Recordings That You Are Considering

j winter · January 22, 2020, 06:01:35 PM

Quote from: vers la flamme on January 22, 2020, 01:26:03 PM
Love her recording of the great D960. That's all I've heard. I kind of want to get the box set too. I'm still trying to decide on a good Schubert sonatas box set and that's a front runner with Kempff and Badura-Skoda.

I don't have Uchida, but for Schubert box sets I own Kempff, Schiff, and Brendel... I like all three, but if I could only keep one of those, it would be Kempff, hands down. YMMV, of course... for me he really brings out the poetry in Schubert.

Madiel · January 22, 2020, 06:14:19 PM

Actually I have Brendel in the impromptus and like that, so I should try his sonatas.

Will also sample Kempff though I'm not a wild fan.

I'm listening to Uchida's first disc right now, and while it started pretty well I'm now hearing and understanding one of the chief criticisms: she is pulling the 3rd movement of D568 around to an extreme degree with pregnant pauses and ritardandos. It's too much. The other movements have little touches, but in that one it's constant.

Mandryka · January 22, 2020, 08:25:00 PM

Quote from: Madiel on January 22, 2020, 06:14:19 PM
Actually I have Brendel in the impromptus and like that, so I should try his sonatas.

Will also sample Kempff though I'm not a wild fan.

I'm listening to Uchida's first disc right now, and while it started pretty well I'm now hearing and understanding one of the chief criticisms: she is pulling the 3rd movement of D568 around to an extreme degree with pregnant pauses and ritardandos. It's too much. The other movements have little touches, but in that one it's constant.

Maybe see if you can hear any Michel Dalberto.

Madiel · January 22, 2020, 09:07:29 PM

How much Schubert has he recorded? Deezer only reveals 3 sonatas plus 3 Klavierstücke.

San Antone · January 22, 2020, 09:25:00 PM

Quote from: Madiel on January 22, 2020, 09:07:29 PM
How much Schubert has he recorded? Deezer only reveals 3 sonatas plus 3 Klavierstücke.

There are at least 13 volumes of the complete piano music out.

Madiel · January 22, 2020, 09:29:16 PM

Quote from: San Antone on January 22, 2020, 09:25:00 PM
There are at least 13 volumes of the complete piano music out.

Okay. That's weird. Deezer has a decent number of his recordings but not much Schubert. It has 2 song cycles as well.

Once I'm at home on my PC I'll try some other search terms. Metadata can be haphazard for classical as I'm sure we all know. There might be albums where Schubert is listed as the artist instead of Dalberto...

San Antone · January 22, 2020, 09:47:13 PM

There is a 14CD box set on Brilliant

I am not sure, but think these are the same recordings that were released on Denon as individual releases.

amw · January 22, 2020, 09:48:41 PM

The Schubert was recorded for Denon, which does not make its albums available on streaming services in any systematic way. There's a Brilliant Classics reissue but likewise. Volumes 10, 12 and 13 are on Spotify and Qobuz but not any other sites I'm aware of.

It's not my first choice for Schubert, nor is the Uchida set though, although I've heard her live and she is much better than on record. For overall sets I generally prefer Malcolm Bilson, Paul Badura-Skoda (Arcana), Imogen Cooper (Ottavo) or Michael Endres, possibly also Christian Zacharias.

Madiel · January 23, 2020, 12:14:04 AM

Ah right, the Dalberto I can see is Erato I think.

For Imogen Cooper I know of a set for "The last six years" and also some live recordings.

Jo498 · January 23, 2020, 12:48:11 AM

Dalberto is over-complete, I think, with lots of fragments. Zacharias/EMI is very good for a very straightforward "classicist" interpretation but he has no fragments at all and is missing some early sonatas, so it's not at all complete. He has 537, 568, 575. No 840 "Reliquie". I don't care much about the early stuff but D 840 is essential, preferably not only the two complete movements.

Madiel · January 23, 2020, 01:41:41 AM

Hmph. I can't find any evidence that Brendel's 1970s Schubert recordings were ever compiled together in a box in a sensible fashion. There's just bits and pieces (including the Philips Duo with all the Impromptus that I already own).

Only his later digital recordings got boxed. Annoying as the 1970s ones seem to have the greater reputation.

Florestan · January 23, 2020, 02:18:49 AM

Quote from: Madiel on January 23, 2020, 01:41:41 AM
Hmph. I can't find any evidence that Brendel's 1970s Schubert recordings were ever compiled together in a box in a sensible fashion. There's just bits and pieces (including the Philips Duo with all the Impromptus that I already own).

