Dmitri Bashkirov
wille...@hotmail.com
I heard this amazing pianist last night and am still incredibly
impressed. Dan, I may not always agree with your assessments, but you
were all too right on this one! He is probably one of the greatest
pianists alive (and sadly very much underrated as a performer!). I once
attended one of his masterclasses, which was already quite
unforgettable, but in no way prepared me to last night's recital. He
played in a small hall in a German town Boltrop within the framework of
the Rhein und Ruhr piano festival. Much to my horror, it was sold out
in no time, but thank god, I got a reply to my email and there were
still seats on stage. This was fascinating, as I was very close to the
piano. I didn't hear one single harsh or ugly sound. This man has just
the most unbelievable control of dynamics (and my, I didn't know that a
piano can produce such powerful bases!!), dreamlike legato, good
technique (no signs of fatigue even at 74!), beautiful sound, but most
impressive of all is his ability to phrase.... it's all so spiritual
and musical.
He played one of his customary programmes with lesser known works by
well known composers, like the Fantasy K 396 by Mozart and the Rondo
opus 1 by Chopin, all very well done. There was also an exemplary
sonata # 49 by Haydn and the Moonlight sonata, of which especially the
1st movement was amazing with its endless legato lines and powerful
chords in the base. I could go on for a very long time.... He is a
giant, like Gilels or Lupu. Ah, if only I were a good pianist, I could
study with this man!!
Don't miss him if he ever plays in your neighbourhood!
W.
Dan Koren
news:1148300743....@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
What is even more interesting is that Bashkirov today is a
mere shadow of himself. You should have heard him during
the '60s-'70s ;-)
dk
wille...@hotmail.com
this available nowadays?
W
Steve Emerson
wille...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Too bad only that there is hardly any evidence. Is there anything of
> this available nowadays?
There are a few things -- check Musicabona.com for the Russian
Disc/Russian Piano School series. Also the Korean "Great Piano Music of
the World" series, available from Russiandvd.com and other places, has
some of his Brahms.
SE.
Lenya Ryzhik
I think his Schubert is also available in some findable form but I do not
remember what makes me think so.
Lenya
Steve Emerson
Lenya Ryzhik <ryz...@math.uchicago.edu> wrote:
The justly vaunted D845 is on one of the above-mentioned RD/RPS
releases, coupled with an extraordinary Prokofiev 8.
Earlier there was a D664 on -- Harmonia Mundi? Ditto some more Brahms.
Offhand I would say Bashkirov wins the prize for number of great piano
recordings never put onto CD. All of it sounding like nobody else. His
gorgeous and singular Debussy, a wonderful handful of Chopin mazurkas
and a Polonaise, several well-worth-hearing Beethoven sonatas including
#16 and the Appassionata, a Melodiya D664, several lovely Mozart piano
concertos, a Brahms Op 60 with three of the original Borodin Qt players.
And there are trios, including the Tchaikovsky, with Bezrodny and
Khomitser. Plus undoubtedly countless others.
SE.
Steve Emerson
PS -- Actually a decent number of the LPs I listed in another post
remain available from Victor Kamkin, "that guy in New York," at
kamkin.com. Add DB's Wanderer Fantasy to that list; offered chez Kamkin.
One quite recommendable LP from Zhukov's Melodiya cycle of Scriabin
sonatas is also on hand, along with Berman's Scriabin and an unsuspected
Britten cello sonata with Zhukov and Feigen.
SE.
tomdeacon
Steve Emerson wrote:
> I wrote:
>
> > In article <1148329233.8...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
> > wille...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > Too bad only that there is hardly any evidence. Is there anything of
> > > this available nowadays?
> >
> >
> > There are a few things -- check Musicabona.com for the Russian
> > Disc/Russian Piano School series. Also the Korean "Great Piano Music of
> > the World" series, available from Russiandvd.com and other places, has
> > some of his Brahms.
