Classical Music for Aficionados

schubert
lucky you, seeing all those great pianists live
the only one i ever saw was ashkenazy, in a local high school auditorium, back in the days when it was difficult for him to leave USSR
I do appreciate Murray Perahia, especially his Mozart sonatas
and I share your love for Arrau, the consummate master, the total package of dignity, precision and passion held just under the surface - and the inspiration for Argerich as well

twoleftears
i will have to give Staier a listen, thanks

as for Bach, I happen to be listening to Richter playing Well Tempered Clavier at this moment
another favorite for Bach is Maria Yudina, and I will repeat a story about her that may not be true
once she played a radio concert that Stalin heard, it was a live broadcast, not recorded, and Stalin thought it was a recording and liked it so much, he ordered the recording delivered to him immediately
so the KGB went out and got Yudina and took her to a  studio and made a recording of her previous recital for Stalin.
She hated stalin, whenever she received a medal, she gave it to the families of people Stalin/KGB had killed

@jcazador,
Nice post. I hope it is true.

To All,
I subscribe to Spotify and despite its' lack of high fidelity streaming, it has one of the most complete and easily accessible catalogs (unlike Tidal).
I only mention this as I have discovered a huge cache of recordings of the early/mid romantic period from Naxos (mostly). I only thought Hummel was famous for his Trumpet Concerto, but now find he composed a lot of great music-including piano concertos.
The nice thing about Spotify catalog is that it has 'Related Artists'.
Click on that and you get similar composers-Ries, Witt, Flotow, Wilms, etc.
I never heard of these composers before, and I feel I have discovered another facet of classical music.
Sorry if I am saying something you all know, but listening to composers who were famous in their time, yet now almost forgotten, is very exciting.
B

Jcaazodor ,

What a lovely description of Arrau ! As well done as can be done .

He played an all Brahms program one time I saw him .
I swear, and not as a figure of speech , one could feel Brahms in the hall .

If you haven’t already try Perahia's Bach "French Suites" .

In the past I have quite often collected Cds of Wagner which contain his mastepieces or highlights.  One such Cd (an old one) is  called 'The Classical Collection' by Orbis De AGostini Group, this cd is special, not so much because of the technical sound or any interpretations of the music, its special because of the  choice of music.  It has masterpieces from Lohengrin, Tanhauser, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and The Flying Dutchman but the unusual inclusion is the choir of the Pilgrims' Chorus (Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir Ljubijana Conductor Marko Munh). To hear this chorus is so moving to me and the way Wagner has added the orchestration at the latter  part of this music is nothing but sheer magic.  It does not surprise me that Prince Ludwig of Bavaria became obsessed with Wagner's music and even built a  Wagnerian Castle to live the dream...