I downloaded a studio master quality FLAC from e-classical--they tend to get releases ahead of many other sources. I do think that "Vers la flamme" could use a bit more intensity (perhaps unfairly, Horowitz is my gold standard there--no one has come close!), but overall if you like his playing there is much to enjoy.
Just had a listen to the third quartet from the above 2CD set. Now enjoying the 5th quartet from the same set.
Me to--uh, maybe I'd better rephrase that. His original cadenzas are wonderful, and the one here in the first mvt. of cto. 21 is a real hoot.
I love these Pentatone SACD remasters of Philips analogue recordings from the 70s. Sounds as good or better than most recent recordings.
@drh - cancel what I said earlier about Say's Beethoven. I gave it another listen tonight and didn't much care for it. The critics absoutely hate it.
I have never read or heard anything positive about Fazil's Beethoven. Never heard it either and don't feel the need.
Funny how the reaction to a record can depend on one's mood. I'll bet if you try again another time, when you're in a different frame of mind, you'll have yet another impression of it, maybe better, maybe worse. As for me, I have only a couple of the sonatas with Say, and I haven't played them but maybe once each. They're coupled with his recording of the 3d concerto, and I was very taken with that, particularly--again--with his original cadenza in the first mvt. While on the subject of pianists, last night I had my first playing of a 78 set I bought a while back out of curiosity, 2 records (4 sides) on American Brunswick, drawn from Polydor masters cut in Berlin in 1930: Schumann's Kinderszenen played Johnny Aubert. I'm sure you've heard of him; the labels assure us he is (or at least was) a "famous Swiss pianist." Well, famous or not, he rode that particular warhorse in a most beautiful way, or at least that was my first-hearing impression. One quirk is that he actually took a little breathing room between each miniature instead of mashing them all together, as so often happens. Kidding aside, ever hear of the guy? A machine-translated German Wikipedia article indicates he actually did have quite an active career as performer and teacher, but as far as I can tell he didn't record much. Last night's other folly was the set of Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for 2 pianos, 4 hands by Saint-Saens in an Odeon-Parlophon recording, pressed by American Decca under license, performed by George Bertram and Karol Szreter in 1927. As far as I know, theirs was the first recording of the piece, and I think it would have been at the "serious" end of the spectrum for them; I think they were known for things like transcribed Strauss waltzes more than the piano duo heavyweights. Szreter, however, did record solo fare of substance, including an account of the Pathetique sonata that I also have in an American Decca issue, and he recorded as accompanist for Gregor Piatigorsky in such bonbons as a transcription of Tchaikowsky's "None but the Lonely Heart." Pearl did a reissue compilation that includes the Beethoven, a couple of other Beethoven stas., and music of Schumann, Liszt, Grieg, etc. Szreter died early, in 1934 in his mid-30s, a victim of leukemia.
I do too, and have just ordered a whole bunch drawn from the current sale at Jpc at €6 a disc (and even some doubles for the same price): Pentatone Mega-Angebot – alle Super Audio CDs und CDs – jpc.de. There are only a few albums drawn from the Philips Quad recordings, but their more recent recordings are highly regarded as well, and there are quite a few from the DG Quad period.
I downloaded just the Piano Sonata No.4--very virtuosic and intense. He wrote it for Anne-Marie McDermott.
Spinning the CD tonight (Manfred). I really like these performances. I just wish they were recorded a bit better.
Vivaldi "Concerti Da Camera" Michala Petri, Heinz Holliger, Felix Ayo et. al. 2 CD set on Philips 411 356-2 released 1984
I've been listening to this set on this Saturday afternoon. I love these performances. I find a degree of sparkle and charm in them that I don't quite hear in the famous records that Boskovsky made with the VPO for Decca -as good as those are. These are very well recorded too. upload image online
Beautiful playing, sound, and music. I think I prefer Britten's "Nocturnal" on guitar even though his first thought was to write it for the lute. Still, Lindberg plays it wonderfully, and it must be terribly difficult on the lute.