Mozart Piano Sonatas
jpax...@yahoo.com
recommendations for either individual recordings or complete sets of
the piano sonatas? Thanks.
Jim A.
MrT
Complete sets: Horszowski (Arbiter, from concert performances), Pires
(Denon), Bilson (Hungaroton, on an old piano). Very different, but all
are convincing.
Individual sonatas: Schnabel is mandatory in the little he recorded,
too many other worthwhile performances to mention. The Horszowski set
is in the Schnabel style. Pires is in the Simonian middle of the road
tradition. Bilson is in the imaginative hipster modus.
You may also want to explore Brautigam, Heidsieck, and Barenboim I, all
fine sets. Uchida is to be avoided.
Best,
MrT
Sacqueboutier
You left out Walter Klien on Vox...an excellent set with much classical charm.
--
Best wishes,
Sacqueboutier
John Thomas
jpax...@yahoo.com wrote:
My favorite is Klara Wurtz' complete set on Brilliant Classics. Wurtz
is especially good in the earlier sonatas, surrendering herself to
Mozart's youthful charm in a way that Glenn Gould never could. The only
problem is with the sound: an annoying added reverb and the mikes just a
bit too distant from the piano. But the performances are far more
expressive than those in the often recommended Eschenbach set. Walter
Klien's Vox set is also fine and the one I'd suggest if you can't get
used to the Wurtz CDs' sound. The single disc beautifully by Ivan
Moravec on Supraphon.has the best performances of any single Mozart
recording I've heard.
--
Regards,
John Thomas
Raymond Hall
news:abrasax365-ECD0B...@nnrp-virt.nntp.sonic.net...
I have the Klara Wurtz set, (and can only say I find them very satisfactory,
but without the knowledge of other pianists in this music), and was
wondering if the Pires set (now also on Brilliant Classics) adds anything
much different to Wurtz.
Ray H
Taree
Bill McCutcheon
<jpax...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1131586052.7...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
super-charged, try Newman (Newport). I'd avoid Bilson; I love his
concerti, but his sonatas are much too "relaxed."
-- Bill McC.
Thornhill
A fortepiano version is a must since Mozart so clearly composed
specifically for the instrument. Ronald Brautigam has an excellent
complete set (as well as complete keyboard variations) on BIS. The
recorded sound is excellent. The fortepiano is a difficult instrument
to record, often sounding puny, but the recording engineers got it
right, capturing just how loud it can be.
deac...@yahoo.com
Uchida is not to be avoided. It is, in fact, the first place to start.
Forget the muddy, historical crap, forget Bilson and his noodlesfor
fingers.
Barenboim I would suggest that there was a Barenboim II, which there is
not so far as I know at any rate.
Personally, the only set with any right to competition with Uchida is
Joyce Hatto, who frankly bowled me over with her Mozart.
Of course, very few here have ever heard them, so this advice will fall
on deaf ( and very dumb) ears.
TD
deac...@yahoo.com
Typical ideological proselitizing on behalf of the "earth shoes and
cruntchy granola" set.
TD
jony...@earthlink.net
of us will remain.
For single discs, the recent Richard Good on Nonesuch is outstanding.
Well played, and an excellent selection of sonatas and lesser-known
works.
jy
Sam
>A fortepiano version is a must since Mozart so clearly composed
>specifically for the instrument. Ronald Brautigam has an excellent
>complete set (as well as complete keyboard variations) on BIS. The
>recorded sound is excellent. The fortepiano is a difficult instrument
>to record, often sounding puny, but the recording engineers got it
>right, capturing just how loud it can be.
Is is conceivable that if Mozart heard the sonatas played on a modern
grand piano he would say that they sound better that way?
Simon Roberts
jpax...@yahoo.com says...
>
>In view of the upcoming Mozart year, what are your latest
>recommendations for either individual recordings or complete sets of
>the piano sonatas? Thanks.
For a complete set on a modern piano in good modern sound, Pires/DG. For a
remarkable bargain in somewhat dated sound, Klien/Vox. For a HIP set using
fortepianos only, Hakkila on Finlandia. For a just started HIP series using
various instruments in addition to fortepiano, Rampe/MD+G. (Not being at home
and not having a reliable memory, I'll hold off on individual discs....) There
are of course numerous other good sets, but I wouldn't be too disappointed if
all I had were these.
