Schubert Piano Recordings

[Leo K.]

The new Richter Schubert box on Melodiya is superb! Great sound and live performances - in Moscow! On sale at Presto Classical.

I just got this set, very excited about it!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

A recital disc such as the one below can't help but be eye-catching. First there are the two white-hot, marketing-driven works - the Schubert and the Liszt. Then, almost as a postscript, comes the time-for-reckoning-trendy-newish piece, the Janáček. In the spotlight at last.

But despite this, missing from this disc is the one sure-fire marketing hook that would set off sales like the 4th of July: the big league, A-lister pianist.

Without that, it's time for some hard prayer...both from the record company and, well, admittedly, the buyer.

So, just who is Philipp Kopachevsky? Actually...dunno. The promotional bio in the booklet is relatively small (well, one page). But truthfully, that's refreshing. Zero glam-shots of questionable contorted poses, no tasteless cleavage crotch-stuffing, etc... Just an informative rundown of his accomplishments (winner of the tenth Schubert competition, appearances...). 

The bulk of the lengthy, in-depth notes focus on the music. Nice.

So, what's so special about Philipp Kopachevsky? Other than his right-on-the-money poetic unbuttoning of the Schubert Wanderer, dunno. So far that's the only work I've heard on this disc.

But it's an auspicious start. No question about it.

Kopachevsky is blessed with a poetic and dramatic sixth sense which is perfect for playing up the scowling, "let's leave this wretched wood" moodiness in the music. No quirky twist or fanciful cross-current is underplayed. The musical narrative is tightly woven with every phrase finding something meaningful to say.

Sheer delight...well, as much delight as can be had from such a rich march to the hangman's noose...

Oh, and good sound, too. I've heard better but the clarity is amazing which opens up the music to perfection.




[asin]B00QMXMCHI[/asin]

[San Antone]

A recital disc such as the one below can't help but be eye-catching. First there are the two white-hot, marketing-driven works - the Schubert and the Liszt. Then, almost as a postscript, comes the time-for-reckoning-trendy-newish piece, the Janáček. In the spotlight at last.

But despite this, missing from this disc is the one sure-fire marketing hook that would set off sales like the 4th of July: the big league, A-lister pianist.

Without that, it's time for some hard prayer...both from the record company and, well, admittedly, the buyer.

So, just who is Philipp Kopachevsky? Actually...dunno. The promotional bio in the booklet is relatively small (well, one page). But truthfully, that's refreshing. Zero glam-shots of questionable contorted poses, no tasteless cleavage crotch-stuffing, etc... Just an informative rundown of his accomplishments (winner of the tenth Schubert competition, appearances...). 

The bulk of the lengthy, in-depth notes focus on the music. Nice.

So, what's so special about Philipp Kopachevsky? Other than his right-on-the-money poetic unbuttoning of the Schubert Wanderer, dunno. So far that's the only work I've heard on this disc.

But it's an auspicious start. No question about it.

Kopachevsky is blessed with a poetic and dramatic sixth sense which is perfect for playing up the scowling, "let's leave this wretched pathway" moodiness in the music. No quirky twist or fanciful cross-current is underplayed. The musical narrative is tightly woven with every phrase finding something meaningful to say.

Sheer delight...well, as much delight as can be had from such a rich march to the hangman's noose...

Oh, and good sound, too. I've heard better but the clarity is amazing which opens up the music to perfection.




[asin]B00QMXMCHI[/asin]

A good one that I discovered because of the Liszt sonata.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

A good one that I discovered because of the Liszt sonata.

Thanks. Yes, one of the better Wanderer's I've heard. I'll be listening to the Liszt sonata soon. How did this one make out during your sojourn?

[San Antone]

Thanks. Yes, one of the better Wanderer's I've heard. I'll be listening to the Liszt sonata soon. How did this one make out during your sojourn?

I lost all my documentation: the 106 page document with all the reviews, the spreadsheet with over 250 ratings - all I have is an old version that was the last one I backed up.  I am in the process of reconstructing it, but only up to Paul Badura-Skoda so far.  And, I was so close to being done.  So I can't remember what I thought of his recording other than I know it was not bad, but also not one of the great ones.  I seem to remember it was on a private label, and he had won some competition, but I may be getting him mixed up with someone else.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I lost all my documentation: the 106 page document with all the reviews, the spreadsheet with over 250 ratings - all I have is an old version that was the last one I backed up.  I am in the process of reconstructing it, but only up to Paul Badura-Skoda so far.  And, I was so close to being done.  So I can't remember what I thought of his recording other than I know it was not bad, but also not one of the great ones.  I seem to remember it was on a private label, and he had won some competition, but I may be getting him mixed up with someone else.

Yes, I read about that on your Liszt thread. That sucks. That's gotta be up there with losing a winning lottery ticket as far as physical pain.

Are you reconstructing it by listening to all the recordings again? I'm surprised you don't poop little Liszt sonatas by now! Only kidding! That's some serious dedication, there.

[San Antone]

Yes, I read about that on your Liszt thread. That sucks. That's gotta be up there with losing a winning lottery ticket as far as physical pain.

Are you reconstructing it by listening to all the recordings again? I'm surprised you don't poop little Liszt sonatas by now! Only kidding! That's some serious dedication, there.

Yes, I am listening a second time - but I will go slower and just do one or two when I feel like it.  Amazingly I am not tired of the work. 

[André]

Bumping up the thread.

