The Classical Music Guide Forums

premont

Indeed, the Annie Fischer/Hungaroton set [41003, nine CDs] is a must-have. I read, somewhere, that it wasn't released until after she passed away because she was not happy with her Beethoven project. That set has garnered some high praise since it was issued. We certainly concur on the merits of An...

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As I've mentioned elsewhere, most recording artists offer a unique perspective on music, and Lifschitz's interpretation of Beethoven's sonatas is no exception. I have no regrets at all about purchasing it. Regarding Beethoven's sonatas, I'd like to suggest a collection that has been the most awesome...

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It varies. For well-known music that I've grown fond of, such as Machaut's Messe or Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis, I often purchase recordings for the performers' sake, given today's high artistic standards and the unique insights most recording artists bring to the music. For less commonly recorded pie...

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While historically correct insofar as being "trio sonatas," most people hear them live or on recordings as cello and keyboard (piano or harpsichord) sonatas. I suppose that's now these works get the sonata nomenclature. Nonetheless, wonderful works they are! This is true, but it's also why one must...

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It seems peculiar when people refer to Bach's cello sonatas. It's akin to discussing his accordion pieces when his keyboard compositions are performed on the accordion. The so-called "cello sonatas" are in fact trio sonatas, with the keyboard playing the upper and lower voices and the viola da gamba...

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While I don't want to detract from Yuan Sheng as a Bach pianist, he also masters the clavichord wery well, what is to be heard on this recording of the Klavierbüchlein für WF Bach, which is throughout recommendable: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9313660--j-s-bach-klavierbuchlein-fur...

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Power Biggs was a pioner - no doubt. Recently I listened to about eight of his albums of baroque organ music using more or less historical organs. His playing is nice for sure but not much more than that, and my impression is that he has become overhauled by the present, where so many more interesti...

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I still have his Bach/Brandenburg LP box. I always liked it. Some great Maurice André playing on it. This demands correction. Karl Münchinger made three complete recordings of the Brandenburg concertos - all of them with the Stuttgart Chamber orchestra. 1) 1949-50 the trumpeter was Paolo Longinotti...

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I remember her very well. She was a bit special but knowledgeable and always kind and helpful.

I shall never forget her introductory advice to new members:
"Whiten your shoes and cast a spell"
RIP

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Well, 25 sets that's at least some. I know all of those you list except this: RCA - Alexander Schneider, Marlboro Festival Orchestra which I never have heard of and which I can't find anywhere. Maybe you confuse it with Casal's recording with Marlboro Festival Orchestra which features A. Schneider a...

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Of course she is right in this. We only have to recall, that baroque keyboard instruments (harpsichord, clavichord and organ) didn't have sustaining pedals. We can presumably conclude that such a function was considered unnecessary or perhaps even undesirable.

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Op. 109: Mitsuko Uchida, Imogen Cooper Op. 110: Uchida, Jonathan Biss, Dynasty Battles Op. 111: Uchida, Cooper, Jeremy Denk Diabelli Variations: Shai Wosner, Richard Goode I've never seen anything like this in over 20 years of attending this recital series. I love all these pieces, but for me, repe...

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Esteemed Scottish pianist Joanna MacGregor reviews recordings of Beethoven's 4th PC and chooses Gilels' '50's recording with the Philharmonia/Ludwig, now on a Warner Classics cd, Interesting first mov. cadenza. IIRC Beethovens rarely played own shorter cadenza for this movement. I agree that the re...

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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51832264301_ac6d30aac2_o.jpg I'm repeatedly becoming nostalgic when I read posts here. This excellent LP was the one which (along with Joseph Paynes Vox box with parts of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book) intruduced me to the Elizabethan harpsichord music almost fif...

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The one thing I didn't actually NEED was another set of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. DGG released all 32, "Live from the Salzburg Festival." It was too good to pass up, especially for the Amazon/USA price of $22.10 for nine (9) CDs. I know how you feel, Lance. Since long I lost count of how many B...

