martha argerich - nicolas economou Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances (two Pianos)

Posted by: mikeeschman on 27 November 2008

Hearing the overtones is a fundamental part of this piece. you won't hear that if the two pianos are out of tune with each other.

my wife maintains her own 6.5' grand. she tunes by ear. according to her, these two pianos are "well in tune". she speculates that the piano was "touched up" between each movement. (she heard no shift in intonation in mid-movement).

good intonation shapes a phrase better than anything else.

naturally, their rhythm is dead-on too.
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by Florestan
Mike:
I have the Martha Argerich / Alexandre Rabinovitch from Teldec Classics 1992 / Warner Classics 2003. Of all the versions I own, I quite like this one the best. It is real music making at its best. I tried learning this piece a while back and you soon realize what magic the likes of Argerich/Rabinovitch bring to the table. Impossible for a mere mortal to even come within miles of doing something similar. When you follow the score you can't quit figure out how they pull it off or do things yet it all sounds so natural and just right. They have found the character and the beauty deep within the score and they take the listener into a different world altogether.

Are you familiar with this version? I'll bet your going to tell me to get ordering this Nicolas Economou/ Martha Argerich version right away!

That is very interesting that your wife has the "perfect pitch" and can tune the piano. Is she self taught or does she have training in tuning grands? I sure wish I could do that as it would save me a lot of money in tuning costs and a lot of grief as my piano changes constantly with the weather and I can't stand playing when is goes out (like several days after the last tuning etc).

Doug
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by mikeeschman
quote:
Originally posted by Florestan:
Mike:
I have the Martha Argerich / Alexandre Rabinovitch from Teldec Classics 1992 / Warner Classics 2003. Are you familiar with this version? I'll bet your going to tell me to get ordering this Nicolas Economou/ Martha Argerich version right away!

That is very interesting that your wife has the "perfect pitch" and can tune the piano. Is she self taught or does she have training in tuning grands? I sure wish I could do that as it would save me a lot of money in tuning costs and a lot of grief as my piano changes constantly with the weather and I can't stand playing when is goes out (like several days after the last tuning etc).

Doug


i am going to look into that version this coming week :-)

my wife does aural tuning, but she does not have perfect pitch, but she has very good relative pitch and a very nice tone box for producing a "tuning fork" pitch as a reference note. she is a registered technician with the Piano Tuner's Guild, a national organization.
She has studied and played piano for 38 years or more. she has maintained about 60+ different pianos and counts music schools among her customers. she has had customers with her for the whole 12 years we have been back in new orleans.

i'll see if she wants to talk?