What Pogo to purchase?

[Herman]

Personally I think Pogorelich's Chopin Preludes are a disaster.

His first two or three records were good. His Scarlatti is good.

[Bunny]

I would say to avoid any Pogo where he's bald.  Stick with his earliest recordings and you won't go wrong.

[orbital]

I would say to avoid any Pogo where he's bald.  Stick with his earliest recordings and you won't go wrong.

His Rach 2  But I like it 

[George]

His Rach 2  But I like it 

I look froward to revisiting that one when I do my Rach 2 thread. 

[Mandryka]

Personally I think Pogorelich's Chopin Preludes are a disaster.

His first two or three records were good. His Scarlatti is good.

Lots of people would agree with you, Herman.

I think you can divide his career in three:

EARLY -- Promising pianist.

MIDDLE -- Eccentric poet interpreter, not always definitive or even convincing but always interesting and intense and sincere.

CURRENT -- Great artist who produces wholly convincing interpretations of classic repertoire

The early Beethoven and Schumann CD contain excellent performances by a pianist who is clearly very competant. You don't sense that he would turn into the eccentric poet of his middle period discs. I just think you can do better with others for Opus 111 -- and maybe the Symphonic Etudes.

I love those middle period recordings myself -- the pleasure I get from his Brahms or his Chopin preludes or Haydn is the joy of hearing a wayward approach by a maverick poet.

If you like the early Pogorelich, then try the most recent recordings -- the Beethoven sonata on DVD, or the Mozart and Haydn and Scarlatti on the  Castello Reale Di Racconi recording. I think he's starting to take a less eccentric approach, and reveal himself as a truly outstanding and sensitive interpreter. I would certainly say that it's the best performance of Beethoven Opus 22 I know -- he makes it sound like a really fine and interesting  piece of music. And I can't think of a finer Turkish March sonata.

If he continues to develop as these recent DVDs suggest, he may well turn out to be the greatest living pianist.

[Bulldog]

Personally I think Pogorelich's Chopin Preludes are a disaster.

I'm not a big fan of his Chopin Preludes, but his 24th is a very impressive industrial strength reading.

[George]

Why is that DVD only, Mandryka? 

[Mandryka]

Why is that DVD only, Mandryka? 

I hate DVDs of concert music.

You can rent it and use this to put it on CD and play  it in the car, while cooking the dinner, doing the ironing etc:

http://www.castudio.org/dvdaudioextractor/

[Herman]

And I can't think of a finer Turkish March sonata.

Well, if you like your Mozart contrived and contorted there's Gould on the one hand and Lang on the other.

[Todd]

I haven't listened to much Pogorelich in a while, but he made some great recordings and some not-so-great ones.  In the great category are Ravel/Prokofiev disc, Mussorgsky/Ravel, Scarlatti, and Chopin Scherzos.  For me, I rarely listen to anyone else's Scherzos anymore.  His Mozart is also quite fine, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it. 

[George]

I hate DVDs of concert music.

You can rent it and use this to put it on CD and play  it in the car, while cooking the dinner, doing the ironing etc:

http://www.castudio.org/dvdaudioextractor/

Cool, thanks. Now I just have to convince the misses to rent it. 

[Bunny]

Lots of people would agree with you, Herman.

I think you can divide his career in three:

EARLY -- Promising pianist.

MIDDLE -- Eccentric poet interpreter, not always definitive or even convincing but always interesting and intense and sincere.

CURRENT -- Great artist who produces wholly convincing interpretations of classic repertoire

The early Beethoven and Schumann CD contain excellent performances by a pianist who is clearly very competant. You don't sense that he would turn into the eccentric poet of his middle period discs. I just think you can do better with others for Opus 111 -- and maybe the Symphonic Etudes.

I love those middle period recordings myself -- the pleasure I get from his Brahms or his Chopin preludes or Haydn is the joy of hearing a wayward approach by a maverick poet.

If you like the early Pogorelich, then try the most recent recordings -- the Beethoven sonata on DVD, or the Mozart and Haydn and Scarlatti on the  Castello Reale Di Racconi recording. I think he's starting to take a less eccentric approach, and reveal himself as a truly outstanding and sensitive interpreter. I would certainly say that it's the best performance of Beethoven Opus 22 I know -- he makes it sound like a really fine and interesting  piece of music. And I can't think of a finer Turkish March sonata.

If he continues to develop as these recent DVDs suggest, he may well turn out to be the greatest living pianist.

A recent concert here in NY (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) was a complete disaster.  His performance was excessively mannered and just plain awful.  If his most recent recordings are in the same vein as his live performance, then I don't understand how they can be any good.  I'd love to hear that he is living up to the promise he showed as a young man. I'm not familiar with his Rach 2, but I agree that his recording of the Chopin Scherzos is excellent.  Ofcourse he did have hair when he recorded them.

[Todd]

If his most recent recordings are in the same vein as his live performance, then I don't understand how they can be any good.

Unless I missed a release, his most recent commercial recording was the Chopin Scherzos, which I believe was recorded in 1995 and released in 1998.  He's been out of the recording studio for a while.

[Bunny]

Unless I missed a release, his most recent commercial recording was the Chopin Scherzos, which I believe was recorded in 1995 and released in 1998.  He's been out of the recording studio for a while.

From the earlier post I had inferred that he has some recently recorded dvds.  If these dvds are not more recent, when were they recorded? 

[nut-job]

Chopin Scherzos were outstanding, but a 40 minute CD of solo piano music seems outrageous.  (As if he doesn't know any other Chopin that could have been included.)  His earlier disc with Chopin Piano Sonata #2 was also outstanding.  I found the disc with Mussorgsky and Ravel to be insufferable (way too slow).  Actually there is very little else. 

[Todd]

From the earlier post I had inferred that he has some recently recorded dvds.  If these dvds are not more recent, when were they recorded?

Those are reissues originally recorded in the 80's and (maybe) 90's.  DG started reissuing them after they acquired the rights to the Unitel catalog.

Chopin Scherzos were outstanding, but a 40 minute CD of solo piano music seems outrageous.

How is it outrageous?  I'd rather have 40 great minutes than 80 mediocre minutes, or 40 great and 40 mediocre. 

[Herman]

If these dvds are not more recent, when were they recorded? 

Just check the hairstyle.

[Peregrine]

How is it outrageous?  I'd rather have 40 great minutes than 80 mediocre minutes, or 40 great and 40 mediocre. 

Hear! Hear!

[Mandryka]

A recent concert here in NY (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) was a complete disaster.  His performance was excessively mannered and just plain awful.  If his most recent recordings are in the same vein as his live performance, then I don't understand how they can be any good.  I'd love to hear that he is living up to the promise he showed as a young man. I'm not familiar with his Rach 2, but I agree that his recording of the Chopin Scherzos is excellent.  Ofcourse he did have hair when he recorded them.

Were you at the concert?

[Bunny]

Were you at the concert?

. 

Yes.  I'm a member of the Museum and usually subscribe to a number of their concerts.  I don't recall if it was last season or perhaps (senior moment) the previous season.  I'm sure if you google "Pogorelich NY Metropolitan Museum" you will come up with the details or if you are lucky a review.