Jorge Bolet was my great uncle. And I got to him listening and performing Liszt. I did not have a chance to now him very closely but every serious musician I have met tells me that he was the best Liszt performer. He also got lots of awards for rediscovering Liszt Recital. So please do not say he is not for Liszt pieces.
also they see technique in fast and loud, but technique is also playing in soft seductive, colour etc! no one can play Auf dem wasser zu singen like him! no one!
Having studied with (and about) Bolet, I can tell you that his choice of "filling in" the chords was deliberate and well-thought out. Whether or not he changed that penultimate chord, we don't know unless he told someone that was a choice he had made. It works. He had been taught to alternate fingers in his trills, and that is why they may seem to "lock" as someone suggested. (That would not be my choice of fingerings.) He did teach very great respect for (and analysis of ) the score.
There is much to praise in this performance but one standout element for me is the balance, beauty and fullness of his chords. They are always perfect - - without any exception I have heard
Precious, precious interpretantion! Great tone, colors, brilliance! He was an old-school virtuoso, with technique that cared about making great music first, not just playing note-perfect, fast and loud.
You said it well. Bolet had studied with David Saperton, who had been a pupil of the great Jozef Hofmann--and if ever there was an aristocrat of the piano it was Hofmann, in a Golden Age of Romantic pianism when there were so many Aristocrats of the keyboard. I think Bolet could be seen as coming from that tradition. His Liszt playing always puts the music first, rather than presenting it as only pyrotechnics and bombast.
lovesGenet-you have said it all. Bolet played through his experience-his life, his teachers,his constant travels, the great musicians he met-all the stuff you don't ever learn from teachers in Conservatoires.
he was one the top five pianists in the history. and he was a really passionate smoker. he even couldnt stand it if he couldnt smoke at the intermissions of concerts. he also died on cigarettes. thank you very much for this record. one thing- put the same video under the Titel-´Liszt, other people who doesnt know him should also hear what Bolet was.
I'm 17, and my piano teacher gave me this piece to learn over the summer and next year, along with a Chopin etude, Prokofiev's Diabolical Suggestion, Bach Prelude and Fugue in Ab minor, Third movement of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata (So I can complete the whole sonata), a Beethoven concerto, and a modern piece of her choice. I'm so excited.
I like this performance of Bolet's more than the very good performance on UA-cam by Pletnev - and I am a great fan of Pletnev. This seems to me to have more rhythmn, more drama and just as much clarity.
he plays nice, definitely a professional with his own distinctive style. And for those who are looking for the perfect pianist to come, rest assured...Franz Liszt was the one and only, nothing will ever come close, and since then we had a miriad of pianists with awesome talent but still, Liszt was a GOD
Liszt is the Hungarian phonetic spelling for a German name, List. Liszt was born in Raiding, present-day Burgenland, Austria. He grew up speaking German and never learned Hungarian. He probably had little if any Hungarian blood. I think he "marketed" himself as a Hungarian because it seemed exotic and gave him so much more charisma than being just another Austrian pianist.
You can interpret Liszt with freedom in his Rhapsody's. This man does that. Interpretation is also part of the creation of art. Interpretation of the composer is slightly different than the one who plays the piece, and interpretation of the listener is also slightly different. Everyone can find different meaning in the Mona Lisa.. Consider that.
Unlike Horowitz and Cziffra, Bolet could be over cautious in virtuso works such as Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Totentanz,the Hungarian Fantasy and Piano Concertos. They need a feeling of abandon and improvisatory flair. However, he had a certain aristocratic reserve and nobility and always produced a beautiful cantabile and full sonority at climaxes. His version of the Wagner/Liszt Tannhauser Overture 'live' from Carnegie Hall (1974) is superb.
Bolet is the most underrated pianist...a "Alien" Technique!!! I mean his Technique is not from the Earth!! For me he is one of the greatest..of all time
It's only an accident that the Magyarized spelling of a German name, List, spells a word in the Hungarian language. If you can substantiate your claim that Adam Liszt was an ethnic Hungarian I will be impressed. However everything I have read has claimed that Adam Liszt was the descendent of ethnic Germans who settled in western Hungary a few generations earlier.
At the risk of being a total bore, because I gave say this so many times elsewhere on UA-cam, Bolet was so tragically underrated. Every posting on here just confirms it for me.
