gdnrbob,
I enjoy listening to non-professionals as well. When I was in college, I seized every opportunity to hear student and faculty piano recitals that came along. There were many times when I was shocked at the quality of the playing, and it always kept me coming back for more. Even after I graduated I continued to attend these recitals for years until I finally moved out of the area.
And yes, it surely does give a greater appreciation for the world-class musicians. |
I get to see Imogen Copper live on Saturday , she plays a bit .
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Interesting that there is so little posting on opera performances and recitals that it is quite indicative of the quick loss of interest in this art form over the last few decades. Is it the none existence of the greatest of singers that once upon a time would throw audiences into a frenzy or has the sound of the operatic voice somehow become exaggerated and alien for the most part to us.
The New York City Opera is no more. Why? Met performances have plenty of empty seats. On all these pages there is only one mention of a specific opera recording and a few nods to people like Bjoerling, Tebaldi, Corelli, Baker and Hampson. But really not much.
Do most of you not like opera and not have the patience for it? Opera recordings used to be huge sellers even at a time when people could also hear phenomenal exciting live performances. The Met sat afternoon broadcasts were hugely popular across the nation for those who did not have access to great opera houses.
This has all been lost and is not coming back. You could point out exceptions and to this and that but it really no longer has any major hold on cultural life.
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Any recording by the great Dutch soprano Elly Ameling. The great ones make it sound so easy. Also the wonderful American soprano Barbara Bonny. |
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vindanpar,
As far as myself, I overdosed on opera before leaving home for college. My father played nothing but Italian opera on his stereo while I was growing up. I just don't crave hearing it. Orchestral, chamber and solo piano make up the bulk of my listening.
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My greatest musical shortcoming is lack of opera appreciation. I do know and love some of the popular ones, such as The Marriage of Figaro, La Boheme, Turandot, Die Meistersinger, etc. but I really can’t say opera is a regular part of my listening regimen. I can trace it back to an early mentor and piano teacher (a well known accompanist of major performers) who put opera down as lesser music. It had a major impact on me from which I never recovered.
unreceivedogma,
I would loved to include records to my lists. The majority of my listening is to LPs.
The reason I don’t is that most of my records are decades old and not readily available today.
However, since you mention it, I’ll start compiling a list.
(Right now, I’m listening to a wonderful sounding LP of a great performance of Ravel’s La Valse conducted by Pierre Boulez with the New York Phil.) |
I love opera , I’d have Puccini on my top ten list, with his "un bel di" aria from Butterfly
being among the greatest piece of music ever written by anyone in any genre at any time . He also had a fantastic touch with the theatrical side of opera .
Which is the reason I only watch opera at home on DVD . No shortage
of great performances on that media .
Opera , like all of classical music , has an ever shrinking audience .
I predict the last note every played live will be in Japan in 2071, I hope
it’s "Madame Butterfly " .
banyanbull, you could NOT do better than Elly Ameling ! None better,
I’ve had several people who I have played her Schubert lieder for burst into tears.Along with me .
P.S . I used to climb banyan trees .
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rvpiano:
I have:
400 - CDs
5000 - LPs
I can therefore contribute more to a discussion on a thread about LPs than CDs.
Check out that Nixon in China link and tell me what you think. |
I am more a piano guy. Piano concertos just seem to be my favorite combo.
As far as opera goes, I am limited to Mozart, Verdi, Puccini,and Bizet.
Wagner makes my teeth hurt- and he was such a horrible human being.
B
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gdnrbob, those who don’t read German have no idea just how evil he was. Wrote more anti-semetic tirades then he did music .
German Historians who I studied with drew a straight line from Wagner to Hitler .
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kef_lover,
I watched the utube episodes.
iI was very impressed with the pianists as well.
But, you’re right, Bolet is the master.
R |
rvpiano,
Thanks for checking that out. Being an accomplished pianist yourself, perhaps the master class was not as intriguing for you as it was for me. I was fascinated by the spectacle of these impressive pianists being put through their paces and baring their artistic souls for Bolet and the public. Some of his critiques must have been quite humbling for these brave musicians.
