Re: RIP Dmitri Bashkirov

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Henk vT

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Mar 8, 2021, 4:33:43 AM3/8/21

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Op maandag 8 maart 2021 om 07:27:28 UTC+1 schreef dk:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqjY5SR-fY
>
> Truly one of the greatest ever!
>
> dk

His version of the Ravel concerto for the left hand is remarkable.

Henk

Oscar

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Mar 8, 2021, 5:02:35 AM3/8/21

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On Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 10:27:28 PM, dk wrote:
>
> Truly one of the greatest ever!

Trust, but verify. Are we sure he has passed?

Rest in peace, comrade. One of the last CDs I bought on eBay for more than $30 was his mid-1960s recital of Schumann reissued on EMI France CD (7635712) in early 1990s. Phenomenal playing and a must-have disc.

Mandryka

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Mar 9, 2021, 3:49:10 AM3/9/21

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90! That’s old!

I think the thing I have appreciated most from him recently was the Mozart PC24

Andy Evans

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Mar 9, 2021, 9:09:29 AM3/9/21

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His daughter Elena is a pianist, and was married to first Gidon Kremer, then Barenboim.

https://www.talkclassical.com/37262-current-listening-vol-iii-1071.html

Frank Berger

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Mar 9, 2021, 10:06:27 AM3/9/21

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On 3/9/2021 9:09 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> His daughter Elena is a pianist, and was married to first Gidon Kremer, then Barenboim.
>
> https://www.talkclassical.com/37262-current-listening-vol-iii-1071.html
>

His grandmother, Lina Stern, of Latvian Jewish ancestry, was an eminent scientist and outspoken critic of Fascism and anti-Semitism, and barely survived the Stalin years. She lived to almost 90.

Frank Berger

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Mar 9, 2021, 10:07:47 AM3/9/21

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Despite the hideous album cover. Took me a good while to track that one down.

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Steve Emerson

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Mar 10, 2021, 1:20:54 PM3/10/21

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On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 1:20:40 AM UTC-8, dk wrote:

> Do listen to his Mozart PC17, the Schumann
> Fantasy, and the Ravel Piano Concerto in D.

Thanks. I had not heard. The world of pianism is a much emptier place. Hope not inappropriate to descend into the discographical here. Presumably the Schumann disc mentioned by Oscar and Frank, and which does include the just-mentioned Fantasy Op 17, is this:

https://www.discogs.com/Robert-Schumann-Dmitri-Bashkirov-Fantaisie-Bunte-Bl%C3%A4tter/release/14870991

Interestingly (but not unusually for him), there were alternate recordings on Melodiya of most/all of these works. The difference is subtle, but I am much more partial to the Melodiya version of Op 17. It strikes me as more lithe, less rigid, and devoid of the sense of oppressiveness I sometimes feel with the EMI. I will try to post my transfer-from-LP later today.

Other DB of note includes the early Brahms Sonata 3, a couple of Chopin mazurkas, his beloved Chopin Rondo, Schubert D. 845, a Haydn sonata, some stunning Debussy Preludes (which I once posted here as a blindfold test), and much more. RIP Bashkirov.

SE.

Steve Emerson

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Mar 10, 2021, 10:30:50 PM3/10/21

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Download transfer from my Melodiya LP of Bashkirov's Schumann (different from the recordings EMI released) in lossless, FLAC format here:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/0147g04x7gvvg/Bashkirov+Schumann

Cover (pretty intense):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15306675@N07/51024625162/

SE.

Henk vT

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Mar 11, 2021, 12:34:30 PM3/11/21

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Op donderdag 11 maart 2021 om 04:30:50 UTC+1 schreef Steve Emerson:

Dear Steve,

Many thanks for the Schumann! I agree with you about the Brahms and Schubert sonata. I haven't revisited his Chopin and Debussy for a long time.

Kind regards,
Henk

Frank Berger

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Mar 11, 2021, 1:21:44 PM3/11/21

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Thanks for these. Do you know when the were recorded?

