Pianists in repertoire you wished they had recorded

[CharmNewton]

The Neglected Pianists thread reminde me of some favorite artists who haven't recorded repertoire that I've felt they would be particularly suited. I've thought for many years that Martha Argerich should record a Beethoven Sonata cycle. I can imagine how they might sound, but I'd like to have the discs.

I also feel she would make a great recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier, as would Alicia De Larrocha, although Ms De Larrocha may now be retired.

Any other pianists in repertoire you wished they had recorded bu didn't?

John

[jbuck919]

I would have liked to have more from Charles Rosen. His late Beethoven sonatas and late Bach works, which I still own on LP, are marvelous. Later he did a series of Chopin recitals that were said to be revealing, but to my knowledge he did not record the works.

[pizza]

I have a couple of discs of pianists in works I wish they hadn't recorded!

[Wallingford]

....well, there's:
.....RACHMANINOV doing Beethoven's "Les Adieux" Sonata--I recall reading in an old Irving Kolodin record guide how he mourns Rachmaninov not committing his apparently magnificent interpretation to disc.
.....ROBERT CASADESUS doing the Mussorgsky Pictures--There likely IS a complete live recording of him doing the whole work, but only the "Bydlo" movement was released (non-commercially, by the American Casadesus Society).
.....BUSONI doing the Goldberg Variations & Liszt's B Minor Sonata--Piano-critic-without-equal Harold C. Schonberg wistfully reflects on Busoni's (acoustic-only) discography, filled with Chopin miniatures & such, being bereft of towering intellectual masterworks such as these better suited to the pianist-composer's thinking.
.....PADEREWSKI having done more of the Schubert Impromptus & Moments Musicaux--His technique having been reduced past frailty's point in his last years, but having stuck (unwisely) with performing nonetheless, it would've been intriguing to hear what insights of musicality this artist would have imparted to music this congenial to his temperament--in addition to his surviving discs of the 2 Impromptus of Op.142 & the MM#2.
......GUIOMAR NOVAES doing Beethoven's Sonata #30 (Op.109)--Hers was a particularly special kind of tonal beauty; even if her LP of Op.111 falls a bit short of the mark, I'm still eager to give an ear to how she handled an affecting work such as the present one.

[IcedNote]

I wish more people recorded Faure's piano works.

-G

[Wallingford]

It'd also be nice if our surviving "Romantics"--like Cliburn, Entremont, Kissin & Lang Lang--would record at least a couple of John Field's Nocturnes.

[dirkronk]

Richter doing Beethoven's piano concerti 4 & 5...and the Waldstein.

Annie Fischer doing all the Beethoven concerti, not just her wonderful rendition of the 3rd.

Maybe Rachmaninoff doing the Bach WTC and all of the LvB sonatas.

Kapell doing all the major repertoire--concerto, solo/sonata and chamber--beyond what little he gave us.

Solomon doing extensive portions of Bach.

Dreamin'...

Dirk

[Werner]

Dirk: one small amendment to your comments re Kapell: You wish for all the works he COULD have given us had he lived.

The same goes for so many others who did not live to give us what they could have, given longer life.

[Holden Fourth]

I'm another one who would love to have Rachmaninov record the LvB sonatas that were in his repertoire. an yet another vote for Richter completing the LvB PC cycle plus recordings of both the Waldstein and Op2/2

[jbuck919]

Let's face it, there is a lot missing here. Many people don't realize that Arthur Rubenstein never recorded the Chopin Etudes, and he failed to do so for the very best reason: By his own admission it was past his ability to do so well when it was otherwise feasible. On the other hand, I once had an LP of the Brahms Handel Variations, a drop-dead transcendental work that is rarely performed, by a young pianist named, if I remember correctly (and I may not) Agostino Anuevas. Anyone ever heard of him? I can remember from library check-outs the odd name Beveridge Webster and years later I learned that he had a distinguished teaching career in New York but not much further in the way of recording.

The world is lousy with pianistic talent. Though I did not know him, Robert Taub was at Princeton at the same time I was. Where are his legions, where his standards? Another famous New York pianist was Paul Jacobs (not to be confused with the organist who now heads the department at Juilliard), who died young of AIDS, whose great claim to fame was recording the (I must say frankly) God-awful solo piano works of Schoenberg and exposing those who simply made them up as they went along. He was capable of much more that might be enshrined in recording.

