Josef Lhevinne - live Chopin Etude No. 23 Op. 25 No. 11 "Winter Wind" 1935 radio

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

he won gold medal 1st prize for piano at Moscow conservatoire - Rachmaninov got the 2nd prize silver medal. Thumbs up if this is news for you.

[@pianofan1000]

You are perfectly correct! And Anton Rubinstein visited their conservatoire and invited Lhevinne (not Rach.) to be the soloist in Beethoven 5th

[@Will170392]

And Scriabin was in that class too, famously injuring his right hand due to heavy practising in order to compete with Lhevinne!

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

@@Will170392 I shall deign to give you a thumbs up for that piece of Schumannivia

[@Ivan_1791]

That's crazy.

[@Rach-Fanatic]

@@pianofan1000I will say this, Rachmaninoff’s prime was when he was older. He noticed how he was lacking compared to the pianistic likes of lhevinne, and composition of Scriabin. He then went through a heavy ordeal of practicing piano and composition like crazy. Even at an age where most pianists would slow down there practice rach kept practicing. He himself then earned a great redemption. Through the recordings we have now of him, we can tell that he is a whole other being compared to lhevinne or Scriabin. Rachmaninoff, Hofmann, lhevinne, were and still are the greatest pianists that walked this earth!

[@pianopera]

Amazing stamina & brilliance, beautifully phrased, too....and played with a lot of risk!

[@arpeggiomikey]

I think this performance ranks among the best ever captured on record. He really demonstrated a great emotional intensity, overlaid atop the sheer technical wizardry, and he even added an extra octave to the concluding a minor melodic scale -- a magnificent flourish that placed a great exclamation point! Yes, Lhevinne *owned* this piece! 🤩👍🎼🎶🎹💝

[@eddydelrio1303]

Nice catch on the scale extension! Makes me feel better for the notes that I have added to Rach's famous G-minor Prelude (full double octaves descending) and his Paganini Rhapsody (full double 2-handed ascending glissandi).

[@guytanoparks]

Masterful playing! The spotlight is focused upon the melody with the filigree properly placed in the background. Full of drama and sweep, something that is sadly missing in most modern-day mechanical interpretations.

[@Felix_Li_En]

Wow thank you ! One of the super pianists in the 20th century !

[@dasglasperlenspiel10]

Really great.. Lhevinne kept his public repertoire small and played it, well, like this.

[@ClassicalPianoRarities]

Lhevinne had an extensive public repertoire. He programmed the entire Chopin Op 25 set.

[@Whatismusic123]

Very good recording

[@Gustavo-cx8uu]

I knew only his commercial recordings, compiled by Philips and Naxos. Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous broadcast.

[@alanbash2921]

Monumental.

[@andreasimonedenicolo]

The best version of this work!

[@dennisgustafsson1206]

It’s B-flat minor, the rec is slightly sped up. Astounding play anyway.

[@gerry30]

I've heard that the same was done with several of Rachmaninoff's recordings. Do you think it was done to give a false impression of speed or simply to squeeze more onto the 78s?

[@CamilleBraiki]

Astonishing… Sounds like Lhevinne wrote this piece…

[@suremate]

I think he has the highest concentration of SDC approved recorded rep of all pianists. Phenomenal technique here, much more impressive than the Tchaikovsky concerto.

[@kkassanova]

What is SDC?

[@geoffreydorfman2554]

I have a 1930's broadcast (WNYC?) recording of Lhevinne playing this etude, the Terces Etude, and the Ab Polonaise that was released by Appian in an anthology about 25 years ago. But there was no announcer and the background noise was very pronounced. This is clean. I'm wondering if this is another broadcast, or another tape of the same broadcast, or the same tape cleaned up?

[@ClassicalPianoRarities]

It is another source of the same broadcast. Probably a radio transcription disc, 33rpm - not tape... More to come!

[@petergoldstein1075]

No pianist had as much physical ease of execution and depth and intensity of expression as Lhevinne. He made two recordings of Liszt's Liebestraume; one of them, from the ampico piano roll lp is sensational, even for Lhevinne. The other is just ok. Alas the good one is not available here. Maybe someone could fix that...Lhevinne made three recordings of la Campanella, 5mins, 4:21 and 4:04. The third is the superbowl of piano playing, the ultimate in elegance and finish

[@ClassicalPianoRarities]

Those recordings you mention are piano rolls… better than nothing but not objective documents.

[@petergoldstein1075]

@@ClassicalPianoRarities Before you cast aspersions on them, listen to them