Artur Schnabel, London Sym. Orch, sargent cond.
masterful, artful playing. |
andreas staier and concerto koln. an interesting angle on mozart. an "authentic" group focused on the music. beautiful results. |
Michelangeli!!! with santa cecilia orchestra. One of the best mozart pno concerto recordings, pianist and orchestra. It is a very integrated performance where the orchestra doesn't sound like a "vehicle" for the soloist. One of the best Italian mozarts and probably my favorite overall. |
tweekerman, you couldn't pay me to listen to any of his recordings. |
Tweekerman, believe it or not, I am saying that I don't enjoy listening to just about anything Oistrakh did recorded or live. In fact, Oistrakh reminds me of another Russian artist, Emil Gilels, another one I am perplexed why there is such a huge cult following from otherwise intelligent and tasteful music lovers.
IMO, I find them both very predicable, everything sounds the same regardless of the composer or particular piece. technical uniformity and sterility mar their performances. They are some of the few "great" artists that don't sound alive or spontaneous "live" to me. i.e. ... Gilels Carnegie hall live recital, or even the Bach Double with Menuhin... |
Tweekerman, I prefer Szigeti, Huberman, Heifetz, Thibaud, Busch, Neveu, Elman, Menuhin easily over Mr. O. What recordings??? All of his Beethoven Sonatas, Mozart Concertos, Bach Concertos, Shostakovich Concertos, Prokofieff Concerti and sonatas, all of his chamber music recordings, Khatchaturian Cto., etc, etc.Don't mean to trash him, he's just not my cup of tea. I can't get over his factory mechanicalness.
Hilary Hahn is OK. But honestly, in the end, she is a brat that is packaged really well. IMO, she is not in the "greats" league and don't think she ever will be. I don't think she has the sensitivity, depth or intelligence of an interesting artist. There is a 2 dimensionality to her tone and playing, a thinness and vacuosness. Just my opinion. |
Tweekerman, if you don't believe that a pianist can play and conduct at the same time with good results... check out the Andreas Staier/ concerto Koln recording of Mozart concerti #'s 9 and 18. He is playing the fortepiano, and it has an "authentic" presentation, but Mozart is everywhere. Let me know if that changes your mind. |
Try Schnabel/Sargent/L.S.O., I have it on 78. I agree with Perahia recordings, always have a lowest common denominator feel to it(which is why the critics like it so much), and Bilson always sounds flat to me too.
As for the Staier/concerto koln mozarts, I really like the interaction and general conception, but the string tone I'm finding is pretty ugly, and not "real", but there are plenty of things to like about it. |
Different strokes. To me all I hear is notes from the great Gilels. and I was confused, do you mean to say that Tasmin Little and Josh Bell are in a higher league than Hahn??? We have very different ideas about what is a Musician or a Violinist. But I respect your views. |
Tweek, I can't believe you said that about her bach!!!!
Believe me, I sooo wanted to love her Bach. And I'll grant that she really wanted to do something beyond the ordinary. You can hear that she did her "homework" listening to the old masters etc. etc.
Better than Enesco??? have you heard the enesco bach??? Better than the Menuhin Bach set??? Better than Szigeti's bach ?? (who in my opinion is easily the greatest violinist /artist of the 20th century) The expressive/tonal palette of the above artists are IMO in a different galaxy. The depth, layering, thoughtfulness, style, DIMENSION... I must admit, I don't love the Milstein set(which is great), but I would say hers leans in that direction slightly- which I would characterize as an attempt to highlight the architectural, a rather "purist" pose, linear but not unexpressive. And I find her following all the modern "rules" a bit too closely too- a little bit too PC. I wish she would follow her innate intuition more on those recordings. Her tone I find a little on the thin/lean side resulting in 2 dimensionality.
there is only 1 modern Bach set that I LOVE. and that is by Mela Tenenbaum on ESSAY records. (cd) What I like about it is an honesty, and truthfulness to her own convictions about Bach without nods and references to PC, HIP, correctness, pleasing critics etc. I didn't like it at first, but like alot of truly great things, they are not so obvious. I will look for that Oistrakh. |
I wnt to school with Akiko, I couldn't disagree more. Thin mechanical playing. completely passionless. |
Look, I have serious violinist/collector friends who Love Hillary Hahn. Rave about her. It's just my taste. I would start with the Szigeti Bach's, there is a Biddulph with a selection of his works, Bach, Bartok, Brahms, and something else, it's a good start. Check out his Brahms Concerto recordings- incredible. And his Mozart Sonatas with Szell and Horszowski is my favorite recording of just about anything. It restores my faith in art and music. He is kind of the polar opposite of Heifetz (who I love). Kind of Ying to Heifetz' Yang. Or another great recording of his is the Recital at the Library of Congress with Bela Bartok at the piano, Beethoven Kreutzer, Bartok Rhapsody, Debussy Sonata, nad Bartok sonata. You'll realize that Bartok was one of the genius pianists of this century. It sounds like a great jazz colaboration. There is a philip's japanese cd pressing of the bach's. bad sound, and he was a little past his prime- which you can hear on a biddulph short pieces album. But the monumental artistry is obvious.
Check out the Bach of Menuhin's youth, it is delicious. I'm a fan, so I also appreciate his admittedly more funky and earthy(read slightly out of tune and shaky) later Bach performances. I actually prefer them, in the same way I prefer bruised, browned overly ripe peaches that when you bite in to them, the overly sweet juices run all over and it is a complete mess, but the flavor is divine.
Not to beat a dead horse, but to me Hillary Hahn, is like a very good, perfectly round, flawless, firm peach, with good color,not quite ripened yet, peach that you buy at a gourmet produce store. |
sorry, philips japanese bach is of georges enesco. |
I heard pletnev on the radio playing Mozart 24(?) with a german chamber orchestra, I found it engaging and him a very good pianist. Bright and healthy in tone, beautiful slow movement, and made sense of the music. I was picking up my wife at the airport, and stayed in the car to hear who it was because it wasn't the usual mindless, generic approach. I like him alot.
As for Josh Bell... He is a joke. I find he trades on his glamour boy image more than anything else. I find his playing is vulgar and distorted. Completely uninteresting. And Tasmin Little is lucky she has the Brit machine behind her, because she isn't much of a violinist or a musician(IMO). |
cpdunn, as for Serkin, you are probably referring to his recordings after he moved to the US. i.e. the beethovens with bernstein and nyphil, his beethoven sonatas... etc. etc. I find all of them lifeless and sterile.
But... do you know his recordings with Adolph Busch?
The best Serkin recordings that I know of are his Schubert Fantasy with Busch(transcendant and sublime), Brahms vln sonatas with Busch, Brahms A minor piano quartet, Mozart and Haydn trios with Busch... This is the Serkin that I know and love. I have a feeling that he came to the states and was offered a limitless carte blanche recording contract and just churned them out. |
