beautiful piano recordings: solo or small ensemble

alain lefebvre-carnet de note;Richard Desjardins-tu m'aime tu;Gonzales-solo piano;tommy flanagan-thelonica; bojan zulfikarpasic-solobsession; antoine hervé-inside;jean-francois groulx-trio.

In addition to Tord Gustavsen, you might try the Marcin Wasilewski trio, also beautifully recorded on the ECM label. They are the piano bass and drums for Tomasz Stanko, who is probably familiar to many jazz fans here. Wasilewski is just as atmospheric, melodic, and subtle as he is on the quartet recordings with the trumpeter. _Trio_ is their only CD thus far and is a nice mix of free and straight jazz, wonderful to put on while doing other things and also interesting enough for more active listening.

Rick Wakeman "The Grand Piano Concert"

Try Taylor Eigsti, Resonance. Very nice jazz paino trio.

I love Jacques Loussier Plays Debussy. This is a jazz group doing classical and, though aften the crossovers don't work, this one seems to. There is bass and drums added to the piano which gives the peices depth and body. Gorgeous music well recorded.
Horowitz's Last Recording is lively and well recorded.
And Murray Perahia's Goldbergs are awesome and ,to me, better than the Glenn Gould recordings.
I had trouble connecting with the Diabelli Variations but will try again.
And don't forget the Tord Gustavsen Trio on ECM. Great original small group jazz recordings and all original on The Ground and Changing Places.
John

Oscar Peterson-Exclusively for My Friends,My Favorite Instrument.

Bach, Scarletti by Glenn Gould. Most beautiful music!

Please also see the following thread under music. It has many great suggestions: Amazing Solo Piano Recordings

Introducing Rubén González, on Nonesuch (CD). Engaging, spirited, romantic. Nicely recorded piano.

Check out W.A. Mathieu's "Available Light". He has a web site. I only have it on cassette but it sounds great and seems well recorded. Solo piano. Kind of in the Windham Hill tradition.

If you are open to classical music suggestions, here's a solo recording of Liszt piano sonata in B minor performed by Markus Groh. Beautiful music and awesome recording quality. I highly recommend it.

http://www.markusgroh.com/index_2.htm

Not the best recording, but Horowitz In Moscow was quite the hit in it's time.

Chick Corea: piano improvisations, Vol. 1
Richie Beirach: Elm
Steve Kuhn: Exctasy

I second the Bill evans "Conversations With Myself" recommendation. Truly a genius at work.

Also check out Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea's duet album. Not only is the playing phenomenal, but it is an intriguing work out for your system, working only one chanel at a time and hearing the two meld.

Finally, Ahamd Jamal, "World Tour" (or "Night at the Pershing") and "Live at the Montreal Jazz Fest", specifically the first cut, "Yellow Fellow".

You should look into the "Live at Maybeck Recital Hall" series for some excellent solo performances - Dave McKenna, Monty Alexander and Buddy Montgomery, to name a few.

Philip Glass "Solo" and " Glassworks"
Minimalist music at its best

Anouar Brahem "Le voyage de Sahar" and "Le pas de chat noir"
Piano and Oud from Marocco, a MUST listen to

Both can be sampled on Amazon.

A couple not mentioned by anyone yet:

Nojima plays Liszt -- fabulous playing!
Ashkenazy playing the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues
Glenn Gould playing the Bach Goldberg Variations

Agree with others about Keith Jarrett The Night is You (or something like that -- he also recorded the Shostakovich), Grusin Gershwin Connection, Dick Hyman, Jackie Terrason, Fred Hersch.

One new Fred Hersch disc that is terrific if you like live jazz is his live set in Amsterdam. Just out.

Good luck and happy listening!

