Heard him perform Liszt,Transcendental Etudes in Austin,Texas in the 70’s.Indescribable.Once in a lifetime experience.Thirty-forty years later Pictures at an Exhibition in Fort Worth,Texas-still so memorable.We wonder about our respective lives during those decades.How did WE contribute?
He plays this sonata with a comprehensible tempo with clarity and contrasting tempo and emotion. This is best interpretation that I have heard of Scribin.
I've been working on this piece and getting frustrated that I couldn't get it up to the tempo Scriabin indicates on the score (104 and 84 for 1st movement), which is crazy fast - about the tempo Ashkenazy takes. I finally got it up to close to that tempo, but it required cutting out a lot of the soul of the piece (by lightening up my playing, making some of the powerful chords feel less grand), and was also more precarious technically-I'd need to warm up for 30-45 minutes before I could play it at that speed without tons of mistakes, and it definitely wasn't solid enough to perform in that state-, so I decided to go back to the tempo I was doing before, which is about the tempo Berman uses here. I'm glad to see so many people in the comments here like this tempo. Knowing that such a great pianist _could_ have played it much faster but chose not to for artistic reasons makes me feel less bad about not being able to play it well at the tempo Scriabin indicates. His interpretation is so rich, and so much of what he does would be lost if he played it faster.
@@voskresenie- I am so glad that someone like You have expressed your feelings concerning the extreme Rapid tempo that the composer and sometimes the Artist perform at makes the music insensitive. Not only have I experienced this with some of Scriabin pieces but with some of Robert Schumann pieces. By playing the composition at a slowly pace, I am able to draw out the beautiful harmonies and to feel the composers sentiment in the Music and try to relate the same sentiment that have occurred in my life experience. I am a 66 year old African American male who lives in Macon Bibb County Georgia 31201, and my Childhood music teacher was an African American woman who was born in 1884 and Studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston Massachusetts from 1922-1925 and Open a music Studio in Atlanta Georgia in her 1920s Nice Bungulow house. She never married. She was an hairdresser in her early days was licence to use Madam C.J. Walker Half products. My Music teacher through her network with Madam C J Walker hairdresser operated Beauty Schools and encorporated the Fine Arts as a means of Promoting the Fine Arts during the Edwardian Age and the Harlem Renaissance of New York that had networks all over the country in the Black community before the civil rights school. I need not tell You she was a highly cultivated woman, ram rod back, Stockings, hair fixed. She taught stage presence as a part of our piano Lessons. She taught also voice. I can get the sense of The music of Scribin and the other composers of the late Russian Romantic period as well of the Impressionist like Debussy and Ravel because my music teacher was a young woman during period and her presence was a window into that era. The sound of her voice and her facial and physical expression express that era. I use her as a portal to interpret these works.
When Im listening to the 4th movement and my tears are flowing suddenly UA-cam Ads comes up so I feel like I'm capable of playing "sfffffz" on the table in order to loose my hands just like Scribian!
Lazar Berman is such an exceptional pianist. It is a real pity he became known to world outside the USSR very late, although he never really got famous. He is one of the best artists in his genre. In fact a very similar case to Jorge Bolet which I admire a lot. Thanks for sharing this recording. Simply gorgeous in his execution!!!
Agree with others’ comments, and I think Berman was and still is one of best pianists in the world. Especially, he was so less known compared to some others at his time. The way he played musics is more in a masterfully artistic concept which has beyond an excellent pianist be able to do.
Los horizontes de la música son extensos, no vale encerrarlos en clasificaciones hueras. Lazar Berman me hace vibrar tan intensamente con esta sonata de Scriabin que Ariadna Castellanos con su taranta a Morente. La música traspasa fronteras, aúna sentires, aúpa ánimos. Evoca e invoca. Encuentro en ambos la misma intensidad, la misma bravura, el mismo talante. La misma capacidad de evocar e invocar.
