dubai2000 Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 As period instruments have been mentioned lately, I had a look to see which works do I own played on such instruments: Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert symphonies and most surprising of all Chopins piano concertos. I admit it took some time before I began to develop a liking for his works and his piano concertos probably came last. It was only after having discovered the Emanuel Ax/ Charles Mackerras recording on Sony that I listened to those concertos more often. Still, my favourite piano concertos remain the Grieg one (if you dont mind decent mono sound get the Lipatti/Karajan recording on EMI !!! or in stereo I remain thrilled by Fleisher/Szell on CBS (though I am not sure if this made it even onto CD)). Next on my list is certainly the first Brahms concerto. Most conductors take the first movement too slowly for my liking so its Szell again either with Rudolf Serkin on Sony (if only the CD transfer was better!) or Clifford Curzon on Decca. If you are looking for shorter works try the Liszt concertos (I like Richter/Kondrashin on Philips or Zimerman/Ozawa on DG). Of course Beethovens concertos are very nice as well (recordings are endless, but among many I like Kempff on DG or Glenn Gould on Sony). Do you prefer something American? I really like Gershwins Concerto in F (try Earl Wild on a Living Stereo disk hopefully a contender for a reissue as SACD). Tchaikovsky No.1 (apart from the mono Horowitz I like the second Argerich performance on Philips - though I am not sure if it's still available) and Rachmaninoffs No.1-4 have already been mentioned. I guess the list could be endless, so which piano concertos get played in your homes? Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Covered the ground pretty well there Wolfram. Your list would figure in mine. I would add Mozart Piano concertos pretty much en-mass to the list as well as Mendelssohn 1+2, Schumann Piano in A minor, and a slew of Sonatas from Beethoven. A splash of Liszt and Chopin to complete - mainly with Alfred Brendel playing. That'll do for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 I like piano concertos, at least I think I do. I just don't have very many recordings of them, and I don't really know why. Piano compositions have always taken a back seat to my favorite musical instrument, the pipe organ, so I assume I just never really discovered the beauty of good piano sonatas, concertos, and etudes. I need to update my very limited piano collection someday... My favorite, even though I don't own a recording of it, is still the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, by Sergei Rachmaninoff. As a teen in '78, I remember hearing it played on the local NPR radio station in CT; I believe it was a live broadcast conducted by Eugene Ormandy (that's all I remember...I have no clue what orchestra performed it, but I'm guessing the pianist was either one of two Vladimir's: Horowitz or Ashkenazy). But I was speechless as I sat and listened to this piece, and every other time I've heard it played over the airwaves throughout these many years! Though it was written in 1909 (I looked it up online), it's still a very classical-sounding composition IMO; not modern as I would gather it to be as other early 20th Century pieces are. It's a very moving and exciting piece that will keep you on the edge of your seat...at least it does for me! Now I have to go out and finally buy a CD with this fantastic piano concerto recorded on it...since I seem to recall the Ormandy performance (and it was my first hearing of it), I'll have to seach this one out! Wish me luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted November 14, 2004 Author Share Posted November 14, 2004 I am pretty sure it was Horowitz you listened to. His 1978 RCA recording was actually issued to celebrate his American debut of 50 years earlier. I think another recording of the work which might even be more of a must-have is Martha Argerich's 1982 live recording from Berlin issued by Philips. So -as often- spoilt by choices and of course the list could go on and on and on..... . Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted November 15, 2004 Author Share Posted November 15, 2004 This morning on the road to work they played Beethoven's Choral Fantasy (already mentioned last week) on the radio and I really like the piece - IMO definitely worth getting, so add the Barenboim/Klemperer piano concertos (and CF) on EMI to the list suggested above! Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 The Rachmaninoff #2 is my personal favorite and I like Van Cliburn as the painist. Its on a CD coupled with the Beethoven #5 (Emporer). After the Rachmaninoff #2 it these : Tchaikovsky's #1 - by almost any pianist because so many have played this so well. Beethoven's Emporer - Van Cliburn Mozart's # 21 & 23 - Robert Casadesus Prokofiev's #1 & #3 Bartok's #2 - I was shocked how good this one really is. Anton Rubinstein's #4. I have listened to a lot of Piano concertos in my 58 years and will continue to explore new ones as well as different performances of the ones I have heard many times , but the ones I listed have become my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 Wolfram, Serendipitously, the EMI recording of the Triple Concerto suggested in an earlier thread also has a good recording of the Choral Fantasy -- EMI 7243-5-55516-2. The talented Mr. Barenboim conducts and plays the piano in the CF. It is an interesting mix: a fantasy for solo piano followed by a section for piano and orchestra, followed by a section for chorus and soloists, piano, and orchestra. A very worthwhile piece although the ending is a tad flat. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 ---------------- On 11/15/2004 12:47:18 PM stan krajewski wrote: Mozart's # 21 & 23 Ooops - That would be 21 & 24 - Robert Casadesus Cleveland Orch. George Szell on a "Great Performances" . For the performance's age, very well recorded. ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 "I think another recording of the work which might even be more of a must-have is Martha Argerich's 1982 live recording from Berlin issued by Philips" Wolfram, I am listening to that one as I type. I have it on Cd and have ripped it to my hard disk. I seem to remember that this recording won some "recording of the year" award - but as ever my dates are at odds with yours - I thought it was 1985 - but we all know how bad my memory is for dates!! There is a funny thing with this recording, however. I have noticed that on some systems it can sound really horrible, and I am not talking about poor systems persay, whilst on other systems it sounds fantastic. Case in point - The Rach 3 is one of Tony's favorite classical pieces - but when we listened on his system (Tube pre-amp, Yamaha 500 wpc digital amp, B&W 802's with a good CD player I cant remember) it was harsh, unmusical and generally felt like it was at the wrong speed. On the other hand, not only on my system but even in my car (with Bose speakers would you believe!!) is sounds wondrous. It is pretty dreamy on the Stax too - but not so good on the Tivolli. Go figure.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Thankfully only having to add to what others have written, here are some of my suggestions and observations. Mozart wrote a surprising 27 piano concertos, and they only seemed to get better toward the end of his short life. No. 21 became famous when its slow movement became the murmuring background to Elvira Madigan, a dreamy movie that won the Cannes Film Festival Award for best foreign film in the 1960s. That performance on DG, by Geza Anda, soloist and conductor, is still available. You can play clips from each of the movements at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001GQO/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_f/102-6090429-8581736#product-details; the andante is the movies background music. Note that, with a few exceptions, concertos typically have three movements, the middle movement almost always having the slow tempo. Any of the Mozart piano concertos, especially Nos. 20 through 27, is outstanding. Dialogues between the strings and woodwinds in the slow movements are especially ravishing. For example, while the outer (fast) movements of No. 20 are dark and stormy, the spiritual second movement was used for the closing mood in the movie Amadeus. This can be heard by clicking the audio sample of the Romance of No. 20 at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000004194/qid=1100621703/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/102-6090429-8581736#product-details. Other rightly famous concertos in addition to those mentioned above, are No. 23, his other minor-key concerto No. 24, and his last one, written in the last year of his life (along with the great Magic Flute, Clarinet Concerto, and of course the Requiem), the wistful No. 27. You can audition clips from Nos. 23 and 27 at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QK79/qid=1100619054/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-6090429-8581736?v=glance&s=classical#product-details. I'll continue in the next post -- Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 Here are the rest of my comments and suggestions on piano concertos: The Beethoven concertos occupy a very high place in the literature. No. 1 is a cheerful work, much like his first symphony (also in C); No. 2, in a rare mis-ordering of his works, was actually written first and has always sounded a bit uninteresting to me. No. 3, his one minor-key concerto, is a longer and much more dramatic work. His very fine No. 4 is regarded as more mature, something beyond my amateur musicology; I call your attention to the dramatic dialogue between emphatic forte strings in octaves and the quiet, lofty replies of the piano. The famous concerto, of course, is No. 5, the Emperor, in the noble key of E-flat. Its opus no., 73, places it toward the end of Beethovens amazingly productive middle period in which practically every single opus was a world-class work. The remarkable late works (Ninth Symphony, late piano sonatas and string quartets) were yet to come, not long before his death at the rather early age of 56. Clips from each movement of the five concertos can be heard at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000041K9/qid=1100619857/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/102-6090429-8581736?v=glance&s=classical#product-details. The Brahms concertos were mentioned, and one of my favorites by any composer is his No. 2, an unusual 4-movement work. I have an old LP by Emil Gilels with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago, which still seems to be