Marc-André Hamelin

i saw this bloke on youtube and he was AMAZING!! Full on pro, since i've never heard of him could someone give me some background information bout him =p

 

He is the Lang Lang type of pianist. You either love him or hate him. He has amazing technique, but some say he plays only the notes and much more.

 

he's a hero. So good I love him

 

Never heard of him, eh. What planet are you from ? Oh yes I see, Australia . But you do have Google there, haven't you ?

No he's not 'the Lang Lang type of pianist' - whatever that is. Just look at his recorded repertoire, listen to some samples on the Hyperion website, and read some critical comments, to see why I am saying that. His combination of sheer virtuosity, intellect and musical curiosity is unparallelled in this age, and puts him in a completely different league than, say, Lang Lang or Volodos (and I mean no disrespect to either of these gentlemen).

 

do you think there are any pianists on this site that can compare to him?

 

no I don't think if there is one it should be the man who plays balakirev's islamey (forgot the name

 

That's Paul Wee. IMO the greatest virtuosos on this site are him, Hotaik Sung, Dejan Sinadinovic (and Hanna Shybayeva maybe). I'm only talking about virtuosity, not musicality. There are some extremely musical pianists on this site as well. But I think that these have the best technique, or at least showed the best technique.

 

I highly doubt that. It'll be very difficult to play the level he's at right now.

 

IS HORWITZ MORE TECHNICALLY SKILLFUL THAN HIM?

 

no, I don't think so. horowitz is good that is what I must say but hamelin has a very very very good technic. I think you like horowitz or you don't. I don't like horowitz that much. but hamelin I love!

 

No. But Horowitz is more musical, etc. Hamelin is just a magician who can play however he wants, but not always with the "real music" people like Horowitz have.

 

anyone in the world morre a skillful than him

 

ofcourse but who?

 

Franz Liszt maybe, but he is dead. Technically speaking, Hoffmann and Rachmaninov also make good chance, but they're dead as well . Then maybe Arcadi Volodos, of the younger generation.

 

sviatoslav richter I would think

 

I personally don't think Richter has as good technique as Hoffmann, Rachmaninov, Hamelin, etc. He can play very well though.

 

I would say Ian Pace probably.

 

isn't it so that rachmaninoff couldn't play that well like horowitz? I heard something about that he could play the pianoconcerto's like horowitz etz..

 

He maybe couldn't play his own concertos as well as Horowitz, but he has amazing technique, as good as Horowitz. When Rachmaninov heard Horowitz playing his 3rd (or 2nd?) concerto in the basement of the Steinway shop in New York, if I remembered well, after Horowitz played, and he played the orchestra part, he said something like "This is how my concerto should be played, but I didn't expect that I would every hear it like this." So he was quite positive about Horowitz .

 

Hamelin separates himself from Horowitz, Brendel, Arrau, Rubinstein and even the modern populars like Yundi Li, Lang Lang, Kissin etc because he actually plays something DIFFERENT. This is the only guy who tackles Alkan, Medtner, Catoire, Henselt, Thalberg and Balakirev all in the same day, with tremendous skill and musical interpretation. I would never recommend passing judgement on Hamelin until you hear his Alkan "Symphony for Solo Piano" CD from the Hyperion label. THAT is an achievement of both technique and musical feeling.

To be fair, though... I absolutely hated his recording of Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano; it was trash compared to Smith's and Gibbons, but it's hard to be picky about Alkan since no one wants to play his works.

Anyway, even if many disagreed about Hamelin's interpretation, touch, or even technique, you can't look down on a pianist who tries to revive previously unheard or unfamiliar music. We need more pianists like him.