In the mid-seventies Fred Rzewski gave several concerts in the
Woodstock area, under the auspices of the Creative Music Studio. I heard
him play two programs a few days apart consisting of Beethoven's
"Hammerklavier" Sonata and "The People United," both on rather inferior
pianos but both quite amazing. A couple of years ago Rzewski returned to
our area and played the "Hammerklavier" again in recital at Bard
College. Unfortunately he is now improvising on Beethoven rather than
playing it, and his long improvised interludes merely diluted the music
instead of adding anything to it. He is still an amazing pianist but
perhaps a bit less amazing than he was 25 years ago.
Leslie Gerber

atanin@... wrote:
>
> I too am curious about Hamelin's "The People United...", since I think highly
of the piece and have been somewhat less impressed with Hamelin's musicianship
despite his astounding facility. More specifically, I would like to hear about
what he did with the "free" part for the pianist, which is why Rzewski himself
on hat ART CD 6066 (CD) is longer by twelve minutes or so than Ursula Oppens on
Vanguard 08 8056-71(CD).
>
> It is a shame that Rzewski hasn't recorded much but if you ever find a copy of
Stradivarius STR 10044(CD), snap it up for the best account I've ever heard of
Boulez' First Sonata from one of his live recitals in 1961.
>
> Ates Tanin
>
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At 03:35 99/03/07 -0000, atanin@... wrote:
> I too am curious about Hamelin's "The People United...", since I think highly
> of the piece and have been somewhat less impressed with Hamelin's
musicianship
> despite his astounding facility. More specifically, I would like to hear
about
> what he did with the "free" part for the pianist, which is why Rzewski
himself
> on hat ART CD 6066 (CD) is longer by twelve minutes or so than Ursula
Oppens on
> Vanguard 08 8056-71(CD).

According to one Japanese Hamelin fan who was at his Tokyo concert,
the "free part" sounded like a requiem. A Japanese television station
taped the entire concert. But apparently only excerpts will be used.

Among the existing commercial recordings available of "The People United..,",
which is the best?  As Rzewski is due to give some concerts in Tokyo in April,
I expect recordings of the work will be in CD stores here before too long.  Kin



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I too am curious about Hamelin's "The People United...", since I think highly of
the piece and have been somewhat less impressed with Hamelin's musicianship
despite his astounding facility. More specifically, I would like to hear about
what he did with the "free" part for the pianist, which is why Rzewski himself
on hat ART CD 6066 (CD) is longer by twelve minutes or so than Ursula Oppens on
Vanguard 08 8056-71(CD).

It is a shame that Rzewski hasn't recorded much but if you ever find a copy of
Stradivarius STR 10044(CD), snap it up for the best account I've ever heard of
Boulez' First Sonata from one of his live recitals in 1961.

Ates Tanin

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Preferring my Chopin more 'Teutonic' than 'Sissy', to quote a recent entry
from one Richter list member, I find myself drawn only very selectively to
his music, with the Ballades and b minor Sonata the only ones of his works
to stand out for me among God's greatest gifts.
While I find a number of recorded interpretations of the Ballades to be
fully satisfying, including those of Cortot, Richter and Ax, I have yet to
feel the power of the b minor Sonata in any recording I have heard.
I welcome suggestions from fellow list members as to outstanding
interpretations of this monumental work. Please annotate your preferences.
Thank you very much.
Leslie Mantrone

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"Matthew S. Joffe" wrote:

> Does anyone have a detailed discography of Michelangeli, including LPs,
> CDs and live performances that goes beyond the web version?

	 There was a fairly good one published in Italy as part of a gigantic
book (in Italian) devoted to ABM.  It included LPs, CDs, Japanese only
releases, and videos.  I don't know if it is still available.  It was
published by the same people that run Ermitage.  Maybe an Italian
contributor can provide further information.

> Can anyone shed some light on the French pianist, Raymond Trouard? I
> have a number of his recordings (he recorded mostly for French Odeon
> with reissues on European Columbias). He is known for his Liszt and
> Chopin and was recorded live in Contemporary French music as late as
> 1962. Other than that, I know very else.

