I side with Lang Lang, but this performance is spectacular!

Han Chen

@Santino PARDO I 100% agree

Barere is awesome too. As much as I dislike Lang Lang, his Don Juan is great.

Emil Von Sauer.

Or if people would simply stop assuming that a pianist with a superior technique could not possible be musical/poetic. Oye!

This is a Sorry performance. Sorry. Does anybody understand panache, bravura, rubato, piannissmo, dynamics? This performance is stop and go, stop and go, stop and go. That is not rubato, its not following the score! What's he doing? Pretending he's an opera singer? Yes he's technically fabulous. So what? Most pianists today are. If you really want technique, then Earl Wild can play, or some of the older guys mention here other than Perahia who plays Chopin like Czerny. There are some youtube clips from Horowitz of this piece when he's barely breathing that run rings are around this Canadian, despite a plethora of wrong notes, he knows how to play the piano. There is a history here, and you folks need to listen to it. Michelangeli, GIlels, Richter, they all play around rings around North Americans because they were trained in a long long tradition. Show a little respect by learning something.

​@@ahahahah9629 "Pretending he's an opera singer?" I mean...this piece is literally a fantasy on a Mozart's opera (even the description tells us that), and pianists often have to imitate human voices and/or other instruments on the piano. Idk what points you want to address with this ill-defined and unexplained metaphor but regardless it's quite a terrible metaphor in this context. And you dare insulting others by telling them to "learn something" with such an arrogant attitude while not knowing this basic background knowledge of this piece lol. Next time before you offer a criticism, show a little respect to other audience by not being an arrogant little dick thinking you know everything and are superior to anyone else, and try to understand that music is ultimately subjective and there is nothing wrong with liking a performance that you don't like. Then, try to explain your points with explanation and timestamps instead of throwing a bunch of words and examples without elaboration, and organize your arguments so that they don't look like unrelated sentences put together to form a bunch of gibberish that is grammatically completely wrong and is not even comprehensible :) Btw, I haven't listened to Horowitz's performance, but could you explain what it means by "barely breathing"? I have never heard of people saying that a music performance is good when it's "barely breathing". I believe you, with your absurd amount of musical knowledge, know how important phrasing and breathing are in a western classical performance.

@@tommywong7748 Hi, 'barely breathing' refers to the fact that Horowitz was over 90 when he play a few snatches of this piece and he played it pianissimo, not fortissimo. Horowitz seemed to be 'barely breathing', but then you haven't seen the clip. I mentioned three great great pianists all trained in a tradition and Gilels and Richter's teacher can trace his education back to Liszt directly. That is what I'm talking about. It is still possible to be educated in an authentic classical tradition in European schools. I don't think it is in the U.S. I was being sarcastic about Hamelin trying to imitate an opera singer. I know its an opera transcription and I've listened to it since I was 12. I love the history of music and we can listen to old recordings of this music on KZfaq if we want. Try it some time. Maybe you'll be awestruck by some old timers like I've been.

Kid

He played it very well, as well as Okada, Belyavsky, Emil von Sauer (a pupil of Liszt's) and Lang Lang.

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji emil von sauer played it at a ridiculous speed

@@aakarshitsingh1535 yes, even Busoni but since they're rolls, we can't really predict the speed of their interpretations.

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji Busoni is badly speed up

Where is that other record?

I think probably

Justin Glick not "perhaps". Certainly. Literally no one else comes close. MAYBE Lhevinne.

Justin Glick Hamelin is the greatest virtuoso to have ever existed and ever will exist.

Is Volodos dead?

@@musical_lolu4811 Volodos also has a very amazing technique. Still, Hamelin's finger control is unmatched.

This one is more controlled. Hamelin has technique to spare. Okada is on the edge. Very exciting though

lang lang's version ia hardest one

Yes! If only the sound on his Vox recordings weren't so "gray"...

Listen to cziffra

@ Which Tannhauser recording do you prefer then? I've been unable to find one even close to Friedman's.

@@austinhill5772 Bolet? Cziffra?

Besides I don't agree with anything you said, there isn't even a cziffra recording of this transcription.

@@pavlosgermanidis2754 Many of Cziffra's recordings are deleted from the present discography because of their age. However, Hamelin plays Liszt-Cziffra's version of Rigoletto and Rimsky-etc-Cziffra's Flight of the Bumblebee. Hamelin know how to show some respect to a master, even if his worshippers are ignorant deafheads.

@@ahahahah9629 Sorry, I can not find any source that confirms such a recording. Sandor said that Cziffra played Don Juan in Hungary and thats it. And where have you heard Hamelin playing the Cziffra Bumble Bee? To my knowledge, Hamelins own Etude after Rimsky-Korsakov has nothing to do with Cziffras transcription. Also, there is no recording of Rigoletto by Hamelin. By the way, Cziffras studio recording of Rigoletto is almost completely identical with Liszts sheet music..

@@pavlosgermanidis2754 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZpuipaSarMq4pps.html This is Hamelin and others playing R-S Cziffra's flight of the bumblebee. Are you friends with Sandor, I met him backstage at a concert in 1967 at the University of Georgia. He was so great. Try Zenith Recordings, they have old radio recordings of Eastern European Concerts. We can continue this dispute if you like, but I don't like Marc's superhuman style and I'm not going to. I will always prefer Richter and his wrong notes, sorry.

Pompous tripe

Disagree, but I will say this is one of Liszt's weakest transcriptions. Norma is superior imo.

It's also very good. They're very different. Hamelin has better control overall imo.

@I STILL HATE MINIONS SO MUCH why not

Congratulations on performing this piece!

@ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎ً‎‎‎‎ً Indeed.

9:23, literally the most absolutely perfect rendition of that part

You play this very well, Mr. Hu.