Enjoying the Valentina Lisitsa Liszt recital hugely.
The Bm Ballade is something else, and the Schubert transcriptions just beautiful.
The Bm Ballade is something else, and the Schubert transcriptions just beautiful.
Classical Music for Aficionados
I would like to start a thread, similar to Orpheus’ jazz site, for lovers of classical music.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.
I’ll start with a list of CDs. Records to follow in a later post.
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite et. al. DG — Chicago Symphony Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1. Chesky — London Symph. Orch. Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova. Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.
I’ll start with a list of CDs. Records to follow in a later post.
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite et. al. DG — Chicago Symphony Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1. Chesky — London Symph. Orch. Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova. Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.
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I feel I have to restate my admiration and love of Mikhail Pletnev as pianist and conductor. By way of a review, I just discovered his definitive performance of Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Symphony. IMHO, Not since Rachmaninoff himself have we had such genius in performance AND conducting. (Of course R wasn’t bad as a composer as well.) Just about everything I hear from Pletnev in both capacities is first rate and inspired. |
Idagio has numerous search engines to find whatever your looking for quickly. Tremendous catalog of classical works, including, in some cases, multiple versions of the same performance. And the SQ to my ears is superior to Qobuz. Wonderful service. From what I’ve seen of Primephonic, it’s not nearly as extensive. |
Dmitry Masleev, winner of Tchaikovsky competition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYehCPsIgKw Rachmaninov – Variations on a theme by Corelli in D minor, Op. 42 Rachmaninov – Etudes-tableaux, Op. 33 Shostakovich – Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in G major, Op. thoughts on this pianist ? |
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I've been comparing Buniatishvili’s Rach 2 with Valentina Lisitsa's Rach 2 back to back, movement by movement. The verdict: Lisitsa's is clearly superior. Ironically, this has very little to do with the pianism. Lisitsa's orchestral accompaniment is distinctly better and, above all, the recording is head and shoulders better than what they managed for Khatia. VL is highly recommended. |
re Mompou, please do not forget
Aethur Rubinstein, Music of Spain also The Rubinstein Collection
Stephen Hough, Piano Music of Mompou
Jenny Lin, Silent Music
Andrew Tyson, Landscapes
Josep Colom, Momou - Piano Music
Mompou himself, Complete Piano Works (4 cds) Volodos plays Mompou Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Michelangeli Performance also Great Pianists of the 20th Century Alicia de Larrocha, Great Pianists of the 20th Century Alexander Thaurand, Chopin Preludes, also Chopin Waltzes |
I think Martin has recorded more Alkan than any other composer, so in my book that’s a feather in his cap. I noticed a Mompou disk that should be investigated. BTW, any strong Mompou recommendations? On the strength of her Schubert recital, I got Buniatishvili’s Liszt disc. The lyrical passages are splendid; I wonder if the contrasts between the slow, delicate, pp passages, and the faster, boisterous ff passages are a bit overdone. Jury is still out on that one. |
Liszt Ballade no 2 Guess how Liszt playing was? Like Horowitz or N. ? Feel the continuous wave unity in the emotions whithout hiatus in N. This unity is not there at the same level in Horowitz....Perfect playing is not living playing... When Horowitz play it is a " set of successive perfect objects" that is delivered, when N. play it is a soul event with a beat unity that is lacking in Horowitz... Only my impression.... by the way.... Horowitz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvCWRcmdFG4 E.N. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5XXiIxC73E |
You are perfectly right i just give my impressions....The great Earl Wild think the same than you.... He called his playing "baloney" .... The playing of Earl Wild is to me of the highest order but under N. ...I side with Schoenberg....By the way i have no opinion, only feelings and soul impression about music.... I am not a musician at all... Alas! And Music was never an object to evaluate and taste for me, more of an abyss to enter into.... Because of that my choices are very exclusive and many known artists fail to impress me not because they are not very good but because of those few that impress me too much ...I am perhaps an obsessive listener more than an exploratory one.... My best to you.... |