Currently going through this set of the sonatas and stuff:



Brendel's first Philips recordings of the Schubert sonatas, from late 70s to early 80s. A couple of later 2000ish performances complete the set. I love Brendel's unsentimental, sometimes brusque way with Schubert. He may sometimes sound precious and overrefined on points of detail, but he never cheapens the music. As a set I prefer it to Zacharias, Uchida or Kempff. Brendel's Schubert is probing, serious, flowing but also quirky and capricious (like a little child). His later performances became more angular and the singing line was a casualty of that approach.

Onther pianists I like in individual recordings are Cooper, Orozco, Erdmann (I only heard his D960, but it made a big impression).

[George]

I just got this set, very excited about it!

How did you enjoy it?

[SonicMan46]

Well, looks like André bumped the thread last year after a 4-year dormancy - 

Just starting to review my Schubert collection - a lot of discs amassed over the years w/ a bunch of duplications/triplications - don't want to add anything but could certainly replace or cull out recordings - starting w/ 'solo piano' - currently own the first three sets shown below and like to have a PI and MI example when appropriate, so the Orkis & B-S (have all 3 sets) are a nice PI combo which I'll keep, but my only MI set for a LONG time is Uchida, which I also like despite some mixed reviews (see attachment of MANY reviews for those interested) - now, Martino Tirimo has received a number of good comments in the review attachment, but not available at the moment on Amazon USA (have not checked across the pond).

So, curious about thoughts on the Mitsuko Uchida & Tirimo recordings and certainly any others or even 'newer' releases - have not gone down this road in a long while and much is available on Amazon.  Thanks - Dave

     

[Madiel]

Hi, some help as I try to wrap my head around Schubert piano sonata options.

Christian Zacharias appears to have recorded some sonatas several times. As best I can make out, there's a selection of the sonatas that he recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and I believe that's available online in this repackaged form:



There's then what appears to be a completely separate box set, recorded around 1992/3 and first released in 1995 (with a number of iterations since):



There's then a much more recent album (2007) on the MDG label.



Is anyone in a position to confirm some or all of this? And does anyone know if the 5-CD box, or even some of it, is available online/streaming? It's amazing in this day and age that I'm still struggling to hear a sample of something like this, but right now I can't find it anywhere (given that the first album appears to be different, earlier recordings).

[Madiel]

Also, does anyone know if the whole of Michel Dalberto's set is available online? Brilliant Classics repackaged it, but all I find online is volumes 10 to 13 of the Denon series. Why there's 9 volumes before that which have disappeared into the dustbin of history, I've no idea.

[MusicTurner]

I've been looking for the

Also, does anyone know if the whole of Michel Dalberto's set is available online? Brilliant Classics repackaged it, but all I find online is volumes 10 to 13 of the Denon series. Why there's 9 volumes before that which have disappeared into the dustbin of history, I've no idea.

I've been looking in vain for the Dalberto CD box as an inexpensive offer for quite some time, what I've heard seems interesting, plus you get some lesser known works , where for example the Brilliant 3CD box with Miodini is not quite adequate, for several reasons. If it turns up at local sales, I'll buy it for sure.

Interesting how some mass-produced Brilliant boxes are quickly sold out, then gets high second-hand prices, but aren't released again. Such as the Yudina stuff also, for example.

[Florestan]

I have the above in a different packaging. As you can see, they are indeed recorded in 1992-93. I can let you have it, just PM me if interested.

[Madiel]

Well the issue is I don't know how interested I ultimately am, because I can't try it out!

In which case I'm more likely to end up choosing one of the other versions I'm considering that I can try out online.

[Florestan]

Well the issue is I don't know how interested I ultimately am, because I can't try it out!

In which case I'm more likely to end up choosing one of the other versions I'm considering that I can try out online.

That's most reasonable.

[Holden]

There's quite a bit of Zacharias' Schubert on both YT and Spotify.

Zacharias has recorded Schubert for two different labels. Originally with EMI and now with the German label MDG which are more recent recordings.

[staxomega]

Yet another packaging of the Zacharias, early release on French EMI:



I picked this up in a used bin a couple of years ago since it was so cheap, but haven't had a chance to play it :hidingemoji: I was mostly interested in it for the early/middle sonatas. Daniel Ben-Pienaar has been my recent go to for these early works.

[Madiel]

There's quite a bit of Zacharias' Schubert on both YT and Spotify.

Zacharias has recorded Schubert for two different labels. Originally with EMI and now with the German label MDG which are more recent recordings.

The thing is I'm fairly sure he recorded a number of the sonatas for EMI twice. And the EMI recordings readily available online are the first recordings, not the ones appearing in the box set. That's what I'm getting at.

[amw]

Yes that's correct, the 1990s EMI recordings (including the semi complete set I recommended) are not available on streaming services as far as I can tell, even unusually with none of them appearing as individual bleeding chunks in "Best of Schubert" compilations. The same is true of much of the Dalberto set (some services have more than others, Tidal seems to have the most volumes at the moment). I suspect attempting to upload the recordings to youtube or a similar website would result in an automatic copyright block from Warner Music (or whoever owns Denon now) but which has also not made available any options to purchase the physical CDs except from second hand retailers.

For options for trying things out online you can either wait upon the generosity of streaming services (noted for paying $0.0007 per listen per track to artists, or something like that), or for Warner Classics to reissue the EMI recordings in however many years they decide to do that, or alternately visit a file sharing website such as symphonyshare etc.