Mining classical music gold.

Vladimir Felstman...In Goldberg...

My favorite...

The pulse is irresistible...Pure joy...No concentrated serious  demonstration only a riveting pulse like in an improvisation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L2gfhLak-g&list=PLr0MsaDpKsY-biupbCUhZf55V3rNEzU_v

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV988-Feltsman.htm

He is also my prefered interpreter of the Well tempered Klavier with a poetical touch contrasting with the perfect cold  mastery of Schiff my second choice...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iRFYxJK_Lw&list=PLr0MsaDpKsY9F9fHi8enCPQwv7beVX9iy

But with Bach i can appreciate all interpreters choice, and collected them...

I did not count anymore...

The thoughts above made me listen to the C Major Prelude, of Book 1.

Comparing (e.g.) Gould and Hewitt - they are almost playing different works.

See these YouTube links.

Gould vs Hewitt

My personal taste now leans towards Hewitt's lyricism. 

A few years ago I had a discussion with a Jazz enthusiast friend who maintained that Classical musicians were just technicians - all they had to do was play the notes whereas Jazz players were creating music.

I played him a selection of pianists playing the C Major Prelude BWV 846.

Should we now start a discussion of the Cello Suites?  Qobuz has about 16 recordings, including several by Casals, through to Weilerstein.  Presto has about 200 (I lost count!) versions - I guess about 3 or 4 months to work through those if I don't listen to anything else.  There is also a recording by Nathaniel Rosen, on a John Marks CD.

It is as true as the affirmation that many jazz musicians throw showmanship playing more than creative interpretation of music pieces...

There is great musicians in jazz as in classical and not so great one too ...

Myself i like the musicians craftmanship  more than the genres itself...i listen as much jazz musicians (European & Asian jazz not just US jazz) than classical one... ( and Persian and Indian musicians too )

A few years ago I had a discussion with a Jazz enthusiast friend who maintained that Classical musicians were just technicians - all they had to do was play the notes whereas Jazz players were creating music.

For Bach cello i can appreciate many others like Starker or Casals,but my favorite is Fournier for 55 years... Heartfelt and controlled...

Should we now start a discussion of the Cello Suites?  Qobuz has about 16 recordings, including several by Casals, through to Weilerstein.  Presto has about 200 (I lost count!) versions - I guess about 3 or 4 months to work through those if I don’t listen to anything else.  There is also a recording by Nathaniel Rosen, on a John Marks CD.

I have the Fournier disks, owned for a similar time.  My choice is between the Starker SR3-9016 and the Archiv Fournier.

The Mercury disks were selling for $500+ 30 years ago, now they fetch about $125.  I did buy a set of the Golden Import as a backup.

I never succeeded to replace Fournier and Starker in Bach ...

I tried many great cellists have done very good albums...

But sometimes a musician touch spiritual flows and it is no more just performance...

 In the violin sonatas and partitas the same is true...

The mono version by Szering  52 version  transcend everyone, the same  pulse is the wind of spirit , it is no more sound... ... Even  sensual Grumiaux cannot compare (which is my favorite version of the violin concertos or Mozart quintet) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjpvZefMpA&list=RDYFjpvZefMpA&start_radio=1&t=585s 

No violonist seems to play like a prayer with not an ounce of academism, or showmanship. The younger Szering did. His other version dont even compare in 67...He did not pray just play perfectly...

The other version i admired is  not spiritual as Szering . It is by Joseph Szigeti, his interpretation is like the demonstration of a theorem... i never heard something purely intellectual but not cold but crystalline as exploring a diamond face one face at a time... No one has ever played like this Bach with so much intensity like Szering....

I cannot really listen more than one times any other version than Szering. But Szigeti is so intense and intelligent i cannot be tired of him. not much people can rival Szering "samadhi" playing Bach as if it was God behind each note speaking and as if it was Bach himself playing... But Szigeti play like a mathematician exploring geometry...fabulous as my second choice...

In the two case we forget the violonist virtusosity for music, we forget the sound for a deep meaning shining through it...Mathematics with Szigeti or God with Szering... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DetT2bkJEyI&list=PLQ6HaFRXeVYCEwnqdJSnJ6eP4uWzXZzwQ&index=1

There is -plenty of other great musician who played Bach violin partita as supreme master...

Heifetz as usual with absolute perfection, or Milstein also perfection on all count,  or the young Menuhin playing as if it was his own improvisation . Many others whose list will be long ... 

As my final word, i think if Szering did not exist nor Szigeti, Milstein will be my first choice...His playing is a refined poetry, (not God as Szering  or a chain of intense and beautiful geometry theorems as Szigeti ) , over all others version i knew pure poetry singing and speaking...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SwF2gLZPkQ&list=RD7SwF2gLZPkQ&start_radio=1