Best PIANO recording I have ever heard

Dmason · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 Oct 2006, 12:56 pm »

Dick Hyman Plays Ellington. --Reference Recordings-- Direct to disk, this is a sweetheart album. The microtonalities of the Bosendorfer Imperial are such that it is a new piano experience. And I play piano. Highly recommended.

Robert57 · « **Reply #21 on:** 17 Oct 2006, 03:19 pm »

I also loved the David Fund "The Piano--Journey from Hubris to Humility". For both performance quality and reconding quality, this is an amazing CD. Great suggestion! I will certainly will get the companion "Conversations" CD.

Another recent piano piece I really liked is the new two-disc Keith Jarrett "The Carnegie Hall Concert", by ECM. Also a terrific performance in its range of styles, moods, and improvizational virtuosity. And the recording quality is also excellent, as I generally find to be the case with ECM CD's. Unfortunately, the tracks are separated by enthusiastic applause, which consumes over 20 minutes on these two CD's.

Soundbitten · « **Reply #22 on:** 17 Oct 2006, 04:16 pm »

ctviggen · « **Reply #23 on:** 18 Oct 2006, 11:35 am »

Darn! These are not in the Freed DB database, which means that I manually have to enter the data.

TIC · « **Reply #24 on:** 23 Oct 2006, 08:57 pm »

I picked up the other David Fung CD "The Piano-A Journey From Hubris to Humanilty". It arrived today and I must say it sounds great! All 3 of the Yarlung CDs are very good IMHO. The piano, on both of "The Piano" disks, sounds great.

If you like classical piano, get the 2 David Fung CD from Yarlung Records. If you like chamber music, pick up the Janaki String Trio CD.

These are also great for newbies to classical. They are pretty easy to listen to vs. some more complex stuff.

I must also say, "Great Job!", to Bob Attiyeh for the excellent sound on these CDs. I wish all music was recorded this well. I happily paid my hard earned money to this guy and this company for providing such a nice sounding catalog (if you can call 3 records a catalog) of CDs.

Buy them and feel good that you are promoting something worthy of your cash!

Enjoy,

TIC

gmontem · « **Reply #25 on:** 27 Oct 2006, 06:24 pm »

Quote from: S Clark on 13 Oct 2006, 12:32 am

Duetche Grammaphon with Sviatislav Richter playing the Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto and a group of preludes. Won the Grande Prix award in the '60s. Excellent recording with virtuosity that even Horowitz could only dream of.

Are you talking about this recording? Or are you talking about this recording available at Amazon? I'm guessing those two CDs contain the same Rachmaninov recording.

I love Rachmaninov's second piano concerto and currently own SACDs of the RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence recordings. Now I have this urge to seek out Richter's performance. Thanks.

S Clark · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 Oct 2006, 01:40 am »

Well this is the performance with Stanislaw Wislocki conducting but not the recording. My experience is that the cd (mine is a different DG) just doesn't quite raise my goosebumps like the vinyl. Regardless, buy it and listen. It is really hard to beat Richter when he is at his best playing Russian material.

S Clark · « **Reply #27 on:** 28 Oct 2006, 01:46 am »

Oops. I answered without reading thoroughly. I have three copies of the DG vinyl (-absolutely the best) and the cd version offered by Amazon (the Concerto is the same, but the preludes have been replaced- great performance, but just not quite the same sense of presence). The other cd, although it is the same performance, I have not heard- but I would like to

to see if it captures that sparkle that seems a bit dulled by the other cd. Again, regardless, Richter is Rachmoninoff at his most powerful interpretation.

Orf · « **Reply #28 on:** 28 Oct 2006, 01:47 am »

I agree concerning Richter.
Thomas Ades, the composer, has a terrific album playing the piano music of other composers. Not sure of the recording quality as I'm listening to it for the first time on my computer, but it is damn fine music.