AB

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Mar 11, 2021, 2:47:21 PM3/11/21

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Just listened to the Schumann......WOW, extremely impressive. Shame they did not give him a nicer pianol shall to more

AB

Steve Emerson

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Mar 11, 2021, 5:06:29 PM3/11/21

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I've just been looking into that and seem to know less than when I began. Safe to say between 1962 and 1970. The release is shown here, sans date:

https://www.discogs.com/Dmitri-Bashkirov/release/8258803

The Fantasy may or may not be the same as the one on this "1962" record:

https://www.discogs.com/master/1846378

and this record, which is in Mono:

https://www.discogs.com/release/16271173

SE.

Frank Berger

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Mar 11, 2021, 5:20:19 PM3/11/21

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15 years ago there was a discussion about Bashkirov here. Somebody expressed the opinion that the 1962 EMI Schumann op. 17 and 99 were the same performances as the Melodiya LP.

Oscar

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Mar 11, 2021, 7:18:31 PM3/11/21

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Thirded! Thank you, SE. Cheerio from L.A. County.

Oscar

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Mar 11, 2021, 7:28:58 PM3/11/21

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On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 7:07:47 AM, Frank Berger wrote:
> >
> > Rest in peace, comrade. One of the last CDs I bought on eBay for more than $30 was his mid-1960s recital of Schumann reissued on EMI France CD (7635712) in early 1990s. Phenomenal playing and a must-have disc.
> >
> Despite the hideous album cover. Took me a good while to track that one down.

Frank, my motto has always been, especially living in L.A. all these years, _everything_ will show up in due time in the bins. It's classical music: die-hard collectors pass away and the first thing the heirs remove is the 'clutter'. I finally got my Emil von Sauer Complete Commercial Recordings 3CD on Marston (53002) after several years of trolling—actually, found two copies in 3 years and flipped one for over $200 when I could still sell on Amazon.

Alas, the Bashkirov _never_ turned up. I was looking hard for a decade. Top of the list*. Some of those coveted EMI France titles I sought seemed to be a little sneakier to reveal themselves. At any rate, Amoeba Hollywood is still closed, Record Surplus in West L.A. has given up on classical music entirely, and Rockaway (Silver Lake) and CD Trader (the Valley) are hit & miss with stock, depending, again, on which collector has recently gone to that great CD player in the sky. I have enough to live on, which is nice.

P.S. Yes, I know it was reissued _once_ in a Schumann box by EMI France in the 2000s. I like the first pressings.

Oscar

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Mar 11, 2021, 7:34:38 PM3/11/21

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SE, AB, DK, Hk, Frank:

I started a whole big stinkeen thread about my prized CD, I was so psyched. Nineteen months ago may as well be four years!

From RMCR archives, August 4, 2019:

On Sunday, August 4, 2019 at 8:00:44 PM, Oscar wrote:
>
> Schumann: Fantasie in C major, Op.17
> Schumann: Bunte Blätter, Op.99 (extraits)
>
> Dmitri Bashkirov (pf)
>
> EMI Pathé Marconi CDM 7 63571 2 ℗ 1963 © 1990. CD.
> Enregistré / recorded : Paris, salle Wagram, 29.X.1962.
> Directeur artistique / producer : Eric Macleod.
> Ingénieur du son / balance engineer : Paul Vavasseur.
> En couveture / cover : photo Odette Weill.
> Maquette / design concept : Josée Malamoud.
> Booklet note : Alain Lombech.
> STEREO/DIGITALLY REMASTERED ℗ 1963 EMI Pathé Marconi S.A.
> Reports et mixages numériques ℗ 1990 EMI Pathé Marconi S.A.
> Made in Germany.
> DURÉE TOTALE/TOTAL TIME : 45’35.
>
> COMMENT: One of, if not _thee_, all-time most-desired used CDs on my list finally has come home. I did have to resort to eBay to find it, however, breaking with my usual tradition of seeking everything used in the stores. It just has never come along, in almost 15 years of trolling the bins, searching, searching. It is every bit as good as I expected. The Bunte Blätter extracts may be even superior to the Fantasie, Bashkirov's nuanced playing making for some truly spine-tingling moments. The Scherzo, for instance, is limpid yet spry, and wholly of a part. Based on this disc along, I have to consider Bashkirov one of the best Schumann interpreters for solo keyboard on records. Does anyone else have this wonderful, and rare, CD from French EMI?

Frank Berger

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Mar 11, 2021, 8:35:13 PM3/11/21

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Found mine on E-bay last year after a long search.