>
> PS -- Actually a decent number of the LPs I listed in another post
> remain available from Victor Kamkin, "that guy in New York," at
> kamkin.com. Add DB's Wanderer Fantasy to that list; offered chez Kamkin.
So, that's what became of the Four Continents Bookstore.
I always felt, going into that store in the seventies and eighties,
that I was being spied on by the FBI as a "communist", or something.
Probably not exactly far from the truth.
TD
.
Michael Lehrman
news:1148344912.0...@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
... or was it by BFO?
ML
Dan Koren
news:1148329233.8...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Too bad only that there is hardly any evidence.
> Is there anything of this available nowadays?
>
A Schumann Fantasy recorded live in 1961 in Paris
used to be available as an EMI Special Import CD.
And once upon a time there was an EMI/Angel LP
and cassette tape of Brahms Piano Music that
included the most amazing Capriccio op. 76 I
have ever heard. You may not believe this,
but it is a performance that makes even
Moravec's and Rubinstein's sound heavy
handed by comparison.
dk
meeesh
unexpectedly, and a posting will follow. brahms in good hands: I'm
ready to be transported!
Dan Koren
news:1148329233.8...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Too bad only that there is hardly any
> evidence. Is there anything of this
> available nowadays?
>
You might be able to find a few items
if you take the time to visit used LP
shops:
-- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
on record -- better than Fischer,
Richter and Schnabel.
-- best Ravel Left Hand Concerto ever
recorded, makes everyone else sound
like music school students.
-- various Schubert Sonatas, including
(if memory serves) D664, D784, D845
and D850.
There is an Erato CD recorded during
the '80s that includes Brahms op. 5
and a bunch of Schubert-Liszt song
transcriptions.
The Brahms however is nowhere close
to Bashkirov's best.
dk
Dan Koren
news:1148300743....@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I heard this amazing pianist last night and am still incredibly
> impressed. Dan, I may not always agree with your assessments,
Your problem ;-)
> but you were all too right on this one!
I am ALWAYS right! ;-)
> He is probably one of the greatest pianists alive
Probably ?!?
Run and take shelter! Tomahawks coming your way.
dk
Tony Overington
Dan Koren wrote:
> A Schumann Fantasy recorded live in 1961 in Paris
> used to be available as an EMI Special Import CD.
I always look for that recording. In fact it's probably my most sought
after disc. It's too bad he hasn't recorded more Chopin.
Miguel Montfort
> Too bad only that there is hardly any evidence.
There isn't any evidence of this ;-)
> Is there anything of this available nowadays?
Just check out Bashkirov's latest recording
(from January 2002, recorded and produced
by Nikolai Demidenko) and you'll be able to
hear a consummate artist in his prime,
The label is »Jaques Samuel Recordings«,
CD JSR 004, contents are:
- Chopin: Rondo, op. 1
- Schumann: Intermezzi, op. 4
- Schubert-Liszt: Litanei, Aufenthalt,
Der Doppelgänger
- Debussy: Préludes I/10, 12
Préludes II/3, 5, 6
L'Isle Joyeuse
- Shchedrin: Humoreske
Miguel Montfort
Tony Overington
God what a crap programme. How disappointing.
Miguel Montfort
> God what a crap programme. How disappointing.
Indeed, neither do I like the Shchedrin piece.
Miguel Montfort
wille...@hotmail.com
>
> God what a crap programme. How disappointing.
Yes, but aren't you a true master if you can even make crap pieces
work? That's what Bashkirov did last Sunday with the Chopin rondo opus
1 and (to a lesser degree, even if I didn't think it was a great piece)
the Mozart Fantasy K 396...
W
Miguel Montfort
> Yes, but aren't you a true master if you
> can even make crap pieces work?
Oh come on, Willem, I was joking - do you
really think the Schumann Intermezzi or the
Debussy Préludes, &cetera are crap?
Miguel Montfort
wille...@hotmail.com
The Debussy preludes are definitely no crap, but I would have agreed
with you on the Schumann Intermezzi opus 4 (Nobody who loves Schumann's
piano works more than I do, but this opus never appealed to me), and
Chopin's opus 1 is no masterwork either.