Scriabin wrote this during a time when he was told by doctors he could never play professionally anymore, due to an injury to his right hand; you can really hear the heart-wrenching emotions and despair he put into this piece. I love music like this, music that has a backstory, and really exploits the feelings that are connected with it. Fortunately, he eventually recovered from his injuries, of course.
philip fletcher Each to his own. Ashkenazy, in my view, does the most justice to the great music of Scriabin, and is the most musically complete. His playing is also not static, like Berman’s; it should be Allegro con fuoco, not Allegro maestoso. Ashkenazy’s is potent, has pace, and is enormously expressive, and takes the listener way beyond merely excellent piano-playing.
Well, Hesham , I look forward to to hearing Hamelin's recording ( he's a pianist I much admire too ) as it is difficult to imagine a more passionate performance than that of Berman. There's a huge amount of power brought to bear here
I feel like this recording has much more passion than Hamelin's recording of this. I've found few recordings of this piece as lifeless as Hamelin's. Even Ashkenazy's, which is ridiculously fast (well, actually the tempo Scriabin indicated for the first mvmt at least, but still crazy fast) I think has more passion than Hamelin's.
for Scriabin's piano repertoire, a vast array of personal tastes is involved regarding every aspect of the work starting from the tempo, contrast, phrasing..etc and that's why we keep looking subjectively for the optimal interpretation. @@voskresenie-
![Scriabin - Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, op. 20 (Vladimir Ashkenazy/Maazel) [Complete]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ylSrzlphVq0/mqdefault.jpg)
Heard him perform Liszt,Transcendental Etudes in Austin,Texas in the 70’s.Indescribable.Once in a lifetime experience.Thirty-forty years later Pictures at an Exhibition in Fort Worth,Texas-still so memorable.We wonder about our respective lives during those decades.How did WE contribute?
The best interpretation of no 1 ever. Great to listen to.
Lazar Berman is a great pianist,my mother told me so,and when it comes to music she is never wrong
He plays this sonata with a comprehensible tempo with clarity and contrasting tempo and emotion. This is best interpretation that I have heard of Scribin.
I've been working on this piece and getting frustrated that I couldn't get it up to the tempo Scriabin indicates on the score (104 and 84 for 1st movement), which is crazy fast - about the tempo Ashkenazy takes. I finally got it up to close to that tempo, but it required cutting out a lot of the soul of the piece (by lightening up my playing, making some of the powerful chords feel less grand), and was also more precarious technically-I'd need to warm up for 30-45 minutes before I could play it at that speed without tons of mistakes, and it definitely wasn't solid enough to perform in that state-, so I decided to go back to the tempo I was doing before, which is about the tempo Berman uses here. I'm glad to see so many people in the comments here like this tempo. Knowing that such a great pianist _could_ have played it much faster but chose not to for artistic reasons makes me feel less bad about not being able to play it well at the tempo Scriabin indicates. His interpretation is so rich, and so much of what he does would be lost if he played it faster.
@@voskresenie- I am so glad that someone like You have expressed your feelings concerning the extreme Rapid tempo that the composer and sometimes the Artist perform at makes the music insensitive. Not only have I experienced this with some of Scriabin pieces but with some of Robert Schumann pieces. By playing the composition at a slowly pace, I am able to draw out the beautiful harmonies and to feel the composers sentiment in the Music and try to relate the same sentiment that have occurred in my life experience. I am a 66 year old African American male who lives in Macon Bibb County Georgia 31201, and my Childhood music teacher was an African American woman who was born in 1884 and Studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston Massachusetts from 1922-1925 and Open a music Studio in Atlanta Georgia in her 1920s Nice Bungulow house. She never married. She was an hairdresser in her early days was licence to use Madam C.J. Walker Half products. My Music teacher through her network with Madam C J Walker hairdresser operated Beauty Schools and encorporated the Fine Arts as a means of Promoting the Fine Arts during the Edwardian Age and the Harlem Renaissance of New York that had networks all over the country in the Black community before the civil rights school. I need not tell You she was a highly cultivated woman, ram rod back, Stockings, hair fixed. She taught stage presence as a part of our piano Lessons. She taught also voice. I can get the sense of The music of Scribin and the other composers of the late Russian Romantic period as well of the Impressionist like Debussy and Ravel because my music teacher was a young woman during period and her presence was a window into that era. The sound of her voice and her facial and physical expression express that era. I use her as a portal to interpret these works.
