Chopin Recordings

Started by George, April 06, 2007, 06:00:36 AM

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SimonGodders



orbital

Quote from: Drasko on May 28, 2007, 07:30:41 AM
Haven't heard her before and unfortunately missed her playing Chopin's E minor here few weeks ago.
Shame on you  $:)

Drasko

Quote from: orbital on May 28, 2007, 10:48:38 AM
Shame on you  $:)

I'm completely innocent Mr. Policeman 0:) it's classic case of a bad mojo
Over last few seasons I missed Berezovsky, Lugansky, Leschenko and couple local boys & gals playing them.
Nowdays when I see a Chopin Concerto on program I don't even have to check, I know I'll have to be somewhere else that evening.

orbital

Quote from: Drasko on May 28, 2007, 11:52:19 AM
I'm completely innocent Mr. Policeman 0:) it's classic case of a bad mojo
Over last few seasons I missed Berezovsky, Lugansky, Leschenko and couple local boys & gals playing them.
Nowdays when I see a Chopin Concerto on program I don't even have to check, I know I'll have to be somewhere else that evening.
;D
Don't mind me, the rant is coming from someone who goes to recitals/concerts waaaay less than he should/could  :-[ :-[

Maciek

If you manage to seek it out - Krystian Zimerman's Chopin Piano Competition (1975) live performance of the Grande Polonaise brillante précédée d’un Andante spianato op. 22 is wonderful (several releases on DG, one on Polskie Nagrania/Muza). This is not to be confused with a recording of the piano and orchestra version (Zimerman/Giulini).

sidoze

#86
Quote from: rubio on April 09, 2007, 12:31:20 PM
Has anybody here heard this disc? It seems very tempting. Are the Chopin Ballades here from 1928-1930?

http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Casadesus-Chopin-Schumann-S%C3%A9verac/dp/B00002EPNJ/ref=sr_1_1/103-6086389-5715826?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1176150600&sr=1-1



I had it and was disappointed. The playing is clear and straightforward without much personal emphasis. I don't think they reached boiling point.

I would try Bolet for the Grande Polonaise thing.

Maciek

Since recordings of the mazurkas came up in another thread ( ;)) I'd like to mention a set of 2 discs:


These contain the best performances of mazurkas from the Chopin Piano Competition, divided chronologically into 2 volumes (1927-1955 and 1960-1985). Featured pianists are: Sztompka, Uninski, Żak, Czerny-Stefańska, Fou Tsong, Irina Zaritzkaya, Martha Argerich, Garrick Ohlsson, Krystian Zimerman, Dang Thai Son, Ewa Pobłocka, Marc Laforet. Very cheap too - about 15 PLN (5 USD, 4 EUR) per disc. I don't have these particular discs but have most of the recordings in other couplings (Polskie Nagrania have an irritating way of re-releasing the same stuff over and over again in countless guises).

George

Quote from: MrOsa on May 30, 2007, 01:39:35 PM
Since recordings of the mazurkas came up in another thread ( ;)) I'd like to mention a set of 2 discs:


These contain the best performances of mazurkas from the Chopin Piano Competition, divided chronologically into 2 volumes (1927-1955 and 1960-1985). Featured pianists are: Sztompka, Uninski, ?ak, Czerny-Stefa?ska, Fou Tsong, Irina Zaritzkaya, Martha Argerich, Garrick Ohlsson, Krystian Zimerman, Dang Thai Son, Ewa Pob?ocka, Marc Laforet. Very cheap too - about 15 PLN (5 USD, 4 EUR) per disc. I don't have these particular discs but have most of the recordings in other couplings (Polskie Nagrania have an irritating way of re-releasing the same stuff over and over again in countless guises).

Where are those available?

Maciek

Good question, George! Except for the site of the label itself I can't seem to find the second volume anywhere - and you wouldn't want to order from the directly because there's no way any rational being could ever fathom their ordering procedure. All I've come up with is 2 different places where you can get volume number 1:
http://www.gigant.pl/html/produkt.asp?p=qqmjghqfcqwedmpjllha
http://www.merlin.com.pl/frontend/browse/product/4,36664.html
(at least you can listen to samples on the second of these sites)

I'll look around a little more and let you know if I find anything... If you want to do a search yourself, the catalog numbers are PNCD 006 and PNCD 007.

