Do pianists from Eastern Europe play better Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky works than Westerners?

Question

And on the other hand can we say German pianist perform a better Bach or Beethoven ?

Answer 1

I would say Russian pianists are usually head and shoulders above Westerners as regards Rachmaninoff, eg Richter, Kissin, Sofronitsky, and of course Rachmaninoff himself, who was a great virtuoso with a strong musical personality also as a performer - but there is no rule without exception: probably the best recording I ever heard of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos (complete No 1-4) is with the American pianist Earl Wild (and the Ukrainian-Austrian-American-Jewish conductor Jascha Horenstein). Hair-raisingly good!

Typical German composers like Bach and Beethoven, on the other hand, are certainly not automatically better played by a German pianist (although there are many good recordings by German pianists). One of my favourite Bach keyboardists is the Italian cembalist Rinaldo Alessandrini. I find some Italian verve and ardour very refreshing for Bach's ethereally wonderful but sometimes a bit austere music.

Answer 2

Being good is completely relative. You could hear 2 people play exactly the same piece of music and have completely different interpretations of it - and their two respective audiences think that they're better. As far as technically playing what is written you have absolutely no head start or preferrence for composers from your country whatsoever - a Japanese person is technically capable of playing Bach just as well as a German, though they may have completely different but equally viable interpretations.

As far as playing what the composers intended, or how the composers played it themselves it is possible that a native speaker of their language may have the "correct" phrasing. For instance accents in the Russian language fall on the first 'beat' of a sentance, wheras in romance and germanic languages they fall on the second beat. Wheras you'd say "i WENT to TOWN toDAY" a Russian would say "I went TO town TOday". So in playing Shostakovich it may well be that the composer played with accents falling on the first beat of a phrase, wheras a westerner would not necesarily naturally do this. I wouldn't say it was "better" to do one or the other though.

Personally speaking I much prefer French music to German music, wheras you'd think it would be the other way round seeing as I'm English. I don't really like any English classical music (what there is of it) - so I wouldn't really say your statement was true.

Answer 3

Because of the homogenization of cultures and cultural influences due to improved transportation and communication, I don't think that holds up any longer.

A gifted Chinese piano student can study with a professor of German origin in New York city and come away from the experience with a completely "authentic" feel for Beethoven for example. When the student goes back to China, all who hear him play will be persuaded that his interpretations are those that a German performer would utilize.. and they would be right.

Answer 4

I would say that pretty much everyone does well with the Russians. Something about them just makes them easy to interpret, I guess. Can't say what it might be.

And Canadians can make pretty darn good Bach performers!

Answer 5

Yes Definitly