The (Classical) Piano Thread

[bedouin]

ok, there is an enormous repertoire out there, but I bet there must be a few recordings that stand out for you.
I am not preoccupied by labels/periods. I think some of the Wandelweiser recordings (anyone checked Dante Boon's recent double disc) are just as fantastic.

[bedouin]

quote=bedouin
Barraqué - Piano Sonata (Herbert Henck)
Beethoven - Late Piano Sonatas (Maurizio Pollini)
Debussy - Preludes for Piano (Paul Jacobs)
Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Emil Gilels)
Koechlin - Les Heures Persanes (Kathryn Stott)
Mompou - Música Callada (Herbert Henck)
Ravel - Piano Works (Pascal Rogé)
Satie - Piano Works (Robert de Leeuw)
Schoenberg - Piano Music (Paul Jacobs)
Schubert - Impromptus (Radu Lupu)

quote=Dan Warburton
Have you heard Claude Helffer's recording of the Barraqué? I've always preferred his more romantic take - the Henck is damn good too. Nice collection of pianists there!

quote=Wombatz
And have you heard Mompou play his own stuff? It's barely up to the usual pianistic standards (he was 81 when he recorded that), but the mood is perfect, while Henck's much too heavy for my taste.
Also, I'd take Gulda's Ravel over Rogé anytime. (I don't much like Rogé in any context, though. His Fauré is clueless, he finds nothing to hold onto.) [/quote]


......
Adding to the list I posted originally, Cage's Early piano Works (In a Landscape) by Henck, or the Vlado Perlemuter's Ravel pieces in mono, which incidentally I first heard in a Cafe Rouge restaurant(!), and loved ever since.

[Jason Brogan]

I couldn't decide on recordings by Horowitz, Rubinstein, and Schnabel, or Mozart's sonatas.

Bach, Complete Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould) [Sony]
Bach, Goldberg Variations (András Schiff) [ECM]
Bach, Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Till Fellner) [ECM]
Beethoven, Diabelli Variations (Maurzio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Beethoven, The Late Piano Sonatas (Maurizio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Beethoven, The Piano Sonatas (András Schiff) [ECM]
Cage, Etudes Australes (Grete Sultan) [Wergo]
Chopin, The Complete Préludes (Rafal Blechachz) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Chopin, Nocturnes (Maurzio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Chopin, Préludes (Maurzio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Feldman, All Piano (John Tilbury) [LondonHall]
Jürg Frey, Piano Music (John McAlpine) [Edition Wandelweiser]
Tom Johnson, Counting Keys (John McAlpine) [Edition Wandelweiser]
Ligeti, György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Pierre-Laurent Aimard) [Sony]
Nono, Como una ola de fuerza y luz; ...sofferte onde serene... ; Contrapunto dialettico alla mente (Maurizio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Tim Parkinson, Piano Piece / Piano Piece (Philip Thomas) [Edition Wandelweiser]
Michael Pisaro, fields have ears (Philip Thomas, edges ensemble) [another timbre]
Satie, Piano Works (Aldo Ciccolini) [EMI]
Schoenberg / Webern (Maurizio Pollini Edition) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Schubert, Complete Impromptus / Moments Musicaux (Alfred Brendel) [Decca]
Schubert, The Late Piano Sonatas (Alfred Brendel) [Decca]
Schubert, The Late Piano Sonatas (Maurizio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Schubert, Wanderer-Fantasie / Schumann, Fantasie (Maurizio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Schubert, Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 (Valery Afanassiev) [ECM]
Wolff, Long Piano (Thomas Schultz) [New World Records]
Xenakis, Chamber Music (Claude Helffer) [Montaigne]

[Dan Warburton]

Good list there - see you're a Pollini fan like me (his Boulez Second Sonata rocks too). I also like Mitsuko Uchida's late Schubert, and Brendel on most classical stuff. Never been much of a Chopin fan myself, but grew up with Rubinstein's Chopin all over the house. (Though Pollini's reading of the first two Etudes blows everyone away - good grief!)
What about Schumann? Anyone you recommend? Such strange, introspective music.. not sure I've ever heard it played the way I want to hear it.

[Adrian]

The two renditions of 'Für Alina' by Arvo Pärt for solo piano, played by Alexander Malter; on the cd 'Alina' on the ECM label. Outstanding music (the whole disc actually...)

