Classical Music for Aficionados

Jim
Re: Shostakovich Preludes
So many wonderful recordings!
If I had to choose a favorite, it is Ashkenazy,24 Preludes and Fugues, op 87, Decca 466 956-2

Jeremy I think you and I have a love of the same things pianistically , I have allways loved the 19th century hyper virtuoso composer pianists and Alkan being one I am especially fond of . If you have the interest of getting more Alkan look at the wonderful recordings of Marc-Andre Hamelin on Hyperion. the one I would espescially draw you to is Alkan's the Four Ages of man , Hamelin does a herculean task here of just getting through the welter of notes on offer. What he also does is offer it in a way that he makes it all cohesive which is also needed in my favourite pianist composer Franz Liszt. With Liszt his music demands a virtuoso with a transcendental technique so that he or she can then make musical sense of it . I am quite sure by now some of you are saying what sense IS there in his music as a lot of the players today are taking on things that are way above the technique they have available. Heven knows I have been to many concerts that I heartilly wished that the ground would open up and swallow them (some of them were big names)One of the greatest virtuosos I have ever witnessed live was Boris Beresovsky a great bear of a man who I witnesed playing Mussorgsky's Pictures and other Russian composers. It was a stinking night and I drove from Ayr to Edinburgh in rain so bad my wipers couldn't cope with . I eventually got to The Queen's Hall with literally minutes to spare and it was a particularly small audience that night and when Beresovsky walked on and saw the audience he couldn't hide his disappointment. He then pointed to his watch and said he would be back in 5 minutes. He went backstage and told the management to invite all the people upstairs to come below and fill the bottom half meaning it was much more cosy. The people did not know what they had let themselves in for it was literally the most exciting piano recital I have ever attended. He started off with some Lyadov then Glasunov and then some other composers I can't recall but he came back on in the second half with Pictures and I was in awe of how one person could get that amount of sound and nuaunce from a model D Steinway. Some of the young women in the audience were actually holding their ears during The Great Gate of Kiev. After three encores he came back onstage and treated us to the best Islamey I have ever heard the speed of it was unbelievable and not a splt note or mistake anywhere. Yes that was indeed a night to remember.

What a great recital, you seem to have heard them all.
Love Berezovsky, have his Liszt, Hindemith, Rachmaninov, and a couple of live recitals, including Godowsky.  One of these is a video of a recital at La Rogue d'Antheron.
I am in awe of Hamelin including the Four Ages you mention, that cd includes Sonatine, Barcarolle, Le Festin D'Escope.
Also have his Symphony for solo piano, Salut, Alleluia, Super flumina Babylonis, and Souvenirs.
Also Concerto for Solo Piano (Music and Arts Program of America CD-724).
Sometimes I find Hamelin overwhelming, he seems to choose the most difficult music to record.

Jeremy - I have looked up the Laurent Martin recording of Alkan's Esquisses and find it to be a lovely recording both in the playing and in the recording ( thanks for th tip ). My friend at one time had Martin playing The Alkan 25 Preludes and I found it to be too slowly played for my liking and unfortunately that kind of made me shy away from anything Martin did but I have found a new interest in him again ( thank you Idagio ).I think I shall record some of his stuff onto my desktop this weekend. Have I ever mentioned to any of you how to get recordings for free ( after you have paid for the App though ) . This is an App called Sound Tap which you download onto your PC then open whichever streaming app you use and record what is playing through "for me it's Idagio" and once the stream is finished you have a facimile of the stream and I can't hear a difference between the stream and the recording. It also saves you downloding crappy Mp3 files from dodgy sites.