Chopin Recordings

[George]

Great Chopin recs...here's one to add to the list:

Got that one!

I need to revisit...

[rubio]

Etudes: Richter's my favorite here, but he didn't record them all. Ashkenazy has more refinement, but still is intense. Perahia is a bit less intense, but very poetic.

Which discs would you recommend with Richter's Etudes?

[George]

Which discs would you recommend with Richter's Etudes?

This one:

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Nocturnes-Polonaise-Scriabine-Sonatas/dp/B00020HD4Y/ref=sr_1_2/104-2949723-2736732?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1176061518&sr=1-2

[SimonGodders]

Richters etudes are all over the place! You can find a good selection on various BBC Legends CD's, for starters try here:



Chopin: Ballade no. 3 in A flat, opus 47;
Scherzo no. 4 in E, opus 54;
Mazurkas nos. 14 - 17, opus 24;
Barcarolle in F-sharp, opus 60;
Debussy: Preludes, Book 1 nos. 1 - 4, 6, 9, 5, 11, 7, 10;
L'Isle joyeuse;
Images, Book II, No. 1 "Cloches à travers les feuilles";
Prokofiev: Dance, opus 32, no. 1;
Chopin: Etude in E, opus 10 no. 3;
Etude in c, opus 10 no. 12
(London, Royal Festival Hall, 10 July 1961)
Chopin: Etude in C, opus 10 no. 1;
Etude in c sharp minor, opus 10 no. 4;
Etude in e flat, opus 10 no. 6;
Etude in A flat, opus 10 no. 10;
Etude in c, opus 10 no. 12
(London, Royal Festival Hall, 27 Jan 1963)
Debussy: Preludes, Book 2 complete;
Preludes, Book 1, no. 9 "La sérénade interrompue"
(the Maltings, Snape, 16 June 1967)

A great 2 CD set

[George]

I agree, Simon. With that you get the stellar Debussy preludes as well!

However, the Praga etudes are spectacular, better than any other recording he's made of them IMO. 

[SimonGodders]

I agree, Simon. With that you get the stellar Debussy preludes as well!

However, the Praga etudes are spectacular, better than any other recording he's made of them IMO. 

Yeah the Debussy is amazing, buckets of atmosphere...

The Praga - do you mean the one with the Scriabin? I always found the Chopin on there to be a little sloppy....

[George]

The Praga - do you mean the one with the Scriabin? I always found the Chopin on there to be a little sloppy....

That's the one. In spots, but the Op.25/11, my goodness...worth the price of the disc alone.

[SimonGodders]

That's the one. In spots, but the Op.25/11, my goodness...worth the price of the disc alone.

Gonna' go and give it a spin, back in a jiffy....

[SimonGodders]

That's the one. In spots, but the Op.25/11, my goodness...worth the price of the disc alone.

Not bad 

A quick check reveals I have these as comparison:

Lhevinne, Sokolov, Pollini, Cziffra, Cortot (1934), Ashkenazy (Melodiya), Gavrilov and Van Cliburn.

I've just done a rather inconclusive check on them all and found I really like the Richter (who would have been 73 when he recorded these, wow!!!), the Cziffra (very aggressive), Lhevinne and Sokolov.

Not so impressed with the Cortot, Gavrilov and Pollini (that surprised me)

But a toss-up between Richter and Cziffra for the top I think...

[George]

So you prefer the BBC disc perf to the Praga? 

I thought that's what we were discussing.

[George]

But a toss-up between Richter and Cziffra for the top I think...

I just gave Cziffra a spin.

I think Richter begins with more fire, but Cziffra has a more powerful ending. My goodness, he might even be better.

I agree, a tie it is. 

[SimonGodders]

So you prefer the BBC disc perf to the Praga? 

I thought that's what we were discussing.

The Op.25/11 isn't on the BBC Disc, I was just comparing the Richter/Praga Op.25/11 with all the other Op.25/11's I have...

[rubio]

Thank you for this discussion. I ordered the Praga disc as they tend to go OOP. And if the Richter 25/11 is as good as Cziffra's I really look forward to receiving this disc! 

[George]

The Op.25/11 isn't on the BBC Disc, I was just comparing the Richter/Praga Op.25/11 with all the other Op.25/11's I have...

I saw that afterwards, but originally I thought you were going to check out the playing on the Praga to compare to the level of playing on the BBC.

[George]

Thank you for this discussion. I ordered the Praga disc as they tend to go OOP. And if the Richter 25/11 is as good as Cziffra's I really look forward to receiving this disc! 

Sweet! 

[orbital]

I am noticing how my tastes have evolved compared to when I last answered to a query like this.

Ballades: Ashkenazy, Barere.
Etudes:  Ciani, Gavrilov, Cortot, Sokolov(op25)
Impromptus: Rubinstein, Sokolov
Mazurkas: Luisada Complete set, Sofronitsky, Kapell
Nocturnes: Tipo, Rubinstein, Moravec, Ciani
Barcarolle: Arrau, Cherkassy, Freire
Fantasie op 49 : Arrau, Cherkassy,
PS 2: Brand, Ashkenazy, Sokolov
PS 3: Sokolov, Chekassy
Preludes: Zhukov, Ashkenazy, Bolet, Pletnev, Sofronitsky
Waltzes: Rubinstein, Ashkenazy, Cortot
PC's: too many to name 

[orbital]

Got that one!

I need to revisit...

I thought your avatar was Cherkassy 

[George]

Impromptus: Rubinstein...
Waltzes: Rubinstein...

Sweet! I got these last night! 

I thought your avatar was Cherkassy 

No, It's Moravec. 

[rubio]

I just listened to Casadesus' studio recording of the Chopin Ballades from 1950, and I liked them a lot! The same CD had an amazing piano sonata 2 performed by Rachmaninov and an excellent piano sonata 3 by Lipatti. It's from this set:



Has anybody here heard this disc? It seems very tempting. Are the Chopin Ballades here from 1928-1930?

http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Casadesus-Chopin-Schumann-S%C3%A9verac/dp/B00002EPNJ/ref=sr_1_1/103-6086389-5715826?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1176150600&sr=1-1

[aquablob]

I just listened to Casadesus' studio recording of the Chopin Ballades from 1950, and I liked them a lot!

I would love to hear these.