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Which temperament to prefer should depend solely upon which music one intends to play, because every era and musical style needs it's own and original temperament to shine. So the colourfulness of early european baroque instrumental music eg. needs meantone temperament and fades if equal tuning is u...

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I named my first dog in Australia Kempff - not a great idea, as it's not easy to shout and no one understood the name. Another highly unsuccessful effort was Argus, because I loved Odysseus's dog in the Odyssey. I swiftly learnt that a dog's name needs two syllables, the second preferably ending in...

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Yes to everything you say, of course. But in areas where the majority of the population has had two doses (NYC has reached 72%), my feeling is that this experiment is very encouraging, especially if venues require proof of vaccination in order to purchase tickets AND enter the premises. All this me...

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Does this release include any remasterings, or is it just about the old masterings, of which many of us already own a significant number?

BTW the first French pianist to record all 32 LvB piano sonatas was Yves Nat, who recorded them from 1951 to 1955. Heidsieck recorded them from 1970 to 1974.

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Was this experiment made before the emergence of the delta variant? Because it may make things a bit different, virus containing aerosols being more risky since the delta variant is considerably more contagious than other corona vira (less virus load is needed to generate illness), and as we know fa...

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Tozer was wonderful Aussie pianist, tragically shortened life. He studied with Schnabel,and recorded Schnabel’s Dance Suite and Piano Sonata on a Chandos cd I have, interesting music,the Suite very approachable, the Sonata Ives-ian.All these at YT I believe. Tozer couldn't study with Schnabel, as h...

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Given so many sets of complete Beethoven sonatas and symphonies, I have put a damper on getting any more of either. I will, of course, be hearing some of the more recent recordings with collector friends or online. I hesitate to advise how many complete sets I actually have and not to even mention ...

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Thanks for that Premont. Have you listened to other modern cycles, such as Paul Lewis or Igor Levit - Im wondering how you think they compare.I intended to buy the Levit cycle, for example, but haven't got round to it yet. Yes, I own both. I know Lewis' set well, whil I only have heard a third of L...

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Some days ago I planned to do a traversal of Scherbakov's recent Beethoven piano sonata set and report a little about it. I began with the CD with the sonatas 30,31 and 32 and afterwards the CD with sonatas 23,24,25,26 and 27. His approach is very individual and very pianistic with much legato touch...

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Thanks for this interesting article. Schiff has some weighty points there. Until now I have relied upon Gilels, Richter and Backhaus in this repertory - the B-major concerto being my favorite of the two -, but it sounds as if Schiff's release is a must have.

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To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are r...

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As a child, I heard Ormandy conduct a concert with light music at Tivoli in Copenhagen. I barely remember the repertoire, but perhaps faintly remember some Strauss waltzes and Ravel's Bolero. But what I especially remember is that throughout the concert he acted as a very human person with a kind sm...

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To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are r...

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To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ri...

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Premont, yours was an excellent response. More power to all of us interested in the music we love on any board. Our Corylss was also interested in your areas of music, but she abandoned us in order to fulfill her life's other ambitions. Do we miss her? Of course, though I remain in touch with her f...

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Since I purchased the Gandelsman set 6 months ago I have certainly enjoyed it. The playing is dancing and high spirited, however the "folksy" didn't occur to me at all. The cello suites work surprisingly well on the violin, and better than on the viola or the double bass, at least when played as her...

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Can't figure out why we lose some of our CMGers other than going to the Great Beyond. We've been online for years and are stable, kind, informed, and willing to listen to anybody! One would think — with the pandemic — that we would have more and more classical music lovers. How do we get some of th...

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I don't know if you are aware that Scherbakov recently released a complete Bethoven piano sonata set. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=konstantyin+scherbakov&i=music-intl-ship&ref=nb_sb_noss I have purchased it as a download from Presto Classical, but not listened to any of it yet. Being completist in man...

