Ah, I hadn't heard of that set. A fine mix of performers on that one. I can see why you wanted to pick it up. Hope it arrives soon!
Thanks. And yes, some excellent performances. I have the Richter second but none of the others. It also has the second symphony, which I like, complete - most performances have an edited version.
Just received a promotional certificate as apology for the (still) late packages, so picked this up for a net of $4 delivered: There is a later remastered version but it's not available locally and costs double the price from overseas, so happy enough with this one at the price.
Listening to the fabulous symphony in G minor, I can't help but wish Mozart had composed many more symphonies in a minor key. As it stands, he composed only two in minor, Nos 25 and 40, and these two are easily two of my favorite Mozart symphonies.
Now enjoying some Rachmaninov, the third (of 3) solo CDs I have of Rodriguez playing this composer's works. As in the two other discs, his playing is both gorgeous and powerful, though he is let down a bit by the sound, which can be hard and digital sounding, especially in louder passages.
On the way to work today, I tuned in Sirius XM and came into the middle of the Chopin Preludes. They were played almost but not quite entirely unlike the way I want to hear them. Bang! Bang! Chopin's dead.... Who was the culprit, I wondered? Natch: Evgeny Kissin. I know he has his ardent admirers, but I'm afraid I'm not among them. Time and again I find him hard, percussive, generally unpleasant listening. In the case of today's Chopin: ouch. To make amends for the foregoing bout of negativism and to wash my ears out, I intend shortly to put on (on headphones, still at the office and will be for hours) some recordings by the short-lived Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood. For anyone looking to explore new (old) pastures, or whatever, he gets my vote as one well worth the effort. A couple of good starting points: his account of the Shostakovich 1st cto. (Walter Goehr conducting the "Concert Hall SO"; Harry Sevenstern, trumpet) is full of life and youthful verve, and his Beethoven 4th Cto. (Goehr again, this time with the Utrecht SO) is probably my favorite recording of that much-loved work. Mewton-Wood's recordings mostly were made in the early 1950s for the American Concert Hall Society label, a purveyor of "limited editions" by subscription; many or most, don't know if all, from that era have appeared on a series of CDs on Dante and in a 3-disc set on Australian ABC Classics (461 900-2). I think the Dante discs have marginally better sound, but they have been out of print for years and can be quite pricey when they turn up. The ABC set, as far as I know, is current, but of course good luck finding it easily in the United States. I ordered my copy from a purveyor in its land of origin. Ain't the Internet grand? 20 years ago, even learning of the set's existence, much less procuring a copy, would have been next to impossible. The pianist also made records for English Decca during the 78 era, including the Beethoven 8th sonata with an extremely young Ida Haendel in 1941. As a one-off rarity, there's a Somm CD of Mewton-Wood as soloist with Thomas Beecham and the BBCSO and Cho. in the Busoni piano cto. Sadly, Mewton-Wood died by his own hand in 1953, age 31.
Yeah, I know, a joke--but in seriousness for a moment, Lang Lang regularly gets tarred with the brush of being a banger, but, without having made a systematic study of his records, I haven't found them to bear that out. Most of what I've heard has exhibited quite decent piano tone, say what you will about his interpretations otherwise. But then, as I say, I know only the occasional bit that has come my way on the radio, so I could easily be missing a much bigger picture.
Hence my sunnies. I happen to like a number of Lang's recordings and Kissin's is my favorite version of one of my favorite pieces, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. As I noted in the past, it's great that we have enough choices to meet our (very) varied tastes.
Speaking of Lang Lang and Beethoven, I wonder if you have seen this. Being a fan of Barenboim, I enjoyed it:
After sampling some of the Appassionata sonata from the Barenboim master class posted above, I wanted to hear it in full. Now enjoying this XRCD, which has my second favorite recording of the work. Arrau is tied with Richter for second place and Annie Fischer's is my favorite.
I'm not sure the patrons in the 18th century shared your taste for minor keys. Reading a biography on Joseph Haydn a couple of years ago, I learned that his Symphony No. 95 in C minor (the third of his dozen "London" symphonies) was not particularly well received compared to the euphoria over his major key works. So Haydn never wrote another minor key symphony.
I only have two recordings by Lang Lang; a double album of Liszt which I believe he suits and his Goldbergs which I thoroughly enjoy. I get your point though.
I'm a fan of Barenboim too. I thought I was the only one. I must admit, in my perception, he doesn't seem to be universally liked and I really don't know why. Last Saturday there was a clip of him conducting Jaqueline in the Elgar Cello Concerto. At the ending he joins in the applause and then goes and embraces and kisses her on stage. A truly beautiful moment.
Re "enough choices", I went down a rabbit hole on the Goldbergs a few years ago. I must have at least a dozen and I would hate to try and name a favourite. I have to admit though I bought a CD of, and listened to it a few times as I thought I must be missing something, the one I don't like is Glenn Gould (1982 recording).
Exactly why it's great to have so many choices. I have that Gould on DVD and really like it, it was the first time I really appreciated the piece. Didn't quite hit the rabbit hole but have 6-8 versions now.
Any stand outs; good or bad? I really like those by Beatrice Rana (maybe because it's a superb recording on vinyl), Peter Serkin (recommended to me by a guy at the Schiff Goldberg concert) and, for something a little different, the most recent recording by Zhu Xiao-Mei. None I really don't like besides Gould and that's probably because of his Keith Jarret impersonation (or should that be the other way round?).
Oh, I haven't listened to them yet, I bought them for a rainy day The only one I have listened to so far is the earlier Gould version, I like that one even more than the later one.
Early Saturday morning here in the Northeast( USA) as I steep my coffee in the French press and wait for the birds to wake up. My habit in these early hours is headphone listening so as not to disturb the household. I use my Stax system( in my profile) which has been bringing me a fine reproduction of my CDs. I don’t have it connected to a TT and phono presently. I am back into the Karajan box this morning( this recording certainly emphasizes a signal strength of Karajan and the Berliners-string tone):
Now enjoying Gulda's recording of Chopin's four Ballades from the above set. I have heard many pianists play these works, but Gulda's way with them is unique. He plays them with such incredible technique. His are a faster, more modern take on these works. Not a first set by any means (for that I would suggest Sokolov or Moravec), but an interesting alternate approach. In each of the Ballades, the codas are powerful and breathtaking in Gulda's hands.