In the end, I was most impressed by their ability to reshape their interpretations on the fly in response to Bolet’s advice. It demonstrated their true technical command. I had always wondered how much of a particular pianist’s interpretation was dictated by their technique or lack thereof in a piece such as this. I came away even more impressed by them, even though Bolet clearly was operating on an entirely different level. Truly fascinating stuff for me.
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@schubert ,
And, he was a total deadbeat... |
I listen to a lot of classical music, mostly solo, a lot of piano, with a strong preference for the more ethereal and less bombastic.
A good intro is "Great Pianists of the 20th Century", featuring most of the best.
The best pianist of my lifetime was Sviatislav Richter, and he made hundreds of recordings. Among my favorites are the Chopin Nocturnes and the Rachmaninoff Preludes.
The greatest living pianists today are Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, and Vladimir Ashkenazy, though I suspect none are playing recitals today, but still conducting. I suspect many of you audiophiles might appreciate Barenboim's "On My New Piano", on which he plays a piano with a little different design, inspired by his visit to and playing of one of Chopin's pianos.
Other favorites, dead or alive, old and not so young:
Emil Gilels
Vladmir Sofronitsky
Claudio Arrau
Michail Pletnev
Evgeny Kissin
Grigory Sokolov
Andras Schiff
Angela Hewitt
Aldo Cicollini
Martha Argerich
All my recording are high definition (mostly flac), downloaded free torrents off the internet.
I find recordings using several sites, and I use QBitorrent to manage the downloads to my external hard drive. My first hard drive (4TB) is full, and the second one (5TB)
is now functioning.
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oops
Re: Richter, I meant to say Shostakovich Preludes.
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kef_lover,
Master classes are fascinating. You can get into the way a master thinks, and yes, it is impressive the way the pianists can change their interpretation on the fly.
That’s what you have to do when studying with any great teacher. Sometimes it’s a daunting task.
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schubert
gdnrbob, those who don’t read German have no idea just how evil he was. Wrote more anti-semetic tirades then he did music .
German Historians who I studied with drew a straight line from Wagner to Hitler.
Gosh, those must have been the same historians who drew a straight line from Marilyn Manson to Columbine? Did they also draw a straight line from Furtwangler to Hitler? A straight line from Ozzy Osborne to the fall of the Civilized World?
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@geoffkait,
Okay, let's not get sidetracked...
B
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No, they wern't into fairy tales , just knew how the most famous man in Germany made it acceptable to say anything , anywhere , no matter how vile, about Jews
As we are words , the road to action was made smooth .
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It took them long enough. |
People tend to drag their feet when penalty is death .
jcazador, Great list!, I saw 7 of them alive , Arrau moved me the most, but that’s just me .
The one that seems to be missing IMO is Murray Perahia .
He and Hewitt are my go-to’s on Bach .
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+1 to pianist recommendations. I also like Vladimir Ashkenazy. For earlier keyboard, Andreas Staier is really hard to beat. Top choice for me.
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schubert
lucky you, seeing all those great pianists live
the only one i ever saw was ashkenazy, in a local high school auditorium, back in the days when it was difficult for him to leave USSR
I do appreciate Murray Perahia, especially his Mozart sonatas
and I share your love for Arrau, the consummate master, the total package of dignity, precision and passion held just under the surface - and the inspiration for Argerich as well
twoleftears
i will have to give Staier a listen, thanks
as for Bach, I happen to be listening to Richter playing Well Tempered Clavier at this moment
another favorite for Bach is Maria Yudina, and I will repeat a story about her that may not be true
once she played a radio concert that Stalin heard, it was a live broadcast, not recorded, and Stalin thought it was a recording and liked it so much, he ordered the recording delivered to him immediately
so the KGB went out and got Yudina and took her to a studio and made a recording of her previous recital for Stalin.
She hated stalin, whenever she received a medal, she gave it to the families of people Stalin/KGB had killed
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@jcazador,
Nice post. I hope it is true.
To All,
I subscribe to Spotify and despite its' lack of high fidelity streaming, it has one of the most complete and easily accessible catalogs (unlike Tidal).