W
Alan Cooper
wrote:
>You might be able to find a few items
>if you take the time to visit used LP
>shops:
>
>-- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
> on record -- better than Fischer,
> Richter and Schnabel.
>
>-- best Ravel Left Hand Concerto ever
> recorded, makes everyone else sound
> like music school students.
K453 and the Ravel LH Concerto are coupled on one of the Russian Piano
School CDs mentioned by SE in this thread (+ Bach f-m Concerto). I've
not yet had an opportunity to hear that K491. With regard to the
Ravel, for once Dan does not overstate the case. Only the young
Gavrilov comes close, imo.
>-- various Schubert Sonatas, including
> (if memory serves) D664, D784, D845
> and D850.
The 1992 Erato recordings of D664 and D850 were issued on CD in 1998,
and might turn up used. As SE noted, the other Russian Disc CD
couples D845 with Prokofiev's 8th Sonata and some Visions fugitives.
As yet unmentioned, I think, is a scintillating live Bashkirov
performance on Mendelssohn's Concerto #1 that has been in private
circulation.
AC
Miguel Montfort
> [...] but I would have agreed with you on
> the Schumann Intermezzi opus 4 (Nobody who
> loves Schumann's piano works more than I do,
> but this opus never appealed to me),
Hola Willem,
AFAIC, to me Schumann's op. 4 is a little gem,
and I don't hesitate to called it a masterwork.
I'd be in much more doubt about opp. 1 or 2...
> Chopin's opus 1 is no masterwork either.
It's a fine piece nonetheless.
Miguel Montfort
tomdeacon
I wonder if this is EMI 763571-2. The Fantasy is coupled with the Bunte
Blatter, Op. 99.
Incidentally, this performance was recorded On October 29, 1962 in the
Salle Wagram. Not exactly a place one would invite an audience, I
think. A lovely barn of a place, actually.
TD
tomdeacon
Dan Koren wrote:
> And once upon a time there was an EMI/Angel LP
> and cassette tape of Brahms Piano Music that
> included the most amazing Capriccio op. 76 I
> have ever heard.
I wonder if that is the same performance which showed up on Harmonia
Mundi HMX1905167 containing the Brahms F# minor sonatya, Op. 76
Nos.2&3, Op. 79 No. 2, Op. 117 No. 1, and Op. 118 No. 6?
It lists a date of 1984.
TD
tomdeacon
Miguel Montfort wrote:
> Tony Overington wrote:
>
> > God what a crap programme. How disappointing.
>
> Indeed, neither do I like the Shchedrin piece.
Bashkirov has supported Shchedrin's music for a long time, Miguel.
I have an old Melodiya LP which contains the Humoresque, as well as
another whith his Basso Ostinato. Just imagine: that is coupled with a
piece from Prokofiev's R&J Suite as well as the Schumann Fantasy!!!
In those days pianists just seemed to play whatever for Melodiya. They
were paid for the number of minutes of recorded music anyway. It didn't
seem to matter what they played.
Incidentally, I find no reference for Jaques(spelling?) Samuel
Recordings. What is this? A cottage operation? If so, where to find
them?
TD
tomdeacon
Surely it was Schumann, who, upon hearing Chopin's early opus, declared
very famously "Hat's off, gentlemen! A genius!"
I forget whether if was Op. 1 or Op. 2.
No matter, really.
Schumann was a very fine judge of composers, if, apparently, according
to your comments, a less than consistently wonderful composer himself.
Incidentally, some believe that he is the very greatest composer of the
Romantic period. An arguable point, of course.
