Hot New Pianists

[Don]

Holden, de la Salle is on my radar but not my shelves (or my ... let's leave it ), while Sudbin is brand new to me this month via the fairly recent-ish Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto. I'll be checking out his Rachmaninov and Scarlatti next.

Don't forget Sudbin's most recent disc - Scriabin.

[Don]

hot new pianist -- right here (click at your own risk) http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/cmarchione/girl_piano.jpg

Excellent!  Now I'm ready for the front view - bring it on.

[Mark]

Don't forget Sudbin's most recent disc - Scriabin.

Forget to mention it here, Don, but it's on my list.

[BorisG]

While we are at Chopin Preludes has the Blechacz been released yet?

Any opinions on Eckardstein? He seems to have Glazunov concerto recently released.

I think von Eck's Scriabin recording is even more impressive than Sudbin's. No intent to slight.

Two to watch for many years to come. If I recall correctly, Eckardstein 30, Sudbin 28.

[Don]

I think von Eck's Scriabin recording is even more impressive than Sudbin's. No intent to slight.

Two to watch for many years to come. If I recall correctly, Eckardstein 30, Sudbin 28.

Where did you come up with those numbers?  I think that it's really Eckardstein 4, Sudbin 5. 

[sidoze]

While we are at Chopin Preludes has the Blechacz been released yet?

They're out, you can hear samples from HMV JP. Let me know if you get it.

[Holden]

They're out, you can hear samples from HMV JP. Let me know if you get it.

I managed to hear/see a number of the Blechacz Chopin competition performances on Youtube and I am wondering what all the hype is about. Yes, his Chopin is good but it's hardly exceptional. His Polish background would, of course, have been a major selling point (especially to the competition jury) but I'm not working myself into a lather eagerly awaiting his first major recording from DG - especially in material as well recorded in the past as this. Yes, I'd rather hear him play Chopin instead of the overhyped Yundi Li (another competition winner) but, comparatively speaking, he rates well below past competition winners. Names like Argerich, Harasiewicz, Oborin, Pollini and Zimerman come immediately to mind. Pianists in the top three but not winners include: Malcuzynski, Ashkenazy (who would have won if he hadn't been Russian), Uchida and Fou T'Song.

So for the moment, I'll reserve judgement on Blechacz but hope that he makes the grade. However, if his predecessor Yundi Li is anything to go by I won't hold my breath.

[dtwilbanks]

They're out, you can hear samples from HMV JP. Let me know if you get it.

You can only get it from Japan? What's up with that?

[George]

What about this guy?

https://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11021

[dtwilbanks]

...Per Norman Lebrecht:

"Of the two pianists going head to head in complete cycles, the Manchurian candidate is the more intriguing. Lang Lang, 25, has been playing Beethoven since he was a tot in Shenyang and, while I have heard the spike-haired crowd-pleaser wreck a concert by striving too hard for audience effect, here he delivers a touchingly lyrical account of the first and fourth concertos, with Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Orchestre de Paris. There is a slightly hard edge to the pianist's tone, as there is to his English accent, but it comes over as a token of his cultural struggle, his wide-eyed, uncluttered outlook. Lang Lang, more than mere showman, has feelings for Beethoven. His cycle, to be completed later this year, has many of the hallmarks of a musical milestone."



Help Lang Lang escape his critics!!!

[sidoze]

You can only get it from Japan? What's up with that?

I didn't say that.

What about this guy?

https://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11021

this is being discussed at RMCR, as you obviously know. As some of the (well-informed) members of that group have already praised it, why don't you listen to it and then tell us? No need to ask again.

Holden, I thought his mazurka playing sounded excellent. Other than that, it might come, but it needs to be more introspective IMO.

Harasiewicz IMO is a mediocre Chopin pianist, not a single distinctive note. Uchida? 

[Brian]

What about this guy?

https://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11021

If I didn't mention him in my earlier post, it was a serious oversight. His Rachmaninov disc is excellent - hold on, I did mention him: "Another name worth mentioning is the young Uzbek Eldar Nebolsin, who just released a Rachmaninov album that is very sensitively done indeed." The slower, more lyrical preludes are achingly beautiful.

