Classical artists blind comparison #3

bump

 

bump

 

i'll get to it.
deadlines are good with me

 

It's funny you say that as I feel almost the opposite -- I have to do it based on one run-through, otherwise I'll change my mind.

I've had a brutal workweek -- I hope to have the chance to check this out Saturday a.m.

 

I must admit 8 Elise in a row are a bit too much for me.
Not a fascinating piece of music for the non-connaisseur, i guess.
I'll listen to them again tomorrow i guess. They almost all sound alike to me.

 

I was just thinking, perhaps this blind comparison series would attract more attention if you included the name of the piece in the topic title?

Just a suggestion.

 

Good idea IMHO

 

I will do that for any future comparisons. Not sure it would have helped this one. seems like I picked a dud this time. I am thinking of extending this one through the weekend to give some folks a chance to do this when they have more time. I'm also thinking of posting the different pieces I have ready to go and letting the forum members pick the next piece. Also thinking of reducing the number of selections to six.

 

Count me in the "one concentrated session" crowd, but if forced to do a sesson on headphones at work I like to do another at home on speakers to double check. Alas, the "brutal week" thing was not restricted to our friend above, and for this outing I was forced to rely only on the AKGs. Whether that influenced my choices is not certain, but we do what we, er, can.

 

Or how about this: "Paul McCartney's Adopted Genre Blind Comparison Thread"?

I just voted, by the by.

 

Voted via PM.

 

Voted via PM

 

I'm going to extend this one until Sunday midnight. Only eight votes so far. Maybe the weekend will generate more traffic.

 

Sorry, I tried. I guess I'll let the initiated guide me through an appreciation of the different musicians.

 

bump

 

Incidentally, I refrained from inviting my wife to participate. A piano teacher, she has heard the piece butchered by unpracticed children so often that she refers to it as "Furry Lice." My daughter, on the other hand, enjoyed listening to the various recordings, as it's one of her favorite pieces. As for me, I'll look forward to learning "who's who."

 

bump

 

Voted by pm - thanks for the bump and another fun shoot-out! Cheers!
-------------Chris

 

John DeAngelis
My favorite was # 7. good tempo (a few were slower) and nice amount of ambience in recording.
I guess # 2 would be second for the same reasons.
The pitch on #5 (lp, yes?) seemed a bit off = higher than the others. #8 (78?) had the flow broken up more than the others, which I didn't particularly like, so I'd make that my least favorite.

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Tangledupinblue
Pretty even set of performances overall, not without its flaws, but all of them are at least competent (not that surprising as it's a pretty easy piece for the most part). My rankings accompanied by comments:

#2 Performance that captures best the essence of this piece - a bagatelle in all but name, slightly capricious with a touch of fantasy. Really like middle section - lovely singing RH. Nice, full bodied C section
#1 Slow, meditative, intimate - like the best kind of drawing room music, a Beethoven song without words (at a stab, Alfred Brendel?). Only let down slightly by too heavy bass in C section
#8 Very musical performance that shines through the poor sound quality, much in the intimate vein of #1 - finely judged dramatic contrast in C section
#4 Nice sounding and different kind of performance, but not sure it's really appropriate for Beethoven - sounds more like a Chopin nocturne - a bit overpedalled and dynamically unstable. Like the staccato bass in C section though, with a nice floating upward arpeggio
#7 Not very smooth legato, laboured B section. Improves later in piece - like dark colouring in C section
#6 Turgid, slow main melody, only middle section has much life
#3 A bit mechanical, more like how a gifted student would play it, going through the motions
#5 Too fast, rhythmically rigid, played more like an exercise, redeemed by nice legato. Don't like bass chords in C section - far too heavy
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Adam 9
First of all, thanks for choosing a piece which is relatively easy to follow, after the lightning-quick Chopin etudes!
I find it difficult to rank 8 performances, but here goes:

#4 - has a soft and delicate tone which suited the piece. It isplayful as well as involved-sounding. I think I spotted a first place vote for it on a post that didn't originally have the blinders on. However, even accounting for any influence that may have had, I am convinced it’s my favourite.
#8 - I like the tempos chosen. Notes sound clearly articulated.
#6- At first I felt the tempo was too slow (‘poco moto” means “a little briskly”) but the it had a persuasive rhythm and dynamics.
#7 - has a sense of motion and flows well. I like the dynamics.
#3 – a straightforward reading
#1 – has a relaxed tempo but is somewhat detached-sounding
#2 – I sort of like the echoey acoustics (or is it pedaling?). The tempo sounds too unvarying to me in places and the dynamics are a bit flat.
#5 – sounds a little too aggressive.
I listened to each performance a number of times, with and without the written music. I listened to parts of all of them again as I was finalizing my comments and rankings and found that I had to rearrange the order. I am sure more listening would refine my results some more, but I have to stop sometime!
_
John
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dhr
I'd hoped to give these a second listening session over speakers on my main rig, but in the event I was restricted to my headphones at work, as outlined in the preceding thread. On that basis, here are my choices:

1. no. 5--I thought this a clear favorite. It simultaneously sparkles and charms.

2. no. 8--Somewhat more sober, but a lovely account. Schnabel, by any chance?

3. no. 1--Nicely poetic, but seems a little slowish after the first two (with reason: it clocks in at 3:23, where the first ones are at or just under 3:00)

4. no. 6--Although actually a few seconds faster than no. 1, it *feels* slower.

5. no. 3--Rather straight in comparison to its predecessors.

6. no. 2--Add "cavernous acoustic" to my comments about no. 3.

7. no 7--Too much pulling and shoving of the tempo.

8. no. 4--Same story as no. 7, but add a generally murky sonic character.

Thanks again for all the legwork!