TD
tomdeacon
> were all too right on this one! He is probably one of the greatest
> pianists alive (and sadly very much underrated as a performer!). I once
> attended one of his masterclasses, which was already quite
> unforgettable, but in no way prepared me to last night's recital. He
> played in a small hall in a German town Boltrop within the framework of
> the Rhein und Ruhr piano festival. Much to my horror, it was sold out
> in no time, but thank god, I got a reply to my email and there were
> still seats on stage. This was fascinating, as I was very close to the
> piano. I didn't hear one single harsh or ugly sound. This man has just
> the most unbelievable control of dynamics (and my, I didn't know that a
> piano can produce such powerful bases!!), dreamlike legato, good
> technique (no signs of fatigue even at 74!), beautiful sound, but most
> impressive of all is his ability to phrase.... it's all so spiritual
> and musical.
> He played one of his customary programmes with lesser known works by
> well known composers, like the Fantasy K 396 by Mozart and the Rondo
> opus 1 by Chopin, all very well done. There was also an exemplary
> sonata # 49 by Haydn and the Moonlight sonata, of which especially the
> 1st movement was amazing with its endless legato lines and powerful
> chords in the base. I could go on for a very long time.... He is a
> giant, like Gilels or Lupu.
Excuse me if I demur.
This is a classic overstatement of the case for Mr. Bashkirov.
Bashkirov was always a competent pianist. Not a particularly lovely
tone. And very little that is personal, or special, about his playing.
Certainly nothing I have heard over the past forty years or so would
make me single him out, let alone group him with the likes of Gilels or
Lupu. Nothing. The old Soviet Union was fairly running over with
pianists of his capabilities. Fortunately for him he escaped to the
West and took up teaching more than performing. Wise decision.
Listening this morning to his Brahms F# minor sonata and again that
impression is reinforced. Having heard MA play this work in Carnegie
Hall in the early 1980s, poor Bashkirov sounds as though he is crying
in his beer.
He will very likely be remembered best as a distinguished teacher. His
"Bashies" show up all over the place at piano competitions and many
make the pilgrimmage to Madrid to imbibe the wonders of his teaching.
Curious, though. Only Volodos, among hundreds of his students, has
risen to the, well, not the top, but a few layers below that.
Bashkirov, who resembles nothing so much as a kind of Rasputin - I am
reminded of the actor who plays the Russian spy in Le Carre's Smiley's
People. You know, the one who ends up cut up in pieces and splattered
all over the inside of a fishing boat off the coast of Hamburg
somewhere. He spent his part of his life pimping for Oleg Kirov, who
turns up as Karla's man in Paris and whom he finally "burns" in a
flesh-pot in the Reeperbahn. For that sin he is mercilessly hunted down
by Karla's agents.
Anyway, Bashkirov is the very image of the actor in Smiley's People.
Right down to the goatee.
Not that this affects his playing, of course. These comments are
completely incidental.
TD
Vaneyes
tomdeacon wrote:
> wille...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I heard this amazing pianist last night and am still incredibly
> > impressed. Dan, I may not always agree with your assessments, but you
> > were all too right on this one! He is probably one of the greatest
>
> Excuse me if I demur.
> This is a classic overstatement of the case for Mr. Bashkirov.
Yep, over the top. Good teach., though.
> Curious, though. Only Volodos, among hundreds of his students, has
> risen to the, well, not the top, but a few layers below that.
Demidenko, Alexeev.
Regards
Tony Overington
tomdeacon wrote:
> Tony Overington wrote:
> > Dan Koren wrote:
> > > A Schumann Fantasy recorded live in 1961 in Paris
> > > used to be available as an EMI Special Import CD.
> >
> > I always look for that recording. In fact it's probably my most sought
> > after disc. It's too bad he hasn't recorded more Chopin.
>
> I wonder if this is EMI 763571-2. The Fantasy is coupled with the Bunte
> Blatter, Op. 99.
I think it is. You don't, by chance, wish to sell yours Tom?
tomdeacon
A few layers below Volodos, surely.
TD
Steve Emerson
wrote:
> <wille...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1148329233.8...@j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Too bad only that there is hardly any
> > evidence. Is there anything of this
> > available nowadays?
