

I knew Jorge Bolet in the 1970's and was at a Christmas party he threw when he and several of the I.U. faculty listened to this performance a couple of years before his stupendous Carnegie Hall recital which closed with this piece. I hear Mr. Bolet in this performance. This is awe-inspiring.

[@pimbussink50]

Apart from the Bolet live version... I was also lucky enough to have heard two live UNRECORDED versions in the venerable Amsterdam recital series Meesterpianisten (Dutch for Master Pianists) by two greats. One was Shura Sherkassky though the end of the piece got the better of this great piano lion (he passed away not much later) - I recall the tempo dropped markedly. Unbelievable though was the version by Enrico Pace, for me perhaps the greatest living Liszt player. For many years this Italian gem refused to record on principle (argh!!), but he visited Amsterdam many times to the delight of the connoisseur audience - and that particular time his programme was so crazy he even played this piece before the break, not even as the piece de resistance. In the meantime Signor Pace also makes recordings, but I fear many of his younger feats are lost forever once the likes of me will have stopped remembering...

[@infinitelymusical]

Amazing. I can't think of any other word.

[@martinadler73]

A thousand thanks for this gem!!!

[@josephlaredo5272]

I haven't read all 73 comments below, but I would point admirers to another "patrician" of the keyboard: Grigory Ginzburg. And for a modern "equivalent", try Vyacheslav Gryaznov in his own jaw-dropping transcription of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Overture". Thanks for posting.

[@xper2xper]

A thrilling pianism!!! Thanks a lot for the post, much appreciated!

[@Davscomur]

Benno is the model we should all aspire to. Thanks for sharing.

[@miguelmuelle]

The voicing is exemplary, communicating all the dynamics of the orchestral - as well as sung (this is after all the same as the Pilgrims' Chorus). Bravo.

[@AntonioCastagna]

An extraordinary interpretation!

[@legamature]

He played in San Diego in the 1960s I was there.

[@uriakramer]

I'm so envious

[@nhanha2011]

@@uriakramer Me too!!!

[@MrGer2295]

WONDERFUL!!! Thank you for sharing this Wonderful performance of Great British pianist BENNO MOISEIWITSCH (1890-1963).

[@nhanha2011]

I T thought he was born in Russia!

[@GeorgeBaily]

Lol, turn to camera at the end "Good night, and bon soir"

[@diegopetrella]

bonne*

[@gerardbedecarter]

An incredible performance.

[@jamesmiller4184]

That's what SHE said, Gerard!

[@IamKonstantin]

i got goosebumps watching this! wow !

[@ask15muzik]

почему так мало о нем известно?потрясающий музыкант и виртуоз !🌷

[@voraciousreader3341]

He was very well known during his lifetime, and was a pianist whom Rachmaninov held in high esteem, especially when playing/interpreting his works. The problem is, there have been so many outstanding pianists who have been recorded for the past 100 years, that they can’t all be at the forefront of everyone’s thinking.

[@loboris1995]

This is a bonus of a DVD "Cziffra :chopin liszt Franck" (My grand mother lend it to me fore a week^^)

[@user-mr8kr1bb6x]

It's amazing

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Gracias. 🤩🙋

[@xplah]

Wunderbar

[@Exelsio]

Mesmerizing!

[@franciscocamacho82]

ah thanks you made my day

[@elysejill]

🌠My Great Uncle Benno!!!!!!

[@gwedielwch]

BRAVO !!

[@mkeysou812]

bah humbug, i love this piece!

[@user-no3pr8nk6i]

Great!

[@saygued]

Effing UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

[@jamesmiller4184]

That's what SHE said !!

[@vanguard4065]

lovely. i have become a Benno fan after studying Medtner.

allways such assured playing.

[@chrisczajasager]

after the oohing and aahing over Bolet, here is Wagner and Liszt unvarnished with the nobility of the 19th century style. the phrasing and tonal suggestion without 'banging' orchestral in concing style.Moiseiwitsch a great pianist-musician

[@fabioferra116]

Christopher Czaja Sager i

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Excelente las notas 👌 de arriba les da únsonido. bellísimo. Igual de bello cada quien con su temperamento. 🙌🙌🙌🙌. 🇲🇽 🖐️

[@thomgeo8073]

GENIUS

[@ClassicalPianoRarities]

Ah yes. A classic.

