So I was watching some more youtube videos, and I felt a need to watch listen to some people play Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

So first I went with the old holdout, Cziffra, and I found one vid of him doing it awesomely, with that identifiable twist to things he usually puts into his playing. The thing which made his performance different, he didn’t seem to take the piece too seriously, after all, it’s supposed to be reminiscent of gypsy music.

The above on the Tube.

Then I watched some Horowitz, I find he tends to play things a little too straight at times, but technically precise of course.

The above on the Tube.

Then Rachmaninoff, a really old recording though. Felt a little too slow at points, though props for making that last line roll so well.

On the Tube.

I noticed something suddenly, in the related videos section. Maksim playing this piece has roughly 850, 000 views. WHAT?! Sorry, but I had to see what this was all about. Yes, Maksim Mrvica, in his crotch-crushingly tight leather pants and wristlets (his usual outfit that is), playing Liszt. Well, it’s alright, really, but hey, stop staring doe-eyed at the camera for goodness’s sake… And it really doesn’t warrant how popular it is compared to the Cziffra recording above, which I found far more enjoyable.

The Tube is wacked.

Anyhow, thus began my examination of the number of views garnered by different players of this particular piece.

Cziffra:

cziffra-scrncap
Horribly underappreciated, however this may also be due to the fact that there are about a dozen videos of Cziffra playing this, though this seems to be the one with the best audio quality (from my cursory examination).

Then, Horowitz:

horowitz-scrncap
Yeah, Horowitz got quite a few. I still think his interpretation is a little too dry.

Rachmaninoff:
rachmaninoff-scrncap
Yeah. Audio for this one is pretty bad though, I think this must be quite an old recording.

Maksim:
maksim-scrncap
Okay, he’s got some technical skill, but I just don’t feel his pieces like I do with Cziffra or even Horowitz. Overrated…

However, he is topped by none other than…
TOM AND JERRY:
tomjerry-scrncap
It’s a little sad, when you think about it. Then suddenly I had an epiphany. What did the Maksim and T&J vids have that none of the previous ones had? COLOUR. Yes, there is some colour prejudice among Youtube watchers! Who would’ve thought that in this day and age we would still have people who don’t like black and white.

T&J on the Tube.

However, my conclusion is dulled by the fact that Buggs Bunny’s rendition is far less popular than T&J’s…
bugsbunny-scrncap
I even used the mouse as a control factor, there are mice in both T&J’s vid and Buggs Bunny’s…

BBs are small spherical objects, for more universal truths, check the Tube.

The only quantifiable difference is that the level of violence is higher in BB’s than in T&J’s. Oh wait, BB’s has dialogue! Hmm… unforseen errors means my research is untenable. I suppose I should go back and start from scratch, but I can’t be bothered to.

FINAL CONCLUSION:
Cats > bunnies.

Oh, have some Cziffra, because he’s awesome.