Recordings That You Are Considering

[springrite]

Thanks!  So, if it is only one disc worth of Debussy, and the Geiseking has four discs, then I would have to piece his music together with more than one performer, yes?

Not being a boxset maniac and for the most part purchasing CDs as money trickles in, the mixed bag is not by design but circumstance and necessity. But it did give me a good sampling of varied approaches. But I wish I got the Arrau when I saw it in the store a few years back.

[George]

Thanks!  So, if it is only one disc worth of Debussy, and the Geiseking has four discs, then I would have to piece his music together with more than one performer, yes?

Yes, and if your experience ends up resembling mine, you will certainly enjoy the ride. Uchida's Etudes, Richter's/Michelangeli's/Zimerman's Preludes, Roge's Double Decca ....  

[Bogey]

Thank you again, gentlemen.

[Bogey]

Last question: Who do you enjoy for the Children's Corner Suite, complete?

[jlaurson]

Thanks!  So, if it is only one disc worth of Debussy, and the Geiseking has four discs, then I would have to piece his music together with more than one performer, yes?

Essential Debussy


Complete Debussy (historic)


Complete Debussy (modern)
(Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4)


Preludes - Zimerman


Etudes - Uchida


Children's Corner (& Images) - Michelangeli

[George]

Last question: Who do you enjoy for the Children's Corner Suite, complete?

I need to give my couple of recordings another spin. Will answer in a few days.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Essential Debussy


Complete Debussy (historic)

There might have been a time when this held court as "the good stuff" but it's long been surpassed by the likes of: Egorov, Moravec, Thibaudet, Richter, Kocsis (just to name a few not on your list)...

[jlaurson]

There might have been a time when this held court as "the good stuff" but it's long been surpassed by the likes of: Egorov, Moravec, Thibaudet, Richter, Kocsis (just to name a few not on your list)...

Richter and Kocsis are not on my list [except Kocsis' Suite bergamasque], Thibaudet & Francois really aren't on it. Moravec and Y. Egorov I don't know. (Nor am I aware that either recorded the complete Debussy. But apparently praise for the latter's Preludes is common, so they might be worth checking out, soon.) There is some Roge/Onyx that I quite like as I do the new Bavouzet. But going back to the Giesekings is always a joy, I find. In any case I mean something different than "best" with "essential" in this case. This covers the bases [because it is complete] and gives a fine understanding of Debussy as it has developed over the last 40-some years.

[Mandryka]

I know it's a classic, and I'm glad I have heard it, but I think you can do better for the Preludes and Etudes and Estampes and Images -- in fact just about everything.

So if you just  want to buy a box to get Debussy represented in your library , good choice.

If you want to hear the best, then caveat emptor.

I like all the Debussy discs other people have mentioned except Zimmerman. And I think Jacobs is OK, I suppose.

And here's one I bought recently and can recommend --

[DavidRoss]

I do not know much about his jazz-performances. My experience with Jarrett are some of his harpsichord recordings, among which a very full and sonorous continuo to Michala Petri`s Händel recorder sonatas, and his beautiful but under-articulated Bach French suites. He is a technically gifted and imaginative player, and I wish he was more informed. But a CD vith Bach´s viola da gamba / harpsichord sonatas arranged for modern viola and piano  - well just the thought of it puts a damper on my potential interest. As to Händel´s harpsichord suites I recall, that Jarrett even plays these on modern piano. The piano probably suits his style better than the harpsichord, and I never really understood, why he recorded the French suites and part of the WTC on a harpsichord, when he does not treat it like that.

Unlike Andre Previn, a classical musician and movie composer who dabbled in jazz (sort of like Pat Boone singing the blues), Miles Davis alumnus Keith Jarrett is a bona fide great jazz pianist.  I saw him with his American quartet (Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian) back in the early '70s (terrific!) and his European quartet (Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen) helped put both European jazz and ECM records on the map (as did his solo concert performance recordings, most notably the Köln concert).  In my limited exposure to his classical efforts (both as performer and as composer) he seems as much a duck out of water as Previn trying to play jazz.

[prémont]

In my limited exposure to his classical efforts (both as performer and as composer) he seems as much a duck out of water as Previn trying to play jazz.

So much more surprising that one can not hear his background as a jazz musician in his Bach.
Not that I would miss it.

[jlaurson]

So much more surprising that one can not hear his background as a jazz musician in his Bach.
Not that I would miss it.

Yes, surprising indeed. Even Gulda brings more spunk to the WTC.
But you can hear KJ's Bach in his Shostakovich, and that's ultimately more important.
If you do like Jazz and haven't got any of his albums, let yourself be recommended a few.
"Koeln Concert" is an obvious first choice [I myself prefer the "Vienna Concert", actually], but far from the only one to consider.

As a late teenager I once snuck into a Keith Jarrett TRIO concert without a ticket. It was at the Opera House (so I knew how to finagle my way in, after intermission). What a Rebel I was. :-) [Actually, I was planning to go--and thought I was going--to a Werner Egk opera which turned out to be taking place somewhere else... so I skipped Egk and went Jarrett.]

[George]

"Koeln Concert" is an obvious first choice...

I have yet to be able to appreciate this album. I found it too repetitive.

Gulda's Jazz, OTOH, is spectacular.

[DavidRoss]

I have yet to be able to appreciate this album. I found it too repetitive.

Gulda's Jazz, OTOH, is spectacular.

That must be why when great jazz pianists are discussed Gulda's name always pops to the fore, right up there with Tyner, Taylor, Tatum, Waller, Blake, Hancock, Evans, Monk, Zawinul, Ellington, Brubeck and so on....

[jlaurson]

That must be why when great jazz pianists are discussed Gulda's name always pops to the fore, right up there with Tyner, Taylor, Tatum, Waller, Blake, Hancock, Evans, Monk, Zawinul, Ellington, Brubeck and so on....

Zawinul and Gulda were chums, at that. I think they might even have grown up together, but I could be mistaken about that.

[DavidRoss]

Here's Gulda playing The Doors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhidkzL6TWU&feature=related

[nut-job]

I have this one, really underwhelming.

This one is my favorite release of Debussy piano music

[Brian]

Here's Gulda playing The Doors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhidkzL6TWU&feature=related

Whoa...that's not a joke! 

[Bogey]

Whoa...that's not a joke! 

David, this may be the first link that you offered that I am timid about clicking on.

[Bogey]

Had to click on it.....I thought it was Paul Schafer when he walked out on stage.