I haven't heared Cliburn's Liszt but his Rach 3 with Kondrashin is one of my favourite interpretations. A big bold majestic account. Sorry but I'm not familiar with Sergenia. Perhaps u could enlighten me?
Sorry--Liszt was NOT an ethnic Hungarian. His family was German, as was his last name. Yes--Raiding was considered to be part of Hungary at that time. After WW 1 there was a plebiscite and residents of that part of western Hungary voted to join Austria as part of the state, or land of Burgenland, since they were all or mostly Germanic by language and/or ethnicity.
He hits many wrong notes here, but it's still a WONDERFUL performance, full of personality and panache, and truly aristocratic in spirit and dash. Bolet was a superb Liszt interpreter because he was not only a brilliant virtuoso but a very spontaneous and living musician, full of sensuality, temperament and wit. A Latin!
it is just fucking amazing...this brilliance in concert. bolet was an another underrated greatness of this world. this is surely a better pianist than,lets say, rubinstein or not? everybody knows rubinstein, but how many knows bolet...like francescatti on violin, or janos starker on cello. this bolet is AT LEAST so great as the greatest famous pianist. Who the fuck can play this Hungarian rhapsody in CONCERT so brilliant.d´you know how difficult this piece is ?...Im very moved. thanks.
@fraanciscoo I have terrible ears, but from what I can hear he plays e-flat minor in the right hand instead of g flat major, but keeps the left hand chord in g flat major. so he plays some sort of a seventh chord on e-flat major. might be by accident getting too carried away in his playing. there might be some other notes in there but i can't really tell.
yeah man it still amazes me...i´d love to fill here this youtube with compliments for him. i tell ya, in terms that this was a concert, who has the control in concert in that grade?...in concerts there are always things going lost. but this...i am really amazed.
well there are not many pianists who can do this piece "on the stage" without any take, or cut. there are many recordings, always "studio records", none concert. bolet should be praised as one of the best technician on the piano. this cannot be done better than that. and in a concert hall, actually we witness here something like a wonder. he makes allmost no mistake, the middle part both hands very difficult. maybe a cziffra, or richter could do such a thing, bolet belongs also to this legaue.
Franz Liszt was born in into an ethnic Hungarian[3][4][5] family on October 22, 1811, in the village of Raiding (Hungarian: Doborján it was the Hasburg empire composed by the actual HUNGARY and Austria it was so normal that Hungarian people were living in Austria and by the way his nationality was italian and for that reason he was rejected by the Parisien conservatory because he was NOT French, I think you know only part of his life and BTW he was very hungarian in his way of life..
Mikhail Pletnev's rendition of this piece (available here on UA-cam) is close to perfection in my opinion. I like the clarity of Bolet's playing though.
A very nice performance. Seemed a bit over-dramatic at times, but hey, it's part of the performance. I also found it interesting that he used a more "straight-fingered" approach to the keys, much like Horowitz.
Compare if you will this excellent performance with another elsewhere,as self-centred and wilful as this is correct and in the true Lisztian tradition.
@Starbirdy9999 What's wrong with the Baroque period? =P Think before you say stuff. ANYWAY, WHOOOOOO!!! great piece, great performer, I want to play a hungarian rhapsody now...
Personally I think that Rachmaninov third piano concerto by Bolet is unsurpasable....better than Horowitz,Lisitsa and others.He get beauty where other pianists just see empty scales and arpegges.He plays this masterpiece as it,a masterpiece and not just a virtuoso concert just for showing skills!!!
I think differently - i'm really tired of these comments (that get many ups, don't ask me why) complaining about the other comments, especially if somebody doesn't like the recording. No, not all is down to taste - first you have to Have a taste. For example, i like this recording, but i don't mind comments where people write that they don't - the only thing i need is for them to write well-based arguments why. But i wouldn't like it more if there were just comments of praise, that's empty.
Jorge Bolet was my great uncle. And I got to him listening and performing Liszt. I did not have a chance to now him very closely but every serious musician I have met tells me that he was the best Liszt performer. He also got lots of awards for rediscovering Liszt Recital. So please do not say he is not for Liszt pieces.
Ignore anyone who makes such stupid statements about Jorge. They are merely displaying their complete ignorance of the subject.
Your uncle is a giant in the piano world.
Thanks to an understanding nephew
Jorge Bolet was one of the greatest pianists of our era.