George

Quote from: MrOsa on May 30, 2007, 03:33:48 PM
Good question, George! Except for the site of the label itself I can't seem to find the second volume anywhere - and you wouldn't want to order from the directly because there's no way any rational being could ever fathom their ordering procedure. All I've come up with is 2 different places where you can get volume number 1:
http://www.gigant.pl/html/produkt.asp?p=qqmjghqfcqwedmpjllha
http://www.merlin.com.pl/frontend/browse/product/4,36664.html
(at least you can listen to samples on the second of these sites)

I'll look around a little more and let you know if I find anything... If you want to do a search yourself, the catalog numbers are PNCD 006 and PNCD 007.


Thanks, I am not likely to buy in the near future so please don't spend too much time on it.

Lilas Pastia

A well-intentioned person gave me a cd of Chopin pieces played by Paderewski. They're from his 1906 Welte-Mignon rolls. What should I expect?

George

Quote from: Lilas Pastia on May 30, 2007, 07:03:01 PM
A well-intentioned person gave me a cd of Chopin pieces played by Paderewski. They're from his 1906 Welte-Mignon rolls. What should I expect?

What I have heard of piano rolls does little for me, what I have heard of Paderewski does about the same. I just find him too fast, but YMMV of course.  :)

Maciek

Quote from: Lilas Pastia on May 30, 2007, 07:03:01 PM
A well-intentioned person gave me a cd of Chopin pieces played by Paderewski. They're from his 1906 Welte-Mignon rolls. What should I expect?

That depends. I hear there are 2 different "transfers" (maybe more?) and one of them (the Polish one) is abominable - very bad sound and the playing sounds mechanical. The other one is supposed to be much better (more "human sounding"). I rather like his "real" recordings - not always perfectly precise but still I like it. I have him playing 2 pieces (in 1924 and 1930, on 78 r.p.m.) on this "The Golden Age of Polish Pianists" disc (mine comes from a "Complete Works" set so it doesn't have a cover, just a cardboard sleeve):

I'm not sure but there might be even more on the "Moonlight Sonata" soundtrack - don't remember. I love Paderewski as composer, BTW.

Lilas Pastia

I guess I got the abominable polish one :P  Seems to be a Dux production. The label reads RZECZPOSPOLITA
Uggh.

Maciek

Maybe it's just gossip. Have you listened to it yet?

BTW, what you actually got is a free CD bundled with the newspaper Rzeczpospolita - but I think that's exactly the same as the official Dux release anyway. Unfortunately...?

Lilas Pastia

It's in the pile, but I might give it a spin tonight. The name Paderewski still casts a spell...

Maciek

BTW, I wasn't implying the present was worthless. I hope it didn't come out that way. In fact that CD came with the paper a couple of years ago and is quite difficult to come by nowadays.

Lilas Pastia

#98
I listened to the Paderewski recording - twice.

First of all, the dates of those rolls are 1906. This is hard to believe as everything sounds very clear and with no distortion. Sounds better actually than many Horowitz recordings form the thirties. Very light bass though, so it probably doesn't begin to give an accurate image of Paderewski's tone.

Secondly, the most striking aspect of his playing is the incredibly heavy use of rubato.   I'm not a pianist, but what I hear is a systematic doubling of a note, being sounded on the left hand first, followed by the right hand, almost a 2-note arpeggio. If someone can come to my rescue and describe it adequately, I would appreciate.

This was SO different from anything else I knew that I compared one by one all the pieces with other versions to try to understand what he was aiming at. There is simply no comparison. All others (Moiseiwitsch, Bunin, François, Magaloff, Rubinstein) play the music directly, without that suffocating mannerism. The only work I heard that seemed to inhabit a legitimate artistic world was the Nocturne op. 37 # 2. The others seemed to have been artificially equipped with a load of extra notes, like a mother sending her kid to school out with 4 layers of unnecessary clothing ("Ma, it's not cold outside!").

Anyhow, there is certainly a historic interest to listen to these interpretations, for even by the thirties those habits seem to have died for good. There's no denying that a lot of feeling and authority come through. Definitely of great interest, in spite of the very controversial playing.

Maciek

Thanks for the description - now I really need to seek this out (the recordings I've heard are much later and not so mannered). I think someone in my family who reads Rzeczpospolita has this disc. They shouldn't mind parting with it - no one in my family listens to classical music. ::)