Sergei Lyapunov, Etsuko Hirose
I read that Lyapunov's Trancendental Etudes were incredibly difficult to play. They are a continuation/completion of Liszt.
So I tried to find a recordning, and found Etsuko Hirose.
Fabulous recording, highly recommended.
Hirose was born in Japan, and gained fame first in France.
Most recently she has studied with Brendel.
I cannot find any other of her recordings.
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Benjamin Grosvenor
I was searching for young pianists, and found Grosvenor.
His album "Dances" is very nice, and the finale is superb:
Bach's sonata for flute and harpsichord BWV 1031, as arranged by Kempff.
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jim
listening to Grosvenor's "Homage" album, outstanding!
and technically it is as good as it gets, credit Decca
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pardon me, correction
Michael Jordan quit basketball to play baseball (not golf)and it did not work out for him
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Jim
I think some pianists turn to conducting as they age and are losing their physical skills. Physically, it is easier to conduct than play a piano. I recall reading that Sv Richter was despondent in his 80's for this reason, and stopped playing in public. He also once said that he did not want to conduct because that would mean taking a 6 months break from his piano practice, and he doubted he could recover after that.
As you say, Ashkenazy is a good case in point. Barenboim is another.
Many first rate pianists are fully capable of being conductors, but it is hard to do both.
In USA we have very few athletes who succeed at two professional sports.
Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders are the only two that I recall. Danny Ange played baseball just enough to get some leverage about which basketball team he would play for. Remember when Michael Jordan quit basketball to attempt pro golf? It did not work out for him.
In college I knew a guy who lettered in 5 sports in his freshman year, went on the play on the Davis Cup tennis team. But he never played but one sport professionally (tennis).
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Beatrice Rana
saw a rave review in nyt, so found her Chopin/Scriabin cdsounds great
and she's only 26, so more to come
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Jim
I have not found Rana's Liszt Sonata . . . yet.
But I am listening to her Bach Goldberg variations, and it is excellent. Confident, unhurried.
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jim
did you watch the interview?
Rana praises Martha Argerich as a "lioness".
Love it.
Also includes several performances.
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In the interview, Rana describes her childhood and family. She lived with her parents until she was 18 years old, and outside of being a prodigy, her life was very normal.
Argerich had a very different childhood. Recognized in Argentina as a prodigy, Peron created a job for Argerich's father as a consular officer in Vienna so that she could study with recognized teachers (Gulda was first). So she had no continuity of social life or friends, and she has explained how difficult this was for her.
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Now listening to Kondrashin Mahler 9, downloaded last night.It is in a set of Mahler Symphonies 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.
Also downloaded the Bamberg, but with Jonathan Nott. Tudor 7162 (Austria)
There is another download that has 40 different orchestras!
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my favorite violinist this week is Scarlet Rivera!
(hope i don't get banned from this blog)
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Your comments on Scotland and education are very interesting, so I hope none will be offended if we wander outside of classical music. I have never been to Scotland, but that is where 75% of my ancestors came from (the Sutherland clearances) and I feel a connection.
I know so little of the reality, e.g. about schools, that I do not pass judgment. However, in the grand scheme of things governmental/political I firmly believe that Scotland has no need for Trident. And it has no need for any governance but its own.
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Jim
forgot to mention, I share your view of classical music post Shostakovich
My teacher once said: "if it is not in tune and it is not in time, then it is not music."
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Now listening to Stephanie McCallum, Alkan & Magnard
I like it very much, very meditative
Had not heard Magnard before.
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Jim
Re: Shostakovich Preludes
So many wonderful recordings!
If I had to choose a favorite, it is Ashkenazy,24 Preludes and Fugues, op 87, Decca 466 956-2
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Yes Jim
I share your love for that recording.
My favorite Alkan recording is by Laurent Martin, Esquisses, Op.63 (Sketches), Naxos 8.555496
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What a great recital, you seem to have heard them all.
Love Berezovsky, have his Liszt, Hindemith, Rachmaninov, and a couple of live recitals, including Godowsky. One of these is a video of a recital at La Rogue d'Antheron.
I am in awe of Hamelin including the Four Ages you mention, that cd includes Sonatine, Barcarolle, Le Festin D'Escope.
Also have his Symphony for solo piano, Salut, Alleluia, Super flumina Babylonis, and Souvenirs.
