Recent posts

#1

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Chopin Recordings

Last post by Atriod - Today at 07:12:17 AM

I just listened to some scatterings of Cortot (EMI mega box, Biddulph. I prefer Marston's Biddulph transfers over Art&Son for his acoustic era), Friedman (Naxos Historical), Youri Egerov (EMI box), and Horowitz (studio, some live). I certainly agree with his description of Cortot. It is nice to see these yoots acknowledge the old wizards like Cortot and not avoid them because of surface noise. His selections include pianists I gravitate to more in the Chopin Etudes as I noticed I don't tend to care for ones like Maurizio Pollini or Ashkenazy. The best performances I have heard are from Juana Zayas.

I am waiting to hear Lim on my main speakers. I sold our speakers at this house and am slumming it with some ones I had to pull from the speaker graveyard.

#2

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Favourite pianist who emer...

Last post by Hobby - Today at 07:07:14 AM

I saw Steven Osborne for the first time in the Edinburgh Festival around 1990. He emerged with his Messiaen I'd say.

I first saw him there in 2002, performing a wonderful quartet for the end of time in a late night concert and Brahms and Ravel trios in Queens Hall. 2002 is when his first Messiaen recording of Vingt Regards was issued.

#3

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

Last post by aukhawk - Today at 07:04:28 AM

That's just a tagging issue, it's not directly the responsibility of the streaming service.

#4

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Favourite pianist who emer...

Last post by Mandryka - Today at 06:45:38 AM

I became a member GMG just over three years ago. The combination of the GMG and first accessing Qobuz as a streaming service helped keep me engaged and sane during enforced lockdowns, exacerbated by a hernia that could not get treated for months due to COVID restrictions. I have greatly enjoyed reading the wisdom and learnt a great deal, though some of the petty spats are irritating.

I thought it would be fun and illuminating to start a thread on this topic. Pianists who emerged into the recording domain in the first decade of the 21st century have had about 15 to 25 years to build up a recorded repertoire. As a result I expect a significant range of composers, preferably including both core repertoire and some less well known composers. Through GMG I have had a chance to discover several wonderful pianists who fit the bill - examples being Kosuge, Lucchesini, Schuch and Chamayou. As always members will welcome some flexibility at the margins - selected favourites might have an early recording just before 2000. Equally my intention is to include and welcome diversity across solo piano, chamber music and concertos.

Tobias Koch. Tom Beghin.

#5

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Favourite pianist who emer...

Last post by Mandryka - Today at 06:39:30 AM

I saw Steven Osborne for the first time in the Edinburgh Festival around 1990. He emerged with his Messiaen I'd say.

#6

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Mandryka - Today at 06:31:51 AM

@Mandryka  probably means the barely disguised scene of lesbian sex between Vinteuil's daughter and another woman, which takes place in the presence of a portrait of Vinteuil. It's in Swann. (See, I do remember a bit...    )

I propose that you don't ever know that that happened. Read the scene in Du côté de chez Swann again carefully -- do the people in the bedroom know they're being watched from outside?Are they putting on a show or are they really engaged in  S&M foreplay? Read Gilberte's report in Albertine Disparue (Or maybe La Prisonnière) -- is she clear? Is she telling the truth? Doers Marcel believe her?

Relatedly, why did Albertine refuse Marcel's gift of Syringea?

My view is that a central theme of the book is the unkbowability of others.

#7

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Favourite pianist who emer...

Last post by Hobby - Today at 06:24:59 AM

My own favourite is comfortably Steven Osborne who plays with great depth and precision. I base my opinion partly on having seen him perform quite a few times and having accumulated virtually all his recordings on CD from Hyperion. Luckily these are now available on streaming services. In these pages his playing has sometimes been referred to as 'museum quality' - superb pianism and virtuosity in service of the music should qualify for this as an accolade, but it is a 21st century museum and not rigid or fusty. His solo recordings span a considerable repertoire with some emphasis on 20th century composers - Kapustin, Messiaen, Debussy, Medtner, Tippett, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Prokofiev, Crumb, and Feldman; 19th century solo works include Beethoven (a superb Hammerklavier), Alkan, Schubert, Mussorgsky. He has collaborations with cellists Gebhardt (Schnittke, Shostakovich, Britten, Alkan and Chopin) and Rivinius (Schumann); duo pianists Roscoe (Messiaen) and Lewis (Schubert and French), violinist Ibragimova (Prokofiev) and clarinettist Johnson (Brahms and Rosza). His orchestral pieces include Tippett, Britten, Messiaen ( Turangalila and Canyons), Stravinsky, Falla and Ravel. What a range, with every thing played with care, fidelity to the score, and virtuosity.

#8

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: New Releases

Last post by pjme - Today at 06:16:05 AM

Intriguing (or simply weird?)

Why not both, or a bit tempestuoso? I do recognise Ono however.... 

#9

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Chopin Recordings

Last post by (poco) Sforzando - Today at 06:12:32 AM

Sure. It's just that Chopin himself disliked the invention of programs for his music, hence my amusement.

If it helps Yunchan realize his conception, no matter. But after listening to his Chopin disc just once (albeit on poor equipment), it does feel if nothing else just fast! And a comparison to the Etudes from "Joyce Hatto," a 10/10 from Classics Today, shows that "Hatto" allows the music to breathe more while being equally virtuosic. Almost every one of Lim's timings is faster than "Hatto's." Still, listening again to Lim's Liszt TE and Annees, I am bowled over by his performances. There is tremendous drama in his Dante fantasia, and just the right (for me) freedom and passion in the three Petrarch sonnets.  Feux Follets has a wonderful lightness and insouciance. Etc. The recorded sound on the TEs is ideal, though the Annees sound a bit clangorous in the louder passages. (Too high a recording volume?)

#10

The Diner / Re: The AFL / Aussie Rules Thr...

Last post by Papy Oli - Today at 06:05:42 AM

A quirky thing happened yesterday in the Richmond v Melbourne game.

A Melbourne player unexpectedly kicked into play after a Richmond behind, but not from the square in front of his goal posts, he did it from behind his goal line...thereby giving the Tigers another behind.

Not one I had seen before.

Needless to say he kicked the next play from the right position!!