I only mention this as I have discovered a huge cache of recordings of the early/mid romantic period from Naxos (mostly). I only thought Hummel was famous for his Trumpet Concerto, but now find he composed a lot of great music-including piano concertos.
The nice thing about Spotify catalog is that it has 'Related Artists'.
Click on that and you get similar composers-Ries, Witt, Flotow, Wilms, etc.
I never heard of these composers before, and I feel I have discovered another facet of classical music.
Sorry if I am saying something you all know, but listening to composers who were famous in their time, yet now almost forgotten, is very exciting.
B |
Jcaazodor ,
What a lovely description of Arrau ! As well done as can be done .
He played an all Brahms program one time I saw him .
I swear, and not as a figure of speech , one could feel Brahms in the hall .
If you haven’t already try Perahia's Bach "French Suites" .
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In the past I have quite often collected Cds of Wagner which contain his mastepieces or highlights. One such Cd (an old one) is called 'The Classical Collection' by Orbis De AGostini Group, this cd is special, not so much because of the technical sound or any interpretations of the music, its special because of the choice of music. It has masterpieces from Lohengrin, Tanhauser, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and The Flying Dutchman but the unusual inclusion is the choir of the Pilgrims' Chorus (Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir Ljubijana Conductor Marko Munh). To hear this chorus is so moving to me and the way Wagner has added the orchestration at the latter part of this music is nothing but sheer magic. It does not surprise me that Prince Ludwig of Bavaria became obsessed with Wagner's music and even built a Wagnerian Castle to live the dream...
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If you enjoy Chopin and Liszt piano concertos (as I do), check out John Field. There are a couple of recordings, both good. Also, get his Nocturnes. I like John O'Conor's recordings on Telarc. Enough to buy also, back in the day, the set of Beethoven sonatas. Good balance of performance and recording quality. |
twoleftears
I downloaded a 10 cd collection of Staier last night, listening to it now, Scarlotti and Bach so far, harpsichord.
Excellent, thanks.
Another story?
This one was told by Edward Said, famous Columbia professor who rewrote the meaning of literary criticism, and then was drawn into advocacy for Palestinians, and throughout was the nyt critic of piano recitals/concerts in nyc, and yes he played classical piano, tho I never heard him.
Anyway, story goes
Saint Saens won some piano competition in Paris as a child, and was given a visit to Wagner in Germany. This was horse and buggy days, no trains from Paris to Germany in those days. So he arrived at Wagner's and was greeted by both Wagner and Liszt, (they were buddies, hung out together, Wagner married Liszt's daughter). St Saens sits down at the piano, and there is an orchestra score of Tannhauser Overture, which Wagner was working on. As you probably know, that is one of the most complex orchestra scores ever written. St Saens sight-transposes it to piano and plays it through.
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FTM The Andreas Staier 10 cd torrent hash I used is: e389b4a3189aaa6605b61a7930079a3d786abc81 google it, you will fink free links to download
It is 3.35 GB, excellent quality
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Wagner’s Lohengrin, Kempe and Vienna Philharmonic, from 1964. Super duper.
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New book on Debussy reviewed: "
He came out of nothing, and the eruption of his genius is a complete
mystery. There was no musical tradition in his very ordinary family.
Within two years of starting to play the piano he was admitted to the
Conservatoire; and two years after that, aged 12, he was being given
prizes for his performance of a Chopin concerto. Almost from the start,
his own music was exquisitely formed, and even the earliest of the songs
and piano pieces give a lot of pleasure.
" . . . "
Walsh’s biography deliberately focuses on the music rather than the
life. Debussy was perhaps not a very likeable person, so this approach
serves to remind us what we most admire about him. Mary Garden, the
first Mélisande, said that he was a ‘very strange’ man; and it does
sometimes appear as if he had no real sympathy for, or interest in,
other people." https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/debussy-the-musical-genius-who-erupted-out-of-nowhere/ |
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jcazador,
Thanks for that article on Debussy. Very informative, though it cut off in the middle for me.
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Wagner’s Lohengrin, Kempe and Vienna Philharmonic, from 1964. Super duper.