	 I don't know that much about him.  I got interested in him after
several of his recordings were singled out by the late Jan Holcman in
his "Honor Roll of Recorded Chopin" and in his similarly titled list of
Liszt recordings.  Trouard studied with Victor Staub and Emil von
Sauer.  I've got a few of his records but he made so many that it would
be dificult to track them all down.

Farhan

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Greetings:

Does anyone have a detailed discography of Michelangeli, including LPs,
CDs and live performances that goes beyond the web version?

Can anyone shed some light on the French pianist, Raymond Trouard? I
have a number of his recordings (he recorded mostly for French Odeon
with reissues on European Columbias). He is known for his Liszt and
Chopin and was recorded live in Contemporary French music as late as
1962. Other than that, I know very else.

Matthew S. Joffe


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> I am intrigued to read that Hamelin is playing Rzewski's "The People
> United Will Never Be Defeated." Since I first heard Rzewski himself
> playing that piece twice in the late 1970s (both in small venues in
> upstate New York) I've thought it is one of the great piano masterpieces
> since Bartok. I'd love to hear Hamelin play it.
> Leslie Gerber

He played the Rzewski work at one of his two recitals in Tokyo this
January. From the reactions I saw, he gave it a rather Romantic gloss.
Thanks to Hamelin, what meagre stocks of CD there were in Tokyo of
the Rzewski work were snapped up by Japanese fans of Hamelin, who
wanted to "study" the music ahead of the concert.  Kin




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I am intrigued to read that Hamelin is playing Rzewski's "The People
United Will Never Be Defeated." Since I first heard Rzewski himself
playing that piece twice in the late 1970s (both in small venues in
upstate New York) I've thought it is one of the great piano masterpieces
since Bartok. I'd love to hear Hamelin play it.
Leslie Gerber

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Hamelin gave two concerts here in Tokyo not long ago. I did not attend
either of them but have seen many reactions to the recitals from those
who did. My impression is that people seem to prefer his performances of
lesser or little known works such as the massive Rzewski "The People United
Will Never Be Defeated", or his Medtner and Alkan than his interpretations
of Mozart or Rachmaninoff.

> Hamelin's Medtner sonatas are phenomenal. New to Medtner, I don't know how
> much of this is Medtner, and how much Hamelin, but the combination is truly
> special.

I agree that Hamelin's Medtner is magical. But he sounds like he uses
too much pedal in his recordings. I also feel he is often more interested
in the overall architecture of a piece than in the music itself.

> May I add that, in the Medtner recorded by both Hamelin and Demidenko, I
> prefer Demidenko. Where both pianists maintain a tremendous sense of line
> and sonority in studio-clean execution - which includes limited pedal,
> which I welcome as a personal preference - , Demidenko's sound is fuller
> and offers a greater immediacy, often helpful in these very long and
> intricate works.

I too prefer the Demidenko, who seems to have a wider tonal palette
and a more dramatic view of these works.

Kin


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A long portrait of Rosalyn Tureck and review of her new recording of the
Goldberg Variations (in French) at:
http://www.liberation.fr/quotidien/semaine/990304jeuzb.html

Robert Gray
Kinograph, Montreal

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Hamelin's Medtner sonatas are phenomenal. New to Medtner, I don't know how
much of this is Medtner, and how much Hamelin, but the combination is truly
special. How could Richter have avoided this music so tailor-made for his
interpretive skills?! (This is as much a question as a statement - does
anybody know WHY Richter performed none of Medtner's work - other than one
about-to-be-released performance of Medtner's first violin sonata? Was
Medtner's work inaccessible or discouraged in the USSR in the 1940's and
1950's, during which Richter developed his phenomenal repertoire, since
Medtner was an early emigree from the USSR?)

