Classical artists blind comparison thread #4 (Beethoven-"Tempest" Sonata)

Here is blind comparison no. 4. The work is the third movement, allegretto, of Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 17 in D Minor, op. 31 no. 2, popularly known as the "Tempest." In a nod to George P.'s expressed preference for more rather than fewer selections, I added a no. 6 to the five performances I originally contemplated. In a nod to Testikoff's observations regarding sonic quality, I made little effort to "even out" the recordings and have posted files with lossless compression; I'm trusting that we all can focus on the performances and largely disregard technical variance among recordings of various vintages. So, without further ado, borrowing and adapting Scott's language from thread no. 3:

Because the music is somewhat longer than what we've had in preceding threads, I'm giving everyone one week. The poll will close on Wednesday, March 14.

Protocols:

Please rank the recordings from 1 to 6 in order of preference.

Feel free to comment on any or all of the pieces.

I prefer that the votes and comments be sent to me via PM, which I will cut and paste to post after the poll closes. If you vote by PM, please post to the thread or vote in the poll to bump the thread up.

If you wish you may vote via direct post to the thread, but please use spoilers blinders, following this format but substituting square brackets for the curly braces: {spoiler} TEXT {/spoiler}.

Either way, please do not say anything that might give away the identities of the artists.

The six files, in FLAC format, can be found here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?0iajjayp9w395

Thanks for participating, and enjoy! I look forward to everyone's opinions and insights.

 

Giving them a listen right now

 

Thanks for getting things underway!

 

Great idea for a work (I know it's only one movement) and I like that you included the name of the work in your thread title. I am still away from home , but I plan to dig into this later today! I will be glad to prepare the next one when we are ready.

May I suggest that we refer to our ongoing classical thread in post one of these threads, just to make folks aware of our classical discussion?

 

Good idea--let's bear that in mind for the future.

I'm about to be incommunicado for most of the rest of the day. Scott, if I may presume to ask, if anybody has problems getting at the files via Mediafire (don't expect any, but this is our first time trying it), please feel free to put them up through that service you used that allows for their direct placement in a post.

Now, I'm outta here!

 

You got it

 

I don't get this...I have to download these flac files to my hard drive to hear them?

 

Correct.

 

still going over them.

 

Take your time, I'd say--that's why I set the deadline a week out.

By the by, a thought for those who are planning to host hereafter: might not hurt to check with Scott first to make sure we're not duplicating a work that he's already set up.

 

Good point. that would really go for everyone. not just me.

Just to get it out there the pieces I have in the works are.....

Rachmaninoff, Prelude in C sharp minor
Beethoven, Moonlight
Bizet/Horowitz, Carmine Fantasy
Schubert/Listz, Erikonig
Stravinsky, Petrushka
Scarlatti Sonata K 141
Scarlatti Sonata K 380
Scarlatti Sonata K 466

And I'm not saying I own those. If someone else wanted to use one of those pieces say the word and I will do no more work on it. They are all, to a degree, works in progress. And pretty much in order of development. I figure I have to be prepared to alter them as each comparison unfolds to avoid over using certain musicians.

 

Thanks for the lis(z?)t! For those who, like me, sometimes have resort to the old Longo listings, the corresponding numbers are as follows:

K. 141 = L. 422
K. 380 = L. 23
K. 466 = L. 118

Now, as to that Schubert-Liszt: that plays into an idea with which I'd been flirting, namely somewhere down the road to post a group of recordings of the Schubert original song. Might make for an interesting/instructive juxtaposition if Scott and I could work in tandem to do a group of originals followed immediately by a group of the transcription. I know that many are allergic to vocal music, although, done right, that song is so powerful I'd think it would appeal to just about anyone. Any thoughts?

 

Back to incommunicado land. See you guys late this PM!

 

Funny thing: according to the stats at Mediafire, track 1 by now has been downloaded 12 times; 2-5 have been downloaded six times each, and 6 has been downloaded five times. Curious that no. 1 would be so much more popular and that the other numbers don't all match either ...

Anyhow, happy listening to all, and to all a good night.

 

A score can be found here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No.17,_Op.31/2_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van)

 

I'm about to disappear again...

 

Sorry, that link doesn't work, for those like me who still haven't started on this (or those who might want to listen to the performances again) here's one that takes you directly to the score (on page 12 of 21):

http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/f/f6/IMSLP00017-Beethoven__L.v._-_Piano_Sonata_17.pdf

I haven't forgotten about this; will make a start on it this weekend after I've finished with my latest batch of new music.

 

I voted by PM.

I feel like a gymnist with all the flip flopping I did on this one.

 

Thanks, Scott! You have the distinction of being the first voter. I'm looking forward to others' comments as they come in.

 

surprised to be first. Hope I'm not last......

 

Thanks for the link. Don't know why mine came up basically blank; I got it from Wikipedia, and when I tried it from there it had all manner of further links to scores and whatnot. Curious.

I'll look forward to your votes and always illuminating comments....

 

I'm working on these, having listened to them about 3 times so far. I confess I wasn't going to go to the trouble of downloading the samples, but I'm glad I did as the sound is noticeably better.
Thanks for the hard work in putting this together.

 

Glad to oblige, and glad that you're enjoying them. I'm looking forward to reading your conclusions!

 

A quick glance at the Mediafire stats indicates we now have 14 downloads of no. 1, 8 each of nos. 2 through 5, and 7 of no. 6. Hey, folks, don't forget to reset your clocks!

 

"Only three more days," he said, tepestuously.