No, there is no end to it.

[dirkronk]

Anievas, I think is the spelling. Never heard his Brahms Handel Vars. but he did some rather nice Chopin IIRC.

And Werner...I agree with your amendment. I have special affection for Kapell, but it's shocking to think of others stricken down young who still had so much pianistic beauty to discover and to offer: Lipatti, Katchen, Hungerford, and on and on. And don't get me started on violinists and cellists and conductors and...



Dirk

[Donald Isler]

Agustin Anievas is a Juilliard graduate, now close to 70 or so, who recorded the Chopin Etudes, among other things, years ago. He was a tall, perenially youthful and very pleasant man who taught at Brooklyn College. His wife, Carol, was the Director of the Prep Department, and I taught there for 15 years.

[Gary]

I wish Ivan Davis had recorded a lot more Chopin. And he still has time. His lone Chopin recording, that of Fantaisie Impromptu, Op.66 on Decca, is for me the benchmark.

[RebLem]

I wish one of the star pianists would record the complete solo piano music of Schumann. I have the recent Demus set on Nuovo Era, and an earlier set by him on MHS LPs, but I am not all that happy with the performances. Saphire wrote in another thread that her preference would be for a cycle by Andras Schiff, and that strikes me as about as good a suggestion as any.

I also wish someone (Brilliant? Naxos?) would do the work to gather together all in one place the tapes of all extant Sviatoslav Richter concerts, and then issue a series of solo piano recordings by composer--all his Beethoven solo piano in one box, Schumann in another, etc. Most of the things that are on the market are of concerts with more than one composer, or of all his Beethoven, say, from a particular series of concerts at a particular time in a particular city, etc. In cases where he has recorded a particular work numerous times, you could drop the less distinguished performances, but every one which has anything going for it at all ought to be put out, I don't care how much "duplication" it involves.

Oh, and in his autobiography, Artur Rubinstein mentioned that the first composer he personally met and whose work he championed was Karol Szymanowski, and yet I look at ArkivMusic and find only 5 Mazurkas and the Fourth Symphony (which calls for a piano) currently available. I don't think he recorded anything else of Szymanowski's. I wish he had.

[gfweis]

I once had an LP of the Brahms Handel Variations, a drop-dead transcendental work that is rarely performed, by a young pianist named, if I remember correctly (and I may not) Agostino Anuevas.

dirkronk is correct: this is Agustin Anievas, and his recording of the Handel Variations, perhaps the finest I have ever heard, is on an Angel Seraphim lp (#60049), coupled with the Paganini Variations. Thanks to Donald Isler for his helpful note on the pianist.

[RebLem]

The only Anievas I have is his CD of all 19 Chopin Waltzes. I got it because most pianists only record 17 of them and call it "complete." I also found the performances to be excellent. Maybe I'll check out some of these others.

[xiaopv]

I wish I could hear Sir Clifford Curzon playing LvB's Piano Sonatas cycle.

I wish I have never heard his interpretation of Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, since Arrau/Giulini is already a monument for me. Curzon's interpretation just weaks the good impression I gained from his Schubert.

[Brendan]

Myra Hess playing the Appassionata. I've only seen/heard her play the first movement on old B&W footage. Solomon is the only one I've heard come close to her.

Edit: Found it! At last I've found a recording of Dame Myra Hess performing the Appassionata! The whole lot, too, from the look of things. The Art of Piano box set

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Piano-Johann- ... 644#disc_2

Chopin Mazurkas. Rubinstein recorded them about four times, Kapell recorded about half, Ashkenazy butchered them (IMHO) for his complete Chopin cycle, but few others dare venture here, it seems.

[IcedNote]

I wish Ivan Davis had recorded a lot more Chopin. And he still has time. His lone Chopin recording, that of Fantaisie Impromptu, Op.66 on Decca, is for me the benchmark.

He's still alive and kickin' down here at UM!

-G

[Wallingford]

Have to do a bit more wishing here on the subject of my fave, Casadesus: the man had a wonderful, "alternative" way of doing Schumann (poised, rather than overemotional)....it would've been nice to hear his playing of a few more of the warhorses, like the Scenes Of Childhood, or the Noveletten. (He DID do Carnaval, Papillons, the Fantaisie & the Waldszenen.)

Also, I take back what I said about Entremont not doing any Field Nocturnes......he DID, I believe, do one which Columbia (which was about to decide not to renew his record contract) had buried on a "best-of" compilation in the late 70s.