[@Hyramess]

A very astute observation.

[@jamesmiller4184]

Which one?

[@Borretski]

I'd like to play my arrangement of it for left hand only but I've just been told my tea is ready!!

[@jamesmiller4184]

No problem! We'll wait . . .

[@derisleybrittain]

Excellent 🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Que belleza. .

[@MrPGOLIVEIRA]

Genial.

[@snaaptaker]

This is true GREATNESS, folks.

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Bravísimo. ...

[@younglee2257]

A very fine performance indeed. Technically very sound- his octaves and passagework were especially impressive. In addition he managed to convey elevated musical meaning and sentiment without the any of the usual ugly theatrics of modern pianists. Great, old-school stuff.

[@berlinzerberus]

Le Maître

[@bobmarcus7896]

Thanks so very much for this incredible video. He was such a magnificent pianist in every respect. Can anyone identify the piano used? Thanks if you can.

[@carlhopkinson]

Wow

[@pimbussink50]

First of all, anyone able to play this piece can play. My possibly favourite RECORDING is the Jorge Bolet version live from Carnegie Hall, also mentioned by others. The orginal disc (RCA Victor?) proved hard to source, as I have found and many others with me. But... Philips (in its Great Pianists of the 20th century series) has a Jorge Bolet album, and yes! it does have that particular version, so for many years now I have been able to enjoy it that way after a long and fruitless search before.

[@stutti42]

Erstaunlich Magier!

[@pianoman551000]

It was exhausting just to listen to this superb performance ...... what is it actually like to play this "monster" of the Wagner-Liszt transcription?

[@clientRN]

would have been nice to see this in color

[@Alias-Steff]

best comment ever !!!

[@cowboytim98]

True Leschitizky!

[@Hervinbalfour]

I'm reading some of the comments about pianist "throwing their hands in the air" or "rocking and swaying" as if that is some new trend. Or rather that it's "bad". I'm also glad someone pointed out that Liszt rocked and swayed. I think some artist over do it intentionaly (Lang Lang). But I respond best to an expressive pianist not a "robot". Personally I can't even fathom how some people can sit at the piano and have absolutely no expression what-so-ever....

[@infinitelymusical]

It shouldn't be a matter of dogma. You look at Horowitz play, and it seems incongruous that he can convey expressive subtleties while maintaing a steely posture and unflappable visage. On the other hand, look at a Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett or others play and you see that their music-making process is a whole-body experience. There shouldn't be only one school of thought on this. For me, however an artist can produce & convey the expressiveness and technicality of the music...that's what ultimately matters. Slouch, carress, grimace, cry, loosen your girdle. However, whatever you need to do in order to make beautiful music, do it. There is no rule dictacting how you must make music. The thought itself would be sheer madness.

[@Hervinbalfour]

I think it's utterly ridiculous when people say you should be "stiff as a robot" when playing when there is not one single description of Liszt himself playing like that. Liszt was and still is arguably the greatest pianist to have ever walked the earth. He was known for his dramatism, his intense passion combined with near supernatural technical and musical abilities. I am not from Raffaele's school of thinking. Even the greatest living pianist of our time Sokolov still plays with fire and passion. Come on now.

[@uliwidmaier3922]

Hervin Balfour You are right. Horowitz, Rubinstein, Arrau, Kempff, Michelangeli - they sat extremely still when playing. But they were never stiff. On the contrary. Like violinists Milstein, Oistrakh, Heifetz or Szeryng (who stood almost completely still when playing), they were perfectly relaxed and simply activated only those muscles that were needed to get the job done. Up close in live concerts, Horowitz seemed to move like a leopard or cheetah, converting his body into a perfectly efficient musical tool. Efficiency is not stiffness. For these musicians, the only thing that counted was the musical result. Moiseiwitsch is of that same school.