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Steve Emerson

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Mar 12, 2021, 1:11:35 PM3/12/21

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Believe I once thought they were the same myself and may have even said so back then. Later I changed my mind. Discogs.com clearly thinks they are different, and others who've heard both feel they are too. Maybe I'll change my mind again, who knows. But think about this: the Novelette Op 21 No 8 (11:05) is not included on the CD, which is easily short enough to allow for it. That would suggest that at least the couplings to the EMI Fantasy are sourced from elsewhere. In the Fantasy itself, compare the pianissimo 15 seconds into the first movement. Seems much different, a real whisper, in the EMI. What do you think?

SE.

Steve Emerson

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Mar 12, 2021, 1:20:15 PM3/12/21

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I missed your 2019 post, Oscar; would have commented if I'd seen. Wasn't around much then, IIRC. No, I've never possessed the actual CD, but a copy burned by an old RMCR stalwart, back in dial-up days. Good that you found it. For some of the story on DB's problems with the USSR state and why to this day his recordings are scarce (I've tracked down many of the LPs and transferred a handful), here's IPQ's interview/profile from 1999. Among other things, we hear his views on one teacher, Goldenweiser ("very orthodox, very precise, not very artistic, and without fantasy or temperament"), and that he also studied with Eliso Virsaladze's grandmother.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ahhg0jtkhz1nyej/Bashkirov-IPQ1999.pdf/file

SE.

Frank Berger

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Mar 12, 2021, 2:08:06 PM3/12/21

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Why do you think Discogs thinks there is any recording of op. 17 and 99 than 1962? Earlier I posted something about 1979. Now I can't remember where I got that from?

Frank Berger

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Mar 12, 2021, 2:51:16 PM3/12/21

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Translating this into English:

What evidence is there in Discogs that there are any recordings of op. 17 and op. 99 other than those made in 1962?

Steve Emerson

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Mar 12, 2021, 2:54:57 PM3/12/21

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If you look at links posted before, the Melodiya is not listed under "Other Versions" (of the CD) here, though two other LPs are listed:

https://www.discogs.com/Robert-Schumann-Dmitri-Bashkirov-Fantaisie-Bunte-Bl%C3%A4tter/release/14870991

And there are no "Versions" listed for my Melodiya LP:

https://www.discogs.com/Dmitri-Bashkirov/release/8258803

That's the extent of the Discogs evidence. But see my notes above about the companion Novelette and about the pianissimo near start of Fantasy.

SE.

Frank Berger

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Mar 12, 2021, 3:17:16 PM3/12/21

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Well, seeing as Discogs data come from the public, and are fraught with errors and omissions, I'd say we have no evidence that Bashkirov recorded these more than once. Now if someone with educated ears listens to these recordings and swears they are different, I could be convinced.

AB

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Mar 13, 2021, 2:37:26 PM3/13/21

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by coincidence I just re-listened to Volodos's debut Sony recording. had forgotten the amazing pianism. I assume he was Bashkirov's star pupil. Plays with the same clarity, absence of musical excess.
What is Volodos doing these days?

AB

Ricardo Jimenez

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Mar 13, 2021, 6:24:50 PM3/13/21

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On Sat, 13 Mar 2021 11:37:24 -0800 (PST), AB <abach...@verizon.net>
wrote:

Good question. His website doesn't show any activity past 2018. I
found this list of some of Baskirov's pupils on his Wikipedia page:
Dmitri Alexeev, Arcadi Volodos, Nikolai Demidenko, his daughter Elena
Bashkirova, Boris Bloch [de], Jonathan Gilad, Kirill Gerstein,
Stanislav Ioudenitch, Denis Kozhukhin, Eldar Nebolsin, Luis Fernando
Pérez, Dang Thai Son, Vestards Šimkus, David Kadouch, Jong Hwa Park,
Claudio Martinez Mehner, Bruno Vlahek.