[piston]

Have to do a bit more wishing here on the subject of my fave, Casadesus: the man had a wonderful, "alternative" way of doing Schumann (poised, rather than overemotional)....it would've been nice to hear his playing of a few more of the warhorses, like the Scenes Of Childhood, or the Noveletten. (He DID do Carnaval, Papillons, the Fantaisie & the Waldszenen.)

Also, I take back what I said about Entremont not doing any Field Nocturnes......he DID, I believe, do one which Columbia (which was about to decide not to renew his record contract) had buried on a "best-of" compilation in the late 70s.

And I would add to Jean Casadesus' repertoire Chabrier's piano music. Such a tragic year, 1972, for Jean's mother and their family friends. He dies at the age of 44, on 20 January (Thanks, Lance), in a car accident in Renfrew, Ontario, Canada; his father, Robert Casadesus, also an excellent artist and a composer of seven symphonies, dies of pancreatic cancer, later that year....

[Steinway]

A short wish list:

Schepkin..tbe Bach English Suites, French Suites & Toccatas

Hamelin..Liszt Sonata, Beethoven 32 Cycle, Scarlatti Sonatas

Babayan..Anything Bach

Koroliov..Handel Keyboard Suites

Arnaldo Cohen..anything

Klara Wurtz..Haydn Sonatas

Vieru.. anything

Lipatti ..anything

[BorisG]

I prefer to think about things that are possible.

[Steinway]

With the exception of Lipatti, all of my fantasy list is possible.

[dirkronk]

Babayan..Anything Bach

I would personally amend this to read:
Anything...as long as Babayan delivers the same level of beauty, commitment and finesse that one hears on his remarkable Scarlatti disc.



Dirk

[Gary]

I wish Ivan Davis had recorded a lot more Chopin. And he still has time. His lone Chopin recording, that of Fantaisie Impromptu, Op.66 on Decca, is for me the benchmark.

He's still alive and kickin' down here at UM!

-G

Like I said, he still has time.

[Holden Fourth]

Can someone actually confirm that the complete Appassionata is entirely by Myra Hess? If so I would definitely buy it. And BTW, who's playing the LvB 4th?

[Steinway]

Dirk..I agree.

Are you still at the same address as you were?

[Sergeant Rock]

I wish Gilels would have lived long enough to complete his Beethoven set. That we have no Op.111 is a major loss.

Sarge

[Lance]

[snipped] And I would add to Jean Casadesus' repertoire Chabrier's piano music. Such a tragic year, 1972, for Jean's mother and their family friends. He dies at the age of 44, on 20 January (Thanks, Lance), in a car accident in Renfrew, Ontario, Canada; his father, Robert Casadesus, also an excellent artist and a composer of seven symphonies, dies of pancreatic cancer, later that year....

I was pleased to know all members of the Casadesus family while Jean was in residence at SUNY-Binghamton. Shortly after Jean's passing, I interviewed his wife (Evie) for a radio program. I knew Jean's daughter (she was called "Nikki"), who also passed away early. But most of all, I remember sitting in the back yard of friends that Gaby Casadesus was visiting in Binghamton. Enjoying the lovely summer sun, we talked for an hour-and-a-half about music, people, pianos, recordings, and a more cordial, unassuming, friendly, affectionate, elegant, adorable woman I have rarely met. No pretentiousness there! Gaby, who lived to be almost 100, lived long enough to see her husband, son, and granddaughter predecease her along with many of their friends and musical collaborators over the years. It must have been very sad for her.

Robert Casadesus passed on almost eight months to the day after his son Jean's passing in 1972. I well remember the day Jean's passing was announced and the shock it was to our musical community. Jean was interred in a little country cemetery near Montrose, Pa., where he and his wife would frequently take auto rides, but the body was eventually exhumed and moved to the family plot in France.

While Jean was living in Binghamton, NY his famous parents often came to see him, and they also brought some pretty special folks to the area, such as violinist Zino Francescatti. It was a golden time for great music and great musical personages in our area.

Jean's recordings were all too few. Among them was a recording he made as accompanist to soprano Anna Moffo (RCA Victor) in an all-Debussy recital. It would be nice to see this reissued on CD. A local Binghamton University person also made it possible to have on LP the Jean Casadesus performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto #3 with the NYP under Dimitri Mitropoulos (live 1957). I also have a Saint-Saens PC #2 with Jean w/the same forces (live 1955). Jean's performance of the Poulenc Sextet, once available on Vox, is another item that could be reissued. And so it goes ...