Well, when the composer calls for hemidemisemiquavers, it’s nice to have a pianist who can actually execute them both correctly and artistically.We dont lack of first of their class pianists and contest winner pianists to perfectly translate a partition.... 😁 their number exceed my 2 hands by a big number... We need rarest bird able to recreate a partition on the spot, and playing it for the first and last time ever...Living playing is not mostly and only perfect playing.... This is good for pupil in a contest... Their number is less than my fingers or not many more.... Music is "living" playing and by the way N. is not a less virtuoso than Hamelin at all, if you listen many pieces of him.... Some listen to written partition, i listen to emotions only.... I am not a musician Alas!... |
@maghister I have tried as hard as I can to see something in your "God pianist" but I am sorry to have to admit defeat because all I can hear is massive rubatos and distortions of the melodic line . some of the Liszt pieces he plays are almost unrecognisable with massive agogic hesitations and splashy chords. No I am sorry he is not for me.It is perfectly Ok to perceive some perspective better than other... I am more attentive to colors and intensity than to virtuoso perfect playing.... "fingers flying" He seems to be a throwback to the 19th century, with its romantic excesses.You are partly right but dont be deceived by only 2 or 3 pieces listening.... Perfection is not enough! Anyway i prefer romantic excess to modern dryness.... And wrote to the composer Schoenberg that his divine pianist is under Hamelin for his playing.... Like me he will smile.... 😁 |
@maghister I have tried as hard as I can to see something in your "God pianist" but I am sorry to have to admit defeat because all I can hear is massive rubatos and distortions of the melodic line . some of the Liszt pieces he plays are almost unrecognisable with massive agogic hesitations and splashy chords. No I am sorry he is not for me. |
No pianist exceed him in raw power, and it is the reason why the composer Schoenberg wrote about him with the highest praise to the young Klemperer...Remember Schoenberg never give much to interpreter....It was like Einstein praising with admiration an engineer... He praised Tesla..... This pianist is an Himalaya of emotion....Playing "right" like a pupil make no sense for him....He is not in the same league than Horowitz for example... A god is not a giant..... Schoenberg never praised giants, there is many, he praised a god.... We must listen the music here not the piano.... When you make love with a goddess you dont point to her "mistakes" or her "divergence of interpretation".... Love is over perfection for a saint and for this pianist.... « Perfection is only the name of a dog walking behind his master....»-Groucho Marx |
Never heard Rach 2 like this. Ervin Nyiregyhazi farewell concert - Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZVdAs1A5RQ thoughts? |
Listening to a young Russian violinist Daniel Lozakovich playing Tchaikovsky album "None but the lonely heart" and Bach partitia 2 (both on tidal) He plays like a true Russian, with beautiful melancholy and depth. I think he’s on track to be a superb violinist, full of insight, reflection, technical skill with maturity and sensitivity beyond his age. His Bach Partita no. 2 was truly sublime. Definitely worth a listen if you have a streaming service. I'd like to hear your thoughts if you get to hear his music. |
@rvpiano RV thanks for posting that Horowitz film it was very interesting and informative also, I loved the way he played the Schubert / Liszt - Soirée de Vienne it was so controlled and the runs and scales were perfect. Even the virtuoso Chopin pieces were played like a twenty year old and it was amazing how much technique he had retained for such an old man. Yes he truly was one of a kind. |
😊 no more piano playing, only music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95LCUHw50C8 Who will play this piece after him? A master’s master recorded under the leg at 70 years old...Without a piano for most of his last 40 years of life... Another exemple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn_O8SABHvw this one nail the coffin of almost any pretender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIC-bGI_Frc It is not me who pretend about him.... It is him: Arnold Schoenberg wrote the following about Ervin Nyiregyházi: "...a pianist who appears to be something really quite extraordinary... I must say that I have never heard such a pianist before... What he plays is expression in the older sense of the word, nothing else; but such power of expression I have never heard before. You will disagree with his tempis as much as I did. You will also note that he often seems to give primacy to sharp contrasts at the expense of form, the latter appearing to get lost. I say appearing to; for then, in its own way, his music surprisingly regains its form, makes sense, establishes its own boundaries. The sound he brings out of the piano is unheard of... And such fullness of tone, achieved without ever becoming rough, I have never before encountered... as a whole it displays incredible novelty and persuasiveness. ...it is amazing what he plays and how he plays it". |
