The phenomenal Marc-Andre Hamelin.....

....is there a better pianist, at least in the sheer bravura sense, alive
today?

listen to this (streaming mp3)....

Hamelin: Etude No 6: Essercizio per pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti)
[3'24"]

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/MP3Audio/67275-08.m3u

Wow--he raises the bar!!

--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.dividebypi.com

Who wrote the piece (in homage to Scarlatti)? Hamelin himself? I'll
have to listen later -- hope it's in an interesting tuning . . .

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron K. Johnson"
<akjmicro@c...> wrote:
>
> ....is there a better pianist, at least in the sheer bravura sense,
alive
> today?
>
> listen to this (streaming mp3)....
>
> Hamelin: Etude No 6: Essercizio per pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico
Scarlatti)
> [3'24"]
>
> http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/MP3Audio/67275-08.m3u
>
> Wow--he raises the bar!!
>
> --
> Aaron Krister Johnson
> http://www.akjmusic.com
> http://www.dividebypi.com

On Monday 28 February 2005 05:07 pm, Paul Erlich wrote:
> Who wrote the piece (in homage to Scarlatti)? Hamelin himself? I'll
> have to listen later -- hope it's in an interesting tuning . . .

It's a scale that closely approximates superparticular step sizes of 18/17.

Best,
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.dividebypi.com

>....is there a better pianist, at least in the sheer bravura sense,
>alive today?
>
>listen to this (streaming mp3)....
>
>Hamelin: Etude No 6: Essercizio per pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico
>Scarlatti) [3'24"]
>
>http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/MP3Audio/67275-08.m3u
>
>Wow--he raises the bar!!

Whoa, no kiddin'.

-Carl

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron K. Johnson"
<akjmicro@c...> wrote:
> On Monday 28 February 2005 05:07 pm, Paul Erlich wrote:
> > Who wrote the piece (in homage to Scarlatti)? Hamelin himself?
I'll
> > have to listen later -- hope it's in an interesting tuning . . .
>
> It's a scale that closely approximates superparticular step sizes
of 18/17.

That's a good one, Aaron, but I still hope you'll answer my first
question above.

>> > Who wrote the piece (in homage to Scarlatti)? Hamelin himself?
>> > I'll have to listen later -- hope it's in an interesting tuning
>> > . . .
>>
>> It's a scale that closely approximates superparticular step sizes
>> of 18/17.
>
>That's a good one, Aaron, but I still hope you'll answer my first
>question above.

It's a wonderful but trivial adaption of a well-known Sonata, that
I suspect was the work of the pianist.

-Carl

A,

{you wrote...}
>....is there a better pianist, at least in the sheer bravura sense, alive >today?

Well, c'mon: "better"? I've never subscribed to the music/performer as competition. I can see what you would admire, but I would also consider Pierre-Laurent Aimard (as in playing the Etudes and other piano works of Ligeti), as well as Rzewski performing his own piano works (esp. the big variations on "The People United...").

>listen to this (streaming mp3).... Hamelin: Etude No 6: Essercizio per >pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti)

Hmmm. Beautifully facile playing, but the music is way too retro for my tastes. To each...

Cheers,
Jon

>Well, c'mon: "better"? I've never subscribed to the music/performer as
>competition.

I wouldn't expect it to be easy to arrive at a 1-dimensional ranking...
but it might be fun trying. :)

>I can see what you would admire, but I would also consider
>Pierre-Laurent Aimard (as in playing the Etudes and other piano works of
>Ligeti),

Drat; I have Fredrik Ullen.

>as well as Rzewski performing his own piano works (esp. the big
>variations on "The People United...").

Very nice stuff (which reminds me of the Eroica variations), but
there's nothing in *The People* that displays anywhere near the
precision and subtlety in this Hamelin clip IMO. But maybe we
should take this offline.

-Carl