Classical piano solo—Your one favorite performance and recording

Aphex Twin: "Avril 14th" (2001, Warp Records)

There are so many quality box sets which contain performances that deserve to be mentioned here. Many others have touched on these so I'll mention a different source that always has my attention - The Cliburn competition.

Cliburn 2017 Bronze medalist Danial Hsu gave a rendition of Pictures At An Exhibition which has really stuck with me.

Cliburn Masterpiece: Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

There's a rather good movie out there called Eroica, made by Simon Cellan Jones.  As you might suspect, it features among other things a performance of that symphony.  For those just starting out with classical music, it demonstrates very well, I think, the nature of the transition between the Classical and Romantic periods.

I remember being surprised when I read a book on Music Appreciation that lumped Beethoven and Schubert together as belonging to the Classical Period but being transitional figures, paving the way for early Romanticism 

@edcyn 

And, oh yeah -- Chuck Berry invents Rock & Roll.

No, Chuck Berry received a call from his cousin (Marvin?) who was listening to a guitar experience by Marty McFly.

This is well portrayed in the movie Back to the Future.  Get it right.

Impossible to choose one, but I'll put in a good word for Clifford Curzon's Eroica Variations.

How about if I duly proclaim some absolute, incontrovertible boundaries for the various periods of what I shall refer to as Serious Music? To be sure, actual historical dates cannot be accurately ascertained but the composers who introduced the various Serious Musical periods are THUS --

Monteverdi shall be the first composer whose music supplants Medieval music for Baroque.

Haydn shall be the composer who supplants Baroque Music with Classical.

Beethoven shall be the composer who supplants Classical Music with Romantic Music.

Stravinsky is entirely, unequivocally responsible for introducing Modern.Classical Music.

And, oh yeah -- Chuck Berry invents Rock & Roll.

@mikelavigne 

i will ask my local friend, Joel-Francois Durand, professor of music composition and acting director the School of Music at the University of Washington, classical (20th Century period😁) composer, and builder of my tonearms, whether he disagrees with the Oxford dictionary definition of Classical music.

Och, you don't have to do that.  It'd be a bit like asking Robert Plant if Led Zeppelin was a heavy metal band.

There was a thread here a year or so ago and LZ featured as the best HM band of all time.  I took issue.  Oh, and Liszt is Classic.

@noske

i will ask my local friend, Joel-Francois Durand, professor of music composition and acting director the School of Music at the University of Washington, classical (20th Century period😁) composer, and builder of my tonearms, whether he disagrees with the Oxford dictionary definition of Classical music.

https://music.washington.edu/people/joel-francois-durand

he is an expert. and an audiophile.

https://www.durand-tonearms.com/

btw; he also really enjoys the Nojima Plays Liszt recording on Lp and tape.

i have learned much from him.

i know he will tell me to just enjoy the music. and don’t worry too much about it. maybe....if i was in his classroom, he might tell me differently. 

@mikelavigne I guess what you are saying is that you are fine for audiophiles to be general, when in fact I think its imperative to be accurate and precise in matters of import.

I do not agree with the Oxford dictionary definition in this matter, but I do appreciate that you know where I am coming from.

Should the question have been in a general sense, then many movie scores could be considered classical music.  And perhaps cartoons like Looney Tunes (yes, listen, I am sometimes fascinated at the detail).

@noske 

it’s not that complicated. the term ’Classical Music’ can be used in more than one context.

just the facts. no priors.

the original thread poster used ’Classical’ in a general sense, the same way most audiophiles would interpret it.

The Oxford Dictionary defines ’classical music’ as “music written in a Western musical tradition, usually using an established form (for example a symphony). Classical music is generally considered to be serious and to have a lasting value.”

then there are periods of classical (the original poster did not specify this ’period’ use of the term.....which he would have needed to do for clarity were that his intent).

With centuries of history to consider, it can be easy to get in a bit of a twist when it comes to the various eras of Western classical music. Here’s a quick guide to the four key periods we usually learn about in music theory: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century and beyond.

@mikelavigne 

Thankyou for clarifying that you are not an expert on classical music despite that it is mostly what you listen to.

Liszt was not of the Classical school. He was a Hungarian composer, pianist and teacher of the Romantic period.

Just the facts.  No priors.

Now, if the question was what is the favourite piano solo and recording of a composer from the Romantic school, I'd listen, rather than question.

That post by @mikelavigne must be bookmarked under the new favourites folder titled Clueless.

@noske that's very mean spirited.

did you even read my whole post? i was very clear to say that i'm not expert on classical. just talking about what i like. here is the last sentence of my post.

please note i'm not expert on classical performance, but it is mostly what i listen to. i love it.

had i previously offended you? or just in the mood for spite?