Also Concerto for Solo Piano (Music and Arts Program of America CD-724).
Sometimes I find Hamelin overwhelming, he seems to choose the most difficult music to record.
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Re: Jean Martin
Glad you liked it.
Consider Martin's Faure, mostly nocturnes + romances, preludes.
I downloaded a 5 cd collection, 2 of the cds were Martin, exquisite; the others were Volondat de Hooge, which I did not appreciate as much.
Also: his rendiction of Stephen Heller preludes Opp. 81 and 150.
Marco Polo 8.2234.34
I read that he has recorded a lot more, but have not found yet.
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I was just listening to his Orpheus melody. Exquisite.
From Great Pianists recording
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JimThanks for the correction, I seem to have conflated Laurent Martin and Jean Martin. It is Jean's Faure that I like so much. And it is Laurent's Alkan Equisses. The Heller Preludes are Jean.
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On tuning, read this: "
Research in my teens into historic organ tuning, and thence a decade of
experiment and research instigated by contemplating Chopin's 2nd Sonata
in Bb minor brought a realisation that it's the modern tuning that has
robbed us of the differences between the keys, and that it wasn't my
ears at all. It seemed as though Chopin was deliberately intending the
effect of the key of Bb minor to express the cold wind whistling over
the graves and I knew from historic organs that that is what the tuning
would do. The colour has been robbed from us and the true meaning of
"Chromatic" is so lost to us now that Colour isn't mentioned in the
relevant Wikipedia article. The consequence of this is that our
classical music has been reduced in the number of dimensions in which it
communicates and that this has led to increasingly mere mechanical
performances that don't engage so well emotionally, leading to a
degradation in musical appreciation and of its value as emotional
communication and literature.
" a lot more here: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=65531.0 |
Been listening to Buxtehude for over 50 years.
There was a series of recordings by Alf Linder on Westminster Recording Co., played on the
Organ of Varfrukyrka in Skänninge, Sweden, made in 1772 by Lars Wahlberg and Anders Wollander."
Interesting that Buxtehude played on organs that were NOT well tempered.
I have heard/read that old sacred music loses something significant when played on well tempered organs.
Of course the limitation was that old organs were limited in what keys they could play.
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Long ago I loved symphony orchestras, heard Philadelphia under Ormany, BSO under Leinsdorf, etc. But I seldom listen to orchestras today, not even recordings. It is just too much for me.Maybe it is my age, maybe that I have not lived in a city for many years, so my life is quieter. I much prefer sonatas, solos, occasionally a duet, trio or quartet. More musicians do not increase my enjoyment/appreciation. And "modern" music does not reach me.
As for rock n roll, I still love it, but not often. New Years Eve comes but once a year.
I still listen to some folk/pop, live is very good. Recordings are mostly to learn new songs to play.
I do love Hawaiian slack key, but have stopped trying to play it since my teacher died.
If I could actually play classical music, that would be my preference.
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Jim
I have that Lesley Howard collection, quite remarkable.I have read that Howard initially planned for 90 discs, and as the years of the project went by, more Liszt was discovered, and the project had to be expanded, ultimately taking 13 years.
Of course some of it is "just transcriptions".
I like Howard a lot, "perseverance furthers".
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pardon me, I think that was Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
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Schubert
I share your weariness of Beethoven Symphonies.
But recently I listened to Idil Biret playing the Liszt transcriptions, and it was deja vu all over again.
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Re: Janacek, Mackerras
Now listening: Janacek, Capriccio - Conertino (piano & chamber orchestra)- Sonate - Conte - Presto
Features Mikhail Rudy, Pierre Amoyal, Gary Hoffman, and soloists of Orchestra of the National Opera of Paris conducted by Mackerras
EMI 7243 5 55585 2 7(1996)
very fine
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I am not into "crash and bang", and I include some of Liszt in that category.