Simon
Simon Roberts
says...
? Fortepianos (especially from Mozart's period) do not sound loud (except in a
small room, or relative to a clavichord etc.). They can, of course, sound loud
on recordings, especially if you turn up the volume (a guilty pleasure of mine).
In Brautigam's case, I would suggest that one reason why the fortepianos he uses
don't sound puny is that BIS recorded him in a very resonant acoustic (far too
resonant for my taste).
Simon
graham
<jony...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1131627789.7...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> And the more you preach the Gospel of Hatto, the more hethenistic some
> of us will remain.
>
discs at first, representing a "cross-section" of her repertoire, and, like
Tom, was bowled over by her Mozart. After hearing her 'Waldstein', I had to
order the rest of the Beethoven series. It has been a costly excercise for
me. I have never before bought so many cds in such a short time.
Graham
Vaneyes
Simon Roberts wrote:
>
> For a complete set on a modern piano in good modern sound, Pires/DG.
Yes, but with price difference, it's hard to pass by her Brilliant
Classics (Denon c1974) set.
> For a remarkable bargain in somewhat dated sound, Klien/Vox.
Nice playing, with horrible piano sound.
Regards
dr...@andadv.com
I still own Gieseking's rather ancient traversal on LP, but frankly it
may go bye-bye in the next cull. It's a mixed bag. Some great, some
exceedingly dull, and the old sonics don't help.
I have the "half set" that Kocsis did in his younger days on Hungaraton
LP, and these still appeal. Fleet, light, good touch, elements of
humor. (I've never sampled the ones by Ranki, who did the other "half
set" for the same label.)
The only full set that I maintain is Eschenbach's on DGG vinyl. I take
it that he has fallen out of favor. Too bad. I still like him, at least
in many of the sonatas. Very strong, admittedly almost Beethovenian,
which many listeners may find utterly wrongheaded. As I say, I tend to
like it. So I'm a philistine...what's new?
Yes, I have one or two LPs and one CD of Uchida's sonatas. That's
enough for me. More than half an hour and her playing palls.
Klien I have heard only in snippets, again from LP copies, not the CD
transfers. I probably need to give him greater attention.
I do dearly wish that Haskil had approached the Mozart sonatas the way
she did the concertos. I'd love to hear what her take on them would
have been. Ditto for that little-known artist and childhood colleague
of Arrau's, Rosita Renard--the one Mozart sonata she left us, from a
Carnegie Hall performance, is a delight. Lili Kraus did some
extraordinarily good Mozart, too, even though there's also plenty of
so-so stuff from her, as well; still, I make it a policy to listen to
most of her recordings that come my way.
Many years ago, I recall some friend gushing over an LP of Zimermann
doing Mozart sonatas. Never heard it myself (his Liszt, some Chopin,
yeah--but not Mozart). Anyone know if he continued producing sonata
recordings, or was this a one-shot deal from him?
Pires? I may have to try her. Her LvB, however, doesn't do all that
much for me...so we'll see.
Thanks for bringing up the topic. It's nice to see assorted
recommendations for this body of work.
Cheers,
Dirk
Vaneyes
> not so far as I know at any rate.
On the basis of a coupla singles (thankfully at p.e. pricing), I pass
on Uchida, too.
Re Barenboim I, coulda been a lapse, thinking of his LvB PSs.
Regards
Todd Schurk
I like Arrau(from Universal Philips/France) & Michael Endres on Arte
Nova(now Ohems)...Arrau of course the poetic story teller,Endres more
of a classical view...they compliment each other perfectly-and I don't
need to shop for any more.
Sam
Amazon reviewers of the complete set complains that the sonics on a
couple of the disks are very bad. The set is cheap enought, though.
Wayne Brown
>
> The only full set that I maintain is Eschenbach's on DGG vinyl. I take
> it that he has fallen out of favor. Too bad. I still like him, at least
> in many of the sonatas. Very strong, admittedly almost Beethovenian,
> which many listeners may find utterly wrongheaded. As I say, I tend to
> like it. So I'm a philistine...what's new?