[@GlynGlynn]

Hervin Balfour Oh dear!! Hervin ---- you have obviously never trained as a serious pianist. A performer trains himself in putting all his energies into producing the sound he wants to achieve. Any extraneous movement of the body only detracts from the sound he wants to produce, Far to many audience members go to a concert to WATCH music, and get their satisfaction from such pianists as Langx2, but music is an AURAL art: and audiences should listen with their eyes closed, unless they went to the concert specifically to see visual antics. It's not the pianist I decry as robots, but rather the audience -- very rarely do I see any emotion moving them in any way: they just sit there without any sign of feeling the beat, or swaying to the shape of the phrase. They usually look as if nothing is moving them. Probably they are watching, but not listening. And then they applaud very indifferently, whether the performance was good, bad, or mediocre. I wish they would boo sometimes when the performance merits it, or whoop with ecstasy, instead of being politely dead to the music. it's the audience who are the robots, not the musician.

[@professordodo1]

For pure concentration see any Jorge Bolet performance.

[@MrInterestingthings]

One of the few with Sauer, Rosenthal ,Lhevinne, Cherkassky ,Freidman ,Solomon of the pre WW2 era who really stands comparison with today's scientific giants How brave how sure of his powers to play this phenomenal energy draining music . did he record the Liszt sonata or D'Obermann or Dante Sonata ? I must check !

[@GarthAstrology]

He didn't record either of those works, and very little Liszt. The largest scale Liszt work that he recorded (and it is an excellent performance!) is the Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes. Otherwise, there is a rightly famous La Legierezza, as well as Liebestod, Tannhauser and Liebestraume.

[@CanAlternateLostTape]

A great pianist, but a bit past his prime here. For the real Moiseiwitsch Tannhäuser please listen to his 1938 studio recording! It is one of the greatest glories of all recorded piano playing.

[@newyorkguy158]

Lars - Where is that studio recording available?

[@CanAlternateLostTape]

It's on KZbin.

[@newyorkguy158]

Thanks. I agree. It's a wonderful performance, very stylish, musical and artistic. I think the later performance though has more fire, passion, power and freedom. The emotional effect is deeper to me.

[@CziffraTheThird]

Seriously now?.....I am searching this up right when this is finished!!

[@jamesmiller4184]

Yes, yes fellows but, HERE we are able to experience the sound with SIGHT -- the whole of it of then, as it was. Try that with mere shellacs. For example of relative worth if you insist, consider what we would have if Rachmaninoff say, had made both sight as well as sound testaments of his great art? How many here would not trade ten-minutes of sight & sound of Cziffra for that of The Rock??? Think of what was lost, that many more were not captured whole, rather than merely as in-part. We can see but not hear de Pachmann, compliments of British Duo-Art and, view as well as hear Hofmann himself, compliments of Bell Telephone. (And, a fascinating silent of him in his relative youth!) Also Mr. God tho silent, can be seen on his apartment veranda with visiting Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Watch for it. How very nice and informing it would be, if we were to now see and hear Godowsky address the 88 but, alas it is not ever to be. Such opportunities then ripe, that were tragically missed and, surely thousands more. (How about a full recital of Nyiregyházi made at the same time as that clip from "The Lost Zeppelin" movie?) Here I can easily envision back to when Benno was a strapping youth playing this same. Easy. What we hear here false notes and all, is simply a treasure-complete, of what will never be again. (And, what an elegant, gentlemanly good-bye he makes to us even now.)

[@tigeramateur190]

Серьезный дядька....

[@enriquemartincabrera6116]

After Rachmaninov Moiseiwitsch was the best Rachmaninov’s music player ever,!

[@machtrebel]

I'm downloading this clip!!!!!!!

[@jamesmiller4184]

Originally this was filmed and not as a KineScope. JOY itself would be in finding a 16mm sound print!

[@Hyramess]

What makes you think pianists who "make faces" do it just to make a "show?" It could very easily reflect their deep emotional involvement the music. Music is about SOUND far more than it is about LOOKS -- or it certainly OUGHT to be, one would think.

