Classical Music for Aficionados

Revisiting Chopin/Zimerman/Giulini on DGG.  A remarkably engineered recording.  If the soundstage isn't well outside your speakers, something is wrong.  Depth is fine but not commensurate with width.  Fine performance, not quite sure about the treble range of the piano--recorded a little forward I suspect.

Well, twoleftears, something must be wrong with my system. I get no sound beyond the boundaries of my speakers, but then I don’t expect any. You can revisit what I had to say about set up in RV’s other post on imaging wherein I talk about the ’stereo construct’. Only out of phase information can appear there, but side wall reflections are often mis- heard as primary signals. Nothing wrong with setting up your system to get that sound if that is what you really want.

About the recording itself, it is a 1979 DG after all. Not overly warm or romantic. I love the clarity of his and the orchestra in these pieces, as compared to, lets say my old favorite (on LP’s) Claudio Arrau. Neither the piano nor the orchestra dominate. I find the sound balance with the piano on left center of the stage. FWIW I have quite a few of these works but this is the only one I listen to any longer. I understand that he did a redo in 1999 of these works wherein he conducted from the piano with a Polish Orchestra which is highly regarded. These are apparently highly regarded as well even if quite different.

I’m no expert on these pieces. Perhaps RV would like to comment.

I’m sorry I cannot comment on the fine points of his  Chopin concerto recordings because I don’t own them. But I have heard him live in concert, playing and conducting the E minor Concerto. A very original, some would say eccentric performance with great variation in tempo; a very personal interpretation like none other I’ve heard.
Truthfully, I was not totally convinced of his approach.  While original, it did not let the music flow.   He certainly is a fine pianist, but this performance did not work for me.  His 1999 recording which I’ve heard  is quite similar to what was executed in the concert.  I would guess  his earlier recording with Giulini is more conventionally rendered.

RV.I had time to do a comparison over the weekend of IDAGIO and QOBUZ streaming and I came to the conclusion that at conventional CD rates that it was swings and roundabouts , not one winning over the other. However when it came to higher rez files the Qobuz 24 / 96 files trounced the cd quality files with the higher rez having so much more air about them , also the treble was much improved on the higher rez.

“Swings and roundabouts?”
Not an American term, but I get what you mean.
Of course, I would expect the hi res files to sound better.
Maybe, some day...