Schubert Piano Recordings

[ccar]

Schubert by Richter, Fischer, Schnabel, Sofronitsky, Yudina, Haskil, Lupu, Michelangeli, Arrau, Gieseking, ...

But also the Schubert by Serkin, particularly in these magical recitals ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohbms7cmNSU

[George]

Where'd you get that CD, ccar? I find nothing on amazon.

[Todd]

Gieseking, ...

Gieseking's Schubert?  Really?  I've heard a few works, and it's neother prime Gieseking nor prime Schubert.  Better can be heard, and by some living pianists to boot.

[Gurn Blanston]

Hello Gurn - those are some superb period recordings!  I was able to pick up the three 3-disc sets (images above) earlier this year for $22 each, so about $7 per CD - purchased directly from Allegro Music (Arcana's USA distributor) - please w/ the price and the performances; posted a number of times in the 'listening thread' but received little (if any) response - Dave 

Dave,
Well, I totally didn't see that! (I only go on WAYLT? about once a month... ) That is the reissue from 2002 (I think) which my first one is from that set, while the last 6 are from the original set of 1995. Pity that these are so hard to find, I think that many would enjoy them if they only had a chance for it. 



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Now playing:
Brautigam, Ronald - Hob 17 02 ver2 (1789) Arietta in A con 12 variazioni

[George]

Brilliant Classics, are you listening?

[ccar]

Where'd you get that CD, ccar? I find nothing on amazon.

These 2x2 CDs were issued more than 10 years ago by Sony France. They went rapidly OOP and are probably quite difficult to find nowadays.

SM2K 60388 - Haydn Sonata N.49; Mozart Rondo K.511; Beethoven Les Adieux; Schubert Sonata D.960 - 75th Annivers Concert at Carnegie Hall 

SM2K 60033 - Schubert - Sonata D.959; Impromptus D.935 (n.1,2,3,4); Sonata D.960

[ccar]

Gieseking's Schubert?  Really?  I've heard a few works, and it's neother prime Gieseking nor prime Schubert.  Better can be heard, and by some living pianists to boot.

                                     Some "non prime" Schubert by the dead "nonprime" Gieseking   

Moments Musicaux D.780; 4 Impromptus D.899; 4 Impromptus D.935; Sonatas D.664, D.850, D894, ;  3 Klavierstucke D.946;  Piano Trio N.1 D.898; 

[Todd]

Some "non prime" Schubert by the dead "nonprime" Gieseking

Yes, but why is it good enough for you to include in a list?  Gieseking just isn't anywhere near his best in this repertoire.  Merely posting links to CD cover images isn't informative at all.

Incidentally, when I said non-prime Schubert before, I meant the performances.  D894 is prime Schubert, just not when played by Gieseking.

[Mandryka]

For years I have been searching for the perfect recording of the impromptus.

Artur Schnabel's too nervous. Phillipe Cassard's too sombre. Maria Yudia's too violent and eccentric (though truth is that I suspect that, in time, I may learn to apprecite this CD more -- I certainly would be interested to know if anyone here likes it.)

Radu Lupu's record has some lovely bits in it, and it's fair to say that I have enjoyed it more recently than at any time in the past. But I still think it's too heavy, self conscious and anally retentive. Not free spirited enough. But it is certainly worth hearing.

Dezso Ranki and Vladimir Sofronitsky and Vladimir Horowitz  are very good, but they only play a couple of them. Edwin Fischer and Alfred Brendel aren't bad but somehow I always felt that the music could be better.

No one I have heard plays Schubert better than Rachmaninov -- but there's only one impromptu on record as far as I know.

Claudio Arrau is outstanding -- sensitive performances and stunningly well recorded. For a long time I thought this was the best I could do -- though at the back of my mind I knew that these studio recordings, made late in his life, didn't have the same free spirit as his EMI Drei Klavierstueke (which, by the way, is my favourite Schubert recording of all time.)

And then I found it -- the perfect performance of Schubert Impromptus. This Cd, by Mieczislaw Horszowski, defies description really  -- free joyful music making by an artist totally at ease with himself. I can't say any more than that. You have to hear it.


D935 only I'm afraid.

[Verena]

Dezso Ranki and Vladimir Sofronitsky and Vladimir Horowitz  are very good, but they only play a couple of them. Edwin Fischer and Alfred Brendel aren't bad but somehow I always felt that the music could be better.

