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Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:46:21 -0500 |
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I am impressed when a noted pianist like Leslie Kinton makes the following
unequivocal statement:
>Beyond doubt, Beethoven op. 106 (the "Hammerklavier") is technically,
>intellectually, musically, in every way, the most difficult masterpiece
>written for the piano. Nothing else even comes close.
I only just retrieved my loaned CD of Marc-Andre Hamelin (whom we Yankees
now claim as one of our own, by virtue of his living near Philadelphia,
despite his hailing from a nation of hockey players) performing Godowsky's
studies on Chopin's etudes. As I recall, someone on this list nominated
Godowsky as the source of the "Most Difficult Piano Music". But I thought
I would provide a learned contrast to Mr. Kinton's claim. According to the
liner notes on the CD, the late reknowned critic Harold Shonberg claimed
Godowsky's studies were
>probably the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano.
>These are fantastic exercises that push piano technique to heights
>undreamed of even by Liszt.
As for me, I could have imagined playing the Hammerklavier (very badly),
but I cannot even imagine playing these tortuous exercises by Godowsky.
Heck, listening to Hamelin performing, I frequently guessed wrong about
how many hands he was using.
The two CD set, by the way, is hyperion CDA67411/2.
Larry
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