Schumann solo piano music

Started by Sean, August 22, 2007, 07:57:24 AM

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Herman

Quote from: George on September 20, 2010, 06:29:36 PM
Wow, I am listening to that one now and I am very impressed. Thanks for the link.

I posted the entire Buniatishvili Op 17 (in convenient sequence) here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,16216.0.html

George

Quote from: Herman on September 21, 2010, 05:18:35 AM
I posted the entire Buniatishvili Op 17 (in convenient sequence) here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,16216.0.html

Thanks. I hope that she records it. The youtube sound is atrocious.

Scarpia

This one is up on my radar.  Angela Hewitt Plays Schumann.  To be released in November.



http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67780

Herman

Quote from: George on September 21, 2010, 06:23:51 AM
Thanks. I hope that she records it. The youtube sound is atrocious.

If she records it, it won't be as good as this.

I have enjoyed the YT for a long time.

I don't get this hang-up about "sound".

Pollini has always been recorded in an "atrocious" way by DG, and yet people think he sounds great.

It's all in the ear of the beholder.

George

Quote from: Herman on September 21, 2010, 10:53:27 AM
I don't get this hang-up about "sound".

It is the medium by which we experience music.

I honestly don't get how you can not be turned off by the sound on that youtube. It's great that you don't, though. I sure wish it didn't bother me.

Ten thumbs

Without making any specific recommendations, the following works ought also to be in your collection:
Op. 14 Sonata No.2 in F minor (Op. 22 is No.3)
Op. 21 Noveletten

A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

ccar

Quote from: Mandryka on September 20, 2010, 11:18:01 PM
Richter for me is a bit too smooth in II (both EMI and Prague) -- he makes it all sound a bit too easy. I want to hear a struggle.

Mandryka

I appreciated your vivid evocation of the struggle between Eusebius and Florestan. And I understand Richter probably takes a more reflexive and mysterious view of this piece than others. Probably there can be some more strongly expressive Florestans. But when Richter assumes Eusebius "the poet speaks" as profoundly as ever. And in some versions (from at least 7 commercially available) Richter is also an unexpectedly strong (almost violent) Florestan – just relisten the fiery contrast between Durchaus energisch and the entering Langsam getragen in Budapest 1980 (Doremi DRH-7786).


         

Herman

Quote from: George on September 21, 2010, 10:56:12 AM
It is the medium by which we experience music.

I honestly don't get how you can not be turned off by the sound on that youtube. It's great that you don't, though. I sure wish it didn't bother me.

I guess it depends on how great the musicianship is, and in the case of this once-in-a-lifetime performance of Buniatishvili I can handle the limitations of the sound, especially as there is the visual component (although it gets out of sync on my PC).

Herman

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 21, 2010, 10:58:42 AM
Without making any specific recommendations, the following works ought also to be in your collection:
Op. 14 Sonata No.2 in F minor (Op. 22 is No.3)
Op. 21 Noveletten


The F sharp minor sonata (nr 1) is opus 11 (and it's F sharp minor).

The G minor sonata, opus 22, is nr 2.

Why change nrs and keys, just to make it more complicated?

Bulldog

#50
Quote from: Mandryka on September 17, 2010, 11:43:27 PM
There are lots of names I haven't heard in Schumann : Schliessmann, Karnavichius, Okashiro (good Sdcriabin I think) , Varjon. It would be nice if you could sell them a bit -- you know, their style, idiosyncrasies . . .

Jurgis Karnavichius - His Kreisleriana is on the High Definitions Classics label.  Totally obscure, so I wasn't expecting much.  I suppose his performance could be considered mainstream - nothing odd or unusual about it.  However, I feel he nails each movement and understands Schumann's mindset perfectly.

Burkard Schliessmann - Sort of a combination of Gieseking, Cortot and Moiseiwitch, but in state-of-the-art sound.  He fully captures all the tension that's the result of the myriad of dysfunctional personalities involved in Kreisleriana.  I think the coupling is the Symphonic Etudes, also superb.  If I had to live with only one Schumann piano recording, this is it.

Okashiro - Her Schumann Kreisleriana is much better than her Scriabin.  Beautiful and idiomatic playing in great sound.

Varjon - I've only heard his Bunte-Blatter.  Don't remember much about it except that it was better than most of the competition (and there isn't a great deal of that compared to Schumann's best known works).  He's not as  good as Richter.

As an aside, I forgot to mention that Schliessmann has recorded a highly individualized account of the Goldberg Variations.  I've yet to get a good handle on it.