> >
>
>
> You might be able to find a few items
> if you take the time to visit used LP
> shops:
>
> -- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
> on record -- better than Fischer,
> Richter and Schnabel.
I will particularly second the K491, issued in the U.S. in 1960 on one
of those glorious Artia "Great Artists Series" LPs, ALP-168. Cond. Gauk.
C/w Scriabin PC Op 20 cond. Kondrashin.
> -- best Ravel Left Hand Concerto ever
> recorded, makes everyone else sound
> like music school students.
>
> -- various Schubert Sonatas, including
> (if memory serves) D664, D784, D845
> and D850.
>
>
> There is an Erato CD recorded during
> the '80s that includes Brahms op. 5
> and a bunch of Schubert-Liszt song
> transcriptions.
>
> The Brahms however is nowhere close
> to Bashkirov's best.
That may be; haven't heard it. However, the Melodiya Brahms Op 5 is a
barnburner and must-listening. Original LP CM 02837-8, c/w Bach BWV 974.
Notes by Bashkirov. (Lenya?)
This is the one that was reissued in the Korean series from Bukok as DE
0189:
http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=32731
Check it out.
SE.
Miguel Montfort
> Incidentally, I find no reference for
> Jaques(spelling?) Samuel Recordings.
Yes, strange spelling ;-)
> What is this? A cottage operation?
> If so, where to find them?
www.jspianos.com/aboutus_artistsshop.html
BTW, you should treat yourself to Bobby
Cheng’s Wigmore Hall album...
Miguel Montfort
tomdeacon
Miguel Montfort wrote:
> Tom Deacon wrote:
>
> > Incidentally, I find no reference for
> > Jaques(spelling?) Samuel Recordings.
>
> Yes, strange spelling ;-)
>
> > What is this? A cottage operation?
> > If so, where to find them?
>
> www.jspianos.com/aboutus_artistsshop.html
Many thanks.
I wonder why his name is spelled Jaques instead of Jacques?
TD
Paul Goldstein
Dan Koren
news:1148388551.7...@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Tony Overington wrote:
>> Dan Koren wrote:
>> > A Schumann Fantasy recorded live in 1961 in Paris
>> > used to be available as an EMI Special Import CD.
>>
>> I always look for that recording. In fact it's probably my most sought
>> after disc. It's too bad he hasn't recorded more Chopin.
>
> I wonder if this is EMI 763571-2. The Fantasy is
> coupled with the Bunte Blatter, Op. 99.
Yes, it is.
> Incidentally, this performance was recorded on
> October 29, 1962 in the Salle Wagram.
I stand corrected. At my age, plus/minus one year
is below noise level.
> Not exactly a place one would invite an audience,
> I think.
It all depends on who's playing. If memory serves,
Richter recorded the Wanderer in the same hall.
Wagram may not be perfect, but I have seen/heard
much worse halls.
dk
Dan Koren
> wrote:
>
>>You might be able to find a few items
>>if you take the time to visit used LP
>>shops:
>>
>>-- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
>> on record -- better than Fischer,
>> Richter and Schnabel.
>>
>>-- best Ravel Left Hand Concerto ever
>> recorded, makes everyone else sound
>> like music school students.
>
> K453 and the Ravel LH Concerto are coupled on one of the Russian Piano
> School CDs mentioned by SE in this thread (+ Bach f-m Concerto). I've
> not yet had an opportunity to hear that K491. With regard to the
> Ravel, for once Dan does not overstate the case.
dk
Dan Koren
Dan Koren
Dan Koren
Naida Cole too ;-)
dk
tomdeacon
And, like the Bashkirov Schumann Fantasy, it was also NOT LIVE. At
least it was "lively".
TD
tomdeacon
I know that, fool!
What I did NOT know is that he was a record company.
I guess almost anyone can produce records in this day and age.
> Man, how illiterate can one be?
Illiteracy has nothing to do with Mr. Samuel's pianos.
TD
tomdeacon
Is she on the bottom or on the top of the layer?