Henk vT

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Mar 13, 2021, 6:35:59 PM3/13/21

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Op zaterdag 13 maart 2021 om 20:37:26 UTC+1 schreef AB:

He's quite busy these days. <g>

Henk

CONCERTS
Date City Venue Country
25/03/21 Macerata Teatro Lauro Rossi IT
27/03/21 Teramo Cine-Teatro IT
29/03/21 Perugia Teatro Morlacchi IT
31/03/21 Milan Conservatorio IT
05/04/21 Zaragoza Auditorio ES
11/04/21 Oslo Opera – DATE TO BE POSTPONED NO
CANCELLED
16/04/21 Zurich Tonhalle CH
23/04/21 Bochum Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr – KLAVIER FESTIVAL RUHR DE
27/04/21 Lyon Auditorium FR
02/05/21 Monaco Auditorium Rainier III MC

Concerts
Date City Venue Country
25/03/21 Macerata Teatro Lauro Rossi IT
27/03/21 Teramo Cine-Teatro IT
29/03/21 Perugia Teatro Morlacchi IT
31/03/21 Milan Conservatorio IT
05/04/21 Zaragoza Auditorio ES
11/04/21 Oslo Opera – DATE TO BE POSTPONED NO
CANCELLED
16/04/21 Zurich Tonhalle CH
23/04/21 Bochum Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr – KLAVIER FESTIVAL RUHR DE
27/04/21 Lyon Auditorium FR
02/05/21 Monaco Auditorium Rainier III MC
05/05/21 Potsdam Nikolaisaal DE
10/05/21 Groningen De Oosterpoort NL
12/05/21 Utrecht Tivoli Vredenburg NL
14/05/21 Tilburg Schouwburg Concertzaal NL
18/05/21 Stuttgart Liederhalle DE
20/05/21 Freiburg Konzerthaus DE
25/05/21 Madrid Auditorio Nacional de Música ES
27/05/21 Luzern Hotel Schweizerhof – Zeugheersaal CH
04/06/21 Dresden Staatsoper Dresden / Semperoper DE
07/06/21 Barcelona Palau de la Musica Catalana ES
11/06/21 Tours La Grange de Meslay FR
14/06/21 Paris Philharmonie FR
16/06/21 Vienna Konzerthaus AT
22/06/21 Porto Casa da Musica PT
26/06/21 Nohant Auditorium Frédéric Chopin FR
03/07/21 Granada Auditorio Manuel de Falla ES
09/07/21 Chiasso Cinema Teatro CH
15/07/21 Bochum KLAVIERFESTIVAL RUHR / Anneliese Brost Musikforum DE
28/07/21 Verbier Salle des Combins – VERBIER FESTIVAL CH
08/08/21 Riga Latvian National Opera LV
10/08/21 Salzburg SALZBURG FESTSPIELE / Haus für Mozart AT

Frank Berger

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Mar 13, 2021, 9:16:51 PM3/13/21

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Is that the transcriptions disc? Which other Volodos recordings are particularly recommendable?

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JohnGavin

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Mar 14, 2021, 7:07:24 AM3/14/21

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On Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 5:27:23 AM UTC-4, dk wrote:

> On Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 6:16:51 PM UTC-8, Frank Berger wrote:
> > On 3/13/2021 2:37 PM, AB wrote:
> >
> > > by coincidence I just re-listened to Volodos's debut Sony recording.
> > > had forgotten the amazing pianism. I assume he was Bashkirov's
> > > star pupil. Plays with the same clarity, absence of musical excess.
> > > What is Volodos doing these days?
> >

> > Is that the transcriptions disc? Which other Volodos recordings are
> > particularly recommendable?

> All.
>

> dk

Always enjoy Volodos’ playing, and he gets better as time passes.

AB

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Mar 14, 2021, 2:44:25 PM3/14/21

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yes, but not all are transcriptions. all his recordings are recommended as previously mentioned.

AB

Al Eisner

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Mar 14, 2021, 5:37:07 PM3/14/21

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Thanks so much for this, Steve.

I'm very picky about Schumann's greatest work. :) This performance of
the Fantasy is extraordinary - the first I've heard which IMO rivals (and
in some ways may surpass) the Freire performance on his GPOC set. (And
yes, I've heard Richter, Sofronitzky and Fiorentino, who all come close,
and are excellent on their own terms.)

Moving from the sublime to the nitty-gritty: I tend to be confused by
the folder-within-folder structure of your downloads, and have great
difficulty to get the Window Media Player to treat them as albums. It
did find the works, and included them in an "unknown" album with some
past Dvorak trio downloads. But after I used MP3Tag (which did recognize
the Fantasy as an album of its own) to add information about the tracks,
that somehow badly messed up the WMP library listing. I won't bore
the readers here with details, but I would like to know how to best
organize these downloads in my Windows Music folder.