[piston]

For those of us "oldies" who have kept all of their LPs, it is still possible to appreciate the artistic beauty of an album. The Moffo/Casadesus record you refer to features a very lovely Anna Moffo (with a gorgeous hat) on the front cover (RCA/Red Seal, c. 1971). The Chabrier album I previously mentioned is a superb CBS "grands interprètes" album with several photos of J. Casadesus, evidently issued after his death.
I am not surprised that his mother was a non-assuming, pleasant human being. It's almost apparent in the family photos.

[Brendan]

Can someone actually confirm that the complete Appassionata is entirely by Myra Hess? If so I would definitely buy it. And BTW, who's playing the LvB 4th?

Holden,

It's in my Amazon shopping basket awaiting payday for me to order it, but I am doing so on the basis that it is the complete Appassionata by Dame Myra. That's the way the disc notes read to me - I'll double-check before making the order, and will let you know once I've got the discs (a few weeks hence, unfortunately).

In the interim, I've found that Solomon's performance may be comparable. Blew me away, anyway.

EDIT: Damn! Looking at the disc notes again it seems that Dame Myra plays the first movement on the first disc, and Gilels plays the whole Appassionata on the 2nd disc. Looks like I stick with Solomon for the whole piece.

[Wallingford]

JON KIMURA PARKER has made way fewer commercial recordings than he should've.

[Lance]

I think it would be been marvelous to hear HOROWITZ performing the music of Charles Valentin Alkan in his pre-1953 years. This is some of the most technically demanding piano music ever written. Very few pianists performed Alkan's music after his death with the exception of Ferruccio Busoni. In the era of electrial recordings, Egon Petri also performed Alkan's music. It wasn't until Raymond Lewenthal came along in the mid 1960s that Alkan's music found a new audience, after wich people like Ronald Smith made a career out of this master's music.

[Holden Fourth]

Can someone actually confirm that the complete Appassionata is entirely by Myra Hess? If so I would definitely buy it. And BTW, who's playing the LvB 4th?

Holden,

It's in my Amazon shopping basket awaiting payday for me to order it, but I am doing so on the basis that it is the complete Appassionata by Dame Myra. That's the way the disc notes read to me - I'll double-check before making the order, and will let you know once I've got the discs (a few weeks hence, unfortunately).

In the interim, I've found that Solomon's performance may be comparable. Blew me away, anyway.

EDIT: Damn! Looking at the disc notes again it seems that Dame Myra plays the first movement on the first disc, and Gilels plays the whole Appassionata on the 2nd disc. Looks like I stick with Solomon for the whole piece.

I eagerly await your comments when the CDs arrive.

I've got Solomon on DVD playing the Appassionata and really like it. But as a point of interest, when Solomon visited NZ on an Australasian tour he played the Appassionata live (before an audience) and the NZBC recorded this concert. A couple of years ago they played this concert on the radio but no matter what I do I can't seem to get a response from them (now Radio NZ I believe) as to whether it's available to buy. I'm very interested in this as RNZ claim that this is the only live (before an audience) recording of Solomon ever made.

Maybe you'd like to put your search skills into tracking down this recording from Radio New Zealand. I''ve tried and maybe a new approach is needed.

[dirkronk]

Can someone actually confirm that the complete Appassionata is entirely by Myra Hess? If so I would definitely buy it. And BTW, who's playing the LvB 4th?

Holden,

It's in my Amazon shopping basket awaiting payday for me to order it, but I am doing so on the basis that it is the complete Appassionata by Dame Myra. That's the way the disc notes read to me - I'll double-check before making the order, and will let you know once I've got the discs (a few weeks hence, unfortunately).

In the interim, I've found that Solomon's performance may be comparable. Blew me away, anyway.

EDIT: Damn! Looking at the disc notes again it seems that Dame Myra plays the first movement on the first disc, and Gilels plays the whole Appassionata on the 2nd disc. Looks like I stick with Solomon for the whole piece.

I eagerly await your comments when the CDs arrive.