As Mozart 227th Birthday comes to an end , here is one of his greatest pieces with the solo played by the greatest musician I have ever heard, both live and recording . https://youtu.be/3zzKzH-Wp1A?t=4 |
I dont own vinyl... But i can say that whatever composer he plays he is good and more than good most of the times... But when he play Scriabin he attain the status of a god....It is the reason why Richter and Gilels idolized him, and at his death declared him the greatest pianist that ever lived...They listened him play Scriabin....In Russia a pianist is truly great only after playing Scriabin.... It is Scriabin that teach me after Bach a new lesson about what music really is... With Bach i learn how music can make me more than who i am.... With Scriabin i learn how music can transform the world or that the world is greater than what i ever perceive it to be.... Scriabin is a Christlike figure in music like Beethoven, without the negative there is in Wagner ...Beethoven speak to humanity in man, Bach speak to the spirit in man, Scriabin speak from the future cosmos spiritualized in man, it is the reason why his music is truly promethean but without the egoic glue nor the grandiosity there is in Wagner.... 2 minute poems of Scriabin played by Sofronitsky made all Wagner sound like children pretense theater....Scriabin also between tonality and atonality make Schoenberg look like a talented brain without body and creator of sounds unable to bear a cosmos...A chord by Scriabin recreated the world... Scriabin is way more than piano music... It is the reason why almost all pianist cannot make it alive and working... They plays it apparently perfectly, like benignly like first prize student.... But Scriabin must be played like Christ was walking and creating miracles around him.... Sofronitsky always deliver miracles....You will be transformed like taking a substance or like dying and ressuscitating... Then anything even with a bad sound will be a revelation.... If you absolutely want a good sound you can try Igor Zukhov.... This is not Sofronitsky but what is among the best playing just under the master....I like it tremendously...But only Sofronitsky exceed the piano playing to reach divinity.... Neuhaus can also but there is not much by him....Neuhaus is the only one who was on par with Sofronitsky with "toward the flame" for example and in fact incredibly almost surpass him in his rendition of the abyss....Neuhaus was one of the giant of the Russian school...His playing is totally marmorean and totally fluid, with handling of colors hues rivalling Moravec and an intensity trespassing anyone except Sofronitsky and the hungarian Nyiregyházi .If he has not been only a teacher under Soviet iron schackles but a concertist on the world scene, he would have been one of the most known pianist in the world.... Piano russian school is something..... Ervin Nyiregyházi plays Liszt like Sofronitsky play Scriabin.... They are World events for me, not only mere music.... |
Are there any good stereo recordings on Vinyl by Sofronitsky ? looking on eBay there are quite a few but not sure if they're mono or stereo. Are there any specific LPs that you'd consider as must have? I see most of Sofronitisy is recorded on Melodiya, I'm guessing the soviets didnt let him out much. |
@jcazador Jeremy thanks for posting that film of Arrau it was an absolute hoot to watch. I have looked for it for years and was very pleased to see it . Of course as a biopic account what to film and what to leave must have been a major consideration in such a long and packed life. Poor Claudio hardly aged a bit , only his hair getting greyer. It is great to see your heroes when they are young and realise that they were just as impulsive as the young of today , but even there you could see an astonishing technique and what a stretch he had . Thanks for that I only wish I could speak Spanish. |
http://www.cinetecavirtual.cl/cineteca/index.php/Detail/objects/4523 link to 1935 movie "Dreams of Love" starring Claudio Arrau as Liszt more about this movie here https://www.thepianofiles.com/claudio-arrau-plays-liszt-literally-in-1935/ |
The Buniatishvili phenomenon is quite interesting. I searched professional reviews of the Schubert disc, and just about all the critics disliked it or struggled to say something nice about it. On Amazon it has something like 175 reviews, and 95% of those are 5 stars. I guess I'm with the hoi polloi. I agree that her technique in the Impromptus is phenomenal. |