Frederic Rzewski plays "Hammerklavier" fugue live

[Rach3]

Thought some here may be interested in this YT from 1985 Belgian TV. Poor sound, but…. All credit to the YT poster who brought this to the attention of another CM on-line group today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KfEevNCFXs

[jbuck919]

Wonderful. To this day, few pianists dare assay this in public. The Opus 106 was not performed intact until some years after Beethoven's death. It is doubtful that he himself could have performed this movement. The person known to Garrett Shatzer (IcedNote) and myself, in high school befriended no less a pianist than Mieczysław Horszowski, and once he (the student) told me that he played the slow movement of the Opus 106 and Horszowski cried. Then in a rare display of modesty from this person he added "Then I tried to play the fugue, and I cried."