Hello Mandryka,

I'll have to check out your recommendation. The only problem is (I guess) the Arbiter sound, which is often rather mediocre. I have a few questions.. Actually, my favorite is Kempff - do you know his recording? Can you please specify which Horowitz recording you are referring to? Normally I'm not a fan of Horowitz, but who knows. And I'm curious about the Ranki. I guess you're referring to this CD?:
http://www.amazon.com/Ranki-Plays-Schubert/dp/B0008F6LPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279885421&sr=8-1

OOP (and expsensive  ) of course. How is the Schubert Sonata on the CD (if that's the one you are referring to)?

Thanks

[Mandryka]

Hello Mandryka,

I'll have to check out your recommendation. The only problem is (I guess) the Arbiter sound, which is often rather mediocre. I have a few questions.. Actually, my favorite is Kempff - do you know his recording? Can you please specify which Horowitz recording you are referring to? Normally I'm not a fan of Horowitz, but who knows. And I'm curious about the Ranki. I guess you're referring to this CD?:
http://www.amazon.com/Ranki-Plays-Schubert/dp/B0008F6LPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279885421&sr=8-1

Yes, that's the CD. The Ranki D960 is tense and intense in the first movement -- not at all eccentric in terms of tempo. It's a bleak reading.

The slow movement his rather steely touch prevents the music from ever becoming saccharine.

Mention of D960 means that I can't resist a plug for Yudina's extraordnary performance -- full of dramatic tempo changes. Well worth seeking out I would say, even f you end up by hating it.

The Horszowski recording is live, and is well recorded.

The  best Schubert impromptu from Horowitz I know is the  G-flat major one  in Vol 1 of the Sony Horowitz Edition.


He recorded quite a lot of Schubert in fact. Some of it marvelous and some of it less successful.

[Mandryka]

Has anyone heard this recording from Koroliov? -- I'm particularly interested in the Moments Musicaux

[Clever Hans]

Has anyone heard this recording from Koroliov? -- I'm particularly interested in the Moments Musicaux

It's beautifully and interestingly paced, like everything he records.

[ccar]

Has anyone heard this recording from Koroliov? -- I'm particularly interested in the Moments Musicaux

For me, Koroliov's D.960 and the Moments Musicaux are extremely intimate and serene views. Koroliov strikes by an apparent unromantic detachment, with beautiful piano tone and poise. I believe it is quite personal and very interesting in its own way. But don't expect anything like the formidable tension of Richter's lunar view of the Sonata and for a totally contrasting "modern" reading of the MM I would suggest the wildly imaginative and poetic Youri Egorov 1987 recital. 

   

[Verena]

Yes, that's the CD. The Ranki D960 is tense and intense in the first movement -- not at all eccentric in terms of tempo. It's a bleak reading.

The slow movement his rather steely touch prevents the music from ever becoming saccharine.

Mention of D960 means that I can't resist a plug for Yudina's extraordnary performance -- full of dramatic tempo changes. Well worth seeking out I would say, even f you end up by hating it.

The Horszowski recording is live, and is well recorded.

The  best Schubert impromptu from Horowitz I know is the  G-flat major one  in Vol 1 of the Sony Horowitz Edition.


He recorded quite a lot of Schubert in fact. Some of it marvelous and some of it less successful.

Thanks very much! Great to hear that the Horszowski is in good sound. I'm familiar with the Yudina readings - it's very impressive.

[Mandryka]

http://www.goear.com/files/external.swf?file=7bbb538


This is Nikolai Demidenko playing D946/2, which I am enjoying a lot at the moment. I just wanted to share it and to get any ideas you have for interesting recordings of D946.

This guy Demidenko is never disappointing live but frequently disappointing on CD I think. This Schubert CD is geat though!

[Drasko]

I just wanted to share it and to get any ideas you have for interesting recordings of D946.

Pollini and Kocsis.

[Mandryka]

Kocsis.

Trust you to come up with something like that.

Where is it then? On a DVD?

[Drasko]

Where is it then?

On my hard disk, recorded of internet, from here. I don't speak French, can you still listen to it on request? If you can't and no one has better recording of it I'll upload mine, but it's not perfect, I forgot to set the recording levels right so it is bit noisy and gets crowded at loudest moments. 

[Mandryka]

On my hard disk, recorded of internet, from here. I don't speak French, can you still listen to it on request? If you can't and no one has better recording of it I'll upload mine, but it's not perfect, I forgot to set the recording levels right so it is bit noisy and gets crowded at loudest moments.

Yours maybe the only way to hear it -- they clear the archive 30 days after broadcast.