TD
Steve Emerson
wrote:
> "tomdeacon" <tomde...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
> news:1148388551.7...@38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Tony Overington wrote:
> >> Dan Koren wrote:
> >> > A Schumann Fantasy recorded live in 1961 in Paris
> >> > used to be available as an EMI Special Import CD.
> >>
> >> I always look for that recording. In fact it's probably my most sought
> >> after disc. It's too bad he hasn't recorded more Chopin.
> >
> > I wonder if this is EMI 763571-2. The Fantasy is
> > coupled with the Bunte Blatter, Op. 99.
>
>
> Yes, it is.
For the Bunte Blatter -- excerpts only unfortunately. I haven't compared
them, but I think the Melodiya LP release of these works is the same.
Interestingly, the Fantasy sounded better (more human) this morning than
I remembered the EMI to be... ;)
SE.
Dan Koren
Certainly above Volodos.
dk
Tony Overington
Miguel Montfort wrote:
> BTW, you should treat yourself to Bobby
> Cheng's Wigmore Hall album...
>
> Miguel Montfort
I believe I was there for that. The production team must have done
wonders with the post-concert editing ;)
Miguel Montfort
> I believe I was there for that. The
> production team must have done wonders
> with the post-concert editing ;)
AFAIK, he played this program several
times at WH ;-)
Miguel Montfort
tomdeacon
Dan Koren wrote:
> >> >> > Curious, though. Only Volodos, among hundreds of his students, has
> >> >> > risen to the, well, not the top, but a few layers below that.
> >> >>
> >> >> Demidenko, Alexeev.
> >> >
> >> > A few layers below Volodos, surely.
> >>
> >> Naida Cole too ;-)
> >
> > Is she on the bottom or on the top of the layer?
>
>
> Certainly above Volodos.
On the shelf, you mean?
TD
Simon Roberts
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Wayne_Reimer?= says...
>
>>In article <of06721cn8btv4k34...@4ax.com>,
>>amco...@nospamoptonline.net says...
>> >if you take the time to visit used LP
>> >shops:
>> >
>> >-- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
>> > on record -- better than Fischer,
>> > Richter and Schnabel.
>> >
>> > recorded, makes everyone else sound
>> > like music school students.
>>
>> School CDs mentioned by SE in this thread (+ Bach f-m Concerto). I've
>> not yet had an opportunity to hear that K491. With regard to the
>> Gavrilov comes close, imo.
>>
>Nah, I think he overstates the case; the Ravel is really good, but
>there's nothing about it that makes it all that much better than a
>number of others (other than Dan's thinking it so, of course).
And he *really* overstates the case in 453 - unless you like your Mozart smooth
and small-scale and aren't much interested in what the orchestra's doing.
Simon
Steve Emerson
> The Melodiya Brahms Op 5 is a barnburner and must-listening. Original
> LP CM 02837-8, c/w Bach BWV 974. Notes by Bashkirov. (Lenya?)
>
> This is the one that was reissued in the Korean series from Bukok as DE
> 0189:
>
> http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=32731
Now, thanks to the ever-intrepid Lenya, here's an English version of
Bashkirov's notes on Brahms's third piano sonata. Nothing
earth-shattering, but good reading nonetheless.
Liner Notes by D. Bashkirov
Thinking of the Brahms G minor Sonata, one recalls his symphonies and
piano concerti. The work might even be called a piano symphony,
classical in structure and romantic in spirit.
Its artistic quality places it among the most significant
accomplishments in this genre in the music of the 19th century.
The sonata is stunning in the grandeur of its scale, in its bright and
grand images, and in its symphonic thinking. At the same time, this is
the composition of a 22-year-old man, author of just two piano sonatas,
both written not long before this one and both imperfect in many
respects.
In the third sonata, completed in October 1853, we see a formed master
with an integral worldview, organically combining sonata form, an
original style, and specific methods of piano presentation.
Only rarely will future Brahms piano compositions approach orchestral
writing to the same extent (in both the scale of the drama and the
orchestral texture). As though feeling that he has reached the peak in
this respect, Brahms will never return to the piano sonata genre.