[grisha]

Frédéric Chopin - Études Op.10 & Op.25 (Maurizio Pollini)
Frédéric Chopin - 24 Préludes op.28 (Maurizio Pollini)
Frédéric Chopin - Polonaises (Maurizio Pollini)
Frédéric Chopin - 10 Mazurkas / Prelude Op. 45 / Ballade Op. 23 / Scherzo Op. 31 (Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli)
Béla Bartók - Klavierkonzerte Nr. 1 & 2 (Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado; Maurizio Pollini)
John Cage - Sonatas And Interludes (Yuji Takahashi)
Toru Takemitsu - Corona etc (Roger Woodward)
Erik Satie - The Early Piano Works (Reinbert De Leeuw)
David Tudor - Music for Piano on Edition RZ
Charlemagne Palestine - Strumming Music
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati - Pour Piano [Carol Morgan]
Olivier Messiaen - Visions de l’Amen (Maarten Bon; Reinbert de Leeuw)

There's must be a bunch more I remember enjoying, but these stand out. And the Satie is top of the pile for me, that's for sure.

[P. Wretch]

What about Schumann? Anyone you recommend? Such strange, introspective music.. not sure I've ever heard it played the way I want to hear it.

I've enjoyed Wilhelm Kempff's Schumann set on DG; also, Pollini's recording of the Fantasie in C.

As for favourite piano recordings more generally, Walter Gieseking's Debussy is a highlight - the mono sound may not match the depth of later recording techniques, but the playing more than makes up for it.

[grisha]

oh, also i forgot:

Christian Wolff - Early Piano Music, 1951-1961 (John Tilbury)
Howard Skempton - Piano Works (John Tilbury)
Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
Cornelius Cardew - Piano Music 1959-70 (John Tilbury)

[frozen reeds]

Ligeti, György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Pierre-Laurent Aimard) [Sony]

Bought that when it came out and was riveted from the first minute.

I would like to recommend this to anyone who may not have heard it. It remains my piano disc numero uno (OK, Feldman aside):

[Jason Brogan]

Good list there - see you're a Pollini fan like me (his Boulez Second Sonata rocks too). I also like Mitsuko Uchida's late Schubert, and Brendel on most classical stuff. Never been much of a Chopin fan myself, but grew up with Rubinstein's Chopin all over the house. (Though Pollini's reading of the first two Etudes blows everyone away - good grief!)
What about Schumann? Anyone you recommend? Such strange, introspective music.. not sure I've ever heard it played the way I want to hear it.

I'm a fan also of Uchida's late Schubert, and although it's not solo piano, her recording with Boulez and Cleveland Orchestra of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto (of course, there could be a thread devoted entirely to piano concerto recordings, ha).

I'm undecided about most Schumann recordings, though I'm rather excited to hear Schiff's new recording on ECM.

The work of Sviatoslav Richter should be mentioned here as well.

[Wombatz]

I would like to recommend this to anyone who may not have heard it. It remains my piano disc numero uno (OK, Feldman aside):

Oh yes, in my top 3 of classical classical piano recordings, along with Horowitz' Scarlatti and a mixtape of early Benedetti Michelangeli (eg the couple of Grieg pieces).

I do not know a halfway decent Brahms, would be interested in recommendations there.

(All the love for Pollini, damn, he does nothing for me.)

[notoriousd]

Christopher O'Riley Plays Ravel
Scriabin: Piano Music (John Ogdon)
Piano Music of Donald Martino (David Holzman)
Boulez: Piano Sonatas #1-3 (Idil Biret)
Boulez: Notations, Explosante-Fixe (Pierre-Laurent Aimard)
Boulez: Notations / Structures Pour Deux Pianos, Livre II (Bernhard Wambach, Pi-Hsien Chen)
Milton Babbitt: Piano Works (Robert Taub)
Milton Babbitt: Piano Music Since 1983 (Martin Goldray)
Aleck Karis - Secret Geometry (compositions of Davidovsky, Kreiger, Primosch, Babbitt, Yuasa)
Roger Reynolds - Epigram and Evolution: Complete Music for Piano
Xenakis: Works for Piano (Aki Takahashi)
Charles Wuorinen: Piano Works (Alan Feinberg)
Alan Feinberg: The American Innovator
Elliott Carter: The Complete Music for Piano (Charles Rosen)
Toru Takemitsu: Piano Music (Kotaro Fukama)

[J.F.]