As another philistine, I concur. Eschenbach's set is my favorite,
though I have it on DGG CDs rather than vinyl.
--
Wayne Brown (HPCC #1104) | "When your tail's in a crack, you improvise
fwb...@bellsouth.net | if you're good enough. Otherwise you give
| your pelt to the trapper."
e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0 -- Euler | -- John Myers Myers, "Silverlock"
Thornhill
Simon Roberts wrote:
> ? Fortepianos (especially from Mozart's period) do not sound loud (except in a
> small room, or relative to a clavichord etc.).
That's an interesting point -- in Mozart's time, a piano recital would
have been played in the parlor of a house. When you move the instrument
to a larger performing space, then there are issues with it not
sounding loud enough.
> They can, of course, sound loud
> on recordings, especially if you turn up the volume (a guilty pleasure of mine).
> In Brautigam's case, I would suggest that one reason why the fortepianos he uses
> don't sound puny is that BIS recorded him in a very resonant acoustic (far too
> resonant for my taste).
I find BIS's choice to record in a church a much more effective cheat
than turning the volume up.
Thornhill
Sam wrote:
> Is is conceivable that if Mozart heard the sonatas played on a modern
> grand piano he would say that they sound better that way?
Who knows -- that's why it is worth owning both modern and period.
Thornhill
The fortepiano is a completely different instrument than the modern
piano (size, no steel frame, direction of wood grain, hammers, strings
run straight, etc); it's not about which is a better instrument.
Because of the differences, such as the drastically different
reverberation rate, the music has to be played differently on each
instrument; a performing can not have the same interpretation for each
instrument. I'm not saying that Mozart can't be played on a modern
piano and that everyone should junk their modern recordings, but a
fortepiano version is definitely worth owning.
JohnGavin
I like the first set by Alicia DeLarrocha on Decca - taken from LPs
called "Mostly Mozart". Decca made a conglomerate of 4 or 5 on one CD
(now out of print). She re-did all of them for RCA - don't like these
as much - too tame.
Ralph
Ralph
wille...@hotmail.com
One of the most beautiful CD"s dedicated to Mozart sonatas was in the
Decca Ovation Series with Ashkenazy playing K 310 and 576, the rondo K
511 as well as the sonata for 2 pianos with Malcolm Frager. I wonder
though if it isn't out of print now... If not, go and get it, I think
every serious piano (and Mozart) lover should as least listen once to
this natural playing!
I am still very fond of Pires's 2nd complete cycle on DG and especially
like her unhurried tempi.
Willem
Ian Pace
"Sam" <sa...@nospammy.com> wrote in message
news:irl6n1h3epsudp2cu...@4ax.com...
This question is often brought up in the context of HIP debates, and I think
it's ultimately rather meaningless. If Mozart had lived in a later era, in
which he could have heard a modern grand piano, he would have had a very
different life, probably become a different type of individual, and almost
certainly have written very different music. Besides, he might be more
bewildered at why people are more fixated on music from over 200 years ago
than they are about living traditions of their own time (in distinction from
his era, where living traditions were at the forefront of things).
Some people do indeed prefer Mozart played on a modern instruments, with all
the interpretative/performance practice adjustments that the modern
instrument necessitates. Fine - there are some modern instrument Mozart
players I find of great interest (including Schnabel, Klein, even Barenboim
sometimes (of whom I'm not generally a fan)), though I do think that as a
result of the new approaches to phrasing, articulation, bass sonority, etc.
that become necessary on a modern piano, it does make sense to talk of them
as revisionist approaches. Mozart, as much as any composer, understood
acutely the specific characteristics of the instruments he wrote for and
exploited these to the full in a way that sounds so perfectly idiomatic to
my ears (Bach and Beethoven and others are very different in this respect
(in lots of different ways)). I'd simply recommend that anyone listen to
this music played on a good quality fortepiano by a sympathetic and
knowledgeable interpreter (I'm very fond of Bilson and Glaser - haven't yet
heard Hakkila) - the difference in musical conception can be quite
startling.
Ian
A. Brain
news:n8Tcf.12547$wh7....@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...
> This question is often brought up in the context of HIP debates, and I
> think it's ultimately rather meaningless. If Mozart had lived in a
> later era, in which he could have heard a modern grand piano, he would
> have had a very different life, probably become a different type of
> individual, and almost certainly have written very different music.