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #29 on:** 1 Feb 2007, 12:51 am »

Greetings! I finally had the pleasure of meeting the famous John Casler at last weekend's Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society meeting. It was fun to thank him for starting this posting. Naturally I appreciated it!

Since John posted his opinion last September, I have happy news to report. Janaki String Trio made their successful Carnegie debut two weeks ago in Weill Hall, and David Fung will likely be invited to return to the Edinburgh Festival in two seasons. I feel privileged to work with this caliber of musician.

Since the thread of this discussion included your favorite piano recordings, I'd like to mention two. (As a disclaimer, I know neither of these musicians personally, nor have I had I anything to do with these recordings).

One is the EMI release for Argentine pianist Sergio Tiempo. He is apparently a protegee of Martha Argerich, and his playing shows definite similarities. Pictures at an Exhibition may not be your favorite work, as it is not mine, but this performance was riveting. Sergio Tiempo's Chopin is good, and his Gaspar de la nuit is second to none. Very well produced by David Groves in London's Henry Wood Hall.

A second is Keith Johnson's recent release for Joel Fan, titled World Keys. Included on this recording is a Nocturne by Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe. Worth the purchase of the album for this track alone. And Keith's engineering is always Keith's engineering, which means the sound is excellent.

Thanks to all of you,

Bob

Bob Attiyeh
Yarlung Records
www.yarlungrecords.com

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #30 on:** 16 Aug 2007, 04:11 pm »

I had the good fortune to meet Martin Perlich, a famous radio host a while back, and we were talking about the Liszt B-Minor piano concerto. He played David Fung's on the air (from his first Yarlung Records release), and after the program shared some of his other favorites with me.

Yundi Li is a performer I have yet to hear live. I missed a concert he gave this past season in Walt Disney Concert Hall, and I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Regardless, he has a new disc available on DGG, and it includes the Liszt B-Minor sonata. Very different from Davids, different from Argerich, Horowitz, and the rest. And yet very good. Refreshing to hear someone so young play so well and maturely.

I recommend this album to any of you looking for another B-Minor sonata for your collection. The album is titled simply "Yundi Li: Liszt."

I realize I should try to find the newer thread. Please forgive me, I'm new to this group.

Bob.

Premuda · « **Reply #31 on:** 20 Aug 2007, 06:51 pm »

[quote author=

I love Rachmaninov's second piano concerto and currently own SACDs of the RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence recordings. Now I have this urge to seek out Richter's performance. Thanks.

[/quote]

Got them all(Van Cliburn,Richter and Janis) and my favorit will be
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
Performed by London Symphony Orchestra
with Byron Janis
Conducted by Antal Dorati

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
Performed by Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
with Byron Janis
Conducted by Antal Dorati

Prelude for piano No.7 in E flat major, Op. 23/6
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
with Byron Janis

Prelude for piano No.1 in C sharp minor ("The Bells of Moscow"), Op. 3/2
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
with Byron Janis

dhrab · « **Reply #32 on:** 20 Aug 2007, 08:24 pm »

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Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #33 on:** 21 Aug 2007, 02:11 pm »

Dear Premuda,

I completely understand your love of Byron Janis. It is fun for me to remember that much of what I love about him is the way Wilma Cozart captured his performances on Mercury. It sounds like you have the entire collection!

Bob.

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #34 on:** 24 Aug 2007, 05:34 pm »

Greetings to you. Since John Casler brought the fabulous David Fung to Audio Circle's attention, I thought it would be fun to include some of David's fans in an upcoming live recording session for him. We are inviting a few audiophile friends to join us in Los Angeles on the evening of August 31st.

We are not going to start and stop and treat the concert portion like a recording session, so we will be able to enjoy the performance as if it were a concert.

Some of you were able to join us in 2006 when I produced the debut album for Janaki String Trio. This year, I am very much looking forward to working again with David. Australian pianist David Fung has just returned from a series of concerts in the Netherlands, and returns to Europe for more concerts in Scotland and Belgium in a few weeks. I produced David's first two albums in 2005 and 2006.

