I ran across this video recently which got me wondering. It's a youngster playing the entire g minor ballade in about 8 minutes flat. Even Martha Argerich's rendition (the shortest I'd ever heard until this point) is about 8 and a half minutes. The playing is a mixed bag, and I find it very rushed overall (although I'm still jealous of some of his technical ability).
What's the shortest rendition you've heard (and maybe the longest too, for some contrast) and what length do you think works best?

Here's the video I was referring to:

It's awful in my opinion.
And - whats' the reason of speed?
Piano it's not Formula1 race.

Obviously it's this one:

Hahahaha nice try

I meant FULL performance.

And kapelli, I didn't say faster was better! I was just wondering about the range of speeds used for this piece. That's all.

Just probably a high school or college kid playing in a high school or college talent show. He plays much better than most(I'd guess 95%)students his age by a lot.

I find your criticism far too harsh (even to the extreme of being mean spirited) and also unfounded. There's very few teachers out there, except perhaps those teaching only very advanced students at conservatories, who wouldn't enjoy having someone like that as a pupil. He's obviously musical, serious, and far more talented and accomplished than most his age. Even though this was a public video and wasn't posted in the PW member's recordings there's no reason to be so negative.

Criticism like the above is IMO a perfect example of not considering the age and type of student when offering criticism. This was not a person auditioning for an advanced program at Curtis.

The extreme speeds, either fast or slow, are not so important I think as a range of speeds in the middle by the best professional pianists.

Actually this performance is really a great accomplishment.
I enjoyed listening to it.

Considering the nature of a live performance, IMO a bit rushing is almost expected, if the player is not that experienced performing on stage.

That said, this young player didn't played any section uncontrollably. In fact his all technical passages were convincing. His musicality was good too. Apparently he is talented.

The range is enormous. Some of my favorite performances, like Moravec's, are over 10 minutes. Some are closer to 8.

I can't see any reason for any work to be rushed... Or be discussed on how fast the performer(s) went... :-/ sorry...

This performance is definitely the shortest I've ever heard, but it felt like the longest.

Another gratuitous insult.

Friedrich Gulda is the shortest I have at 7:56. Cortot at 8:28 and 8:39. Gavrilov at 8:50. Horowitz at 8:51. Ashkenazy at 8:57. Arrau, Janus, and Rubinstein at about 9:20. Zimerman at 9:39 and Horowitz again at 9:42

+1. I would agree very much.

At least Argerich has not been bashed in this thread. Yes, I feel that her performance is rather rushed, but IMO she does not ever play badly.

Cortot's first recording (1926), complete with the odd mishap as well as his inimitable elastic rhythm, comes in around 7:57.

But the shortest I've found is by Alexander Brailowsky at 7:35, viz:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL45489FA83DCF5207

My hat's off to the guy for his level of technical accomplishment. Heck, I can't get past about the 50th measure.

No, not an insult. Just the truth. Very talented guy no doubt, but his tempo is at times unbearable to listen to for me, making it very boring. This of course is just a minor issue. With a good teacher (heck even a mediocre one), he could fix up these messy tempi and it would be a lot better.

Your comment that I quoted was sarcastic and, to me, sounded quite mean spirited and arrogant. How would you feel if you posted a recording and someone else made the same comment?

There's no ill intent in my comment, but I should have included my explanation ^^ in the same post. It looks like a gratuitous insult, but it isn't. So I apologize if any feelings were hurt.

Fortunately, the video wasn't actually posted by the performer - and I doubt he has any idea it is being discussed here.

I'd consider this unfortunate.

Well, I thought I'd listen to this after reviewing a number of postings -- overall, I agree with Hakki: I was genuinely surprised at how GOOD this rendition was, and how musical! This kid really has chops, but also a very rich, satisfying tone. For my personal taste, he DOES have the "length" right -- if you choose to take it at this tempo, AND can negotiate the brutally virtuosic material at several critical junctures in the piece, the rewards are excitement and urgency. Sure, there were some noticeable fluffs, but I took much more notice of his ability to nail some very difficult material at this tempo, and really did not relate much to the "rushing" character -- for me, that's part of the excitement.

Parenthetically, I was somewhat amused with the background ambience on this video -- clearly, this was not an audience used to classical music. After about a minute's worth of low-level chatter, you could hear a distinct "SSHHH" from somebody, effectively telling the rabble to "shut the f..k up". Well, eventually, he seemed to win them over -- no "bravos", but plenty of whistles -- and I personally thought it was well deserved.

Unfortunate because he didn't know folks were talking about him behind his back????

But in all seriousness, I think he really is missing out on GOOD information from everyone here at PW.