> Besides, he might be more bewildered at why people are more fixated on
> music from over 200 years ago than they are about living traditions of
> their own time (in distinction from his era, where living traditions
> were at the forefront of things).
If Mozart would have written "very different music",
what about this question, which musical professionals
might be able to answer:
Why hasn't someone written the music that Mozart would
have written if he had lived longer, or in a different time?
Or if he had just gotten around to finishing some of his
uncompleted works?
Or if someone has, who is it?
The obvious answer in part is that no musical genius
emerged to pick up the pieces that Mozart left
unfinished. Scholars are still arguing over some
completions like the Requiem. And I puzzle over
K. 297b--it seems to me that it has to be authentic.
If not, one would perhaps like to have some of the
other music written or arranged by the guy who did
this one--or would like to have brought him in to finish
some of the other unfinished or half-finished stuff.
"Proof" that such music is theoretically possible, I think,
arises from the undeniable fact that if some new
manuscript by Mozart turned up, it's inconceivable that
musical professionals would contend that it's not worth
a listen since all those chimpanzees at their typewriters
have already duplicated it.
And who would contend that the potential for
interesting opera stories and librettos has been
exhausted by the tired efforts of people like
Phillip Glass and John Adams? Or even
Marc Blitzstein, Samuel Barber, and Leonard
Bernstein?
And a Mozart later than his period would have
had a lot more material to work with.
Social and scientific stuff. More man's
inhumanity to man and all that. And what's
really essential to artistic endeavors these days:
Lesbian sex. Or has Peter Sellars already added
that to a production of "Cosi"?
One supposes that Mozart's music, if written
after some of the innovations of the early 19th
century, would be better than that of many, if not all,
of his successors. In fact, it's already better,
even without the innovations.
I mean, if you could time-travel, wouldn't you want
to bring Mozart in to tweak, say, Wagner's operas,
or, for that matter, almost every one of his colleagues'
works?
I recently referred to a "fragment" played by our
local band, a late Mozart work, "Sinfonia Concertante
in A for Violin, Viola, and Cello, KV Anh 104". Well,
I don't think I had all that information then--just picked
up the program from my bipolar neighbor today. This
piece was supposedly the high point of the recent concert
here. Conductor Hans Graf apparently completed it
by adding orchestration in the style of Mozart and
has recorded it on "Delta 15886" with the Salzburg
Mozarteum Orchestra. And the audience loved it,
no doubt much more than the average "modern" or
"contemporary" piece. I think the local reviewer remarked
that it was "tantalizing".
It may not be a fair comparsion, but it seems to
me that there are a lot of modern writers of literature
who eschew "innnovation" or what one recent
"academic" dispute calls "status", in favor of
"contract"--the idea that the artistic work should
be pleasing to the audience. See, for example,
the following, which I was reminded of when
reading an obituary of the novelist John Fowles,
author of one of the worst novels I have ever read:
http://www.slate.com/id/2128405/
But I am also curious about how no one seems to
have tried the variety of works that Mozart composed,
as in his concertos for such combinations as flute and
harp, or as in the above work, an orchestral piece featuring
this trio of instruments as soloists.
--
A. Brain
Remove NOSPAM for email.
Alan Cooper
>
>jpax...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> In view of the upcoming Mozart year, what are your latest
>> recommendations for either individual recordings or complete sets of
>> the piano sonatas? Thanks.
>>
>> Jim A.
>
>One of the most beautiful CD"s dedicated to Mozart sonatas was in the
>Decca Ovation Series with Ashkenazy playing K 310 and 576, the rondo K
>511 as well as the sonata for 2 pianos with Malcolm Frager. I wonder
>though if it isn't out of print now... If not, go and get it, I think
>every serious piano (and Mozart) lover should as least listen once to
>this natural playing!
I love the Ashkenazy record. (I have the original LP, which lacks the
2-piano sonata.) Not only are the performances wonderful; it also
seems to be one of the few Decca recordings of the pianist with decent
sound. There's a contemporary recording by Ashkenazy and Kertesz of
two concerti (##8 and 9) that is also terrific, imo.