May I add that, in the Medtner recorded by both Hamelin and Demidenko, I
prefer Demidenko. Where both pianists maintain a tremendous sense of line
and sonority in studio-clean execution - which includes limited pedal,
which I welcome as a personal preference - , Demidenko's sound is fuller
and offers a greater immediacy, often helpful in these very long and
intricate works.

For those of you wishing to probe these Medtner pieces yourselves, the new
Dover editions include some of the most lyrical shorter works along with
the sonatas, and most of the sonatas are more accessible to the amateur
than one would infer from first listening.
----------
From: Paul Geffen <lpaul@...>
To: greatpianists@egroups.com
Subject: [Great Pianists] The new generation
Date: Tuesday, March 02, 1999 2:29 PM



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the Argerich PDU recordings currently distributed in Italy by RTI Music are:

Franck Violin Sonata w. Accardo - SC 60432
Dvorak Quintet op. 81 w. Accardo & friends - SC 60442
Schumann Quintet op. 44 w. Accardo & friends - SC 60452

Their price is around 20,000 Italian lire, about $12,00

Best to all,
alberto

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Allow me to make two predictions, one fairly obvious, the other perhaps
more of a risk.

Two young pianists are destined for lasting fame.  You have probably heard
of Marc-Andre Hamelin and I will not praise him here.  But I plan to attend
his recital in Cambridge in a few weeks.

The other has just released a debut recording on EMI and it is well worth
hearing.

His name is Aleksandar Serdar and here is what the disc contains:

GALUPPI: Sonata No.5
CHOPIN: Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op.22
MENDELSSOHN: Variations sérieuses, Op.54
BRAHMS: Waltzes, Op.39
BACH/BUSONI: Chaconne, BWV1004

EMI Debut Series
CDZ 572821

The only other recording I have of a Galuppi Sonata is by Michelangeli.
The rest of Serdar's choices are both ambitious and suggestive.  In fact
when I saw this disc it occurred to me that each item might also be a
reference to a specific pianist:
the Mendelssohn to Richter, the Bach/Busoni to Bolet, the Brahms to
Backhaus, the Chopin to Horowitz.

Has anyone else heard this disc or this artist?


Paul Geffen
Boston, Massachusetts
http://richter.simplenet.com


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Dear friends,

admirers of Martha Argerich will be glad to know that her PDU recordings, once
distributed by Emi and out of stock since some years, are now distributed, at
least in Italy by RTI Music, at budget price. From te information i gathered, it
seems all her regcordings are back in catalogue - but still they're quite hard
to find because RTI almost exclusively deals with pop.
I'll try to be more precise later.
ciao
a

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Soeren Moerup writes:

"After searching in vain for a decade for a consistently spellbinding
interpretation of the Beethoven piano/cello sonatas, I settled, somewhat
surprised, on Fournier/Kempff, as the only set that did some justice to
this glorious literature. The sound is so lyrical, so loving, and, the
surprise, so full of soaring energy." Going on to say, or quote, It is
easy to dismiss for instance the Fournier / Kempff recording of the
Beethoven sonatas as "light weight" compared to Rostropovich / Richter.

While having no problem what-so-ever with the Fournier/Kempff live
recording of the five Beethoven 'Cello and Piano Sonatas I would hardly
call them either "light weight" or describe them as the only game in
town. Fouriner's earlier sets, first with Schnabel and later Gulda are
nothing to turn up one's nose at. Other CD sets that I find, for the
most part, extremly satisfying are, in no particular order,
Piatigorsky/Solmon (just re-released on Testament),Janigro/Demus,
Casals/Serkin and earlier Casals/Horszowski for four of the five with
Otto Schulhof doing the honors in in opus 69, and Tortelier/Eric
Heidsieck. The more contemporary sets I find for the most part just
plain dull and/or uninteresting although
Miklos Perenyi/Dezo Ranki have their strong points on Hungaroton. The
comments directed aganist the "studio" Rostropovich/Richter are a
personal view not universally shared including myself. The live
"Aldeburghs" probably should read Edinburgh, from the early 1960's
available on DOREMI are something of a find but not necessarily at the
expense of the studio version.