(I had the opportunity to hear him playing several times).
... I am in love with ur uncle.
Jorge Bolet is hte best Liszt performer of all time and one of the most gifted pianists. His technique is incredible!
Of all the interpretations I’ve heard (about ten), this is the most evenly modulated, the most serene. A quieter, non-bombastic passion.
and for gods sake, those saying his technique wasnt great;
"bolet had one of the best techniques of the past 100 years, do you know nothing?"
One doesn't become a famous and respected pianist with "less than great" technique, some people just don't know what they're talking about
also they see technique in fast and loud, but technique is also playing in soft seductive, colour etc! no one can play Auf dem wasser zu singen like him! no one!
beautifully aristocratic yet profoundly emotional, never any sentimentality; and rightly so.
I LOVE JORGE BOLET.
simple as.
Bolet's performance is always so beautiful
I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR BOLET PLAYING THIS!!! It is my absolute favorite version of this.
this man creates his own storms within the composition and he was a great teacher
I simply love Bolet
Definitely one of my favourite performances of this rhapsody. Great Jorge Bolet!
Thank you for sharing this.
A pianist's pianist, for sure. He could do things on the piano that I haven't seen done anywhere else.
Beautiful playing by a great pianist! Bravo! TY.
Having studied with (and about) Bolet, I can tell you that his choice of "filling in" the chords was deliberate and well-thought out. Whether or not he changed that penultimate chord, we don't know unless he told someone that was a choice he had made. It works. He had been taught to alternate fingers in his trills, and that is why they may seem to "lock" as someone suggested. (That would not be my choice of fingerings.) He did teach very great respect for (and analysis of ) the score.
There is much to praise in this performance but one standout element for me is the balance, beauty and fullness of his chords. They are always perfect - - without any exception I have heard
He was great. Such great control, so gentle...great!
Precious, precious interpretantion! Great tone, colors, brilliance! He was an old-school virtuoso, with technique that cared about making great music first, not just playing note-perfect, fast and loud.
i have everything from Liszt, grew up on him. Heard every interpretation worth listening to. And yes, he was a gift, a prodigy.
the best for ever and ever.....
beautiful,.... simply beautiful interpretation!!
I LOVE Bolet playing Liszt. Thanks so much!
Bolet es 💯 perfecto es mi favorito desde niña ❤❤❤❤
Always simply amazing Bolet. Touching the stars
Bolet was a brilliant Liszt performer.
A super difficult piece. Bolet is my favorite for Liszt. He doesn't rush, is precise, and smooth at the same time. I couldn't learn this in 100 years.
Grande pianista
A completely unique interpretation... this man has golden ears to produce such a well honed sound. The keys sound like crystal clear bells.
You said it well. Bolet had studied with David Saperton, who had been a pupil of the great Jozef Hofmann--and if ever there was an aristocrat of the piano it was Hofmann, in a Golden Age of Romantic pianism when there were so many Aristocrats of the keyboard. I think Bolet could be seen as coming from that tradition. His Liszt playing always puts the music first, rather than presenting it as only pyrotechnics and bombast.
Bolet played many times a year for Hoffman during all of his Curtis years., Saperton was Hoffman's assistant
The power, the finesse, the crystalline articulation. Bolet is not remotely surpassable.
The most beautiful Liszt.
God that melody from around 6:30 in makes me cry every time. Liszt randomly put it there just for that reason.
Fue un joven talento muy guapo, mi favorito. 💌💌💌💌💌💌🇮🇷. La rapshhodia mas fificil. Bravooooii!
lovesGenet-you have said it all. Bolet played through his experience-his life, his teachers,his constant travels, the great musicians he met-all the stuff you don't ever learn from teachers in Conservatoires.
he was one the top five pianists in the history. and he was a really passionate smoker. he even couldnt stand it if he couldnt smoke at the intermissions of concerts. he also died on cigarettes. thank you very much for this record. one thing- put the same video under the Titel-´Liszt, other people who doesnt know him should also hear what Bolet was.
Bravo!
I'm 17, and my piano teacher gave me this piece to learn over the summer and next year, along with a Chopin etude, Prokofiev's Diabolical Suggestion, Bach Prelude and Fugue in Ab minor, Third movement of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata (So I can complete the whole sonata), a Beethoven concerto, and a modern piece of her choice. I'm so excited.
