Michaelz wrote:

Care to explain "rubber finger?"?

The “rubber fingers”…  Try to play piano hitting the keys by hot dog sausages, holding the sausages by their end. Sure you will be able to play but the minute dynamic inflations that you would like to inject into your play will be absorbed by the hot dog flexibility and elasticity. Eventually you will use to play via sausages but it will not be a direct connection between your interpretive consciousnesses and piano as it always will be some soft of rubber proxy between you and the instrument that will damp your intentions.

Most of the today pianists do have wonderful techniques but they play with sausages or with “the rubber fingers”. If you look what “better pianists” did that you will hear how much complexity and thoughts might be in the event of hitting a piano key… Listen Benedetto Michelangeli, Josef Lhevinne, Alfred Cortot, Edwin Fischer or Josef Hoffman for instance. The Hoffman’s “hit the key” (particularly his early recordings) are completely against all rules of physics….

Yesterday the WHRB broadcasted the Rachmaninoff’ conducting from 30s and 40s and they end up the programs with the celebrated 1939 Ormandy/Philadelphia performances of Rachmaninoff’ Third Concerto As many times I heard Rachmaninoff’ played the peace it always the last movement that make Rachmaninoff’ own play way beyond anybody else playing this concert.

There is practically nothing “going on” in the mid of the third movement. I know perhaps over a hundred different interpretations of the work and all of pianist plays the middle of the last movement as like “nothing is happening “in there. They are crashing thought the notes, and although the music is wonderful but it has little particular meaning on context of the pieces. With Rachmaninoff’ at piano it all suddenly makes since. The notes and phrases become waves of energy that Rachmaninoff’ (and Philadelphia SO) actually USE for something more then juts sound creations….

Interesting.  Will give a listen to the CD to find out. 

BTW, I find that an audio person with this kind of understanding is a very rare thing.  I think that's what attracts to this site.

Michaelz wrote:

Such a natural, flexible being one with the piano way of handling the keyboard.  I am stunned! That aside, I have to say that Nora can really give a lesson or two to a lot of hand injury suffering pianists.