For good value in a complete set of the sonatas, I think I'd go for
Zacharias on French EMI.
AC
Matthew B. Tepper
web-shooter apparatus, and if Salieri had been born on Krypton and come to
Earth and acquired fabulous powers as the result of being under a yellow sun,
and if they fought it out, who would win?
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made. ~ FDR (attrib.)
Simon Roberts
dr...@andadv.com says...
>Many years ago, I recall some friend gushing over an LP of Zimermann
>doing Mozart sonatas. Never heard it myself (his Liszt, some Chopin,
>yeah--but not Mozart). Anyone know if he continued producing sonata
>recordings, or was this a one-shot deal from him?
I think there was just the one LP; I wonder why it never made it to CD.
>Pires? I may have to try her. Her LvB, however, doesn't do all that
>much for me...so we'll see.
Her disc of Beetoven piano sonatas on DG is very disappointing; but have you
heard her set of the Beethoven violin sonatas with Dumay?
Simon
deac...@yahoo.com
on CD. He disapproves of the "sound" on some of his older recordings.
You will find that the Brahms Sonatas, which did appear briefly on CD,
have also fallen by the wayside on account of his opinion of their
value. Personally I was able to get him to approve ONE piece from that
set in his GPE volume, but it took about an hour on the telephone to
accomplish that feat. And the piece was a very short one, a Scherzo.
This has made of his Brahms CD set something of a collector's item as
he had it withdrawn almost immediately, claiming that he had not
approved of its release on CD. DG acceded to his demands, of course.
Zimerman has very high standards for the actual sound of the piano on
his recordings. Personally, I think he is too fussy.
And yet his very fussiness has given us the most miraculous
performances of the two Chopin concerti - both in concert and on CD -
that I have ever heard. It is very hard to argue with results like
that.
TD
Raymond Hall
news:vM%cf.79707$zb5....@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> "Ian Pace" <i...@ianpace.com> wrote in message
> news:n8Tcf.12547$wh7....@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...
>> This question is often brought up in the context of HIP debates, and I
>> think it's ultimately rather meaningless. If Mozart had lived in a
>> later era, in which he could have heard a modern grand piano, he would
>> have had a very different life, probably become a different type of
>> individual, and almost certainly have written very different music.
>> Besides, he might be more bewildered at why people are more fixated on
>> music from over 200 years ago than they are about living traditions of
>> their own time (in distinction from his era, where living traditions
>> were at the forefront of things).
>
>
>
>
> If Mozart would have written "very different music",
> what about this question, which musical professionals
> might be able to answer:
>
> Why hasn't someone written the music that Mozart would
> have written if he had lived longer, or in a different time?
From a mere amateur, and diving head first without looking, it is my opinion
that Mozart was a *one off*. Everybody, even including the great Brahms,
were too busy trying to emulate pieces of sh*te like the Roaral Symphony,
which is evident in his <eventual 50 odd years later1st effort>, and
blessedly redeemed by the later three.
The period just after Mozart, was one in which the music of Bach was
generally deemed to be defunct, and useless, and only Mendelssohn, had the
real skill, talent and nous to recognise Bach's genius, and regenerate
interest in it, and write music worth listening to. All the rest of the
'considered stars' of that period were too busy sniffing opium, setting
music to tawdry poetry, and generally flailing about in pits of self pity.
Rant over.
Ray H
Taree
jony...@earthlink.net
But I might also be missing out on some wonderful Lugansky recordings
as well.
jy
A. Brain
news:mZ8df.15131$Hj2....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> From a mere amateur, and diving head first without looking, it is my
> opinion that Mozart was a *one off*. Everybody, even including the
> great Brahms, were too busy trying to emulate pieces of sh*te like the
> Roaral Symphony, which is evident in his <eventual 50 odd years
> later1st effort>, and blessedly redeemed by the later three.
>
> The period just after Mozart, was one in which the music of Bach was
> generally deemed to be defunct, and useless, and only Mendelssohn, had
> the real skill, talent and nous to recognise Bach's genius, and
> regenerate interest in it, and write music worth listening to. All the
> rest of the 'considered stars' of that period were too busy sniffing
> opium, setting music to tawdry poetry, and generally flailing about in
> pits of self pity.