Lastly, returning to (sort of) music: another thing I find confusing
is the numbering of the pieces in Schumann's Op. 99. The LeSage set
organizes them into "Drei Stücklein" with the remaining 11 under the
heading "Albumblätter". The Wikipedia listing is entirely different.
BUt in both places uour (Steve's) "scherzo" and "schnell" have numbers.
So I wonder how your (lower-case Roman) numbers fit into these contexts.
I gather that most performers do not treat this as an integral set...

I'm probably overly confused about some things! Anyway, thanks again.
--
Al Eisner

Al Eisner

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Mar 14, 2021, 7:32:27 PM3/14/21

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On Wed, 10 Mar 2021, dk wrote:

> On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 12:49:10 AM UTC-8, Mandryka wrote:
>> 90! That’s old!
>>
>> I think the thing I have appreciated most
>> from him recently was the Mozart PC24
>
> Do listen to his Mozart PC17, the Schumann
> Fantasy, and the Ravel Piano Concerto in D.
>

> dk

The Mozart (from 1966) and Ravel (1965) are both available from Presto,
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7985487--js-bach-mozart-ravel-piano-concertos
either as CD or as a download. It's from the Russian Piano School
series released on CD by Russian Compact Disk. Do their releases
adequately reflect the performances?

Also available is a 2-CD Melodiya set which includes Haydn #59,
Brahms #2, Schubert D845 and many shorter works (Prokofiev, Scriabin,
Debussy and more. Presto has on sale, but doesn't expect to have any
for at least 6 weeks. Amazon (more expensive) claims to have it
in stock, but says it is shipped from ImportCDs, which in turn claims
it is on back order. Do they keep a separate stock for Amazon?
--
Al Eisner

Oscar

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Mar 14, 2021, 9:54:58 PM3/14/21

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On Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 4:07:24 AM, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> Always enjoy Volodos’ playing, and he gets better as time passes.

I concur.

Oscar

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Mar 14, 2021, 9:58:00 PM3/14/21

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SE, yr FLAC downloads work great for me. Thx for album jacket scans too.

Jonathan Ben Schragadove

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Mar 15, 2021, 2:09:24 PM3/15/21

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On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 7:30:50 PM UTC-8, Steve Emerson wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 10:20:54 AM UTC-8, Steve Emerson wrote:

> > On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 1:20:40 AM UTC-8, dk wrote:
> > > On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 12:49:10 AM UTC-8, Mandryka wrote:
> > > > 90! That’s old!
> > > >
> > > > I think the thing I have appreciated most
> > > > from him recently was the Mozart PC24
> > > Do listen to his Mozart PC17, the Schumann
> > > Fantasy, and the Ravel Piano Concerto in D.

> > Thanks. I had not heard. The world of pianism is a much emptier place. Hope not inappropriate to descend into the discographical here. Presumably the Schumann disc mentioned by Oscar and Frank, and which does include the just-mentioned Fantasy Op 17, is this:
> >
> > https://www.discogs.com/Robert-Schumann-Dmitri-Bashkirov-Fantaisie-Bunte-Bl%C3%A4tter/release/14870991
> >
> > Interestingly (but not unusually for him), there were alternate recordings on Melodiya of most/all of these works. The difference is subtle, but I am much more partial to the Melodiya version of Op 17. It strikes me as more lithe, less rigid, and devoid of the sense of oppressiveness I sometimes feel with the EMI. I will try to post my transfer-from-LP later today.
> >
> > Other DB of note includes the early Brahms Sonata 3, a couple of Chopin mazurkas, his beloved Chopin Rondo, Schubert D. 845, a Haydn sonata, some stunning Debussy Preludes (which I once posted here as a blindfold test), and much more. RIP Bashkirov.
> >
> > SE.
> Download transfer from my Melodiya LP of Bashkirov's Schumann (different from the recordings EMI released) in lossless, FLAC format here:
>
> https://www.mediafire.com/folder/0147g04x7gvvg/Bashkirov+Schumann
>
> Cover (pretty intense):
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/15306675@N07/51024625162/
>
> SE.

Thank you very much for these downloads, Steve. Much appreciated!