I would close out with two observations. First, there are individual
performances of some of the sonatas floating around that are very good,
Rose/Istomin for example. Just because someone didn't record the cycle
doesn't mean that what they did record is less valid and secondly, great
music can, and should be subjected to a multiplicity of views. It makes
life and listening just that much more interesting.

Peter Schenkman, Toronto, Canada



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Dear Soeren and others,

I was lucky enough to have the original LP of the Mozart works you asked
about.

I found them on CD about 3 years ago in Switzerland, on one disk of a
2-CD box DG 435 496-2, which is part of a 5-CD set "Hommage à Wilhelm
Kempff", DG 435 495-2. I was told that the Mozart disk was available
only as part of that 5-CD set.

The situation may have changed by now, or be different in other parts of
the world.

Cordially,

Tom Best



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After searching in vain for a decade for a consistently spellbinding
interpretation of the Beethoven piano/cello sonatas, I settled, somewhat
surprised, on Fournier/Kempff, as the only set that did some justice to
this glorious literature. The sound is so lyrical, so loving, and, the
surprise, so full of soaring energy.
I have always been baffled as to why the Rostropovich/Richter studio set
leaves me so cold. Everything I love about Richter, usually my favorite
pianist, is absent. No warmth, no flow, it is almost as if they were just
going through the motions.
Recent script relating to the recent release of the live Aldeburghs tends
to agree with me, and explain why.
The live Aldeburghs are everything I knew these pieces could be. It is
Rostropovich and Richter at their absolutely most godlike, and bringing out
the mighty beauty of Beethoven at every turn. Sufficiently nuanced to keep
one totally focused, and yet never distracting from Beethoven, these
performances raise the bar on these pieces to a whole new level.
Yes, Soeren, I'll take Fournier/Kempff over the studio Rostropovich/Richter
any day, but you MUST hear the recently released live R/R set.

----------
> From: Soeren Moerup <smoerup@...>
> To: greatpianists@egroups.com
> Subject: [Great Pianists] Re: Kempff
> Date: Saturday, February 27, 1999 7:37 AM
>
>
> Something extraordinary about Kempff is his ability to express
> profundity at rather brisk tempi, eg late Beethoven
>  - some pianists try to sound profound by playing in a slow, solemn
> manner. It doesn't work though, if the pianist lacks the intellectual
> grasp of the music he plays. It is easy to dismiss for instance the
> Fournier / Kempff recording of the Beethoven sonatas as "light
> weight" compared to Rostropovich / Richter - But if one
> pays attention, such an observation proves to be a mistake (IMHO).
>
> However I do agree that Kempff's Beethoven sonatas a less immediately
> involving than many other interpretations. They can seem more or less
> "main stream". However I find that his interpretations are not a case
> of a pianist, who doesn't know what he actually wants and thus plays
> the sonatas in an "ordinary" fashion. His views are (generally
> speaking) well considered views.
>
> P.S. Kempff recorded two Mozart sonatas (K 310 in a and 331 in A) and
> two fantasias (K 397(?) in d and 475 in c) for DG (around 1960 I
> think). Does anyone know, if apart from K 397 any of these
> recordings have been reissued on CD?
>
>
> Soeren H. Moerup, Denmark
>
> ______________________________________________________
>
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The critic Tim Page and I once had a discussion about various complete
recordings of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, shortly after the second
Barenboim set was released. We agreed that Barenboim DG was the worst
set we'd ever heard, with Barenboim EMI close behind.
Leslie Gerber

Nicholas Fox wrote:
>
> What does anyone think of Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven? I just got his
> versions of the Op. 27 and Op. 28 sonatas and I didn't like them at all.
> However, it was from his second, Deutsche Grammophon cycle. I hear that his
> first EMI cycle is one of the great ones. Opinions anyone?
>                            Thanks, Nick Fox
>
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What does anyone think of Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven? I just got his
versions of the Op. 27 and Op. 28 sonatas and I didn't like them at all.
However, it was from his second, Deutsche Grammophon cycle. I hear that his
first EMI cycle is one of the great ones. Opinions anyone?
                            Thanks, Nick Fox




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To those of you who play as well as listen to piano music, I ask:
Is anybody aware of internet site(s) from which one can purchase sheet
music?
Not just mainstream stuff, but harder to find titles such as Medtner's
Skazi, and some Miaskowsky sonatas. Thanks for whatever you can provide.