Extraordinario.!!!!!!!
I have two simple questions: if Bolet is not "your cup of tea" why do you keep returning here? Why do you bother to listen to him?
Desde niña es mi favorito. ❤️
I just listened to Arthur Rubinstein play the same piece. I prefer Bolet's interpretation.
same here
Love the how he nicely enhanced the left hand at the 9:42 passage ;)
Incomparable. 🎼💌🇮🇷
played most of it too.. nice program for the next year :) good luck with it.
DE LOS GRANDES DEL PIANO.
9:34 watch his left hand!!!!!! what a powerfull but controlled action!
Pongan la pelicula de Lizst para que escuchen Bolet era jovencito todavia Una Llama Magica. 😂❤
I like this performance of Bolet's more than the very good performance on UA-cam by Pletnev - and I am a great fan of Pletnev. This seems to me to have more rhythmn, more drama and just as much clarity.
Wonderful! Many thanks! BRs
he plays nice, definitely a professional with his own distinctive style. And for those who are looking for the perfect pianist to come, rest assured...Franz Liszt was the one and only, nothing will ever come close, and since then we had a miriad of pianists with awesome talent but still, Liszt was a GOD
Bolet no necesita otro. Nivel.
@Will84ABA -He is perhaps the most underrated of all the twentieth century piano greats.
Liszt is the Hungarian phonetic spelling for a German name, List. Liszt was born in Raiding, present-day Burgenland, Austria. He grew up speaking German and never learned Hungarian. He probably had little if any Hungarian blood. I think he "marketed" himself as a Hungarian because it seemed exotic and gave him so much more charisma than being just another Austrian pianist.
Actually he loved Hungary and you can visit his flat off Andrasy Street in Budapest where he returned in later years.
Mannhummel: an article you may find enlightening on this subject can be googled on the internet: "How Hungarian was Liszt?" by Coby Lubliner.
Best
inspirational
A true master of Lizst!
The great piano era……😍
You can interpret Liszt with freedom in his Rhapsody's. This man does that. Interpretation is also part of the creation of art. Interpretation of the composer is slightly different than the one who plays the piece, and interpretation of the listener is also slightly different.
Everyone can find different meaning in the Mona Lisa.. Consider that.
Unlike Horowitz and Cziffra, Bolet could be over cautious in virtuso works such as Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Totentanz,the Hungarian Fantasy and Piano Concertos. They need a feeling of abandon and improvisatory flair. However, he had a certain aristocratic reserve and nobility and always produced a beautiful cantabile and full sonority at climaxes. His version of the Wagner/Liszt Tannhauser Overture 'live' from Carnegie Hall (1974) is superb.
Hagan caso de las criticas de los que sabemos ,Bolet es genio.
Great!
Bolet is the most underrated pianist...a "Alien" Technique!!! I mean his Technique is not from the Earth!! For me he is one of the greatest..of all time
It's only an accident that the Magyarized spelling of a German name, List, spells a word in the Hungarian language. If you can substantiate your claim that Adam Liszt was an ethnic Hungarian I will be impressed. However everything I have read has claimed that Adam Liszt was the descendent of ethnic Germans who settled in western Hungary a few generations earlier.
El genial. para. Lizst.
At the risk of being a total bore, because I gave say this so many times elsewhere on UA-cam, Bolet was so tragically underrated. Every posting on here just confirms it for me.
I haven't heared Cliburn's Liszt but his Rach 3 with Kondrashin is one of my favourite interpretations. A big bold majestic account. Sorry but I'm not familiar with Sergenia. Perhaps u could enlighten me?
La 12 es de alta dificultad. mas que las demas. ❤️🇮🇷
Bolet. interpreto a Liszt en la película Una llama. Mágica.
@smb12321
Yes, u can hear it directly, that he is from the old school.
his piano is SINGING...
not shouting, barking....
Sorry--Liszt was NOT an ethnic Hungarian. His family was German, as was his last name. Yes--Raiding was considered to be part of Hungary at that time. After WW 1 there was a plebiscite and residents of that part of western Hungary voted to join Austria as part of the state, or land of Burgenland, since they were all or mostly Germanic by language and/or ethnicity.
Disco Una llama mágica. 🎶🎶
He hits many wrong notes here, but it's still a WONDERFUL performance, full of personality and panache, and truly aristocratic in spirit and dash.
