Your favorite pianist - 3 Requests

[j winter]

So, it's your birthday, and your (very) rich uncle decides to throw an intimate dinner party for you and your friends.  He knows that you enjoy classical music, so he says, "I will hire your favorite pianist to come and play a private concert for us.  Pick any three pieces you like, and I'll make sure that he or she includes them in the concert."


So, which pianist, and which 3 pieces?


To clarify, your uncle does not have enough money to buy a time machine, so living pianists only.  But, he does have enough money to convince a reclusive or even retired pianist to perform....

[Mirror Image]

Interesting thread idea...

I'll bite...

Debussy: Préludes, Book I - I'd like to hear this work performed by Hiroko Sasaki on the same 1873 Pleyel concert grand she played on her Piano Classics recording.

Ravel: Miroirs - I'd like to hear Alexandre Tharaud perform this work. He's the pianist that opened my ears to Ravel's solo piano music.

Fauré: Nocturne No 13 in B minor, Op. 119 - I'd want Kathryn Stott to perform this work for me. She has a way with this composer that is unlike anything I've heard from any other pianist. She makes this music come alive.

[JBS]

Retired pianists
Brendel.  And he can play whichever 3 pieces he wants.
Active pianists
Tharaud
A Bach partita, a Chopin Nocturne, and Debussy of his own choice.

[San Antone]

Peter Hill is not my favorite pianist, but he has recorded music by at least three of my favorite composers.

I'd request Mr. Hill to play one of the piano pieces by Arnold Schoenberg, a prelude and fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier and something by Messiaen.

[amw]

The pieces aren't even in her repertoire, but I would ask for (but not get) Martha Argerich to play Beethoven's Sonatas Op. 106, 110 and 111.

[Holden]

I'd like Benjamin Grosvenor to play any three Chopin pieces he chooses to.

However, If he left it up to me I'd like to hear how he plays:

Sonata in B Flat minor
Ballade in G minor
Nocturne Op 48/1

[Jo498]

The pieces aren't even in her repertoire, but I would ask for (but not get) Martha Argerich to play Beethoven's Sonatas Op. 106, 110 and 111.

Great choice. That we don't have and never will get a reasonable amount of solo Beethoven-Sonatas with Argerich is a great pity. Also that Kocsis only recorded about a handful of them.

[mc ukrneal]

I had a dream last night and woke up in the middle of the night (couldn't remember the dream). For whatever reason, this thread idea came into my head and I knew the answer, so turned over and went to sleep. When I woke up, I could only remember that I had a dream, something came into my head and went back to sleep. About an hour ago, I turned on some piano music and it all came back to me. I knew my concert:

Schumann: Kinderszenen played by Martha Argerich
Godowsky: Studies on Chopin's Études played by Marc-André Hamelin
Glass: Etudes Played by Vikingur Olafsson

[Sergeant Rock]

Hélène Grimaud playing Berg Sonata Op.1 and Beethoven Sonatas Op.109 and 110.

Sarge

[André]

Well, it will be a living and active pianist, and an all-Chopin program. Preferably including the Barcarolle, the first Ballade and the second Sonata, with a sprinkling of Études here and there - but I could settle for the pianist's choix du jour  .

And that would be Pietro di Maria. If he is indisposed he could deputize Rafal Blechacz and I would be a happy camper.

Thanks, Uncle Mortimer !

[ChopinBroccoli]

Put the money toward inventing a time machine...

Invite Sviatoslav Richter...

Tell him "play three pieces you feel like playing"

[Todd]

Pianist: Arcadi Volodos.

Piece #1: Schumann, Kreisleriana.

Piece #2: Liszt, S.163.  (Cheating perhaps, but I don't care.)

Piece #3: Debussy, Preludes, Book I.  (Again, cheating, but so?)

[j winter]

Put the money toward inventing a time machine...

Invite Sviatoslav Richter...

Tell him "play three pieces you feel like playing"

That's an excellent use for a time machine.... a better one IMO would be to invite Chopin, have *him* play whatever he bloody well liked, and then have him swing by the hospital for a check-up and a large bag of meds to take back with him.   A nice dream...

[ChopinBroccoli]

That's an excellent use for a time machine.... a better one IMO would be to invite Chopin, have *him* play whatever he bloody well liked, and then have him swing by the hospital for a check-up and a large bag of meds to take back with him.   A nice dream...

Excellent 

[Total Rafa]

Alice Sara Ott.

Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux, Op. 33: No. 4 in D Minor.
Debussy: Suite bergamasque, L. 75: 4. Passepied

[bhodges]

Marc-André Hamelin

Finnissy - Etched Bright with Sunlight
Rzewski - De Profundis
Ives - Concord Sonata

--Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

What about inviting Beethoven, Bach or Mozart?   

Will have to give your poser some more thought....that, and jot down some pianists' names that are unfamiliar to me!

PD

p.s.  Wish that we could bring back the recently departed Ivan Moravec. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

O.k., here I go!  Off the top of my head....

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet:

His choice of Ravel's solo piano works
Same for Debussy (or if he's too busy to do this one, perhaps K. Zimmerman might fill in?   )
*More Ravel....either of Ravel's piano concertos performed by Jean Yves Thibaudet (I'd help to chip in for the orchestra required plus to get the other two pianists to perform)

*or if excluded due to it not being for solo piano, something by Janacek (either On a Overgrown Path or In the Mists?); problem here:  I don't know of any contemporary pianists who play this well.  I'm sure that they exist, but all of the pianists whose recordings I know and love are deceased.  Willing to take suggestions though.   

[Pohjolas Daughter]

So, it's your birthday, and your (very) rich uncle decides to throw an intimate dinner party for you and your friends.  He knows that you enjoy classical music, so he says, "I will hire your favorite pianist to come and play a private concert for us.  Pick any three pieces you like, and I'll make sure that he or she includes them in the concert."


So, which pianist, and which 3 pieces?


To clarify, your uncle does not have enough money to buy a time machine, so living pianists only.  But, he does have enough money to convince a reclusive or even retired pianist to perform....

So, how would you answer your own question?