Mandryka

Quote from: Bulldog on September 21, 2010, 03:32:48 PM
Burkard Schliessmann - Sort of a combination of Gieseking, Cortot and Moiseiwitch, but in state-of-the-art sound.  He fully captures all the tension that's the result of the myriad of dysfunctional personalities involved in Kreisleriana.  I think the coupling is the Symphonic Etudes, also superb.  If I had to live with only one Schumann piano recording, this is it.


That's quite a review! Thanks.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#52
Quote from: ccar on September 21, 2010, 12:16:33 PM
Mandryka

I appreciated your vivid evocation of the struggle between Eusebius and Florestan. And I understand Richter probably takes a more reflexive and mysterious view of this piece than others. Probably there can be some more strongly expressive Florestans. But when Richter assumes Eusebius "the poet speaks" as profoundly as ever. And in some versions (from at least 7 commercially available) Richter is also an unexpectedly strong (almost violent) Florestan – just relisten the fiery contrast between Durchaus energisch and the entering Langsam getragen in Budapest 1980 (Doremi DRH-7786).


       


Right. I'll try and hear a copy of that one. I love Nina Dorliac with her squillo. I think her Ich Grolle Nicht is, basically, a masterpiece of idiosyncracy.

But I might have to buy it -- how is the sound quality?

Some of those Richter recordings on Doremi are really tremendous. Apart from his Debussy Etudes (poor sound) , his Mozart Concertos with Barshai (good enough sound) , there's also a Schumann record (Vol 13)  which has a very good Marchenbilder  with Bashmet (good sound), the best Op.10 Etudes that I have ever heard (good sound) , and some nice Op 73  Fantasiestüke with Pierre Fournier (not so good sound)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Ten thumbs

Quote from: Herman on September 21, 2010, 12:38:49 PM
The F sharp minor sonata (nr 1) is opus 11 (and it's F sharp minor).

The G minor sonata, opus 22, is nr 2.

Why change nrs and keys, just to make it more complicated?

???
The F minor sonata, opus 14, surely must be nr 2. This is an entirely different work from opus 11 and yes, I do have scores of all three sonatas
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Drasko

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 22, 2010, 10:16:12 AM
???
The F minor sonata, opus 14, surely must be nr 2. This is an entirely different work from opus 11 and yes, I do have scores of all three sonatas

As I understand op.14 was never published as 2nd Sonata. Originally in five movements, Schumann initially dropped both scherzos and published three movement piece under title Concert sans orchestre op.14. Much later he revised the variations, added one of the scherzos and published it as 3rd Sonata but kept original opus number. 

Ten thumbs

Quote from: Drasko on September 22, 2010, 10:38:28 AM
As I understand op.14 was never published as 2nd Sonata. Originally in five movements, Schumann initially dropped both scherzos and published three movement piece under title Concert sans orchestre op.14. Much later he revised the variations, added one of the scherzos and published it as 3rd Sonata but kept original opus number.
Op.22 was published as sonata No.2. Op.14 was composed as a four movement work that was a sonata in all but name and, as you correctly point out it was so published later. The alternative scherzo was also composed at a later date. So technically it is Sonata No.3 and I stand corrected although chronologically it is the second. Anyway, my point was that it is worthy of a place in anyone's collection.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Ten thumbs

Quote from: Mandryka on September 21, 2010, 11:42:15 AM
What?  All of them?

Yes - as was Schumann's standard practice, the Novelletten constitute a cycle. Therefore your ideal recording should include them all in sequence.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Dancing Divertimentian

Piggybacking on my post on the Brahms piano thread, another disc by the fine Dutch pianist, Ivo Janssen, deserves mention. In fact, it's some of the finest Schumann I've heard on disc.

Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Dancing Divertimentian

More excellence from Connoisseur Society. Raim's Schumann recital set is nothing short of amazing:


Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Mandryka

#59
Quote from: Bulldog on September 18, 2010, 09:16:03 AM
Sorry - it's the Moiseiwitsch cd.[Kreisleriana]


DG will release a transfer of the LP next month in a big box called The Liszt Heritage.

I can't get into your beloved Schliessmann at all -- it's just the way it is I suppose. I enjoyed  to Sofronitsky recently (1952) and Afanassiev. The latter has a hard ugly piano tone but the interpretation is so original and successful that comments about tone seem superficial.

Here's Pletnev with it in London a few years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/v/HHdxeJ8s2fA

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on December 06, 2010, 08:26:34 PM
More excellence from Connoisseur Society. Raim's Schumann recital set is nothing short of amazing:



Interesting -- can you upload it? It's hrd to find and I've never heard of her.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen