This is a fun piece for me. As an amature pianist this is a piece that I have recently tried to conquer. With a piece like this, you don't learn it, you try to conquer it! It takes some real skill to play and it is one of those pieces that when it is played right I sigh and say, "perfection."
I don't plan on normally putting two versions of the same piece on the same post everytime but I think this really emphasizes how the same piece can be interpretted so differently.
For a long time, my favorite was the one from Gilels.
It is slower than many of the others and he is a touch heavy footed on the sustain pedal but he maintains a real musicality that I can really hear. I appreciate the secondary melodies in the middle section. Listen for it, you'll think there is another hand on the keyboard.
Personally, I prefer it a little slower so I don't miss all everything that is going on.
Gilels' playing in such a Soviet style, the Russian is just oozing out of him! It's fantastic. Very serious and passionate.
But then... I found this recording of Jozef Hofmann. Please fight through this recording and listen to it. It's from 1923, but if you can fight through the noise you will be rewarded by a true master. It is playful and fast and I can't get enough of it. He uses A LOT less pedal which helps the notes to have some space, but you don't miss the legato. It's big when it needs to be big, but it has a subtle side which is genious.
The end of the piece is very quiet but Hofmann sets it up beautifully by not being so serious in the begining. When Gilels plays the last few measures I feel a little bit like it was just an add-on to finish the piece. When Hofmann plays it I actually feel like it came from an earlier section. Much more cohesive.
I hope you enjoy both of the pieces.
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I outlined in my last blog two general reasons why Republican's lose. Why would they secretly want to lose? Allow me to touch on a couple reasons why I think this is the case. This is one of my very favorite choral pieces of all time. It is brilliant in its emotion and power. This was actually going to be the name of my blog. I think it’s kind of catchy, don’t you? Well I did a lot of research and spoke to all kinds of consultants who said I should be more “positive” in my message. So after much consideration and debate with my board of directors (me and my 3 other personalities) I came up with Envision Liberty. Sounds positive and uplifting, right? The problem is Envisioning Liberty isn’t real liberty, is it?
It’s at this point that I feel a little bit like “Professor” Harold Hill standing before his Boy’s Band. There he was, hog tied about to be strung up before the town if the band can’t pull off the miracle of playing the Minuet in G using his “Think Method.” “Think men, think!” Envision Liberty. I must now get back to my point. This is certainly not an exhaustive study of why Republican’s lose (and secretly want to.) It is more of a dialog between me and the ten other people who might come across this blog. There are two major reasons: 1. In national politics, it is the party (ideas) with the most energy that win EVERY TIME!!! Need examples? Let’s look at presidential races (which are the clearest indicator of national sentiment at any given time) during my lifetime: 1976 – Carter v. oh, yeah… Ford was the president??? 1980 – Reagan v. The Peanut Farmer 1984 – Reagan v. Ferraro – oh, right… who was the presidential candidate? 1988 – Bush v. Shorty 1992 – Clinton v. No New Taxes 1996 – Clinton v. The Pineapple 2000 - Bush v. The Wooden Prophet 2004 Bush v. JFK 2008 – Obama v. Grandpa Every single one of the winners won ultimately because of energy. It is the perception that one candidate has more passion about their ideas and strategies for the country (even if they are wrong, vague and unconstitutional!) that gets Joe Sixpack who doesn’t care about politics three and a half years out of four to vote one way or the other. It is the Energy stupid! Democrats, Progressives, Liberals, and Leftists have a huge advantage in this regard. It is so much easier to get excited about really awful change than really good constitutional government. Every crisis… no, every incident whether it is a crisis or not is cause for more power to centralized government. This leads me to… 2. The religion of Democrats, Leftists, and Progressives is Leftism and Progressivism. Whether they admit it or not, this is how they approach politics. Republicans aren’t “wrong,” they are “evil racist, fascist pigs!” Democrats hold faith in government schools, global warming, and government healthcare like Bagdad Bob held faith in Iraq's million man army. And like Bagdad Bob the left is always much more committed to their crazy ideas becasue it is a matter of faith. For example, we should have many nuclear power plants to help create energy and defer our reliance on oil. This is a no-brainer. It is safe and efficient energy. Every global warming nutball should love the idea. But it is a matter of faith that anything nuclear is the devil. Since leftists worship the sun and wind they want to use solar and wind sources for power. I could go on and on but here is the bottom line. There will always be a large group of human beings who hold security more important than liberty. And there will always be a small group of individuals and groups who are willing to step in and take advantage of that. An oversimplified and imperfect example of this is Germany in the 1920’s and 30's. People were looking for security over liberty and they got Hitler. I’m not saying our country is destined for Nazi like Fascism. I am saying that we must fight to keep the Government as small and unobtrusive as possible. The natural state of most men is to be dominated by a loud and powerful few. It is a fight of wills to keep those few from dominating more of our lives. In the words of Harold Hill, “think men, think!” | AuthorEnvision Liberty is a Think Tank that focuses on liberty in America and great music. ArchivesAugust 2014 CategoriesAll |
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