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THE BEST INTERPRETATION ?
interpretation is the source of endless discussion and dispute. How a work for the piano is played and why is it played that way are valid questions. Whose is the best rendering of any given piano piece is not.
A musical interpretation must be convincing to a listener, but the listener in turn must be able to hear the music through a marriage of the composer's intentions and the pianist's discernment of those intentions. A great many of these marriages seem to have been made in heaven. For those who can appreciate the treasures to be found in the differing performances among great pianists, comparing them can be a source of seemingly endless joy.
These differences range from an exquisitely turned phrase to a
radically new conception of an entire work. Every new discovery of an
interpretation that is convincingly different can be like falling in
love with the work all over again.
Clicking on each of the following links will take you to a
page containing a number of fine performances of each piece by different
pianists. In some cases you will find more than one performance by the
same pianist. Whether you listen to the entire recording of each piece
before going on to the next or concentrate on comparing favorite
passages is up to you. Each method of comparing performances bears
different gifts.
Vive la différence!
Albéniz / Godowsky - Tango in D major, Op 165~2
Beethoven - Diabelli Variations, Op 120
Brahms - Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op 24
Bach-Busoni - Chaconne in D minor
Chopin - Ballade 1 in G minor, Op 23
Chopin - Nocturne 8 in D♭ major, Op 27~2
Chopin - Prelude in E minor, Op 28~4
Chopin - Etude in C♯ minor, Op 25~7
Chopin - Trois Nouvelles Etudes
Franck - Prélude Chorale et Fugue
Granados - 12 Spanish Dances, Op 37
Liszt - Liebestraum 3 in A♭ major
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody 2 in C♯ minor
Liszt - Transcendental Etude 11 in D♭ major "Harmonies du Soir"
Schubert / Liszt - Auf dem Wasser zu Singen
Schumann - Toccata in C major, Op 7
Scriabin - Etude in D♯ minor, Op 8~12
Scriabin - Prelude and Nocturne, Opus 9
Busoni - Concerto in C major, Op 39
Khachaturian - Concerto in D♭ major, Op 38
Ravel - Concerto in D major for the Left Hand
Rubinstein - Piano Concerto 4 in D minor, Op 70
For those of you who enjoy murder mysteries, here is my first with a strong musical polemic as background
Murder in the House of the Muse
which is also available as an audiobook.
And this is the more recently published second mystery in the series:
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