Bolet was a superb Liszt interpreter because he was not only a brilliant virtuoso but a very spontaneous and living musician, full of sensuality, temperament and wit. A Latin!
it is just fucking amazing...this brilliance in concert. bolet was an another underrated greatness of this world. this is surely a better pianist than,lets say, rubinstein or not? everybody knows rubinstein, but how many knows bolet...like francescatti on violin, or janos starker on cello. this bolet is AT LEAST so great as the greatest famous pianist. Who the fuck can play this Hungarian rhapsody in CONCERT so brilliant.d´you know how difficult this piece is ?...Im very moved. thanks.
Questo è un grande pianista! Grandi le sue interpretazioni di Rachmaninov
A interpretação dele é mais musical que a maioria dos pianistas
Desde siempre 🇮🇷🖐️
@fraanciscoo I have terrible ears, but from what I can hear he plays e-flat minor in the right hand instead of g flat major, but keeps the left hand chord in g flat major. so he plays some sort of a seventh chord on e-flat major. might be by accident getting too carried away in his playing. there might be some other notes in there but i can't really tell.
yeah man it still amazes me...i´d love to fill here this youtube with compliments for him. i tell ya, in terms that this was a concert, who has the control in concert in that grade?...in concerts there are always things going lost. but this...i am really amazed.
No todos los concertistas. ,pueden con la Rapsodia 12 de Lizst. 🇮🇷🎼🎶
magific
who gives a rats arse, watched Bolet from the choir loft, one of my favorite experiences. Enjoy this performance folks.
Bolet nacio para Lizst. 💯🏅
well there are not many pianists who can do this piece "on the stage" without any take, or cut. there are many recordings, always "studio records", none concert. bolet should be praised as one of the best technician on the piano. this cannot be done better than that. and in a concert hall, actually we witness here something like a wonder. he makes allmost no mistake, the middle part both hands very difficult. maybe a cziffra, or richter could do such a thing, bolet belongs also to this legaue.
Franz Liszt was born in into an ethnic Hungarian[3][4][5] family on October 22, 1811, in the village of Raiding (Hungarian: Doborján it was the Hasburg empire composed by the actual HUNGARY and Austria it was so normal that Hungarian people were living in Austria and by the way his nationality was italian and for that reason he was rejected by the Parisien conservatory because he was NOT French, I think you know only part of his life and BTW he was very hungarian in his way of life..
What score are you using to determine the wrong notes? I will look at the same edition that you have.
Mikhail Pletnev's rendition of this piece (available here on UA-cam) is close to perfection in my opinion. I like the clarity of Bolet's playing though.
Well, this is impressive.
Is Super!!!
Mikayel
Y Guillermo Tell!
A very nice performance. Seemed a bit over-dramatic at times, but hey, it's part of the performance. I also found it interesting that he used a more "straight-fingered" approach to the keys, much like Horowitz.
Compare if you will this excellent performance with another elsewhere,as self-centred and wilful as this is correct and in the true Lisztian tradition.
Kihívás minden zongoristának és van még feljebb!
Wonderful. It is full of life and musicality. I still prefer Murray Perahia's rendition of this piece though.
@Starbirdy9999 What's wrong with the Baroque period? =P Think before you say stuff.
ANYWAY, WHOOOOOO!!! great piece, great performer, I want to play a hungarian rhapsody now...
No lo comparen con nadie. .🎹🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🇮🇷
Because I can hear it.
Personally I think that Rachmaninov third piano concerto by Bolet is unsurpasable....better than Horowitz,Lisitsa and others.He get beauty where other pianists just see empty scales and arpegges.He plays this masterpiece as it,a masterpiece and not just a virtuoso concert just for showing skills!!!
horowitz and Lisita in one sentence ...?!
mmm...No it cannot, be because its 70's according to the vid description. What piano is he playing on?
I think differently - i'm really tired of these comments (that get many ups, don't ask me why) complaining about the other comments, especially if somebody doesn't like the recording. No, not all is down to taste - first you have to Have a taste. For example, i like this recording, but i don't mind comments where people write that they don't - the only thing i need is for them to write well-based arguments why.
But i wouldn't like it more if there were just comments of praise, that's empty.
These are just one of those pieces where I just sit there and gape smh
Cziffra ? Ya quisiera. 🎶🎶🎶🎶🇮🇷