Favorite pianists

jadis · 07-05-2022, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mycatisthebest

Pierre Laurent Aimard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adfpLuk0-MY

He's terrific. Had the fortune of hearing him in Ligeti, that was really something

Like the Stockhausen too. Reminds me that we haven't seen the resident Stockhausen fan, Rostasi, in a while

innerspaceboy · 07-05-2022, 03:27 AM

As most members of this community know, I gravitate heavily toward the ambient end of the musical spectrum, and my taste in solo piano performances are no different. What these composers lack in complexity they make up for in gentle elegance and their ability to evoke feelings of calm and serenity.

Of course, Aldo Ciccolini's interpretations of Satie's piano works are universally lauded.

I also love George Winston dampening/muting technique, particularly in "Dubuque" (the song starts at the 2:50 mark)

And for my most-favorite - here's Harold Budd’s transportive opening to The Pearl produced by Eno and featuring Daniel Lanois.

Harold Budd - “Late October’ (2005 Digital Remaster)

jadis · 07-05-2022, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

As most members of this community know, I gravitate heavily toward the ambient end of the musical spectrum, and my taste in solo piano performances are no different. What these composers lack in complexity they make up for in gentle elegance and their ability to evoke feelings of calm and serenity.

You know Debussy, right? HUGELY influential on ambient. There's a recording, criminally little known, of the piano works that wipes it off any residual traces of Romanticism and emphasizes Debussy the ambient modernist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPX0...nel=punkpoetry

innerspaceboy · 07-05-2022, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadis

You know Debussy, right? HUGELY influential on ambient. There's a recording, criminally little known, of the piano works that wipes it off any residual traces of Romanticism and emphasizes Debussy the ambient modernist

Absolutely. My favorite Debussy-related treasure is Claude Debussy, Werner Haas – Complete Works For Piano Solo • Das Klavierwerk • Œuvres Pour Piano Seul which was only issued on vinyl in the Netherlands and in Spain. Here's a photo I took of my copy.

I published a feature on Debussy to my member journal after carefully researching and compiling a library of his complete works. You can explore it here:

An Exploration of Musical Impressionism: Building a Library of Claude Debussy

Thanks for making sure I was in-the-know!

Ayn Marx · 07-05-2022, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

As most members of this community know, I gravitate heavily toward the ambient end of the musical spectrum, and my taste in solo piano performances are no different. What these composers lack in complexity they make up for in gentle elegance and their ability to evoke feelings of calm and serenity.

Of course, Aldo Ciccolini's interpretations of Satie's piano works are universally lauded.

What have I been missing? This is my first exposure to Ciccolini’s Satie interpretations. The languid pace of this performance is hypnotic. Most of the images I’d not seen before. Thanks.

Ayn Marx · 07-05-2022, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadis

You know Debussy, right? HUGELY influential on ambient. There's a recording, criminally little known, of the piano works that wipes it off any residual traces of Romanticism and emphasises Debussy the ambient modernist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPX0...nel=punkpoetry

Possibly an excellent performance but the curse of ‘perfect pitch’ tells me this was taken off an LP along with nasty speed variations, otherwise known as wow & flutter.

jadis · 07-06-2022, 03:29 PM

The vast majority of the finest piano recordings available to us are reproduced and transferred very imperfectly, there's a lot of flutter and hiss. I have a Soviet recording of Gilels playing the Symphonic Etudes that is in D minor rather than in C sharp, as Schumann wrote and as Gilels played. There's audience cough etc. And yet it contains playing that makes impeccably recorded modern day interpretations very dull by comparison. Same with most recordings by Cortot or Gieseking or Schnabel or Arrau or Edwin Fischer, people who were not only singular artists but polymaths bathed in the tradition, who studied with Liszt's and Clara Schumann's students. There are qualities there that could never be reproduced by the gifted careerists of today, who all sounds exactly the same.

As Feltsman says here (between 1min and 2.30), it's nobody's fault but it's a different art form today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WwW...ssicalEnsemble

Ayn Marx · 07-06-2022, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadis

The vast majority of the finest piano recordings available to us are reproduced and transferred very imperfectly, there's a lot of flutter and hiss. I have a Soviet recording of Gilels playing the Symphonic Etudes that is in D minor rather than in C sharp, as Schumann wrote and as Gilels played. There's audience cough etc. And yet it contains playing that makes impeccably recorded modern day interpretations very dull by comparison. Same with most recordings by Cortot or Gieseking or Schnabel or Arrau or Edwin Fischer, people who were not only singular artists but polymaths bathed in the tradition, who studied with Liszt's and Clara Schumann's students. There are qualities there that could never be reproduced by the gifted careerists of today, who all sounds exactly the same.

As Feltsman says here (between 1min and 2.30), it's nobody's fault but it's a different art form today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WwW...ssicalEnsemble

I take your point but wonder if you understand what it feels like for someone suffering ‘perfect pitch’ ? Try running your fingernails over sandpaper and you may get the idea. (Sometimes I even have trouble if I listen to a piece performed in mean temperament when I’ve been listening to one performed in equal temperament.) These speed variations can be ‘cured’ by running pieces through an autotune device but that throws the baby out with the bathwater in bleaching subtle dynamic expression.

As to today’s pianists, yes, they’re mostly a dull lot specialising in demonstrating how fast they can play. The Chinese are the worst at this game. Lucky for me there's a local piano teacher, once a small time concert pianist, who gives intimate little recitals on her Bosendorfer Grand. To my ears these make Yamaha’s & Steinways sound dull. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf refused to be accompanied by Bosendorfers claiming “They out-sing me”.

jadis · 07-06-2022, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayn Marx

I take your point but wonder if you understand what it feels like for someone suffering ‘perfect pitch’ ? Try running your fingernails over sandpaper and you may get the idea.
As to today’s pianists, yes, they’re mostly a dull lot specialising in demonstrating how fast they can play. The Chinese are the worst at this game. Lucky for me there's a local piano teacher, once a small time concert pianist, who gives intimate little recitals on her Berzendorfer Grand. To my ears these make Yamaha’s & Steinways sound dull. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf refused to be accompanied by Bersendorfers claiming “They out-sing me”.

How the **** do you think I knew that the Schumann recording was in D minor rather than in C sharp? You must be a bit of a thicko...

Ayn Marx · 07-06-2022, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadis

How the **** do you think I knew that the Schumann recording was in D minor rather than in C sharp? You must be a bit of a thicko...

I’m not psychic?

07-06-2022, 03:29 PM	#27 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,360	The vast majority of the finest piano recordings available to us are reproduced and transferred very imperfectly, there's a lot of flutter and hiss. I have a Soviet recording of Gilels playing the Symphonic Etudes that is in D minor rather than in C sharp, as Schumann wrote and as Gilels played. There's audience cough etc. And yet it contains playing that makes impeccably recorded modern day interpretations very dull by comparison. Same with most recordings by Cortot or Gieseking or Schnabel or Arrau or Edwin Fischer, people who were not only singular artists but polymaths bathed in the tradition, who studied with Liszt's and Clara Schumann's students. There are qualities there that could never be reproduced by the gifted careerists of today, who all sounds exactly the same. As Feltsman says here (between 1min and 2.30), it's nobody's fault but it's a different art form today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WwW...ssicalEnsemble