Yarlung Artists is a 501(c)3 public charity. We support young classical musicians as they begin their international concert careers by creating debut albums and by helping to facilitate management with the finest agents in New York and Europe.

If you are interested, please email me privately, with "David Fung" in the subject line. I will then send directions and further information. Depending on how many people want to participate, you will be sitting on stage with us, not in the hall itself, and I need to know exactly how many chairs to arrange.

I hope to see some of you soon!

Sincerely,

Bob Attiyeh

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #35 on:** 25 Aug 2007, 03:59 pm »

For those of you coming to our live recording session on Friday, I wanted to post the anticipated repertoire for the concert:

If you already have David's recordings you will be familiar with the Rachmaninov, Ravel and Scarlatti. Live these are different pieces, of course. David's version of La Valse is his transcription from the full orchestral score. The Four Hands version wasn't complete enough for him!

We'll take a short break in the middle to retune.

Looking forward to seeing you Friday!

D. Scarlatti: Two Sonatas in D minor, KP 32/L 423 and K 141/L 422
Mozart: Rondo in F Major, K. 494
Rachmaninov: Six Preludes, Op. 32/8-13
Messiaen: Ile de Feu 1
Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Op. 126
Ravel: La Valse

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #36 on:** 27 May 2009, 05:03 pm »

David Fung has no end of success in his young life, and doubtless this will continue. Since Evening Conversations, which Jon Casler reviewed at the top of this post, David now has four albums with Yarlung Records, two solo albums, and two in collaboration with 'cellist Elinor Frey (Dialoghi and Inner World).

Take a look at this recent review in the Los Angeles Times following his Ravel concerto perfomrnace with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra:

Alicia Kibbey writes in the Los Angeles Times: "David Fung is exceptionally good. After having heard Martha Argerich perform the Ravel Concerto with the Phil last month [this was the Los Angeles Philharmonic], I was sure Fung would appear lackluster to our beloved Martha. Instead, his performance outshone hers in rhythmic excitement, orchestral ensemble (partly due to Carneiro's expressive conducting), and in the nuancing of the solo passages throughout. I must add, however, that Martha had the same youthful exuberance as the 25 year-old. There are few young pianists that have the unassuming charisma, charm and natural talent of Fung, and he will certainly be welcomed back by his audience in Los Angeles."

Bravo David! Please do return for more concerts in Los Angeles soon.

Best wishes,

Bob Attiyeh
www.yarlungrecords.com

BobM · « **Reply #37 on:** 27 May 2009, 05:29 pm »

How about a few best piano recording recommendations specifically on VINYL? Jim (HOGG) brought one over to my place a month ago and it was superb, but I didn;t write down what it was (damn).

Thanks,
Bob

Bob Attiyeh · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 May 2009, 11:19 pm »

Dear Bob M,

I have an unlikely recommendation for you, from a label not usually associated with great sound, or great piano. This is the Pogorelich recording of Bach's 2nd and 3rd "English Suites" on DGG. Worse yet, this is a digital recording. But this team accomplished something special, at least on a good pressing. The pressings vary, of course. The catalog number is 415 480-1. Pogorelich always pushes the envelope. I would prefer to listen to Orion Weiss play Bach on any day. But the ways in which Pogorelich pushes the envelope often intrigue me.

Happy vinyl hunting!

Bob.

Randy · « **Reply #39 on:** 2 Jun 2009, 10:54 pm »

This CD played by Boris Giltburg is sensational. I know, another Pictures, but this is one is right near the top of available performances. But the recorded sound, is just great, one of EMI's best productions.
Unaccountably, or maybe not given the current state of the recording industry, this is still his only available recital on CD.

http://www.amazon.com/Mussorgsky-Pictures-Exhibition-Scriabin-Prokofiev/dp/B000F5GOJ6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1243982918&sr=8-3