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I know almost nothing about him. Heard by chance about his Beethoven / Liszt set, which I have not researched. He is supposed to play all of Beethoven's piano sonatas in public in the future and record them at some point. I probably can not resist the temptation to buy the symphony set. Apart from t...

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I didn't intend to detract from Katsaris but only to say how I think he differs from Biret and that I prefer Biret. And no interpretation is defintive - such a concept doesn't exist IMO. On the contrary it is interesting and illuminating to know different interpretations, as they throw light on each...

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My preference is Biret . I like her relatively slow pace which gives the rather weighty texture of Liszt's transcriptions time to unfold, and I like the poetry she finds particularly in the slow movements (a Kempff pupil after all). She is a nice contrast to Katsaris' demonstratively brilliant Tosca...

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While I was at it I decided also to acquire the Bach/Reger with the Takahashi-Lehmann piano duo on Audite (which Lance mentions above), and they are if possible even better than the Bindman-Lin duo. They play with equal brilliance, but their playing is more engaged and their touch and articulation c...

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I certainly have not heard a piano version of these works as of yet. I do remember a version that used soprano sax rather than picc trumpet in #2. Was that a Casals recording? Yes, I believe so, Casals used a soprano sax instead of trumpet....supposedly, a trumpet player expired while trying to pla...

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jserraglio wrote:Thanks, Even cheaper at UK

Cheaper than this??

https://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/ ... 576&sr=1-1

0.01 euro!!

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Thank you, thank you! Yes, that's the one. I doubt we will ever see that recording on CD since so many others have emerged since 1963. Nonetheless, the recording had beautiful acoustics, and a wonderful chorus and was an overall fine performance. I still retain that set to this day, now for well ov...

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Why do we like sad music?

I am sorry, I do not know why.

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Thank you, Premont, for this information. I looked carefully at the Teldec boxed set of all the concerti, and it is unclear who conducted the BWV 1052 concerto. Leonhardt conducts all the other performances and it was apparently wrongly assumed he conducted the BWV 1052 while Nikolaus was the celli...

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Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor • JS Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052 w/Herbert Tachezi, harpsichord; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cello; Alice Harnoncourt, violin; Concentus Musicus of Vienna; Gustav Leonhardt, conductor (r. c. 1968, Teldec) This is wrong. Gustav Leonhardt took no part in the...

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Today, even Wanda Landowska is pooh-poohed for her recordings on her iron-framed Pleyel harpsichord, which I had the pleasure of playing. It is, nonetheless, the musicianship that I am most concerned about. .. Karl Richter may be considered passé by today's standards, but in my view his music-makin...

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A long-time admirer of Karl Richter, I am happy to say DGG/Archiv has issued an 18-CD boxed set [482 0959] set of his superb all-Bach recordings. Here we find Richter as an organist, harpsichordist and conductor of his famous band and chorus. I have acquired the box because of the participation of ...

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Others have done the complete Bartok solo piano canon, most notably Gyorgy Sandor of sainted memory. But for virtuosity and modern sound. Zoltan Kocsis can't be beat. This is the set to have. In my opinion one single set will not do in this music. So I think that one needs Kocsis , Sandor (the earl...

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I remember Nicolaj Malko, because I heard him a couple of times in Copenhagen, when I was a child. But I was too young to be able to recall the details. What is left is the visual impression of his physiognomy and the general orchestral sound.. BTW A recurrent competition for conductors in Copenhage...

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RebLem has reviewed the Klemperer live Beethoven recordings from Vienna on the last page of the What are you listening to thread.

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His Beethoven set is one of my favorite Beethoven symphony sets. It is manly and warm and the playing by the Concertgebouw Orchestra is outstanding.

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Lance wrote: Many of us here are veteran collectors starting out with LPs (me when I was 17). I amassed about 70,000 of them over the years, and now have that many CDs.

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