available; see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000E69H/qid=1100618489/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/102-6090429-8581736?v=glance&s=classical. You can audition samples of both concertos in a more modern recording at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001GQY/qid=1100618339/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-6090429-8581736?v=glance&s=classical#product-details. Finally, I very much like the first movement of the Schumann concerto, which he wrote as a fantasy for piano and orchestra a few years before adding movements to make it into a complete concerto. You can sample clips from both the Schumann and Grieg concertos at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001GK0/qid=1100619738/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/102-6090429-8581736#product-details. Happy listening! Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 ---------------- On 11/15/2004 12:47:18 PM stan krajewski wrote: The Rachmaninoff #2 is my personal favorite and I like Van Cliburn as the painist. Its on a CD coupled with the Beethoven #5 (Emporer). ---------------- I have to heartily agree with the piece of music. One of my all-time favs. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 On 11/15/2004 12:47:18 PM stan krajewski wrote: The Rachmaninoff #2 is my personal favorite and I like Van Cliburn as the painist. Its on a CD coupled with the Beethoven #5 (Emporer). ----------------------------------------------------------- I don't have enough experience to claim a favorite but the Rachmaninov #2 is very enjoyable. I have a Pentatone Classical Multichannel Hybrid of Piano Concerto No.2 and Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini featuring Werner Haas and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfort, Eliahu Inbal. The sound quality is excellent. A local Hi Fi Shoppe specializes in Classical boxed sets and at their recommendation I picked up a Sony Essential Classics - Beethoven, The 5 Piano Concertos and the Triple Concerto. Leon Fleisher, Eugend Istomin, Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose, George Szell and Eugene Ormandy. A fair amount of excellent music that is very well recorded and all for a modest price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 I know this isn't a "concerto", but as long we're on the subject "piano", I'd like to submit Glen Gould's renditions (both 1955 and 1981) of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Quite astounding IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 It's not technically a piano concerto, but it's pretty close - Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted November 16, 2004 Share Posted November 16, 2004 ---------------- On 11/16/2004 6:34:05 PM CaptnBob wrote: It's not technically a piano concerto, but it's pretty close - Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini." ---------------- I just finished listining to that and it's an excellent work of music. Pentatone Classical Multichannel Hybrid of Piano Concerto No.2 and Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini featuring Werner Haas and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfort, Eliahu Inbal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 As usual, excellent additions to the list - thanks everybody! Max, I guess we are both right about those dates. It seems the recording took place in 1982, but it wasn't issued before 1985. I also seem to recall a very positive review in Gramophone. When it comes to your sonic experiences with this disc I was first tempted to blame your friend's digital amp (biased towards tube gear as I am...LOL), but of course he doesn't use Klipsch speakers, plus I have never listened to any of those new digital amps, but with my gear it's definitely not 'harsh' - which IMO is usually either due to poor recordings/mastering or gear/room problems. Personally I'd prefer a bit more 'air' between instruments, but tonally it definitely doesn't strike me as unpleasant and artistically it's very fine indeed! Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 "I was first tempted to blame your friend's digital amp (biased towards tube gear as I am...LOL), but of course he doesn't use Klipsch speakers, plus I have never listened to any of those new digital amps" Funnily enough Wolfram you may not be wrong here. I am keeping an open mind on the subject and waiting for Tony to get hold of a TT so we can really test his system out. I dont know for sure but it made such a hash of this version of the Rach 3 I am suspicious of both the amp and the interation of system and room. Of course the fact that the speakers had played less than 10 hours before I got my hands on it may also have had something to do with it - if you believe in run in that is.... Time will tell one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 ---------------- On 11/16/2004 6:34:05 PM CaptnBob wrote: It's not technically a piano concerto, but it's pretty close - Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini." ---------------- Yes indeed. The 18th Variation section has got to be one of the most beautiful melodies ever written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Max, Has Tony done anything amusing recently, like challenges/bets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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