David

Just a few names of great pianists, who you could trust that they, as an average, play wonderfully: Svjatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Géza Anda, András Schiffer, Annie Fischer, Dinu Lipatti, Clara Haskil, Rubinstein, Schnabel, Malcolm Bilson, etc

Thelonius Monk's Straight No Chaser SACD has some of the best classic jazz piano sound. I love Jacky Terrasson (Blue Note) and his somewhat clinical-yet-smooth modern style. For classical, the SACD's from Pentatone's Mari Kodama (Beethoven Piano Sonatas) are incredible. May be the best recording of piano I've ever heard.

Jessica Williams is my favorite right now. A desciple of Thelonias Monk, she is one of the most underated jazz musicians alive today. All three of her recordings that I have are fantastic:
"Live at Yoshi's"
"In The Key of Monk"
"Higher Standards"

I also look forward to checking out suggestions above. Getting piano recordings correct is, in my opinion, the true test of a high end system.

Bill Evans, "Conversations with Myself"
Red Garland, "Groovy"

I don't have strong opinions on the recordings; if you like Jazz from around then, the music is must have.

jmd

Joe Sample's "Soul Shadows" is a must have. Perhaps my favorite solo piano recording. You can almost hear the spirits of piano music channeling thru Joe's hands.

Dave Brubeck's "Just You Just Me" is very good.

Pablo's "Basie Encounters Peterson" is a keeper.

Also check out Monty Alexander's Trio Live At Montreux for some high energy fun.

Ray Bryant also has some good live performances but some of the recordings are not so great.

Phillip Aberg's "Cinema" has some haunting versions of movie music.

Dave Grusin's "Now Playing" and "The Gershwin Collection" are great.

Dick Hymann has records of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller music that are fab.

Dr John has some of his own gumbo on "Dr John Plays Mac Rebenac".

Chuck Level has "Forever Blue"....

One of my favorite artist for piano is Martha Argerich. She has style with classical music that is exciting and engaging. Some of the recordings are older but still worth digging for. Hope you grow to enjoy her work as much as I have. Steve Levick

The new Stereophile recording of Silverman playing Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. State of the art recording, great playing, the greatest music.

Pletnev Live at Carnegie Hall
Volodos - Schubert: Solo Piano Works
Achirana

Virtually anything by Tori Amos, if you like her music.

Le Pas Du Chat Noir

Marco

Anything by Michel Petrucianni. He is a jazz pianist. The Blue Note label LP's or cd's are stellar sounding. This guy plays like he has an extra set of hands.

Dave Grusin has some great stuff - nearly all of it exceptionally recorded.

Check out Cyrus Chestnut for jazz.

Sorry. That was Leon Fleisher Two Hands
John

Leon Fleisjndeanher Two Hands. Great recording of Bach, Scarlatti, Debussy, Chopin and Schubert. He had localized dystonia of the right hand for 30 years and had to play one handed. With Botox, he can now use both handsand this is his first two hand recital. Wonderful music played wonderfully.
John

Keith Jarrett - "Radiance" & "The Köln Concert".
I think most will agree Keith Jarret's CDs should at least be on your list to check out.....

Chopin Complete Nocturnes -- Bernard d'Ascoli
Chopin Piano Concertos -- Ewa Kupiec
Mendelssohn Piano Trios -- Jonathan Gilad with Julia Fischer and Daniel Muller-Schott

George Winston for solo piano. Middle of the road stuff.

Keith Jarrett - The Melody at Night, With You

'Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, and Beethoven', by Mieszyslaw Horszowski, Nonesuch CD 9 79160-2; it's discontinued but worth pursuing. Hors was 93 when he recorded this, but I sure can't tell--the playing is VERY nice. I really like the 2 Chopin nocturnes, o. 15 #2 and o. 17 #2. Max Wilcox recorded this digitally, and altho I'm not a fan of Wilcox's orchestral recordings, this one has a tonal beauty and presence that's QUITE nice.
.

Paul Bley "Nothing to Declare"
Keith Jarrett "The Carnegie Hall Concert"
Fred Hersch "Songs Without Words"
Fred Hersch & Bill Frisell "Songs We Know"