Classical Music for Aficionados
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.
Jim204 I just completed my Olafsson Debussy& Rameau CD. The pride of Iceland was born to play this French music ! Very well balanced , no great this or that , just the music as written with the clarity of a mountain stream and as agile as a deer . He makes the music sound like it was written just for you in any time and any place .He understands what a artist is , a servant of the music . The path from Rameau to Debussy is there in spades . and a lovely lane it is . 5 .5 Stars from here ! I have for at least 40 years thought Rameau was in the line just below Bach . https://youtu.be/wChgk4qq3Kc?t=4 |
Other side of Rameau with powerful French band . https://youtu.be/RKvd4tMkFHc And his clavecin magic .https://youtu.be/NK3-URQntcg?t=2 |
Jim, I just happened to listen the Babayan Rachmaninoff album yesterday. I like the fact that he doesn’t play the pieces in order. Just skips around between Preludes, Etudes Tableaux etc. Particularly beautiful is his rendition of the Volodos arrangement of the Cello Sonata 2nd movement. Almost as great as the master Volodos himself. |
Greetings all. First time on this thread. So many threads, so few looms. My CD collection is now under review. Streaming is starting a cull of old CDs. Just want to give a heads up to Qobuz freaks that the new recording from BIS is now streaming: Lament by Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen A mix of orchestral/choral/electronic recorded like BIS does. This is really a must-hear IMO. Tests everything. Not affiliated, just like it enough to post a quickie "go listen." |
@rvpiano RV I thought you would like the Babayan recording especially the Volodos transcription and I thought his piano tone was luscious with such a warm glow over everything. It takes a great pianist to turn a fundamentally staccato instrument into such a warm legato instrument. "Hats off gentlemen a genius" ( Schumann ). |
Re: Babayan, Racmaninoff Just got to say that "Lilacs" is the most beautiful piece I have ever heard.And it sounds a lot like "Here comes the sun", only slower and prettier. Re: French composers Yes indeed, love Rameau, love DebussyBut the French composer I listen to most often is Mompou, and my favorite recording is 3cds by the composer himself. |
Once, when serving as a judge in the International Rubinstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, one of the contestants played a Prokofiev Toccata faster and louder than anyone else. Fleisher turned to a fellow judge, and remarked: “Why does he hate his mother?” In an open letter in the Washington Post, “My White House Dilemma,” he
protested the Bush White House’s policies regarding the Iraq War, the
torture of prisoners, and other decisions that he said amounted to a
“systematic shredding of our nation’s Constitution [that] have left us
weak and shamed at home and in the world.” He ended up attending the
event wearing a peace symbol and a purple ribbon.
https://www.juancole.com/2020/08/fleisher-reinvented-inspired.html |
After Mompou discrete spiritual awakenings... My beloved Scriabin by the great Michael Ponti, the recording alas! is not great but i listen to it with pleasure....(the recording is surprizingly better than it was in my improved audio system wow) All piano of Scriabin for peanuts... Scriabin and Bach are my gods..... With Bach the emotions are reflected in an ideal mirror, and the soul is invited to be elevated freely to a higher dimension...Some angel gives to you his hand..... With Scriabin the emotions are transmuted in more intense dynamical one and the soul is projected against his own will in a bath of never encountered new colors where man begins to discover himself greater than he is....(daimonic) Man is raped by an angel here..... |
Thanks Jazcador, you are very kind.....And someone else must read your post...I will concur with you.... But Sofronitsky is already my favorite pianist for Scriabin.... I listen to all great artists able to play Scriabin.... Like for Bach i enjoy all interpretation.... :) But do you know also Boris Zukhov interpretation? It is among the best.... |
Sviatoslav Richter plays Scriabin Sonatas No.2, 5, 6, 9 00:00 - No.2 (Moscow, '50s) 11:10 - No.5 (Prague, '70s) 22:03 - No.6 (Moscow, '50s) 33:32 - No.9 (Aldeburgh Parish Church, 1966) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvtyobSDcw8 |
rvpiano, I had knee replacement last December. I did not know what pain was until after my surgery. I had a period of about a week when I didn't get much sleep and there was no relief from the ever present pain. My condolences. It will pass. At this point, I have no regrets about having the surgery. |