In my new position as my university newspaper's classical music columnist, I will soon be listing the Nebolsin disc as one of the best [new performance] CDs of 2007.

[George]

If I didn't mention him in my earlier post, it was a serious oversight. His Rachmaninov disc is excellent - hold on, I did mention him: "Another name worth mentioning is the young Uzbek Eldar Nebolsin, who just released a Rachmaninov album that is very sensitively done indeed." The slower, more lyrical preludes are achingly beautiful.

In my new position as my university newspaper's classical music columnist, I will soon be listing the Nebolsin disc as one of the best [new performance] CDs of 2007.

FWIW, Tom Deacon on rmcr has been raving about it as well. I have Ashkenazy, Anievas, Richter, Alexeev, Fiorentino, Lympany, Weissenberg already, so I didn't buy it. If I hear more good things though, I will have to get it.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

this is being discussed at RMCR, as you obviously know. As some of the (well-informed) members of that group have already praised it, why don't you listen to it and then tell us? No need to ask again.

What is up your bonnett, Sid??

Been just a little agro lately with George, don't you think?

[George]

this is being discussed at RMCR, as you obviously know. As some of the (well-informed) members of that group have already praised it, why don't you listen to it and then tell us?

Because I already have 6 complete sets, plus Richter's. At this point, a performance would have to be incredible for me to buy it. Plus, in my tiny Manhattan studio space is unfortunately at a premium, so I am very selective these days about what I buy.

[sidoze]

What is up your bonnett, Sid??

Been just a little agro lately with George, don't you think?

yeah, probably. sorry mate. just did it again on another thread. i'm not a fan of paying too much attention to reviews though. just buy and listen and ignore all the mainstream hype and pretty much everything else. that's what i did and i think it's a good if dilettante approach. george shows a lot of caution--we're all on a budget so i fully understand--but sometimes it really shouldn't be there and it won't help in finding new pianists, either for himself or genuinely new-on-the-scene ones like ones in this thread. i mean who the hell has heard of momo kodama? 

[George]

yeah, probably. sorry mate. just did it again on another thread.

I at least was partially responsible for the sparring a few days ago.

i'm not a fan of paying too much attention to reviews though. just buy and listen and ignore all the mainstream hype and pretty much everything else. that's what i did and i think it's a good if dilettante approach.

If that style works for you, I can see why you'd stick to it. I just think that we have different approaches and see no reason why they should be the same or even similar.

george shows a lot of caution--we're all on a budget so i fully understand--but sometimes it really shouldn't be there and it won't help in finding new pianists, either for himself or genuinely new-on-the-scene ones like ones in this thread. i mean who the hell has heard of momo kodama? 

Hey, I hear you, but the reasons aren't just financial, they're also about space and just reflect how I do things. If we all did things my way, no one new would ever get discovered. I agree. Fortunately, it isn't that way.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

i'm not a fan of paying too much attention to reviews though. just buy and listen and ignore all the mainstream hype and pretty much everything else. that's what i did and i think it's a good if dilettante approach.

I think it's quite exciting to discover a worthy artist completely overlooked by the hype-machine. So, yes, I'm with you on that. In fact, put you and I in charge of R & D at a couple of the majors and, well, who knows...

Which is a good segue to this: here we have a very special talent in the person of a young Pole, Wojciech Kocyan.





Sadly, this disc is already OOP so finding a copy might require the Amazon shops.

[Brian]

FWIW, Tom Deacon on rmcr has been raving about it as well. I have Ashkenazy, Anievas, Richter, Alexeev, Fiorentino, Lympany, Weissenberg already, so I didn't buy it. If I hear more good things though, I will have to get it.

A good thing to hear would be a couple tracks, methinks:
Eldar Nebolsin - Rachmaninov Preludes
Op. 23, No. 4
Op. 32, No. 12

[George]

A good thing to hear would be a couple tracks, methinks:
Eldar Nebolsin - Rachmaninov Preludes
Op. 23, No. 4
Op. 32, No. 12

Thanks Brian!