Vladimir Sofronitsky plays Schumann Fantasie Op. 17

[@nickconbrio5310]

This is very special; he really does communicate all the emotions of longing and desire. And some of the tempi are extremely brave for a concert performance. The first two movements are quite magical, and only the best artists manage to bring out half-hidden elements in the texture as he does in the second movement's dotted rhythm passages. It's extraordinary, the way he makes the staggered chords from the end of bar 91 sound like the report of gunfire - no one else produces this amazing effect. I'm afraid I seriously dislike the way, though, that he chooses to break down hand synchronicity in many passages in the third movement - it just sounds muddled. And, why on earth does he lengthen the tied quavers in that passage from the end of bar 26 (and where it recurs) ? But he redeems himself with one of the best-judged conclusions of all. This was one of the better half-hours of my life ! Thanks for introducing me to Sofronitsky's playing.

[@kvvkvk]

He is genius..

[@thiagolian8201]

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[@nicoxzavier3457]

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[@thiagolian8201]

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[@thiagolian8201]

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[@goognamgoognw6637]

I discovered Sofrinitzky in the year 2001 over a radio program on KMFA and bought the integral of his recordings ordered from Japan when you could not find his recordings in the west and he was still unknown in the West (he never played in the West). Those recordings had a massive impact on my life.

[@brkahn]

He was known in the West, even if only by a few. I heard him for the first time on France Musique in the early eighties. Then I bought his recording of Schumann's Symphonic studies (that I didn't know) when passing through Moscow in 1983. This was a tremendous discovery. Later, several CD's of him became available in the late eighties/nineties.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

@@brkahn When i said he was not known in the West, I meant exactly that, obviously my personal discovery of him on a Texan radio program meant some people heard his music. Il ne faut pas confondre 'not to be known in the west' c.a.d être inconnu du publique occidental avec 'never heard of' être totallement inconnu hors Russie.

[@brkahn]

@@goognamgoognw6637 I know, my point was my last sentence. But it is not very important: he is one of the most moving pianists we know.

[@liquidbread2153]

Curiously, he was the first pianist I knew and admired. As a boy in the Soviet Russia I kept hunting for his sets of vinyl recordings that started selling in early 1980s - apparently they were meant for export, but I don't know how successful that was. He was THE one, the myth, the legend. People who had attended his concerts were the lucky ones, and they couldn't find the words to describe the experience. I heard that students avoided listening to his recordings before going on stage: you can't play like before, you try to reach for the stars and you can't, and finally your performance gets all messy. Thank you for sharing these recordings - they are so wonderful.

[@MrsSelfsinger]

I really can't understand when people press "dislike" or write "what a shame"... Really, it means you can prove us you play better? What does mean mistakes or wrong notes when we are listening to the great performance of Master? They mean nothing. And only for people feeling nothing through the music the mistakes are more important...

[@HermanIngram]

MrsSelfsinger It never means that the person can play better. It means that the person prefers another performance (Horowitz or Richter for example) over this. Sofronitsky is a master, make no mistake, but he's a bit heavy-handed in the third movement of this.

[@norahdealmeida5847]

I agree. "It never means that the person can play better." Listen to Kissin' s rendition and read what I wrote there.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

It should not surprise you. It is wrong to assume that everyone has the same level of sensibility to music. Most people indeed only perceive the surface or a fraction of what is in the music which is already plenty for them and i want to insist that is true at all level of musicianship including world class musicians. You don't have to be a genius to feel that a composition has the essence of greatness in it but you have to approach genius to feel every intricacies of the genius that is in it. For that reason the majority of people cannot discern the higher degrees of greatness (again i insist that applies to many famous musicians not just listeners, what gives it away is their interpretation). To satisfy the largest common denominator you would have to lower the level. Mozart said something famous to that effect. Sofrinitzky is a genius and Shumann a genius. But you are right in your last sentence. Those people who feel 'nothing' (or only half or a 1/3 of genius) will complain about mistakes. That is very characterstic of them, you find them near the top as well, and it gives them away. Sofrintzky was a God to top class russian pianists. Forget Richter, forget Kissin these are merely world class pianists giants (i weigh those words) but not gods. Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels looked up to Sofronitsky as their master, and famously, when Sofronitsky once drunkenly proclaimed that Richter was a genius, Richter toasted him and proclaimed him a god. Upon hearing of Sofronitsky's death, Gilels was reputed to have said that "the greatest pianist in the world has died." This says it all. Oh, just one more important comment, this piece is famous for "wrong" notes in the score that are NOT wrong notes in the third movment at the climaxes. Since these notes occur in a passage that has jumps most unaware audiences will think the pianist hit wrong notes. He didn't. It is kind of funny actually.