rv opiates are good for pain bad for digestive system! mj is good for pain no problem with digestive system opiates and mj have very different effects opiates obliterate the pain mj allows you to find the range of motion that is painful and helps you learn to exercise it carefully so pain diminishes you will probably be glad you did knee replacement but you will probably never do your other knee that's my story anyway good luck one more thing: do your physical therapy exercises conscientiously |
And dont laugh but i suggest to you against pain, some music designed to calm pain.... Only use the typewriter and the word " pain" calm or pain killer music, or any words about pain on "youtube channels".... Try the music that soothe you and you will see.... You must try some to chose the right one for you...With headphones sometimes it is better....Just try.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJRpoUk-mpU&t=338s This one help me tremendously but with anxieties and panic attack.... When i feel bad i cannot listen to ANY music, except those designed to help.... How to listen to anything when your brain cannot relax? It is necessary to calm the brain.... Some sound and REPETITIVE frequencies can do that.... It is one of my discovery in my last years of music and audio research.... Music and sounds technology is way more powerful than people imagine.... And yes placebo work, but placebo work all time being constitutive of human feeling and perceptions... I use music to calm physical anxiety and it works better than any heavy side effects medication... Each music has his own sphere of action in the body tough.... Bach will not soothe a tooth pain, some gong and chimes frequencies will do for example.... My best to you and i wish you good health... |
One more suggestion: Hang a trapeze bar over your toilet, tie it to the rafters. Rings work too. Make it easier to lower and raise your body. https://www.amazon.com/Essenc-Trapeze-Playset-Playground-Trapezoidal/dp/B08FM9NLTN/ref=sr_1_138?dchi... |
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@twoleftears I certainly agree with you but I would also say that Arrau's piano tone was second to none and you always left a concert saying to yourself that whatever he played in the concert couldn't be replicated by anyone. It is just a pity that his early recordings are marred by the recording pitfalls of the time. His recordings from the forties and fifties are technically unbeatable and every bit as good as Horowitz. A funny story - he was in attendance at the Berlin debut of Horowitz in the twenties . His mother who was with him and had nothing but insults for every other pianist she heard sat watching Horowitz dead silent. At the end of the concert Arrau was expecting a tirade from his mother , she looked round at her son and said you had better go home and practice because at the moment he plays better than you. I think he caught up with Horowitz though. |
Have you heard? Chopin evocations Tracklist 01-03. Chopin - Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. 2 In F Minor, Op. 21 04-11. Chopin - Variations On "La Ci Darem La Mano", Op. 2 12. Schumann - Carnaval, Op.9: 12. Chopin 13. Grieg - Moods, Op.73-5: Étude "Hommage À Chopin" 14. Barber - Nocturne, Op. 33 15. Tchaikovsky - 18 Pieces, Op. 72: 15. Un Poco Di Chopin 16. Chopin - Rondo In C Major, Op.73 * 17-19. Chopin - Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 11 20-32. Mompou - Variations On A Theme By Chopin 33. Chopin - Fantaisie-impromptu In C Sharp Minor, Op. 66 |
I’ve listened to most of the Trifonov compilation. Very competent playing. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the interpretations. He certainly has the chops to play this music. In fact, he chooses slower tempos to bring out the incredible melodic beauty of Chopin’s writing even in runs. I just feel he doesn’t yet capture the magic of Chopin. He is still very young. |
@rvpiano Totally agree with you RV , when I was listening to The Chopin concertos the only thing on my mind was how I would love to hear Pletnev himself doing those arrangements. I have heard Pletnev live a number of times and two things he can really play are Chopin and Rachmaninov , in my opinion he is as good as anyone on the circuit these days. I have been listening to him since the early eighties and can say that in the early days he was quite an explosive pianist himself as evidenced from his Edinburgh Festival recitals at the Queen's Hall. I am sure Triifonov will grow into his fingers as they say. Maturity only comes with age. |
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/hear-ten-of-bachs-pieces-played-on-original-baroque-instruments.html?fbclid=IwAR3gqxHxJ28If6OcfnxUBfUkdhrAaQstVE2jlPHbxT_rWl-1CyKJY02SwVo
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/hear-musicians-play-the-only-playable-stradivarius-guitar-in-the-world-the-sabionari.html?fbclid=IwAR3A9Q7ZKUJDXmGac0bc8SwFoMFe9DmJMI7IdRSYmm37H8CF5uWD49lT0G8 |
Here is a beautiful rendering of a true masterpiece seldom heard by the most seldom played great composer of the last century . https://youtu.be/NxN2vrDeFjk?t=4 |