Is this on Cd? |
You betcha! EMI label. Printed in Germany. 3 CD box set.
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Schubert,
I just got the Sarasate set (4 CDs!).
Youre right, Tianwa Yang is quite the violinist!
I’m surprised she’s not better known.
btw, In an earlier post, you mentioned that you saw Ashkenazy in a high school auditorium. That’s where I first saw him as well. Strange he would give performances in that venue. He was already known by then. Saw him also at Carnegie in a stupendous performance of Prokofiev’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
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rv, I assume you got the box with the duos, I have them coming .
I have the 4 CD Sarasate for Violin and Orchestra .
First time she did a war horse I had to play it 3 times just to get a handle
(i hope) on her playing . Got a Julia Fischer out on same piece.
I’d say they are equal , just different , which is saying a lot !
FWIW , to me, Tianwa is a chamber musician who also plays with Orchestra AND listens to it !
AND , never misses a beat .
t
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rvpiano
Yes I saw Ashkenazy in local high school auditorium, nice big auditorium, with a stage, not a cafeteria.
In those days he was not allowed to travel freely outside USSR.
So programs existed that sponsored a series of recitals, and USSR cooperated with some such programs. That is how Ashkenazy got here.
Later he negotiated a deal so he could live in Iceland, then he became a citizen there, and eventually as USSR loosened up more, he moved to Switzerland. Iceland seems "out of it", but in fact it was a sound choice for him, it is a short flight to many of the finest concert halls of Europe.
Richter was not allowed to travel to USA until 1960. He wrote that his greatest pleasure was cruising eastern Europe in a car (with Yamaha van, piano and Techs close behind), and holding recitals in obscure town churches on the spur of the moment.
Unfortunately I missed Richter's Carnegie Hall debut. My aunt was a graduate student at Julliard, but she could not get tickets.
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I saw Richter in one of his series of Carnegie recitals, and as much as I think he’s one of the greatest pianists who ever lived, I was unfortunately disappointed.
Most of the problem was my seat, which was under an overhang in the Family Circle. Despite the hall’s renowned acoustics, I could hardly hear him. Very disappointing.
I’m aware of his travels through the USSR, playing on inferior pianos in heroic fashion. |
schubert,
I got the Sarasate music for violin and orchestra.
I’ll have to look for the duos. |
Another great, great Wagner CD is the Solti Das Rheingold on Decca Heritage Masters label. Thus performance is from 1958, in extremely good Stereo sound, at Vienna, with London and Flagstad, and predates the more famous Solti Ring extravaganza just a bit.
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My 2 cents worth on piano recordings:
Arrau Beethoven Waldstein sonata Philips
Richter Liszt Concertos Philips
Eschenbach Mozart Sonatas DG
Horowitz Rach sonata #2, Chopin Polonaise- Fantasie, Etudes Op. 10, #3, 4 and 12, Scriabin
Cortot Chopin
Rubinstein Chopin Nocturnes
Ashkenazy Prokofiev Con. #1, 2 Previn
Pogorelich Ravel Gaspard DG
Zimerman Chopin Concertos Giulini DG
Gould Bach
Fleisher Szell Beethoven Concertos
Kempff Mozart Con. #23, 24 DG
Brendel Mozart Con. #25 Philips
Gilels Mozart Con. #27 DG
Bernstein Shostakovich Con. #2 Columbia
Janis Prokofiev Con. #3, Rach Con. #3 Mercury
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Just one , but from and by two of the most neglected and underplayed Greats at this time in USA .
Imogen Cooper plays Schumann /Chandros
"Davidsbundler",Abegg Variations" , Novelletten" and "Geistervariotionen "
Sublime .
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rvpiano,
Wish I could have been there for that Prokofiev 2nd with Ashkenazy!!! |
Many years ago!
Interesting story: The night of the Ashkenazy performance, my friends and I went outside of Carnegie and waited all night for Horowitz tickets to be sold in one of his first return concerts from his sabbatical.)
(Actually, truth be told, I didn’t wait all night; my friends did and bought me tickets.) |
rvpiano,
Was that the night Wanda brought coffee for the fans waiting in line? |