My favorite Liszt recordings are
Nelson Freire, Liszt: Harmonies Du Soir
Barenboim, Nocturni - Consolations - Sonetti del Petrarca
Annees, played by Arrau, Cicollini, Lazar Berman, Brendel, and too many others to recall
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Jim Yes I have read your story about Saint Saens and Wagner. Edward Said wrote a slightly different version of this story. Said says Saint Saens was visiting Wagner at Beyreuth, and that Liszt was also there. (Wagner's wife Cosima was Liszt's daughter.) Wagner and Liszt were chatting, Saint Saens sat down at the keyboard where Wagner had left his unfinished score of Siegfried. And S.S. played a perfect rendition of the score, sight reading it and transposing the orchestral score to piano. Edw. Said (in case you don't know) was professor at Columbia, most famous for "Orientalism", and before that for revising literary criticism. He was also a classical pianist, and wrote reviews for NYT and other publications. Said and Barenboim founded the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, bringing together young Israeli and Arab musicians. https://books.google.com/books?id=IVp4jNhkffIC&pg=PA279&lpg=PA279&dq=Saint-Sa%C3%ABns+vi... |
Wagner, Barenboim, Said, Israel quote from Said article
In any event, Wagner’s works in Israel have
by common consent been left unperformed, until 7 July, 2001. Barenboim
is head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Berlin State
Opera, whose orchestra he was leading on tour in Israel for the three
consecutive concerts presented in Jerusalem. He had originally scheduled
a performance of Act One of Wagner’s opera Die Walkure for the 7 July
concert, but had been asked to change it by the director of the Israel
Festival, which had invited the German orchestra and Barenboim in the
first place. Barenboim substituted a programme of Schumann and
Stravinsky, and then, after playing those, turned to the audience and
proposed a short extract from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde as an encore.
He opened the floor to a discussion, which ensued with people for and
against. In the end, Barenboim said he would play the piece but
suggested that those who were offended could leave, which some in fact
did. By and large though, the Wagner was well received by a rapturous
audience of about 2800 Israelis and, I am sure, extremely well
performed.
Still, the attacks on Barenboim have not
stopped. It was reported in the press on 25 July that the Knesset
committee on culture and education “urged Israel’s cultural bodies to
boycott the conductor… for performing music by Hitler’s favourite
composer at Israel’s premier cultural event until he apologises.” The
attacks on Barenboim by the minister of culture and other luminaries
have been venomous, even though despite his birth and early childhood in
Argentina, he himself has always thought of himself as an Israeli. He
grew up there, he went to Hebrew schools, he carries an Israeli passport
along with his Argentinian one. Besides, he has always been thought of
as a major cultural asset to Israel, having been a central figure in the
country’s musical life for years and years, despite the fact that,
since he was in his teens, he has lived in Europe and the United States
most of the time, not in Israel. read whole article here https://www.mediamonitors.net/barenboim-and-the-wagner-taboo/ |
More Edward Said this article contains the description of Saint Saens playing Siegfried at Wagner's home
Cosmic Ambition Edward Said October 20, 2011 Edward Said
https://outline.com/fxpNNr
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I share your love for the Goldberg Variations. There are so many recordings, the one I listen to most is Gavrilov. I used to listen to a lot of Bach choral music, but these days one piano is enough.
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I have Kenneth Gilbert's recordings of Rameau, very nice.
And I used to have Wanda Landowska's 1933 recording of the Goldbergs.
But these days I prefer piano to harpsichord.
Perhaps if it were LIVE I would appreciate harpsichord more.
The dean of U of Oregon Music School played a clavichord, and I liked that, especially fine when accompanied by recorder or guitar.
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Yes, I have that Pletnev recording made on Rachmaninoff's Steinway. In addition to Rachmaninoff, it also includes Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Chopin. Matsuev played this piano in 2013, says it was a gift from Steinway in 1929. http://matsuev.com/en/press-tsentr/news/662Wikipedia says it is a Hamburg D.
"Sergei Rachmaninoff
bought three 'D's, all New York products, for his homes in the United
States, but he installed a Hamburg 'D' in his Swiss villa." Steinway tells of the Horowitz-Rachmaninoff friendship:
Then the two decided that if Horowitz was going to perform
Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, perhaps the composer should give
him some pointers. Off they went to Steinway Hall. Rachmaninoff played
the orchestra part on one Steinway piano, while Horowitz played the solo part on another.
Rachmaninoff was genuinely impressed. “He swallowed it whole,” stated
the composer. “He had the courage, the intensity, and daring that make
for greatness.” http://www.steinway-piano.com/steinway-news/a-meeting-of-titans-the-day-vladimir-horowitz-and-sergei... |
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Watching video of Arrau 80th birthday recital.It does not get any better than this!
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