I tend to prefer piano-duos or even ensembles with more pianos... but I'll start with composers who created piano solo stuff I enjoy:

Harrison Birtwistle: Ostinato with Melody
Paul-Heinz Dittrich: Klaviermusik I +II
Jo Kondo (there's four numbers I like)
Christoph Staude: Nâkodschâyistân

piano-duets:
Pierre Boulez: Structures I
Karel Goeyvaerts: Sonate
Charles Ives: Three Quartertone Pieces
James Tenney: Flocking
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Perspectiven

multiple pianos:
Mario Bertoncini: Cifre (don't remember now if this is a duo or trio... it's on a trio-CD I think)
Stefan Wolpe: Enactments
Henri Pousseur: Prospection

- plus quite a few more... for example some of the Babbitt from the post above!

Oh - plus Stockhausen's Klavierstück #13 (part of Samstag, feat. Mayella Stockhausen) - there, I said it... I love it, I think it's funny.

[notoriousd]

I love the Ives, the Tenney and the Wolpe from your selection. I wasn't aware of that Pousseur piano duo so thanks for that I'll check it out! Also, I'm sure you're a fan of Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos...

[mrosenstein]

I'd throw in Ursula Oppens' Carter piano music disc.

I also saw a fantastic performance of Messiaen piano pieces by Peter Hill just last week. Don't have any recordings but he's on my list to dig in to.

[Jesse]

everything i have heard from paul jacobs [especially the busoni].
john tilbury's feldmans
dinu lapatti's bach works
peter serkin's chopin recordings when he was a youth
robert moran waltzes, et al.

many more.

[P. Wretch]

Oh yes, in my top 3 of classical classical piano recordings, along with Horowitz' Scarlatti...

Those interested in Renaissance/Baroque repertoire ought to investigate harpsichord recordings as well, since that was the instrument it was written to be played on. The complete Byrd keyboard set on Hyperion, played by Davitt Moroney on a variety of instruments, is exemplary (see link for audio clips). The historical performance movement still tends to get eclipsed by the lingering hegemony of the piano.

[MRS]

Many of these are repeats, a few unrepentant chestnuts, and I had to sneak in Hoffman's Concerto No. 1; this has been very difficult as many aren't close at hand. Couldn't agree more with Wretch regarding Gieseking's Debussy.

Bach -- Goldberg Variations (András Schiff) [ECM]
Beethoven -- The 'Named' Sonatas (Artur Schnabel) [Pearl]
Boulez -- Piano Sonata No. 2 (Maurizio Pollini) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Chopin -- Oeuvres pour Piano (Alfred Cortot) [EMI Classics]
Chopin -- Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 (Josef Hoffman) [VAI]
Debussy -- Walter Gieseking Plays Debussy [VAI]
Debussy -- Etudes for Piano, Books I & II (Paul Jacobs) [Nonesuch]
Eisler -- Works for Piano (Gerhard Erber/Walter Olbertz/Siegfried Stockigt) [Berlin Classics]
Feldman -- Triadic Memories (John Tilbury) [Atopos]
Grieg -- Lyric Pieces (Emil Gilels) [Deutsche Grammophon]
Ligeti -- Edition 3: Works for Piano (Pierre-Laurent Aimard) [Sony Classical]
Liszt -- Sonata in B Minor/Funérailles (Alfred Brendel) [Philips]
Mozart -- The Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 (Peter Katin) [Olympia]
Ravel -- Gaspard de la nuit (Walter Gieseking) [EMI Classics]
Satie -- L'Oeuvre pour Piano (Aldo Ciccolini) [EMI Classics]
Schubert -- Fantasy in C major, Op. 15 (D. 760) "Wanderer" (Alfred Brendel) [VoxBox]
Schubert -- Moments Musicaux (John O'Conor) [Telarc]
Scriabin -- Vladimir Sofronitsky Plays Scriabin [Vista Vera]
Scriabin -- Scriabin chez Scriabin (Vladimir Sofronitsky) [Arbiter]
Skempton -- Pianoworks (John Tilbury) [Sony Legacy]

[FifePsy]

everything i have heard from paul jacobs [especially the busoni].
john tilbury's feldmans
dinu lapatti's bach works
peter serkin's chopin recordings when he was a youth
robert moran waltzes, et al.

many more.

In addition to Tilbury's Feldmans, also very much like Louis Goldstein's Triadic Memories and For Bunita Marcus.

The one that springs to mind most recently is James Dillon's The Book of Elements (Noriko Kawai).

[frozen reeds]

Scriabin -- Vladimir Sofronitsky Plays Scriabin [Vista Vera]
Scriabin -- Scriabin chez Scriabin (Vladimir Sofronitsky) [Arbiter]

Great to raise Scriabin, and Sofronitsky in particular, here. I would suggest that the recording everyone needs is this one:



COCQ-83669/70 is the catalogue number (the best way to locate this Japanese issue on Denon).