[@micheldvorsky]

@loboris1995 your grandmother rules.

[@PrincessofthePiano]

Read some reviews of Liszt. You will find that he made faces too. If history is not doing it for you, then you can read some recent studies in music psychology that suggest audiences respond better to face makers. The main thing seems to be what pianists are most comfortable doing - that is what helps them produce the most expressive music. If some like Horowitz were not trained to repress themselves, let's not pretend they are the perfect models for today's generations.

[@baizedurrahman4031]

12:49

[@Hyramess]

I agree this a most incredible "feat" of pianism, but very frankly these transcriptions leave me cold. I do appreciate -- very much -- the way he plays all the melodic lines with such wonderful projection of their dynamic contours with great singing tone, but after a while all the Lisztian hyper-pianistic frou-frou -- once you realize how dauntless he finds it -- becomes tedious. Bolet, always an astonishingly capable virtuoso, was never very intriguing as a musical personality.

[@petrouchka2011]

Totally agree. We can appreciate Moiseiwitch’s delicate art more in Schumann or Rachmaninoff. This Tanheuser is a bit messy for his usually high standard aside from the queetionable quality of the transcription itself.

[@BWV846]

...

[@loboris1995]

lol

[@emarel]

For contrast, compare Cziffra's superb performance: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2WtiHWbnsdpY9k

[@fabioferra116]

MICHAEL LOVERIDGE ii

[@pio-fq4vn]

多くのコメントが彼の無表情と無駄のない動きについて書いてるけど、表情を作る暇も、無駄な動きをする余地もこの曲にはないでしょ 笑

[@legamature]

Piano to Benno about half way- OK, OK. Please stop. Ouch. Take it easy. Give me a break!

[@jamesupton4996]

I just wonder, with Liszt's transcriptions whether he thought he was improving on the original. Try transcribing it for orchestra if you didn't know the origin.

[@FrancisAsin-Gioro]

The pianists got the luck to be able to touch the spirit of great Wagner on the keyboard (although just simplified version). Wagner never intended to master any kind of musical instrument as the music in his heart is too "big" to be expressed by any solo instrument, not even by the piano.

[@Tradaxta]

Jesus Christ!

[@NordicHealer]

Yikes....I'm worn out just watching this. This is another Olympics event not yet part of the roster.

[@thebatman6991]

Too many bugs..Too hard for him..

[@jamesmiller4184]

The Batman is VERY picky! He demands perfection in others. In this, he has MUCH company. (But, is he equally-so regarding himself or, just a no-talent grousing about others who massively are, or were?)

[@voraciousreader3341]

@The Batman - While I hear a few wrong notes in this performance, I don’t worry about it because it means he was very heavily invested in going for broke instead of playing it safe. Also, I don’t feel I can criticize such an incredible pianist-one of Rachmaninov’s favorites, btw-because I can’t play it at all, let alone better than such a master. *In that spirit, I certainly look forward to seeing your note perfect interpretation!* Until then, I’d lighten up….picking holes in great people inevitably makes the picker look small and (most probably) envious.

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@voraciousreader3341 Good man! Variously, by way of explanation, you have here compensated nicely for silly Batman's feeble attempt to bring himself higher, by bringing others from famously high-to-lower. This never works as intended but, does by increments lessen one and, over a time-of-life of such, leading to suicide of the mind and spirit, say as in remarked "he is SUCH as small person!" This then to terminus proceeding in slow motion or, quicker in some cases.

[@josephlaredo5272]

I haven't read all 73 comments below, but I would point admirers to another "patrician" of the keyboard: Grigory Ginzburg. And for a modern "equivalent", try Vyacheslav Gryaznov in his own jaw-dropping transcription of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Overture". Thanks for posting.

[@josephlaredo5272]

I haven't read all 73 comments below, but I would point admirers to another "patrician" of the keyboard: Grigory Ginzburg. And for a modern "equivalent", try Vyacheslav Gryaznov in his own jaw-dropping transcription of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Overture". Thanks for posting.