>
> Rant over.
Well, it was a lot more concise than my rant,
recycled from intense discussions I used to
have with a composer friend. Back then,
he had been critical of George Rochberg,
saying he was "re-writing Brahms". My
friend also conceded that if anyone applied
for a position on a music school faculty
and wrote tonal, tuneful, melodically
memorable music, he or she would not
be taken seriously. That's probably
changed.
By the way, I was not suggesting that
composers should write in the style
of Mozart, just that a touch of WAM's
incomparable genius, especially in
opera, could have improved the
music of later composers.
A. Brain
news:Xns970B4DD2C2F...@207.217.125.201...
> If Mozart had been bitten by a radioactive spider and then developed
> some
> web-shooter apparatus, and if Salieri had been born on Krypton and
> come to
> Earth and acquired fabulous powers as the result of being under a
> yellow sun,
> and if they fought it out, who would win?
Well, it's just a bit of an academic question. When
novelists today write in a manner that would not be
foreign to, say, Dickens, they are not denounced
or discounted. I've heard a couple of operas
by a modern composer that sounded very
"Straussian" (only better).
Speaking of Dickens, it was he that was termed
"the Shakespeare of the novel" recently in a NYT
review by that crankiest of critics, John Simon.
(I had posed this as a trivia question in some
post that was probably dismissed by most as a drunken
rant--or rather, another drunken rant.)
I found Simon's view surprising; I had thought Dickens
was regarded as a hack by the literary cognoscenti.
Maybe Simon is the hack? I disagree with a lot
of his stuff, but he's very entertaining.
Thomas Wood
<deac...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1131623558.8...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Nonsense, MrT.
>
> Uchida is not to be avoided. It is, in fact, the first place to start.
>
> fingers.
>
> Barenboim I would suggest that there was a Barenboim II, which there is
> not so far as I know at any rate.
>
> Joyce Hatto, who frankly bowled me over with her Mozart.
>
> Of course, very few here have ever heard them, so this advice will fall
> on deaf ( and very dumb) ears.
Uchida is wonderful. I don't understand the hatred of her here -- seems to
be some sort of prejudice. And don't forget Lili Kraus.
Tom Wood
Paul Ilechko
>
> Uchida is wonderful.
She may well be wonderful, but her Schubert isn't.
deac...@yahoo.com
Although I don't much care for the TONE produced by Lili Kraus. Too
crass.
I don't understand the antipathy for Uchida either. It is NOT among the
public, who buy her recordings and flock to her concerts all over the
world. (OK, perhaps not in France, where the critics have never given
her a fair hearing).
People are, I think, put off by her "expressivity", which can sometimes
appear mannered, particularly if taken in large doses. But anyone who
listens to several Mozart sonatas at one time is probably overdosing
anyway.
TD
deac...@yahoo.com
But it is not shared by most critics.
Nor is it shared by me. Personally, I think her Schubert is even finer
than her Mozart. It rates as perhaps the best of all the Schubert
sonata sets to have appeared in recent years. I still have an undying
fondness for Imogen Cooper's version on Ottavio, but I don't know if
that is still available. And Arrau is very special. Brendel, too, of
course, and there you have several different versions to pick from.
In fact, there are far TOO many good versions of Schubert available.
The music is really not that good, in my opinion, apart from a half
dozen sonatas and the impromptus, of course.
TD
dr...@andadv.com
>>much for me...so we'll see.
>Her disc of Beetoven piano sonatas on DG is very disappointing; but have you
>heard her set of the Beethoven violin sonatas with Dumay?
No. But let me guess...she's pretty good in these? Of course, I'm a bit
overloaded in the Beethoven violin sonata department (Grumiaux/Haskil
complete, ditto Perlman/Ashkenazy, most of Francescatti/Casadesus &
Oistrakh/Oborin, a couple of CDs of Kremer/Argerich, a few
Busch/Serkin, and several others I'm sure I'm forgetting) so I really
need to trim down rather than add to the collection.
;-D
Dirk
Simon Roberts
dr...@andadv.com says...
OK; so I'll refrain from saying that for my money, this is the most engaging set
of the violin sonatas in years.....
