Your Top 10 HIP Recordings

[DavidW]

I downloaded this today. I love it. I'm on the edge of my seat listening.

I think I'm going to make that and Jacobs Mozart 39th and 40th my next buy.

[milk]

In honor of Joanna Leach who passed away recently I'd like to add this recording to my top...my top 20!
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[stingo]

One of my favorites: Mozart am Stein vis-a-vis (Staier and Schornsheim)

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[Antoine Marchand]

In honor of Joanna Leach who passed away recently I'd like to add this recording to my top...my top 20!
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What a sad news! May her soul rest in peace.

Here is her obituary:

Joanna Leach,  pianist and record producer died on 8th April, 2011 after 9 years of fighting ovarian cancer. Joanna was born in Calcutta, British India in 1937. The family returned to England and settled in Cornwall after the war. Her grandmother was an accomplished pianist and Joanna was exposed to music from an early stage. She went on to study in Vienna under Josef Dichler and in London with Peter Katin. She gave recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St. John's Smith Square and also at the Franz Liszt Academy Budapest both as soloist and chamber musician. However, her prodigious talent was fully realised when she discovered her love for English square pianos of the 17th century. This new musical discovery led to the launch of Athene Records , a label that specialised in period instruments.

The first CD was released in 1991 with Joanna Leach performing the John Field Nocturnes on three period square pianos. Bryce Morrison of Gramophone wrote: "She most persuasively suggests an intimacy and transparency of sound hard to parallel on more modern brilliant and forceful instruments . . . Any singer on hearing these performances would surely congratulate Leach on her 'vocal' line, so richly and delicately embellished."  This was the beginning of a series of CDs that amplify her unique approach to some of the well known repertoire performed within an authentic setting. Her artistic accomplishments were internationally recognised and her discs were selected by encyclopedic guides as benchmark recordings.

Joanna Leach produced a series of other artists and the label branched out in 1996 to include recordings of contemporary instruments, live concert broadcasts and orchestral performances. Divine Art continues the legacy of Athene Records.

Despite her illness Joanna continued as an active performer and her last recordings made in late 2010 and in March 2011 show her at the height of her artistry. On Saturday 16th April, German Radio is highlighting one of her Field Nocturnes.

Any day I would include this lovely disc among my favorites:

[Mandryka]

One of my favorites: Mozart am Stein vis-a-vis (Staier and Schornsheim)

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The pianos sound fantastic -- I could hardly believe that I wasn't listening to a plucked instrument at first.  In the two sonatas they are really exhilarating in the outer movements. My god, they take the primo of KV 358 fast!

The slow movements didn't appeal as much -- little tempo fluctuations, ritards, hesitations, which, personally I found annoying.

Still, I'm glad to have heard  it because of the piano sound. And it's good they chose to play KV 358 and KV381 rather than 497 and 521, just because I seem to hear those to more often. And I'm looking forward to hearing some of the smaller pieces on the CD sometime.

[Antoine Marchand]

The pianos sound fantastic -- I could hardly believe that I wasn't listening to a plucked instrument at first. 

Nearly 80 years after the invention of the fortepiano, the harpsichord was by no means relegated to antique status. On the contrary, the two instruments cohabited throughout the 18th century, to the point where several makers strove to combine them in a single entity! The most incredible of these 'mutants' is probably the extravagant Vis-à-vis built by Johann Andreas Stein in 1777: at one end there is a three-manual harpsichord, at the other a fortepiano with 'moderator' stop. Only two specimens of this instrument still exist today. With its extraordinarily wide range of timbres and dynamics, it enables Andreas Staier and Christine Schornsheim to renew our conception of Mozart's works for piano duet.

[Mandryka]

Cool. That made me laugh out loud.

It's quite a CD, despite my reservations about some things in the sonatas.

And I think the interest goes beyond just hearing the music played on a different instrument - like some sort of transcription. The vigour of the performances is astonishing.

There's a big set of variations(398) which Gilels plays wonderfully. But they're really interesting in their own way on this CD too, with passages where the bass roars and the high notes chime. The effect reminds me a bit of the sound Skip Sempe achieves on his Scarlatti CD with two harpsichords (though it's agaes since I've listened to that -- this CD will prompt me to get it out)


There are other goodies too -- for example the K394 is in its way as shocking to closed minds as my beloved Gould performance. And Gould aside, it is the best I have ever heard of this glorious piece of music.

