Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #14)

A Century of Romantic Chopin on Marston Records

I listened to the second CD last night and this morning. The highlight for me was a performance of the first Ballade by Earl Wild. It is taken from a 1981 New York Recital and I must say Earl plays this work more beautifully that I have ever heard it played. I don't have much by this pianist, aside from a late recording of the Chopin etudes, his GPOTC set and the Rachmaninoff piano concertos, but I can see that I will be seeking out more of his stuff.

 

He's got a recording of the Hammerklavier in Sviatoslav Richter/Annie Fischer territory.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ5DnR7GZrI&feature=related

 

Thanks for the link. That sonata has never been one that I enjoy very much - except of course for the slow movement.

Also, your avatar looks yummy. Is that a veggie burger?

 

Love every hemi-demi-semi-quaver of the unruly beast, must have heard over thirty recordings, along with an unimpressive try-out that Andras Schiff took in Berkeley's Hertz Hall, mid-ninties. Richter's performance on Praga has been my go-to version for about a decade, but Annie Fischer forces me to reconsider every performance I've ever heard of Beethoven. There's a recording by Ashkenazy from late sixties/early seventies that turns the sonata # 29 in B-flat Major, op. 106, into some mighty purdy Chopin. Recommended. I remember a Christopher Eschenbach recording from the sixties whose tempo was absolutely glacial. There's a Peter Serkin version on Pro Arte where [after recording the Hammerklavier on a fortepiano] the tempos in the final fugue are played fast enough and the rhythms are pointed enough that the music sounds very much like a good grade of Bartok, Really worth hunting down. Glenn Gould has a predictably weird performance but has altogether too much fun in the finale. Claudio Arrau is as good in the slow movement as Schnabel.

Oooh yeah baby. I may be a musical omnivore, but otherwise I'm a vegetarian. Came from LA Weekly's little Burger Porn exhibition:

http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/burger-porn-drippy-bloody-and-sticky-30853998/

 

If you want to explore Earl Wild, your best starting point is probably his very own label, Ivory Classics:

http://www.ivoryclassics.com/

Lots of neat stuff by other noteworthy pianists, too.

I trust that you, as a Marstonphile, have tried the Ernst Levy account on that label. If not, it's definitely worth a listen.

 

Thanks!

I have heard it and it is very good, I just don't like the work that much. I like almost (if not every) other Beethoven sonata more than that one.

 

Now playing CD10, the last CD from this set for a first listen. While there have been discussions on another all-classical music forum as to how Pieter-Jan Belder performed as the harpsichordist for his WTC on BC, there is no question he did a fine job conducting from the harpsichard for these works ...

 

Now listening to:



This is simply beautiful stuff, with unusually smooth, pleasant EMI digital sound from 1990. It cranks up quite nicely.

BTW I'm really digging that burger porn too!

 

George, You must remember I bought this twofer last year ...



BTW, many Ivory Classics CD's are available at BRO at great prices ...

 

LOL. I remember that album cover.

 

I'd sooner forget my middle name.

 

Good to know, Stuart. I bet that set is nice indeed. If I didn't already have 13 complete sets, I might jump on it.

 

Russ, You've struck gold. A new copy of this CD is now selling at over $79 on Amazon.

 

IMO, the performance is no laughing matter.

 

Go for it, George. I have 30 versions of Bach Brandenburg Concertos. LOL

 

No way, Jose. As long as I stay behind you, I can tell myself that I do not have a problem.

 

Oh boy I found this to go with my Symphonic Pink Floyd tonite.
Local used CD store.....few Classical Records but nada on CD's.
This music is VERY nicely done by the LPO!!

 

I had two classical recordings on vinyl arrive today. Both are on the Tacet label, they are: Stuggart Chamber Orchestra / Bach: Brandenburg Concertos and The Tube Only Violin. These are my first classical recording in my collection, but the Tube Only Violin sounds like the instruments are in the room with me. I'm totally amazed at the quality of this recording.

 

Now playing CD3 from this set for a first listen ...

 

What exactly is The Tube Only Violin?

 

Which is...?

 

I forget.

Seriously, check PM.

 

George Theodore ?

 

I goofed in stereo again....sorry!

 

If memory serves, the idea is that it's a recording of violin music made with exclusively tube-type electronics, presumably including the microphones--no solid state equipment anywhere in the chain.