Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[George]

My bad.

In case you were wondering, I had that avatar for a number of months a few years back. No worries though, I plan to keep my current one (Josef Hofmann's fingers) for a long while.

Nice to have another Richter fan on board! Welcome!   Have you check out the Sviatoslav Richter thread? It's under Great Recordings.

[Henk]

Anybody familiar with these biographies? Are they good choices?

[Bogey]

My bad.

Your bad, but our good.  Always great to see another Richter fan.  As George pointed out, you need to visit the Richter thread, and welcome aboard!

[Coopmv]

Your bad, but our good.  Always great to see another Richter fan.  As George pointed out, you need to visit the Richter thread, and welcome aboard!

Indeed, I am a convert to Richterism due to George.   
I now have the EMI Icon, Pianist of the Century and the set on BC (Russian Archive) plus the WTC I & II on RCA Gold Seal.  A little over a year ago, I had no recordings by S Richter.  Now, I am ready for more ...   

[Renfield]

Excellent choice! Terse when it needs to be, lyrical to a fault.

I only wish the sound were a little more spacious, but it's certainly one of my favourite Brahms cycles (out of many dozens).

[Air]

In case you were wondering, I had that avatar for a number of months a few years back. No worries though, I plan to keep my current one (Josef Hofmann's fingers) for a long while. Nice to have another Richter fan on board! Welcome!  Have you check out the Sviatoslav Richter thread? It's under Great Recordings.

Your bad, but our good.  Always great to see another Richter fan.  As George pointed out, you need to visit the Richter thread, and welcome aboard!

Thank you for the kind comments everyone. Being a pianist myself, I am pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm towards solo piano at GMG.  In past forums I've seen, orchestral music was somehow superior because of its dominant forces which always frustrated me, because people seemed to ignore great pianists for mediocre ones like Roge (?), Barenboim, Kissin, Wild, and such.  In fact, it seemed to me like they didn't care about the pianist as long as the orchestra and conductor were to their liking.  One member even remarked to me that "I care more about the effects the orchestra make then what the pianist does.  After all the piano is only one of the instruments."   Such a ridiculous statement I have never heard.

I appreciate the nod towards the Recordings and Reviews section: I will check out that Richter thread though it seems very... long.  I like that J. Hofmann avatar, George.  I suppose he's one of your favorite pianists, too?  His hands do look kind of... small.

(I'm actually not surprised that someone would pick this S. Richter avatar.  He looks so inspired.)

[George]

In fact, it seemed to me like they didn't care about the pianist as long as the orchestra and conductor were to their liking.  One member even remarked to me that "I care more about the effects the orchestra make then what the pianist does.  After all the piano is only one of the instruments."   Such a ridiculous statement I have never heard.

Indeed.

I appreciate the nod towards the Recordings and Reviews section: I will check out that Richter thread though it seems very... long.  I like that J. Hofmann avatar, George.  I suppose he's one of your favorite pianists, too?  His hands do look kind of... small.

I really like the photo, which was taken by Time Life, as it indicates my greatest love - piano music.

I am growing to like Hofmann, my first impression wasn't very good, but since hearing the Casimir Recital on Marston, I quickly reassessed his work. That set is available again through Marston Records and is a wonderful intro to his work.

Thread Duty - Just got back from the Princeton Record Exchange and will post some highlights later.  

[Coopmv]

Excellent choice! Terse when it needs to be, lyrical to a fault.

I only wish the sound were a little more spacious, but it's certainly one of my favourite Brahms cycles (out of many dozens).

I have really gotten to like Eugen Jochum a bit over the years.  His Beethoven Symphonies with the RCO are excellent.

[Harry]

A extra ordinary voice

[Harry]

 

[Harry]

3

[Bogey]

Thanks to all those that contributed on the St. John's thread.  A lot of great  choices, but finally went with the above (Kuijken).


Also:

[George]

Bill has another (mystery) package that was shipped an hour ago.  0:)

[Brian]

Bill has another (mystery) package that was shipped an hour ago.  0:)

http://www.youtube.com/v/__DrJI7mTHQ

[George]

It's blocked here at work, but I saw his hilarious performance of the song on Inside the Actors Studio. 

[greg]

My attempted atonal ventures almost ended yesterday after listening to Flourescences by Penderecki, but after listening to Varese I realized I had started from the wrong end of the 20th century (aka you don't go backwards, you go forwards). 

ummm... that's a great piece. Hopefully, Varese helps...

[Marc]

[flashmovie of Hugh Laurie 'singing' Mystery]

Sammy Davis jr.?

Or ....
.... Kermit Ze Frog?

[admiralackbar74]

Thank you for the kind comments everyone. Being a pianist myself, I am pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm towards solo piano at GMG.  In past forums I've seen, orchestral music was somehow superior because of its dominant forces which always frustrated me, because people seemed to ignore great pianists for mediocre ones like Roge (?), Barenboim, Kissin, Wild, and such.

Being a pianist myself, I must say that Roge is anything but a "mediocre" pianist. I had the joy of participating in a master class with him once and I found him to be extremely insightful. When it comes to French repertoire, Roge is one of the finest pianists of our time. (Whether or not his CDs are the "best" of that repertoire is another discussion.)

As for the others you list, one must admit Earl Wild's technical prowess, and I continue to find Daniel Barenboim a fine pianist. One of the best? Perhaps not, but his musical insight is quite fine. (Again, whether his CDs are the "best" in any repertoire is a different discussion.)

[George]

When it comes to French repertoire, Roge is one of the finest pianists of our time. (Whether or not his CDs are the "best" of that repertoire is another discussion.)

As for the others you list, one must admit Earl Wild's technical prowess, and I continue to find Daniel Barenboim a fine pianist. One of the best? Perhaps not, but his musical insight is quite fine. (Again, whether his CDs are the "best" in any repertoire is a different discussion.)

I agree across the board.  

[DavidW]

 

The first is my jump back into orchestral works of Carter, the second is interesting.  Back in the wonderful 90s I posted on rmcr asking about Handel VCs because I really wanted to hear them, because I imagine that they would be wonderful... oh they don't exist.   Well I recently thought the next best thing would be Telemann's VCs!