Probably anything by that gawd-awful Vladimir Feltsman...

Abbey Lincoln, past what should have been the end of her career. Very sad!

To me, it isn't all that much like asking about the best, because the kind of things that make for a great performance and the kind of things that make for a terrible one aren't really the same type of thing, at least not for the most part.

The performance I think of as the worst I've ever heard was the worst because the performer kept giving concerts even after the deterioration of old age had totally wrecked his ability to play. How that would constructively relate to the opposite question - what is the best performance I've ever heard - is difficult for me to wrap my mind around.

But there is one possible interesting comparison between the two ideas that comes to mind - I do have a strong "worst concert" candidate, but I don't have a clear winner in the "best concert" category.

the worst live performance I ever heard was me.

You stole my answer!

I never said you said it was the best way. I'm just saying that, um, perhaps we can focus on learning from positive things, instead of searching for holes in others' playing? No one is saying artists shouldn't admit to their faults, we all have faults, we're only human after all. Well, I don't know. I guess some people get pleasure out of watching others fall. Makes us feel superior and in control, hmm? Basic human nature.

You've heard dolce play? That wasn't a nice thing to say!

Just kidding, and I completely agree with your thoughts about the negativity of looking for others' faults.

-J

Haha, I am never nice.

Lies!!! :P

A graduate recital by a piano student at the Cleveland Institute of Music - who has no business even studying there much less graduating.

Oh, you mean by a well known pianist. Probably Claudio Arrau in Boston in the late-1980s. He got lost in Beethoven's Op. 10, No. 3 and sleptwalked through the rest. Even my piano professor, an Arrau partisan, thought it was time for Arrau to turn in his keys.

I listened. And then pulled up four examples of this piece performed by my favorites to determine what was different.

Berezovsky presented a passively cool interpretation that was consistent throughout. Listening to it immediately evoked unexpected memories. Gray days in distant lands appeared in my thoughts. Memories of complex times far from friends and family and months where sanity demanded a complete tamping of emotions. I hadn't thought of those times in many years.

I'm having difficulty assigning a "worst" tag to a performance so powerful even if it doesn't adhere to the standard Chopin paradigm of emotionally lush melancholy.

Could it be that a "worst interpretation" is sometimes one that doesn't match the audience's interpretive expectations? And if so, does this actuality stifle a professional artist?

Hear hear! (no pun intended)

It's starting to seem as if we're no longer talking about our all-time worst concert listening experiences, but about more general faults in people's playing. My feelings about talking about those are quite different than about talking about the worst ever musical disaster you've witnessed.

I think it can be useful and helpful to recognize and talk about what isn't good about various performances if we think there are problems with them, either technically or interpretively, or both. It's a way of learning what to do or not to do, and it is also, IMO, one of the best ways of refining listening skills and musical taste and intuition.

For example, it was invaluable to me when I was younger and much more likely to idolize performers to have people with more experience point out various problems with my idols' playing (even if they were sometimes rather brutal about it). And now, even if I'm past having those kind of youthful infatuations with performers, I think it is still healthy for me to hear negative opinions about performers and performances I admire. If nothing else, it reminds me that there are a gazillion points of view, and mine is only mine. Better, it seems to warn me about getting all lazy and comfy and self-satisfied about what I think matters in music - not that I always heed the warning, but I'm glad it is there.

He11, let's all just talk about times we've messed up.

I once performed Clair de lune and right into the body section (with the arpeggios) I totally gronked the second chord in the right. I was pretty pissed the rest of the night.

Absolutely-her recording of Rachmaninoff Op 30 was fabulous

I once saw a very famous organist play the Widor Tocatta (a piece I love) far FAR too fast. About a minute in he just completely blanked and lost it. He started over and made it through but he still played it way WAY too fast.