Only his later digital recordings got boxed. Annoying as the 1970s ones seem to have the greater reputation.

Accoridng to the tracklist in the booklet this 7-CD box contains (mostly) the 1970s recordings.

Madiel · January 23, 2020, 02:21:24 AM

Quote from: Florestan on January 23, 2020, 02:18:49 AM

Accoridng to thetracklist in the booklet these are (mostly) the 1970s recordings.

Aargh! Thank you!

I've seen that box before. Somehow it didn't show up in my searches this evening.

Noting that I am very tired and stressed. Canberra today had a dust storm, followed by a revival of yesterday's fire that combined with today's new one to shut down the city's airport, followed by me coming to discover that the high winds had broke open my locked garden gate and damaged it. I just love living through the various stages of the apocalypse...

Florestan · January 23, 2020, 02:28:00 AM

Quote from: Madiel on January 23, 2020, 02:21:24 AM
Aargh! Thank you!

I've seen that box before. Somehow it didn't show up in my searches this evening.

You're welcome. I have that and the 1980 set but I didn't make any comparisons. Brendel being Brendel I think you can't go wrong with either.

Quote
Noting that I am very tired and stressed. Canberra today had a dust storm, followed by a revival of yesterday's fire that combined with today's new one to shut down the city's airport, followed by me coming to discover that the high winds had broke open my locked garden gate and damaged it. I just love living through the various stages of the apocalypse...

Oh my God! Stay safe, my friend. This hell should certainly have an end.

Mandryka · January 23, 2020, 02:53:32 AM

I mentioned Dalberto because I've been enjoying his impromptus this week a lot, not so much for the interpretation (which seems absolutely OK), but for the sound. It sounds like real piano in the room! I'm not interested in early Schubert, sonatas, variations etc.

I remember that I enjoyed the Brendel a lot when I last heard any of it, maybe 10 years ago.

Zacharias I've never explored.

Jo498 · January 23, 2020, 02:54:52 AM

Even the eloquence 7 disc box with Brendel is not complete. Apparently D 568 is missing and he has D 840 but "only" the two completed movements. It says DDD/ADD so it was filled up with some older recordings but this might apply only to smaller pieces he did not record again. I am not the greatest fan of Brendel's but the box would be a decent and very cheap place to start as would be Zacharias' but both not as "complete" as one might wish.

Madiel · January 23, 2020, 03:09:47 AM

I personally don't have that much interest in all the bits and pieces of sonatas beyond the ones that Schubert actually completed (which is most of the ones later in his career anyway). The Schiff box has at least taught me that. Some of them are good but at heart I listen to a sonata in order for it to have a conclusion.

You keep mentioning the rest of D 840, but quite frankly the great majority of recordings are "only" of the two completed movements and I certainly have no intention of ruling out recordings that contain what it is standard to contain. And in Schiff's box D 840 bored me witless as it is. Granted, that might be Schiff's fault, but I certainly don't share your interest in getting the fragments of the other movements.

Jo498 · January 23, 2020, 03:19:18 AM

It's Schiff's fault. D 840 is a difficult piece but it is almost as important/good as the b minor symphony fragment. (I rate it higher than D 850 and about as high as 845.)
But I agree that I would not make it a main criterion for a box of Schubert sonatas as one better gets some important single recordings of it, like Richter's.

mc ukrneal · January 23, 2020, 03:34:28 AM

Brendel or Kempff will be better than Schiff (in my opinion), though since you seem to like Brendel in this music (and are not crazy about Kempff), Brendel would seem to be the way to go (of the three and in general). I am not always a fan of Brendel, but I think he has a good feel for Schubert and I like it much more than his Beethoven (for example). But there is some great Schubert out there performed by Ashkenazy, Lupu, Lewis, Pires, and Kovacevich just to name a few should you want to explore.

Madiel · January 23, 2020, 03:54:05 AM

Quote from: mc ukrneal on January 23, 2020, 03:34:28 AM
Brendel or Kempff will be better than Schiff (in my opinion), though since you seem to like Brendel in this music (and are not crazy about Kempff), Brendel would seem to be the way to go (of the three and in general). I am not always a fan of Brendel, but I think he has a good feel for Schubert and I like it much more than his Beethoven (for example). But there is some great Schubert out there performed by Ashkenazy, Lupu, Lewis, Pires, and Kovacevich just to name a few should you want to explore.

Well, it's Schubert that Brendel has impressed me in from the Philips Duo that I have. And it does seem to be a composer he's particularly well regarded for.

Lewis is another one I'm inclined to try out as his name keeps popping up.