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Best Piano Recordings

Currently listening to this. It’s a good recording (Pentatone is usually solid), but I really want to emphasize the performer. I heard him live on Sunday night (playing Liszt “Funerailles” and Faure’s Piano Quartet #2 in G minor) and he’s excellent. Really give it his all - whatever the opposite of “mailing it in” is, he’s it.


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I had never heard of him until recently, when I listened to a fantastic performance him with Alisa Weilerstein playing Rachmaninoff and Chopin.

Qobuz

Listen to your music in high quality ui
play.qobuz.com play.qobuz.com
It's an excellent recording too!
 
This is a pretty good recording (low level, relatively). It’s interesting to compare different versions of the last movement of the Chopin Piano Sonata #2. 90 Seconds of timelessly modern music ending on a chord that suggest Beethoven. Artists come at it differently - it only has one pedal marking at the end, but most pianists will say you are supposed to know when to use the pedal, not be a slave to the score.


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Markus Schirmer - Pictures at An Exhibition

Great Dynamics (needs Full-Range Speakers) ;)..

iu
 
I'll be the one to disagree. I find most modern pianos very well recorded. Whether the mic is very close or many feet away or whether you're a child laying under a grand piano as it is played, the different tones all sound wonderful to me. My least favorite is when I'm sitting in the cheap seats in a concert hall.

Moravec was the long time standard-bearer for Chopin Nocturnes. I prefer the Ultima Nonesuch mastering to the later Supraphon. But I prefer Maria Joao Pires (DG or Decca, the same recording from Universal) even though the recording venue exhibits a lot of reflection/reverb.

As to the Waldstein, I always imagined that Martha Argerich's style would be perfect for it. It's sad that the only thing that remains are traces of a 1970 NHK Tokyo broadcast instead of a bona fide studio recording. She was her usual fiery self a she was in her prime in the late 60's and 70's.

 
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bkdc said:
I'll be the one to disagree. I find most modern pianos very well recorded. Whether the mic is very close or many feet away or whether you're a child laying under a grand piano as it is played, the different tones all sound wonderful to me. My least favorite is when I'm sitting in the cheap seats in a concert hall.

Moravec was the long time standard-bearer for Chopin Nocturnes. I prefer the Ultima Nonesuch mastering to the later Supraphon. But I prefer Maria Joao Pires (DG or Decca, the same recording from Universal) even though the recording venue exhibits a lot of reflection/reverb.

As to the Waldstein, I always imagined that Martha Argerich's style would be perfect for it. It's sad that the only thing that remains are traces of a 1970 NHK Tokyo broadcast instead of a bona fide studio recording. She was her usual fiery self a she was in her prime in the late 60's and 70's.

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There's another gal who's something else in the Waldstein:

 
bkdc said:
Moravec was the long time standard-bearer for Chopin Nocturnes. I prefer the Ultima Nonesuch mastering to the later Supraphon. But I prefer Maria Joao Pires (DG or Decca, the same recording from Universal) even though the recording venue exhibits a lot of reflection/reverb.
Click to expand...
I don't think I've heard the Nocturnes by MJP, but I agree, she is a wonderful pianist, so I'll put them on my list.

Speaking of Nocturnes, I have had the John O'Conor and Benjamin Frith versions of the John Field nocturnes for a long time and thought the music pretty, peaceful, and a bit dull. A new version on Qobuz has changed my mind. The music is still pretty and peaceful but in Elizabeth Joy Roe's playing, it is far more affecting.

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I'd like to put a word in here for Claudio Arrau, his set of Chopin's Nocturnes might be my favorite:

 
Annie Fischer sounds a little tame in comparison. It sounds lovely.

Typical Martha Argerch fiery dynamics - the range of play from delicate Chopinesque to fierce pounding fortissimo

I have every DG and EMI/Warner recording available. Would love this one.


15:00 - lovely transition into the 3rd movement
16:00 - classic Martha Argerich staccattos (sforzando). Love it. It's hard to do it better.
23:09 - glissandos.. no just super-fast fingers?
 
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bkdc said:
Annie Fischer sounds a little tame in comparison. It sounds lovely.

Typical Martha Argerch fiery dynamics - the range of play from delicate Chopinesque to fierce pounding fortissimo

I have every DG and EMI/Warner recording available. Would love this one.


15:00 - lovely transition into the 3rd movement
16:00 - classic Martha Argerich staccattos (sforzando). Love it. It's hard to do it better.
23:09 - glissandos.. no just super-fast fingers?
Click to expand...
Yes, crazy good. Glad you could share. Too bad about the source, maybe there's a de-fluttering program that can be applied. Too much flutter for me.
 
It is sad that Martha Argerich’s career was interrupted by metastatic melanoma. Whether from maturity or health the fiery trademark style characteristic of her early recordings in the late 1960s and 1970s was gone by the 1980s except maybe the crazy Chailly Rach 3 live recording. I guess I’m thankful of the DG discography that does exist. Her Liszt Sonata is still the most satisfying I have ever heard. By a large margin. I can’t say there are any pianists that I can instantly identify by ear except for Argerich because her technique and style are so unique and extraordinary. She can sustain crystal clear woodpecker-like sforzando keystrokes for bars and bars and then transitions to the most delicate almost shimmeringly light but precise keystrokes. It’s like an emotional roller coaster.
 
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this is a good one

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