--drh
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mrack
4 -This one seemed to flow the best. Maybe the most romantic sounding
6
5 -This one sounded the most unique of all, almost sounded more classical instead of romantic. Not sure if that makes sense.
2
8
1
3
7

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JohnS
After the first three or so, it's difficult to rank the rest.

5, 7, 6, 4, 2, 3, 8, 1

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George P
#4 easily beats all the others for me. I like the tone, the rubato and the dynamic shading. Lovely. The rest are far behind.

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Rmilewsk @ AudioAsylum
my vote
1
3
6
5
7
4
8
2
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Botanico 92007 from Audio Asylum
It's a chore, to be sure, to listen to all eight versions. I won't attempt to rank all eight, but I will pick my most and least favorites. I divide them by the choice of tempo. The tempo indication of "poco moto" is ambiguous at best with the 3/8 time signature helping a little. For me I put #1 at the bottom for its rather lugubrious and dour presentation. #6 is similar. #2 has a slightly faster tempo and more forward motion, which I think helps the music. # 4 probably has the best acoustic, which seems more helpful to sound. The middle section has a better contrast with the opening section, and the ending of the piece dies away quietly.

My first is #8, which seems to be the only 78 rpm recording. The tempo is right, the "dolce." indication in the middle section and the "morendo" indication at the end are better realized. And the "motion" seems to be carried through the piece from beginning to end without a lot of fuss.

So it's #8 and then #4 at the top and #6 and then #1 at the bottom. The rest I could shuffle around in the middle, never really finalizing a order of preference.

I look forward to learning who the players are!

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Urban Spaceman
My order of preference was more influenced by the sound quality of the clips this time around. From favorite to least favorite:

7, 6, 4, 2, 1, 3, 5, 8

7 and 6 were a close call for me with 7 getting the edge. 4 through 1 were all enjoyable in their own ways. The bottom three rated as such because:
3 - fine enough performance, but was put off by mp3 sound quality
5 - sound quality was less of an issue, it just seemed like too brisk a tempo for me
8 - 78 transfers usually don't bother me much, but this performance seemed a bit on the perfunctory side. Slappy key technique too. Just not compelling on any level.

Thanks again for putting this together! Very enjoyable! --------- Chris


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Results


#1. Annie Fischer
1 1st place vote, 1 2nd place vote, 1 3rd place vote, 1 5th place vote, 2 6th place votes, 2 8th place votes.
#2. Ivo Pogorelich
1 1st place vote, 1 2nd place vote, 2 4th place votes, 1 5th place vote, 1 6th place vote, 1 7th place vote, 1 8th place vote
#3. Valentina Lisitsa
1 2nd place vote, 2 5th place votes, 2 6th place votes, 2 7th place votes
#4. Alice Sara Ott
3 1st place votes, 1 2nd place vote, 1 3rd place vote, 2 4th place votes, 1 6th place vote, 2 8th place votes
#5. Alicia De Larrocha
2 1st place votes, 1 3rd place vote, 1 4th place vote, 1 7th place vote, 2 8th place votes
#6. Jeno Jando
2 2nd place votes, 3 3rd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 1 5th place vote, 1 7th place vote
#7 Alfred Brendel
2 1st place votes, 1 2nd place vote, 1 4th place vote, 2 5th place votes, 1 7th place vote, 1 8th place vote
#8 Artur Schnabel
1 1st place vote, 2 2nd place votes, 1 3rd place vote, 1 5th place vote, 2 7th place votes, 1 8th place vote

 

Quite a few surprises there - was right only about Brendel being one of the pianists, but his actual performance was very different from what I predicted. On further reflection, though, I think #7 makes sense because even as a bit of a Brendel fan he isn't the most exciting pianist in a purely emotional sense, but his great strength is his intellectual insight and feel for the architecture of the piece - a kind of "greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts" player.

Dismayed and shocked though that Alicia de Larocha was my worst - her performances of Spanish music rank among the finest, most moving and exciting performances of piano music I've ever heard, and it could be the quality of that clip didn't help, but somehow the passion she displays in spades in Albeniz and Granados (and no doubt other repertoire) was missing there - too fast and mechanical with none of the intimacy this piece should have.

I haven't heard of #3, #4 and possibly not even #6; but #1 and #2 sound pretty familar names to me (though I don't recall the last time, if ever, I heard any previous performances from them) - good to see they were my top two favourites.

 

Alice Sara Ott is new to me, too; I know her by neither name nor reputation. I think I've seen Lisitsa's name, but that's all. Jando was a stalwart of the Naxos label as it broke out into the "big time"; seemed as if he was recording *everything* for them, including complete cycles of the Beethoven and Haydn sonatas and the Mozart concerti and sonatas, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Bach's Well Tempered Clavier....

I can't say that I've systematically or extensively sampled his discography, but what I've heard has always struck me as middlin', decent playing that gets the main points across without having a lot of character. Rather the way he came in for me in the instant exercise, in fact.

I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree about de Larrocha's Fur Elise! As to Pogrorelich, I commend his Scarlatti to your attention. I don't have any in my collection, but I've much enjoyed its frequent appearances on our local classical FM station.

 

What's up with the relatively low quality of the encoding on tracks presented (V5 mp3)? I find the compression artifacts really distracting from the performances. Dunno if V0 is out of the question, but higher encoding quality would be a huge welcome

 

Oh, yes, and thanks again to Scott for his stalwart effors in launching and shepherding this thread!

 

That would be my fault. I will work on this.

 

Just a note on sound quality. Clearly I need to do a better job on this but....I have always been a bit concerned that this alone would be an influence and in some ways a give away as to the era from which any given sample may have come from. That would be a potential source of bias. Something I am trying to eliminate. I thought the low fi sound might work as a field leveler. But clearly it has been as much a problem as a solution.