M. A.

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Mar 16, 2021, 7:18:02 AM3/16/21

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Steve Emerson schrieb am Mittwoch, 10. März 2021 um 19:20:54 UTC+1:
> On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 1:20:40 AM UTC-8, dk wrote:
> > On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 12:49:10 AM UTC-8, Mandryka wrote:
> > > 90! That’s old!
> > >
> > > I think the thing I have appreciated most
> > > from him recently was the Mozart PC24
> > Do listen to his Mozart PC17, the Schumann
> > Fantasy, and the Ravel Piano Concerto in D.
> Thanks. I had not heard. The world of pianism is a much emptier place. Hope not inappropriate to descend into the discographical here. Presumably the Schumann disc mentioned by Oscar and Frank, and which does include the just-mentioned Fantasy Op 17, is this:
>
> https://www.discogs.com/Robert-Schumann-Dmitri-Bashkirov-Fantaisie-Bunte-Bl%C3%A4tter/release/14870991
>
> Interestingly (but not unusually for him), there were alternate recordings on Melodiya of most/all of these works. The difference is subtle, but I am much more partial to the Melodiya version of Op 17. It strikes me as more lithe, less rigid, and devoid of the sense of oppressiveness I sometimes feel with the EMI. I will try to post my transfer-from-LP later today.
>
> Other DB of note includes the early Brahms Sonata 3, a couple of Chopin mazurkas, his beloved Chopin Rondo, Schubert D. 845, a Haydn sonata, some stunning Debussy Preludes (which I once posted here as a blindfold test), and much more. RIP Bashkirov.
>
> SE.

Thank you very much for posting these, Steve. I guess the Melodiya LP does not state when these Schumann pieces were recorded?

I remember the Debussy Preludes blind test a few years back. Do you know whether the Debussy Presludes you posted are the same that were rereleased on this CD? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSLUW3I/

Thanks again!

M.A.

Frank Berger

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Mar 16, 2021, 8:11:29 AM3/16/21

to

On 3/16/2021 7:17 AM, M. A. wrote:
> Steve Emerson schrieb am Mittwoch, 10. März 2021 um 19:20:54 UTC+1:
>> On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 1:20:40 AM UTC-8, dk wrote:
>>> On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 12:49:10 AM UTC-8, Mandryka wrote:
>>>> 90! That’s old!
>>>>
>>>> I think the thing I have appreciated most
>>>> from him recently was the Mozart PC24
>>> Do listen to his Mozart PC17, the Schumann
>>> Fantasy, and the Ravel Piano Concerto in D.
>> Thanks. I had not heard. The world of pianism is a much emptier place. Hope not inappropriate to descend into the discographical here. Presumably the Schumann disc mentioned by Oscar and Frank, and which does include the just-mentioned Fantasy Op 17, is this:
>>
>> https://www.discogs.com/Robert-Schumann-Dmitri-Bashkirov-Fantaisie-Bunte-Bl%C3%A4tter/release/14870991
>>
>> Interestingly (but not unusually for him), there were alternate recordings on Melodiya of most/all of these works. The difference is subtle, but I am much more partial to the Melodiya version of Op 17. It strikes me as more lithe, less rigid, and devoid of the sense of oppressiveness I sometimes feel with the EMI. I will try to post my transfer-from-LP later today.
>>
>> Other DB of note includes the early Brahms Sonata 3, a couple of Chopin mazurkas, his beloved Chopin Rondo, Schubert D. 845, a Haydn sonata, some stunning Debussy Preludes (which I once posted here as a blindfold test), and much more. RIP Bashkirov.
>>
>> SE.
>
> Thank you very much for posting these, Steve. I guess the Melodiya LP does not state when these Schumann pieces were recorded?

LPs virtually never included recording dates.

>
> I remember the Debussy Preludes blind test a few years back. Do you know whether the Debussy Presludes you posted are the same that were rereleased on this CD? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSLUW3I/
>
> Thanks again!
>
> M.A.
>

Even that CD doesn't include recording dates, other than 1957-1972.

Steve Emerson

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Mar 16, 2021, 1:18:33 PM3/16/21

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I'll get back to you on Bunte Blatter, Al. Glad you enjoyed the upload. You've listed most of my favorite recordings of the Fantasy, though I'd add Annie Fischer on BBC. There are at least three Sofronitsky recordings, each quite different. The most intense (mad) is on the Moscow Conservatoire label, where the sound is awful and the recording was made on previously-used tape. There's a 1959 included in Denon's VS Edition, Volume 1, and another on Arlecchino's Arl 1, no date given. Must look into discographies.

