Live Solo Piano Recordings

[Bogey]

I am looking for solo piano concert recordings where the crowd can be heard applauding at the end of pieces, and maybe even coughing during the recital.  I have always enjoyed live recordings of many genres, and finding it to be the case for solo piano.  I have these two, but was wondering if you have any live solo piano gems that I should try to track down?

[dirkronk]

Well, you've started out well with the Rubinstein, for sure. There are a LOT of great live concerts out there: virtually all of the Richter in Prague performances are in front of live audiences, for example. But since you've prominently displayed Horowitz to start, let me recommend some more by that artist--specifically some of his so-called "comeback" albums from the mid 1960s. All of these, as it happens, were recorded in Carnegie Hall: his 1965 "historic return to the concert stage," his follow-up Carnegie appearance in 1966, and his "Horowitz on Television" album from 1968. All were originally on the Columbia label, all have superb playing on them, and were offered when he definitely had ALL his chops.

I could probably provide a huge list but don't want to hog the thread, so I'll sign off and see who others decide to recommend.


Dirk

[Bogey]

Thanks, Dirk.  I wonder if I might be able to find some of those on vinyl as well?

[Bogey]

Ah!

http://music.shop.ebay.com/items/Records__Carnegie-Horowitz_W0QQ_catrefZ1QQ_flnZ1QQ_sacatZ306QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em282

[dirkronk]

Yep...those are the ones I've got. They were issued both in the US and in several European countries, as well. In fact my 1966 double-LP was pressed in France, and I have other Horowitz LPs from Germany. Keep your eyes open at used record joints, thrift stores, etc. There were enough of these issued that you should be able to pick 'em up a lot cheaper than the ones you've found on eBay. OTOH, keep in mind that I AM a bit of a skinflint...er, bargain hunter.


Happy hunting...and happy listening.

I'll list more stuff tomorrow, after others have had a chance to pitch in.

Dirk

[George]

Any of Kemal Gekic's live CDs are great. That Tokyo one is the best, for sure.

As dirk said, Richter's live stuff on Praga is consistently superb. The Scriabin/Chopin one is a personal favorite and can be bought separately. The Leipzig was recently re-released on Parnassus with improved sound.

Tony has made some solid suggestions before here that bear repeating - Maria Tipo's recital on Ermitage with the four Ballades by Chopin, Natan Brand's 2CD set with Chopin and Schumann are two that come to mind.     
I think you are a fan of Pollini's, you may want to hear his live Waldstein, I think it's great.

Many (if not all) of the performances in the new Russian Brilliant set are live and look to be excellent.

[Bogey]

Thanks George for posting so late in the evening.  Appreciated.

[George]

Thanks George for posting so late in the evening.  Appreciated.

My pleasure. 

[Brian]

Any of Kemal Gekic's live CDs are great. That Tokyo one is the best, for sure.

They actually have copies of the Tokyo recital in stock, which is a rare occurrence and an invitation to Jump! About a year ago I snapped up their "last copy" and am ever so glad I did. It is a jaw-dropping Chopin recital and even the handful of selections where I take a radically different view from Gekic are hugely rewarding to repeated listening.

[Herman]

Claudio Arrau at the Prague Spring Festival is arguably the best performance of Chopin's Preludes:



And here's another live recording with a good Schumann Symphonic Etudes and Prokofiev:

[springrite]

Two of the bests:

1: Sokolov on the Op111 label, playing Chopin.
2: Bolet on Disc1 of the Philips GPOTC set, again Chopin.

[Herman]

And then there's Martha Argerich in better days: Live from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw 1978 / 1979:



Pletnev has been making live recordings lately (before a sedated audience, true: not a lotta coughing):

[Wanderer]

I was just going to suggest Pletnev, too.

[orbital]

An eclectic program with pieces you are guaranteed to hear nowhere else -played by one of the most able pianists of our day. The sound is very good, and the live atmosphere is reflected very realistically.

[Wanderer]

*Hamelin - Live at Wigmore Hall*
An eclectic program with pieces you are guaranteed to hear nowhere else -played by one of the most able pianists of our day. The sound is very good, and the live atmosphere is reflected very realistically.

Enthusiastically seconded. Superlative playing and of course there's Alkan's orgiastic cadenza for the first movement of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto among the attractions. The CD is a compilation from a number of recitals at Wigmore Hall but this needn't worry anybody.

[mc ukrneal]

It's a DVD recording (and mentioned many times before elsewhere), but Barenboim and Beethoven's sonatas are phenomenal (on EMI I believe). It's not perfect, but it's quite remarkable (and the masterclasses are quite good too).

For audio recordings, I would second the Hamelin and also recommend Demidenko Live at Wigmore Hall (2 CD). There are also CDs of Agerich at the Lugano Festival I think it is (and you can still listen to some of this over the internet). Her Kinderszenen is remarkable (2007), for example. She does only live stuff these days I believe. The CDs contain more than just her playing.

[Mandryka]

Not convinced by Demidenko in the Wigmore Hall myself.

I'll second Bolet's Prague Spring and GPOTTC.

And Gekic in Tokyo.


And add Fiorentino in Germany, Glenn Gould in Stockholm, and Glenn Gould in Salzburg, and Glenn Gould in Moscow, Pletnev at the Carnegie Hall (interesting opus 111) and Richter in Leipzig playing Beethoven and Richter in Alderburgh playing Schubert and Gilels in Aix en Provence and Sirota in Tokyo and Pletnev in Amsterdam and Richter in Sophia and Richter in London and Arrau in London and Michelangeli in London in 1959 and Michelangeli somewhere in Italy playing the second Chopin sonata (Turin I think, or Milan, will check if you want)  and Soronitsky in Moscow in the 1940s . . . .

Oh my god, there are too many. But they're all worth hearig

[bhodges]

An eclectic program with pieces you are guaranteed to hear nowhere else -played by one of the most able pianists of our day. The sound is very good, and the live atmosphere is reflected very realistically.

And another vote for this one.  (Although I can't honestly recall how much audience noise there is.) 

One of my favorites is Pierre-Laurent Aimard's Carnegie Hall recital (below), which has an excellent program of Berg, Beethoven, Debussy, Ligeti, Liszt and Messiaen.  Definitely a big audience response, especially during the encores!

--Bruce

[dirkronk]

Assuming you were serious about including LPs in your search, remember that Columbia put out a series of three 2-LP sets (double wallet style) plus one single LP of Richter's various evenings at Carnegie Hall in October 1960. These were withdrawn due to contractual disputes and were never reissued on later LPs, but original copies do show up at used record venues. A couple of years back, Doremi finally put out CDs of the concerts, including some stuff not included on the vinyl, but the LPs offer a somewhat different sound and are worth picking up if you can get them in good shape for reasonable cost.

Other Richter live concert LPs include two on Vox Turnabout, one almost all Debussy IIRC and the other a mixed concert. Don't know what kind of recorder & mikes were used, but the sonics on these are rather remarkably lifelike. Along with ambient and crowd noises, there's an incident on one cut where the grand piano lid suddenly falls and bangs loudly, but Richter keeps right on playing. There's nothing terribly distinguishing about the cover designs that I recall (the Debussy has a greenish background, I think), but these albums are often found in stacks of other Turnabouts, priced at a buck or so at the kind of used record places I frequent...and they are most definitely worth hunting down.

Cheers,

Dirk

[orbital]

--Bruce

His expression is that of a pianist who has the recital starting in ten minutes and still hasn't memorized the music