I've got Solomon on DVD playing the Appassionata and really like it. But as a point of interest, when Solomon visited NZ on an Australasian tour he played the Appassionata live (before an audience) and the NZBC recorded this concert. A couple of years ago they played this concert on the radio but no matter what I do I can't seem to get a response from them (now Radio NZ I believe) as to whether it's available to buy. I'm very interested in this as RNZ claim that this is the only live (before an audience) recording of Solomon ever made.

Maybe you'd like to put your search skills into tracking down this recording from Radio New Zealand. I''ve tried and maybe a new approach is needed.

Geez, you guys. You're makin' me drool here. If either of you finds the live Solomon, puh-LEEZE share.


Meanwhile, Holden, is the Solomon DVD you allude to still available?

Dirk

[johnshade]

----
In the early 1900s, Bela Bartok was impressed with the music of Richard Strauss, especially Zarathustra and Heldenleben. He even made a piano transcription of Ein Heldenleben and played it in Vienna in 1902. By the time he made commercial recordings as a pianist, Bartok was certainly not under the influence of Strauss. I would, however, like a recording of "Bartok Plays Strauss".

JS

[Brendan]

Can someone actually confirm that the complete Appassionata is entirely by Myra Hess? If so I would definitely buy it. And BTW, who's playing the LvB 4th?

Holden,

It's in my Amazon shopping basket awaiting payday for me to order it, but I am doing so on the basis that it is the complete Appassionata by Dame Myra. That's the way the disc notes read to me - I'll double-check before making the order, and will let you know once I've got the discs (a few weeks hence, unfortunately).

In the interim, I've found that Solomon's performance may be comparable. Blew me away, anyway.

EDIT: Damn! Looking at the disc notes again it seems that Dame Myra plays the first movement on the first disc, and Gilels plays the whole Appassionata on the 2nd disc. Looks like I stick with Solomon for the whole piece.

I eagerly await your comments when the CDs arrive.

I've got Solomon on DVD playing the Appassionata and really like it. But as a point of interest, when Solomon visited NZ on an Australasian tour he played the Appassionata live (before an audience) and the NZBC recorded this concert. A couple of years ago they played this concert on the radio but no matter what I do I can't seem to get a response from them (now Radio NZ I believe) as to whether it's available to buy. I'm very interested in this as RNZ claim that this is the only live (before an audience) recording of Solomon ever made.

Maybe you'd like to put your search skills into tracking down this recording from Radio New Zealand. I''ve tried and maybe a new approach is needed.

Solomon live? Trust me, I'll be tracking that down if at all possible!

I'm reconsidering getting that Art of Piano box set, as I have Gilels Appassionata and only get the first mvt Dam Myra recorded, Rubinstein's Chopin and some others in the set. For a full Dame Myra Appassionata, it wouldn't matter, but I may spend my $$$ elsewhere.

[Donald Isler]

I would also be very interested in information about a Solomon DVD.

[Lance]

I would also be very interested in information about a Solomon DVD.

And yours truly as well!

[Holden Fourth]

I would also be very interested in information about a Solomon DVD.

The Solomon performance of the Appassionata is a filler on this DVD



Arrau plays a lovely (but not definitive) version of the Schumann PC but his rendition of the LvB Op 111 is absolutely superb! For both the Solomon and Arrau's LvB this DVD is a must buy IMHO.

To my knowledge, this is the only filmed footage of Solomon performing.

[rasputin]

I certainly wold like to listen to Horowitz playing Tchaikovsky's grand
sonata op.37, Barer doing Lyapunov's trascendental etudes or Godowsky
playing his own Chopin's etudes !!

[anasazi]

Somehow, I always wanted Rubinstein to record more Bach. The lucidity of Rubinstein's playing seemed to be a natural for it.

Another pianist who ventured far afield to record the fifth French Suite, jazz pianist Eliane Elias, made a wonderful recording from her "On The Classical Side" album. On of the best recordings of this piece I've ever heard.

[gfweis]

Somehow, I always wanted Rubinstein to record more Bach. The lucidity of Rubinstein's playing seemed to be a natural for it.

I agree. This remark almost prompted to wish for the Rubinstein Haydn f minor andante and variations...until I checked and saw that he did in fact record it! This I will want to hear!

[gfweis]

Oops. Let's try that again.

[val]

I wished Rudolf Serkin to have recorded Mozart piano Concertos, from 5 to 27, with Schneider or Szell. He only did a few of them.

I would also wish that Eduard van Beinum had recorded Bruckner's Nine Symphonies with the Concertgebow Orchestra.