The tagging/metadata for my LP transfers is mostly non-existent, particularly with older ones like this Bashkirov. Sorry. If you use an app like VLC or (my preference) Audacious on your windows machine, you can use a command to open a folder, sometimes AKA directory, and then it's fairly straightforward. But you're using Windows Media...

OTOH, you can, e.g., work with the wonderful transcoding app XLD. Use the "Open as Audio CD" command to open the folder. Then reorder the files if necessary, and then use "Edit Metadata" and enter the values you want, per track (there's a "next" command that makes that somewhat easier). Then choose the output format you want (FLAC or even WAV) and hit Transcode. That will give you alternate files, newly tagged, and you can delete the originals. In a perfect world, I'd have done this already...

best,
SE.

Steve Emerson

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Mar 16, 2021, 3:45:55 PM3/16/21

to

Hi Martin,

Yes, I think some of the Preludes are the same, but I did not upload a "General Lavine - eccentric" (nor a l'Isle Joyeuse). Those might be from a 1964 LP I recently learned of. The dates of the Melodiya two-fer you mention (1957-72 recordings) are probably wrong. The "La sérénade interrompue" is likely to be from a live set recorded in 1975. ("La Danse de Puck" is from a different session.) Also, the Brahms Sonata 2 is almost certainly the one released on a Harmonia Mundi CD recorded 1984 and released in 1986; same recording released on LP by Melodiya in 1985.

SE.

Al Eisner

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Mar 16, 2021, 4:27:48 PM3/16/21

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Hi, Steve:

Thanks for that suggestion, I may give it a try, especially if I can
create new files. I can do the tagging with Mp3tag, but Windows Media
Player has a different way of interpreting what is in an album. It
may be irredeenable, but at least a less complex folder structure
may give it a better chance.

I may have heard more than one Sofronitsky (Sofronitzky? never quite
sure, and many websites searches are unforgiving on spelling), but the
one I am sure of is in a Melodiya 5-CD set. It is from a Nov, 18, 1959
recital, which I gather from past posts from you and Christian Scheen is
the same as on Denon. Christian's comments on ths were:

> For the 1959 all-Schumann recital, one has to compare with Denon, of
> course. That's a different story. The Denon edition has significantly
> broader spectrum, thus probably a truer representation of timbre and
> harmonics. But Denon also seems to me slightly less generous than the
> new Melodiya release on the lower end3 of the spectrum. I would say
> that Melodiya is somewhat reminiscent of a (good to excellent) vinyl
> transfer, more than Denon. (Needless to say, ymmv...) Strangely, the
> applause at the end of Schumann's Symphonic Etudes does not seem to me
> to be the same as that that can be heard on Denon (and on Classound).

That last sentence makes it a bit mysterious!

Thanks again,
Al
--
Al Eisner

Steve Emerson

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Mar 17, 2021, 11:30:42 AM3/17/21

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Hi Al,
Re: Sofronitsky Schumann Op 17, good you have the 1959. Per Christian, the Arlecchino is 1952, and the only other is the Moscow Conservatoire 1951, allegedly still available here (terrible sound, but one of a kind):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002HMJPU/

Bunte Blatter: my numbering was based on the numbering in the Olympia release of Richter's, which is a complete set. I.e., if you consult the Wikipedia entry, the opening three "Stucke" or pieces are i-iii. The five "Albumblatter" or album leaves are iv-viii. The remaining pieces are ix-xiv. Hence I probably should have included the number xiii for the Scherzo and v for the Schnell. The order I arranged them in (02-07) is the order Bashkirov plays them in. It's all one track on the LP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunte_Bl%C3%A4tter

SE.

Al Eisner

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Mar 18, 2021, 2:06:02 AM3/18/21

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Thanks, Al
--
Al Eisner

gggg gggg

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Mar 20, 2021, 11:59:21 PM3/20/21

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On Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 10:27:28 PM UTC-8, dk wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqjY5SR-fY
>
> Truly one of the greatest ever!
>
> dk

"BASHKIROV’S UNRELEASED FIRST-PRIZE BRAHMS CONCERTO":

https://slippedisc.com/2021/03/bashkirovs-unreleased-first-prize-brahms-concerto/

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