Simon
dr...@andadv.com
Dang, Simon. You really know how to crush a man's wallet!
Dirk
deac...@yahoo.com
her foot, dig her heels in, and refuse all cooperation with DG until
she got her way. This is not a lady who likes to be denied.
The Mutter version stood in the way, of course, and took precedence
because it would actually SELL.
Pires was involved with Dumay at the time. Since then, they have broken
up. This set, and a few other items, may be the only surviving
indication of that fleeting relationship.
I won't comment on the artistic merits of either set, but surely both
could have been regarded as superfluous by DG after their stunning
recordings with Kremer and Argerich. Which is not engaging, of course.
Too mild an epithet.
Fabulous is more like it.
Don't waste your money on the Pires, Dirk, although it's very "nice".
the KA duo are simply to die for.
TD
Paul Ilechko
No you won't ...
John Thomas
deac...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Don't waste your money on the Pires, Dirk, although it's very "nice".
> the KA duo are simply to die for.
Assuming, of course, that you prefer screech and bang to flutter and
tinkle.
--
Regards,
John Thomas
John_H...@msn.com
know if they made it to cd) by Mieczyslaw Horszowski; Nonesuch 9
79202-1 (coupled with Chopin Nocturne in Bb minor and two Mazurkas;
Schumann Arabeske and Kinderszenen) (rec 1988 at Curtis Institute). J
Hauser
Simon Roberts
deac...@yahoo.com says...
A is, K isn't; but anyway, Dirk already has some of their discs....
Simon
Steve Emerson
dr...@andadv.com wrote:
No Suk?
The Pires/Dumay set is remarkable. The untold secret here, though, is
that Dumay is what makes it interesting; playing with tremendous
virtuosity and wit. Pires is fine, I wouldn't say she screws up the
proceedings, but she seems downright generic compared with Dumay.
SE.
fha.jonkers
deac...@yahoo.com schreef:
> Zimerman has categorically refused to allow his Mozart disc to appear
> on CD. He disapproves of the "sound" on some of his older recordings.
> You will find that the Brahms Sonatas, which did appear briefly on CD,
> have also fallen by the wayside on account of his opinion of their
> value. Personally I was able to get him to approve ONE piece from that
> set in his GPE volume, but it took about an hour on the telephone to
> accomplish that feat. And the piece was a very short one, a Scherzo.
>
> This has made of his Brahms CD set something of a collector's item as
> he had it withdrawn almost immediately, claiming that he had not
> approved of its release on CD. DG acceded to his demands, of course.
The same apparently happened to his PC #1 with Rattle last year..
lc4j...@yahoo.com
Simon Roberts wrote:
> For a complete set on a modern piano in good modern sound, Pires/DG. For a
> remarkable bargain in somewhat dated sound, Klien/Vox. For a HIP set using
> fortepianos only, Hakkila on Finlandia. For a just started HIP series using
> various instruments in addition to fortepiano, Rampe/MD+G.
The only set I have is Zacharias, and I find it a bit bland the more
recordings I listen to. By far my favorite Mozart piano sonata CDs are
Pogorelich's 283/331 and Bunin's 331. Are any of the sets you
mentioned above similar?
Lee
Simon Roberts
lc4j...@yahoo.com says...
Not in the sense of being close interpretatively - but they are in the sense of
being strongly characterized.
Simon
Alan Cooper
Klien "strongly characterized"? C'mon, Simon! They're good
recordings for someone who's learning the pieces because they're so .
. .clean (ouch).
AC
dr...@andadv.com
wrote:
"I still own Gieseking's rather ancient traversal on LP, but frankly it
may go bye-bye in the next cull. It's a mixed bag. Some great, some
exceedingly dull, and the old sonics don't help."
This evening I dragged out vol. 3 of the three-box set of LPs and, my
commentary notwithstanding, I don't think I've heard a dull note all
evening. Right now I'm on the fourth side just for this playing
session, and I'll probably have to make myself take the record off just
because I need to get to sleep. Could all the boring or poorly recorded
stuff all be in the other two boxes? And even more to the point, at
this rate, am I EVER going to get this collection pared down?
Dirk
abac...@att.net
marvelous playing in the set......
the set may be old but the tone of the piano is very clear.
AB