Your Favorite Piano Pieces

[Larry Kart]

Richard Twardzik's "Yellow Tango" and "A Crutch for the Crab":

Or if we were we talking about something else, how about Chopin's Sonata No. 2?

[king ubu]

Arrau with Chopin's "Nocturnes" (do you know them, D.D.? Available on a 2CD set from Decca, absolutely recommended!)

Gulda with Bach's WTK

The two Soviet Avant-Garde discs mentioned by D.D. above (particularly the Lourié pieces - I need more there!)

Schleiermacher with Morton Feldman (Early Piano Music, another hat[now]ART disc I love!)

I've lately also enjoyed Ashkenazy doing Rachmaninovs "Preludes" (got his Decca 2CD set with the piano concertos as well now). Not sure I'd rate them as favorites.

[Д.Д.]

Arrau with Chopin's "Nocturnes" (do you know them, D.D.? Available on a 2CD set from Decca, absolutely recommended!)

Gulda with Bach's WTK

The two Soviet Avant-Garde discs mentioned by D.D. above (particularly the Lourié pieces - I need more there!)

Schleiermacher with Morton Feldman (Early Piano Music, another hat[now]ART disc I love!)

I've lately also enjoyed Ashkenazy doing Rachmaninovs "Preludes" (got his Decca 2CD set with the piano concertos as well now). Not sure I'd rate them as favorites.

I am not that much into Chopin. I like Scriabin, though, and for Scriabin you have to go to Sofronitsky recordings. I also like Nancarrow player piano, not sure if this counts .

Late Beethoven sonatas by Gilels. Mozart by Bezuidenhout. Prokofiev by Sultanov and Pollini.

[king ubu]

Arrau with Chopin's "Nocturnes" (do you know them, D.D.? Available on a 2CD set from Decca, absolutely recommended!)

Gulda with Bach's WTK

The two Soviet Avant-Garde discs mentioned by D.D. above (particularly the Lourié pieces - I need more there!)

Schleiermacher with Morton Feldman (Early Piano Music, another hat[now]ART disc I love!)

I've lately also enjoyed Ashkenazy doing Rachmaninovs "Preludes" (got his Decca 2CD set with the piano concertos as well now). Not sure I'd rate them as favorites.

I am not that much into Chopin. I like Scriabin, though, and for Scriabin you have to go to Sofronitsky recordings.

I know, that's why I mentioned this particular 2CD set - it's absolutely wonderful! Sparse, tough, sharp-minded. That's how it seems to me, at least.

As for Scriabin, Olli Mustonen has just released a new disc which got a rather interesting write-up in german FAZ on saturday - guess I'll want to hear that one, eventually. I see there's a 9CD and a 3CD set by Sofronitsky on Brilliant Classics - do they overlap? Are they recommended?

[Д.Д.]

Mustonen could be interesting. I like his Bach / Shostakovich stuff. My Safronitsky / Scriabin (2CDs) is from the excellent Legendary Russian Pianists box on Brilliant: http://www.amazon.de...39496578&sr=8-1

I will consider Chopin / Arrau, it costs nothing at amazon.es. I actually like the way Richter plays Chopin - also not cheesy at all.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Д.Д.

[bardicplanet]

Beethoven-The Piano Sonatas (Wilhelm Kempff)

Chopin-Nocturne #13; Piano Sonata #2 (Argerich)

Schumann-Fantasiestucke (Argerich)

Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit (Argerich)

Chopin: 24 Preludes (Pires)

Brahms Piano Sonatas

[B. Goren.]

I'll add to my list the 33 Diabelli Variations (Claudio Arrau).

[king ubu]

Cziffra with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies"!

[jazzbo]

Cziffra with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies"!

Great stuff!

[king ubu]

Cziffra with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies"!

Great stuff!

Yeah! About half of this weeks's listening was dedicated to that Liszt Piano Collection 10 CD box, and Cziffra (as well as Ogdon's sonata) is outstanding!

[B. Goren.]

Cziffra with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies"!

Great stuff!

Yes! This is a great set:

[king ubu]

That's the early 1956/57 recordings, yes?

The ones I've heard are the 1972-75 ones (from The Piano Collection). I just bought the early recordings as part of the french 2010 5CD set, which I assume to be a straight reissue of the box you pictured. Still figuring out recording details for that one though, the info in the booklet isn't that exact.

[T.D.]

Cziffra with Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies"!

Great stuff!

Yes! This is a great set:

I bought an absurdly cheap 10-CD box (buried somewhere way back in this the bargain thread) with those 5 discs of Liszt plus 5 of Chopin.

Edited July 21, 2012 by T.D.

[king ubu]

The Chopin was reissued separately again - still need it. Those are the currently available (French) versions:

I've only heard Cziffra with some Chopin on a pair of LPs on Philips ("L'extraordinaire" has a mix of various pieces, some mighty fine, then I have the Philips LP "Chopin: Polonaisen", german edition) but those are interesting enough that I want to get the 5CD set, too!

These are older 5CD editions:

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Works-Piano/dp/B000FOTHDC/

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-uvres-pour-piano-Box/dp/B00008LLIS/

And this here the 10CD set combining both (I assume):

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Liszt-Valses-Polonaises-Euvres-Piano-Georges-Cziffra/dp/B001BSH26A/

[michel devos]

Among my top pianists, Ivan Moravec holds a central place.

I love his Mozart Fantasy K475 and K457 sonata, the Chopin Nocturnes in the 1966 Connoisseur version that has just been re-released by Supraphon. Moravec has no peer in his rendition of Debussy, like the Suite Bergamasque.

Incredibly subtle but powerful playing in th Brahms concertos and the intermezzi 116 117 118 .

And the Goldberg variations by Alexis Weissenberg in the digital version.