Piano that sounds like a piano


Some time back several of us agreed that it's hard to find a piano recording that really sounds right. Well, I have found one that's better than most.

SACD PentaTone PTC 5186 024 Beethoven Sonatas, Mari Kodama.

This is a new recording (Jan 2003) by the audiophile recording outfit Polyhymnia. It is a hybrid, so you can play the Redbook/SACD game if you like.

Nice music too.
eldartford
Sugarbrie...Exactly the point. Piano is an excellent test, but you must have a superb recording to start with.
While in the local audio store the owner was playing a BIS CD of Lera Auerbach (BIS-CD-1242) which really impressed me (for what that's worth) with the naturalness of the piano. There's also some wonderful violin virtuosity demonstrated too. I haven't bought the CD yet but I think it will be a candidate for reference status. I believe there was a review of the CD in the November (?) issue of Sterophile.
My test track is Irmin Schmidt "Filmmusic Vol 3&4" -- "Aller Tage Abend Waltzer"
a unique blend of strong forte large octave notes and sonds transfer from mezzo piano to forte.
Becides that it's a unique piece of a great composer and piano genius of the 21st century.