Possibly of interest, all the examples in the "The Great Courses" set on Beethoven's sonatas are drawn from Frank's cycle. I wonder if that's why every time I have a look at it on Amazon it's a bit more expensive than I would have expected? This afternoon (at work, via headphones) I returned to the Melo Classics disc of Annie Fischer, and once again I was struck by the ferocity of her take on the pieces included. Even the Mozart sonata comes off as uncommonly muscular and powerful--definitely an antidote to the "Dresden china" school of interpretation. I'm sure there will be plenty of Mozart stylists out there tutting away, but I like it, and even more her excitingly "inauthentic," powerful take on Handel. Good stuff.
It is possible. Try to get this on vinyl, there are plenty of copies out there for cheap. I got mine in a thrift store for 99c a few weeks ago. I quite enjoy these digital LPs, especially the ones with piano. I have a very sensitive ear and occasionally the wow and flutter that is inherent in the analogue tape bothers me. Digital has solved this problem permanently.
Now listening to "Russian Violin Concertos - Khachaturian/Prokofiev/Glazunov" performed by Julia Fischer with the Russian National Orchestra led by Yakov Kreizberg on PentaTone.
In the disc player…as a big fan of wind band music, I love me some Persichetti If you are unfamiliar with his works, his harmonic language is certainly modern but is firmly rooted in tonality along the lines of Hindemith and Bartok. I think he is one of the most under appreciated composers of the 20th century…he has a unique mastery of technique, form, sonorities, and lyrical line.
Now listening to CD 3 from the "Edwin Fischer - Piano Playing from the Heart" EMI Icon box set. Bach - Das Wohltemperierte Clavier Book I
Now listening to CD 7 from "The Art of Alicia De Larrocha" on Decca. Manuel de Falla - Nights in the Gardens of Spain with L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande led by Sergiu Comissiona Aram Il'yich Khachaturian - Piano Concerto in D flat with the London Philharmonic Orchestra led by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D with the London Philharmonic Orchestra led by Lawrence Foster
I am not familiar with this recording, what's the date? My favorite version is the one with De Burgos. This is an excellent sounding digital LP.
+1 here my friend. Played some Persichetti in my student days. I used to have some vinyl, but nothing now. I'll remedy that soon.
Listened to more of this today. Though I miss Lucchesini's charm and grace, I like his sense of urgency, and his no-nonsense, solid playing.
There are quite a number of Mozart Piano Concertos by her in the following box I bought last year ...
Really? And you live in CT? It's not perfect by a long shot, but it's the best place for used classical CDs in NYC.
Academy Records is an occasional Amazon MarketPlace Seller. I know its neck of the woods well since I lived and went to undergrad/grad schools in that neighborhood.
I have only visited Academy Records twice but I wasn't too impressed by what was available there. On the other hand, the stuff was both times extremely friendly and helpful. I would visit again if I ever find myself back in NYC.
I agree, it's very hit or miss. But I enjoy going through the bargain racks and their prices tend to be fair - and in particular often lower than Amazon prices. The dedicated SACD section is also handy. And given the demise of J&R, I don't know where else I'd go without schlepping out to Princeton...I really enjoy B&M shopping for discs.
I am fond of digital vinyl, but there are bum ones, they get described as a cd on vinyl(no, there is a more denigrating but correct term that escapes me). It is when the lp is cut from the cd master (or more likely the standard retail issue), and it comes out flat and lifeless. I keep a couple of lps of it as a warning to myself to know what to avoid. I often find though that there are many digital Deutsche Grammophon and Philips albums from the 80's and 90's that sound fantastic, have a definite edge and even a better sonic bandwidth than some of the late analogues of the same labels. Some 70's DG's are very good, but a surprisingly large amount are less than stellar. I might also have been fooled by the strange tone Karajan insisted on from the BPO in some instances (!). Piano tone often came out well in that era, I wonder if they had a particular engineer that was well versed with piano tone. Randomly sampling two to hand, I note on some Pollini Chopin I have heard recently that the engineer was Heinz Wildhagen. On the Karajan Pelleas & Melisande, it is Gunter Hermanns. I massively prefer the work of Wildhagen, but you could also say he had the easier job.