Yes, I would have to agree that Glenn Gould's recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations must be among my favorite classical solo piano pieces, although he was more famous for his unique interpretations as opposed to the standard, establishment interpretations.  Another one of my favorite classical solo piano pieces are any of Chopin's works performed by Claudio Arrau, who, again, was probably more famous because of his unique interpretations. 

With the Advent season here and the holidays season in swing ….

CHEMAYNE MICALLEF - CHRISTMAS PIANO


,,, a Christmas CD that’s a very nice subdued background for Traditional holiday songs that are performed with a classical touch.

Back in 2012  Christmas Piano was named as one of the Top 10 Classical Music Christmas Albums in a New York Times/About.com review .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/christma ... 0000782958 

To be fair, I think there may be some confusion here with terminology.  There is a Genre (I hate that term, but it’s useful here) of Classical Music, and then within that Genre there is the Classical Period, the dates of which were supplied by another poster.

  I took the OP to mean any recording within the genre, not the historical period.  The recording that the OP cites is of Baroque Music, albeit on a more modern instrument than the Composer would have known.

  The Vikingur Olaffson Debussy/Ravel disc cited previously is another stunner

@mahler123

An impossible choice, but I would nominate Brendel’s Phillips recording of Schubert’s last 3 sonatas

Yes, excellent. Schubert was late Classical, unlike Liszt who clearly was not and someone who must be clueless about all matters musical sparks up to recommend Liszt as Classical, rather than Romantic.

That post by @mikelavigne must be bookmarked under the new favourites folder titled Clueless.

An impossible choice, but I would nominate Brendel’s Phillips recording of Schubert’s last 3 sonatas

Recently realized just how much I love it as well which prompted the post. The simplicity of the single instrument combined with the complexity of the composition and beauty of the performance is particularly attractive to me.

@cb77

thanks; btw......in this months (Dec 22') Absolute Sound on page 16 is a brief Memoriam on Minoru Nojima, who passed away this year. it references this recording which has meant much to me, and you, and many listeners.

Thanks to everyone for the posts and suggestions.

@mikelavigne Recently realized just how much I love it as well which prompted the post.  The simplicity of the single instrument combined with the complexity of the composition and beauty of the performance is particularly attractive to me.

@edcyn What a privilege to have seen those guys in concert, and a reminder to me to take advantage of more opportunities to experience live performances.

@newbee Thank you for identifying the modern recording by Beatrice Rama—will definitely look into it.  Also like your suggestion to drill down by composers.  If anyone would like to expand on that basis it would be most informative.  Also would be interesting to hear of more modern “classical” composers/performances.

Vikingur Olafsson plays Debussy-Rameau

These recordings are still magic to me. They actually induced me to buy pianos that were, ahem, a trifle more expensive than my abilities deserved. Recording quality, of course, varies.

Rudolf Serkin -- Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata.

Phillippe Entremont plays Debussy.

Maurizio Pollini -- Chopin Etudes

Alfred Brendel -- Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata.

I saw all these guys in concert, too.

John O'Conor's traversal of the Beethoven sonatas on Telarc is very good.  As are plenty of other recordings.

As mike in nc said, I can't give you just one - I have too many to choose from, maybe far too many. But just to be a little bit obnoxious, you mentioned Gould and Bach. If you want to hear a modern recording of the Goldberg Variations by a young and excellent pianist, you should hear Beatrice Rana's version on Warner Classic's. My preferred version of all available to me. :-)

FWIW one CD that gets a lot of play time from me is a compilation of very assessible but more modern (20th century) 'classical' music. 'Michael Sheppard plays Rogers/Hough - Barber/Sheppard  Crumb  Corigliano  Wild  Bolcom. 

If you can drill down your request to either composers, composition, or performers I, and others I think, could give you many specific recommendations.

Here's two nice ones

Classical music is loosely defined as being composed from about 1750 to 1820.

This includes that from the minds of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.

Rach was pretty recent, in the scheme of things.

JS Bach could be correctly categorized as baroque.  What was the question?

I can’t pick just one, but perhaps something by Yevgeny Sudbin on BIS. If you like Scarlatti on the piano, his is excellent (and I usually prefer harpsichord in this). If not, his Medtner and Rachmaninoff album also is excellent.

"Nojima Plays Liszt" is both a top notch recording, and inspired performance.

i have the Reference Recording original Lp, and a good quality low gen 1/4" 15ips master tape dub (The Tape Project), as well as the CD and 176/24 hirez file both made from the master tape.

when i need a piano reference it always delivers, yet i can also listen for pure enjoyment.

probably my favorite classical piano soloist is Martha Argerich; i have at least 25 Lps of her's many of which are solo's and they are excellent performances and typically fine recordings too. many are all analog. Richter is also a favorite but the recording quality is not always top level. 

please note i'm not expert on classical performance, but it is mostly what i listen to. i love it.