[stingo]

One of the things I liked about it was that (it seemed to me) that Staier and Schornsheim were having a good time, and that came out in the music. Were subtleties lost in the slow movements? Probably, but the enthusiasm and infectiousness of the playing are what I remember most apart from the remarkable instrument at which they sat.  I can't help but smile and/or laugh when they come to the end of one of the quicker movements and I'd like to think they had the same reaction.

[stingo]

In a similar vein, Ms. Schornsheim has completed a traversal of Haydn's sonatas on period instruments. The set's currently available from FabulousCD/Abeille on the Amazon Marketplace for $31.99 + S&H.

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[Mandryka]

In a similar vein, Ms. Schornsheim has completed a traversal of Haydn's sonatas on period instruments. The set's currently available from FabulousCD/Abeille on the Amazon Marketplace for $31.99 + S&H.

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I enjoyed the Mozart so much that I thought I would listen to Schornsheim . A little reluctantly, it must be said . . . I've always been opposed to complete surveys, especially leviathan ones  like this. You know, they are rarely inspired: you often end up with just  professionalism and ennui.

But you know what, I am really surprised by how much I enjoyed CD 10. The rhetoric is  dramatic and seems natural in the music. I think I'm going take the plunge and get the set.

But I'm a bit scared of becoming drowned in 14 CDs. Can someone give me some advice? Are there any keyboard pieces  which are rarely recorded which are really exciting musically? Up to know I have only heard the more commonly recorded music. Are there any pieces where Schornsheim  is particularly inspirational?

I need someone to steer me, or I'll just be drowned in Haydn.

[stingo]

I've just been dipping in here and there, and the results have been pleasing. If they aren't - just cue up the next track/sonata.

[DavidW]

It's not HIP Mandryka, but if you buy the cds of what Richter has done you will have some fine music making but you won't be drowned in sheer quantity.  If you like Brendel, his modest set is also pretty good.  I'm glad that you like Schornsheim set, I thought I was the only one.  I usually only listen to the last few cds in the set now a days.

[mjwal]

I particularly enjoy the Gould set (though Haydn experts sniff) and Richter, especially in the old Melodiya C minor XVI/20 and the wonderful performance of the D major Hob. XVI/24. Not HIP, though - for those, I listen occasionally to the Brilliant box with van Oort, Dütschler etc. I can't afford large boxes unless at Brilliant prices, though I have enjoyed Schornsheim in Mozart piano concertos.
My favourite HIP recordings are all of Biber & co - especially this one

and Muffat by Ensemble 415 & Banchini

- as I wrote on Amazon.fr "je dois dire que celui-ci est peut-être mon disque de musique ancienne préferé: c'est juste la combinaison de concertino et ripieno que j'aime plus que d'autres versions de ces oeuvres; je vois les longues perspectives dans les jardins ornamentaux peuplés des gens d'autrefois qui bavardent très elegamment, et je suis bouleversé par le sens vivant d'une civilisation disparue. Ca sonne vraiment captivant!"

[DavidW]

It's not HIP Mandryka, but if you buy the cds of what Richter has done you will have some fine music making but you won't be drowned in sheer quantity.  If you like Brendel, his modest set is also pretty good.  I'm glad that you like Schornsheim set, I thought I was the only one.  I usually only listen to the last few cds in the set now a days.

*cough* I apologize hipsters for posting Richter on a HIP thread, I didn't notice what thread this was.

[Mandryka]

*cough* I apologize hipsters for posting Richter on a HIP thread, I didn't notice what thread this was.

The interesting question is to what extent Richter was influenced by ideas about authentic practice.

When I listened to some Bach recently -- BWV 1052 with Talich, 1061 with Vedernikov and someone whose name I forget, some of the late recordings of suites and sonatas -- you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he was au fat at least with HIP ideas. I say that mainly because of his restraint in those performances. Truth is I have only the foggiest idea about what really constitutes an  authentic Bach performance.

I need to revisit what he does with Haydn really. My thinking about Haydn piano music has been totally dominated by Ranki for a long tome now, who was a sort of revelation for me.

Anyway I've just ordered him in the Haydn Piano concerto with Barshai, so when that arrives it will no doubt whet my appetite for more Haydn by him.