Thank you for these precious moments in acknowledgement of both composer and (concert) pianist.
When Im listening to the 4th movement and my tears are flowing suddenly UA-cam Ads comes up so I feel like I'm capable of playing "sfffffz" on the table in order to loose my hands just like Scribian!
Lazar Berman is such an exceptional pianist. It is a real pity he became known to world outside the USSR very late, although he never really got famous. He is one of the best artists in his genre. In fact a very similar case to Jorge Bolet which I admire a lot. Thanks for sharing this recording. Simply gorgeous in his execution!!!
Funebre is really impressing!
Agree with others’ comments, and I think Berman was and still is one of best pianists in the world. Especially, he was so less known compared to some others at his time. The way he played musics is more in a masterfully artistic concept which has beyond an excellent pianist be able to do.
Не так давно открыл для себя Бермана, теперь один из любимых пианистов
Los horizontes de la música son extensos, no vale encerrarlos en clasificaciones hueras. Lazar Berman me hace vibrar tan intensamente con esta sonata de Scriabin que Ariadna Castellanos con su taranta a Morente. La música traspasa fronteras, aúna sentires, aúpa ánimos. Evoca e invoca. Encuentro en ambos la misma intensidad, la misma bravura, el mismo talante. La misma capacidad de evocar e invocar.
A myth-pianist plays a sonata that I didn't know until today that it has recorded it!!!
Depth and poetry in motion...
what a glorious gift to play like this.
(and alot of practise ) , great Pianist -
meraviglioso
Thanks for uploading!
Scriabin wrote this during a time when he was told by doctors he could never play professionally anymore, due to an injury to his right hand; you can really hear the heart-wrenching emotions and despair he put into this piece.
I love music like this, music that has a backstory, and really exploits the feelings that are connected with it.
Fortunately, he eventually recovered from his injuries, of course.
+Miker Hunter :P and he went on to write even crazier piano music...
Just looking at the score for his op. 53 sonata makes my hands sweat.
..and I feel Berman underscored and understood those emotions...
Miker Hunter :P 9
17:26 - so delicate 🥲
Great pianist. Pity that recording never make his incredible "fortissimo"'s. Thank's
Szidon's recording of the sonatas set the standard for me, but this is also excellent.
Ashkenazy.
@@EmptyVee00000 ashkenazy sounds impotent in these , imo
Berman cannot keep the line; keeps stopping. Great hands, though.
philip fletcher Each to his own. Ashkenazy, in my view, does the most justice to the great music of Scriabin, and is the most musically complete. His playing is also not static, like Berman’s; it should be Allegro con fuoco, not Allegro maestoso. Ashkenazy’s is potent, has pace, and is enormously expressive, and takes the listener way beyond merely excellent piano-playing.
i prefer Marc-Andre Hamelin,with much more passionate approach.
Well, Hesham , I look forward to to hearing Hamelin's recording ( he's a pianist I much admire too ) as it is difficult to imagine a more passionate performance than that of Berman. There's a huge amount of power brought to bear here
I feel like this recording has much more passion than Hamelin's recording of this. I've found few recordings of this piece as lifeless as Hamelin's. Even Ashkenazy's, which is ridiculously fast (well, actually the tempo Scriabin indicated for the first mvmt at least, but still crazy fast) I think has more passion than Hamelin's.
for Scriabin's piano repertoire, a vast array of personal tastes is involved regarding every aspect of the work starting from the tempo, contrast, phrasing..etc and that's why we keep looking subjectively for the optimal interpretation. @@voskresenie-