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Something extraordinary about Kempff is his ability to express
profundity at rather brisk tempi, eg late Beethoven
  - some pianists try to sound profound by playing in a slow, solemn
manner. It doesn't work though, if the pianist lacks the intellectual
grasp of the music he plays. It is easy to dismiss for instance the
Fournier / Kempff recording of the Beethoven sonatas as "light
weight" compared to Rostropovich / Richter - But if one
pays attention, such an observation proves to be a mistake (IMHO).

However I do agree that Kempff's Beethoven sonatas a less immediately
involving than many other interpretations. They can seem more or less
"main stream". However I find that his interpretations are not a case
of a pianist, who doesn't know what he actually wants and thus plays
the sonatas in an "ordinary" fashion. His views are (generally
speaking) well considered views.

P.S. Kempff recorded two Mozart sonatas (K 310 in a and 331 in A) and
two fantasias (K 397(?) in d and 475 in c) for DG (around 1960 I
think). Does anyone know, if apart from K 397 any of these
recordings have been reissued on CD?


Soeren H. Moerup, Denmark

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When I was in college, I listened to Kempff's recording of Beethoven's Op. 14,
No. 1 because I was studying the piece. I thought I could play the music better
than that. For years I didn't bother listening to him because of that stiffk,
inexpressive performance. It turns out, now, to be an anomaly, one of the few
weak performances in that series. As a Brahms player Kempff is magnificent. In
other music he is uneven. But judged by his best he is a great artist.
Leslie Gerber

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I've read a note somewhere that Pogorelich declined to be included in the latest
Philips' edition.
Anybody has some information about that? What was the source of that story?
Do you think he belongs there?
Thanks,

Branimir Pofuk

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Anyone who is a fan of old giants of the keyboard, eg. Rubinstein, Arrau,
Richter, or one of the greatest conductors, Fritz Reiner, is welcome to join my
mailing list, Moosic.

For more info, visit http://www.egroups.com/list/moosic or
http://www.accelerate.org/moosic

To subscribe, send an email to moosic-subscribe@egroups.com

Thanks very much for your attention.

--
Lin Xiu Min
[pianoboy@...]


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I've read a note somewhere that Pogorelich declined to be included in the latest
Philips' edition.
Anybody has some information about that? What was the source of that story?
Do you think he belongs there?
Thanks,

Branimir Pofuk
----------


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Now that there are thirty members in this email group it is time to start a
lively discussion.

I have found that one of the most controversial of the great pianists is
Wilhelm Kempff.  Why is this?  Is his playing out of fashion?  Is it bad?
Is it dull?

I find his interpretations to be dry and detached but I like to listen,
especially in Bach.  Many listeners, however, do not enjoy his playing at all.

Let's hear some opinions.


Paul Geffen
Boston, Massachusetts
http://richter.simplenet.com


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In case you didn't know, there is a fairly complete discography of Kempff,
compiled by Frank Forman, on my site:

http://www.richter.simplenet.com/Kempff.html

It is almost four years old, ancient for the web, and doesn't include
recent CD reissues of early recordings.

For example, Dante has released many of the his early Beethoven Sonata
recordings.  I have the first volme of the series, which includes the
Hammerklavier and opus 111 from 1936. I don't know how far Dante has gone
with their Kempff series.

Although it is not high on my list of priorities, I will at some point
update the Kempff page.  All contributions are welcome.


Paul Geffen
Boston, Massachusetts
http://richter.simplenet.com


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