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

Just sent my PM - only the third response so far. I trust and hope more are forthcoming, drh!

I may be way off the mark but I had a few initial problems getting the first one to download - I had to click on the download button several times before the "do you want to open or save" dialog box came up - most of the others worked fine for me first go. Assuming others have had the same problem, maybe the failed attempts counted as downloads?

 

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Looks like the M didn't download properly in "tempestuously:

 

hmmmmmmm

 

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Spoiler

I liked #4 the best. It's weird, a bit crazy in spots, but I like it.
Second place goes to #1, I didn't like the weird stopping (pausing or accenting) used by the pianist, but found the interpretation to be otherwise elegant and expressive.
Third place goes to #5. Nice tone and beauty, though a bit awkward in spots.
Fourth place goes to #6, the first of the three speed demons.
Fifth place goes to #3, which sounds too rushed for me.
Sixth (last) place goes to #2, which I found rushed and lacking nuance.

After I listened to and rated the samples, I couldn't resist going to my shelves and listening to my Tempests. I find this movement (the finale) deceptively difficult to pull off correctly. I searched for a long time and finally found one that I really like. I'll share it here, not to compete with the 6 posted earlier, but just for those who might be curious to hear another interpretation of this movement:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/t5qbjbqoj1jinvw/7.flac

 

Spoiler

Wow - my choices were exactly the same as yours, only my top half was the same as your bottom half and vice versa. Talk about different strokes!

I guess I like my Beethoven perpetuum mobile finales to be nice and fast.

 

Spoiler

Check out Fazil Say's Beethoven sonata CD, his finale is fast and fun, as is the rest of the CD. It's the most "fun" Beethoven CD ever. Cheap too, along with two other CDs - amazon link

 

I look forward to reading your comments.

 

I will be voting for my preferences, although right now I am not able to listen to these on my main system.

 

So far, I have votes from Scott Wheeler and Tangledupinblue by PM and George P. in the thread body. By the poll entries, that suggests that I may be missing one or some. If you voted but your name doesn't appear in the foregoing list, please let me know or try again--I don't want anyone left out!

Oh, bother--I just knew, when I bought this keyboard, that I wasn't spending enough oney!

I'll look forward to your conclusions. For what it's worth, I was relegated to a secondary set of headphones plugged straight into a tertiary CD player in making assessments for the Fur Elise thread.

 

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Too late for 12:00 and all's well...

How about 12:43; We'll just wait and see?

 

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Because I started it running in the wee hours of the morning, the poll has about 24 hours more to run...

 

We've had another vote by PM--thanks!

 

Now down to a bit better than 12 hours....

 

Am I next? If so, can I begin on Thursday?

 

First post - nice forum here. My 2 cent contribution for the day

Spoiler

4,1,5,6,3,2

Needless to say I got a bit of a surprise when I checked George P's spoiler . Pretty much spot on with the comments too.

 

As far as I am concerned you are.

go for it!

 

I concur, but I'd like to raise one thought: given the glacial pace at which replies have trickled in for this iteration (and the sparsity so far of votes), do we need to take a brief pause to let participants catch their collective breath? I'm good to start right in again, but perhaps others would appreciate a few days' break? If that seems like a valid concern, it might be worth raising in the general thread as well.

 

I see what you mean, but I wonder if it might increase participation if we run them back to back? We could run them a bit longer too, I guess?

 

Well, this one ran for a full week--not sure longer would make any difference. You may have a point about back to back, however. I'll leave it to your judgment and any comments that we receive in the next day or so from other participants.

 

It's a shame people's interest seems to have dwindled in this series - I thought the momentum would have carried on after the upsurge of enthusiastic responses during the last two days of the first of these blind comparison threads with more people taking part, but the very reverse seems to have been the case.

 

Just sent a PM with votes.

 

Got it. Thanks!