For the first time in the history of the piano music, Brahms writes a
sonata in five movements. The interconnection between various movements
is miraculous. Monothematicism ties together the composition's seemingly
disparate images (for instance, the theme of the main part of the first
movement serves as a basis not only for the connecting and secondary
parts but also for passages elsewhere in the work, including the coda).
The first movement is full of energy, decisive, unusually monolithic in
form. Especially attractive is the lyrical center of the movement -- a
deep and penetrating arrangement of the "cello" part.
The second movement is an example of Brahms's lyricism. Its content
follows from its epigraph: "The evening is coming, the moonlight is
clear, two hearts are brought together by love, and are joined in a
blissful embrace..." (Sternau).
The music describes with astonishing felicity the moonlit landscape and
the lovers' conversation, intermittently whispering and passionately
excited. One recalls Schumann's lyrical pages--not surprising if one
recalls the close friendship of the young Brahms and Clara and Robert
Schumann, and Brahms's worship of Schumann's art. It was no accident
that the first performer of the sonata (or, rather its second and third
movements) was Clara Schumann in October 1854.
The third movement is a relentless scherzo. Its waltz meter organizes
the rhythm but does not determine the character of this movement --
rebellious and untamable in spirit. Even with the wonderful trio,
complete calm does not come.
Following the tradition of Schumann, who was the first to call his
pieces "Intermezzi" (as in Heine's poems), Brahms gave this name to the
fourth movement. We encounter this name numerous times in Brahms piano
music -- recall the ingenious "intermezzi" of the late works (Opp.
116-119).
The music of the fourth movement is amazing in its laconic style, the
power of its grief, and its concentration. It is built on the thematic
material of the second movement and is accompanied by a rhythmic formula
that recalls the Beethoven "fate theme". "A glance into the past" is the
movement's subtitle. And indeed, this is the tragic death of everything
luminous and beautiful that filled the second movement.
After the hopelessness of the fourth movement, the finale brings us into
a swirling world of changing, unstable images. The central episode (E
flat major) brings clarity into the movement's imbalance. Its "hymnal"
character (which recalls somewhat the theme of the finale of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony) serves as the basis of the coda of the sonata, which
brings an optimistic and grand conclusion to the work as a whole.
[Liner notes also include Bashkirov's brief biography: Born in Tbilisi
in 1931 and a student there of Professor A. Wirssaladze. He entered the
Moscow Conservatory in 1950 where his teacher was A. Goldenweiser. In
1955 Bashkirov won the Grand Prize in the Marguerite Long Competition in
Paris.]
Dan Koren
"Wayne Reimer" <wrdslremovethis濃pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1edea5f33...@news.sf.sbcglobal.net...
>> In article <of06721cn8btv4k34...@4ax.com>,
>> amco...@nospamoptonline.net says...
>> On Mon, 22 May 2006 20:25:06 -0700, "Dan Koren" <dank...@yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >You might be able to find a few items
>> >if you take the time to visit used LP
>> >shops:
>> >
>> >-- best Mozart K453 and K491 ever put
>> > on record -- better than Fischer,
>> > Richter and Schnabel.
>> >
>> >-- best Ravel Left Hand Concerto ever
>> > recorded, makes everyone else sound
>> > like music school students.
>>
>> K453 and the Ravel LH Concerto are coupled on one of the Russian Piano
>> School CDs mentioned by SE in this thread (+ Bach f-m Concerto). I've
>> not yet had an opportunity to hear that K491. With regard to the
>> Ravel, for once Dan does not overstate the case. Only the young
>> Gavrilov comes close, imo.
>>
> Nah, I think he overstates the case; the Ravel is really good, but
> there's nothing about it that makes it all that much better than a
> number of others (other than Dan's thinking it so, of course).
>
And my having heard him play it live 2-3 times.
dk
Vaneyes
Terminology, including size queen, picked up on that train trip?
Regards