Try the following box. I bought it a few years ago even though I already had a pretty extensive Chopin collection ...
The Etudes, Ballades, Scherzos, Preludes, and Sonatas should fill the bill at 4 CDs! (Rubenstein has a CD/SACD of the Ballades and Scherzos on one generously filled CD.)
I personally don't feel that Rubinstein is best represented by his stereo recordings that are in that box you mentioned. I think by then his playing had become too objective. And his preludes are poor. Essential Chopin works in under 4-5 CDs? Unfortunately no, my list below leaves out the Mazurkas, the Waltzes, the Scherzi, the 3 Piano Sonatas and the Polonaises and it adds up to 5CDs: Nocturnes/Impromptus - Arrau - 2CDs Ballades - Moravec or Tipo (live, Ermitage) - 1CD Preludes - Moravec or Sokolov- 1CD Etudes - Gavrilov - 1CD
Thank you for the recommendations. I have ordered the 2-disc Arrau complete Nocturnes set on Philips as a starting point.
I have been playing this set of Shostakovich quartets on Spotify this week: Shostakovich: the complete string quartets. Quatuor Danel, on Alpha. The playing is crystal clear and I am loving the interpretations. They are not afraid to make these works sound modern, but still very beautiful.
You're welcome! Hope you enjoy it. That Arrau set was one of my earliest classical purchases and is still one of the gems of my collection.
Scherzi - Earl Wild (Chesky) Etudes - Pollini (Testament) or Kempf (BIS) Nocturnes - Mertanen 2CDs (Alba) Preludes - Argerich (DG)
Agreed on Argerich (though I like Moravec and Sokolov a bit more), the Wild I need to hear again, but I love Pogorelich in the Scherzi.
I have dipped my toes into the Mahler water for the first time with this: I like it. A lot. Especially the last two movements (darker). Suggestions as to where to go next with Mahler?
For Klemperer, do you recommend the Concertgebouw (live, 1951, Decca) or the Philharmonia (1963, EMI)?
The Philharmonia recording (EMI, now Warner of course) is better. The Concertgebouw recording is interesting, but nothing more; it is a 1951 live recording from Dutch radio and it is disappointing, Klemperer and the orchestra apparently didn't fully match; the soloists, Kathleen Ferrier and Jo Vincent, are good. By the way, I wouldn't recommend Rattle in Mahler 2; in all fairness I should add that I'm not a Rattle fan
I would also advise against Rattle I am not a fan either. Along with Klemperer I would recommend for Mahler 2 Bruno Walter and Zubin Mehta. My go to copy is the Bruno Walter recording from 1958.
He must be doing something right, but I'm not going to listen to anymore of his recordings. Good thing there is a lot of variety and choices for us all.
I think I have a grand total of 3 recordings by him and two of them are Holst Planets out of some 11,000 recordings ...
I'm going to give the Annie Fischer performance another listen. Just wondering if you'd elaborate more why you didn't like hers? I posted my thoughts on it a couple of pages ago, wondering if it's for the same reason. I'm listening to Rubinstein's performance with Krips, I've always liked this more than his later one with Giulini.
My go-to Mahler 2 is Abbado/Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Solti/Chicago ain’t bad either, especially if you are a “brass fan” like me.
I haven't heard those. I do have the Solti Chicago Symphony live recording of Mahler 5 from 1991 and it is awesome!
Abbado's Lucerne performance with a wonderful Anna Larsson used to be my favourite, but I'm afraid I've heard it too often. I don't have a preferred version at the moment, it all depends on the mood I'm in. As for Solti, I prefer his London version to the later Chicago one, it's a bit more subtle - though I'm not sure subtle is the correct word to describe any of Solti's performances
I attended the concert of Bernstein and New York Philharmonic playing the Mahler 2nd symphony at then Avery Fisher Hall that became the DG CD. The concert was entitled as ‘In the memory of Bruno Walter’!