[@robsenponte3308]

Amazing

[@ljiljanastanic9076]

Wonderful!

[@Sofronichrist]

Vladimir Sofronitsky n’aimait pas enregistrer. Il qualifiait d’ailleurs propres enregistrements de « cadavres ». Cependant il ne reniait pas un certain intérêt de cette expérience : « Vous savez, il est très utile de vous écouter sur disque. Cela apporte beaucoup à un artiste. » confiait-il à Alexandre Vitsinsky, en 1945. Le lègue discographique de Sofronitsky se limite principalement à Alexandre Scriabin. D’autres rares enregistrement studios subsistes, comme une trente-deuxième sonate de Beethoven en 1950. Mais les rééditions de ces dernières années nous ont prouvées que le répertoire de Sofronitsky ne se limitait pas au seul Scriabin. Ainsi nous pouvons écouter Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart et une grande partie des compositeurs dits « classiques ». Sofronitsky sortit deux fois de l’URSS. Il vécut deux ans à Varsovie, où il donna un récital, et plus longuement à Paris, où il donna huit récitals et où il rencontra Sergey Prokofiev. Nous pouvons aujourd’hui entendre Sofronitsky jouer la septième sonate de ce dernier, ainsi qu’une « vision fugitive ». Sofronitsky a été, au conservatoire de Petrograd, dans la classe de Nikolaev, avec des camarades tels Dimitri Shostakovich et Maria Yudina. Sofronitsky se rappelait en 1945 de son professeur : « Nikolayev est un musicien merveilleux, mais ce n'est pas un pédagogue. Il n'est presque jamais est intervenu dans mes études. Il me confiait, par exemple, le « Carnaval » de Schumann. Une semaine plus tard, je voulais venir en classe et jouer le « Carnaval ». En général, il y avait beaucoup de monde dans la classe. Après la représentation Nikolayev venait à moi, me serrait la main, me remerciait et m'assignait un autre morceau. C’est ce qui s’est passé la plupart du temps. Je lui suis très reconnaissant pour sa grande exposition à la littérature musicale - nous avons souvent joué à quatre mains, à travers toutes sortes de compositions, symphonique et chambristes - mais je ne me sentais pas guidé pédagogiquement de lui, j'ai appris de moi-même. ».

[@ЕвгенийИоанесян]

Сверкающий талант

[@MrLrnz]

well, there are some mistakes but I don't see such a rushed mess. He goes well beyond some wrong notes.

[@michieldpiano]

I love the wrong notes!

[@jinwoobae7555]

@@michieldpiano me too wrong notes=spiritual notes

[@photo161]

KZbin displays a SHOCKING disrespect for it's listeners when in the middle of a most sensitive, expressive phrase in the third movement the music is brutally interrupted without warning by a vile nasty super noisy moronic ad! How utterly contemptuous of its user can KZbin possibly be...Disgusting...

[@brkahn]

Use an ad blocker

[@doodlethecat]

Awesome pianist or not, the vital 3rd movement climaxes are a rushed mess. What a shame.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

Not at all, that is only a reflection that the limits of your sensibility have been reached. Don't worry, not everybody can appreciate greatness to its full measure but there are always more mainstream pianists to content you.

[@zombieperson620]

@@goognamgoognw6637love me some No True Scotsman fallacy

[@thegromit6416]

Not the best.

[@უცხო]

fuck you shit

[@jinwoobae7555]

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