BaL 12.04.14 - Schubert: Impromptus D899

[Andrew Preview]

More than a little surprised that I am the only forumite to put in a vote for Perahia .I have Brendel, Pires and Uchida too but very good as they are they seem prosaic in comparison to Perahia.

Perahia for me

[johnb]

Kempff, Lupu, Uchida and Brendel also on Spotify. Doesn't anyone else here use Spotify? (It doesn't seem to get mentioned that often.......) You can listen to about a hundred different recordings of D899 on it. It is free, if you don't mind adverts, or five quid a month if you do. I've been on a free membership for about a year and I listen to it everyday without any problem. (You can avoid adverts if you stop the track before it finishes.......) No better way of sampling music: convenient, easy to search and good quality sound. All you have to do is register - and off you go.

The Spoitify free access limits you to 160 kbps Ogg Vorbis instead of the higher quality 320 kbps you get with premium access, though some might not be bothered.

Anyone using Spotify for classical music should most definitely check that the volume normalisation is disabled in their settings (untick "Set the same volume level for all tracks").

[akiralx]

I was referring to the Eloquence set on Amazon, which clearly says in the title that it contains the 1970s analogue recordings:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BRENDEL-PLAYS-SCHUBERT-RECORDINGS-DIGITAL/dp/B005C4VHWY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396981674&sr=8-1&keywords=brendel+schubert+1970

That's interesting if so as I have always wanted to hear his analogue G major sonata D894 which has never before been reissued on CD. I have the later digital set - the D845 from that is especially superb.

[MickyD]

Kempff, Lupu, Uchida and Brendel also on Spotify. Doesn't anyone else here use Spotify? (It doesn't seem to get mentioned that often.......) You can listen to about a hundred different recordings of D899 on it. It is free, if you don't mind adverts, or five quid a month if you do. I've been on a free membership for about a year and I listen to it everyday without any problem. (You can avoid adverts if you stop the track before it finishes.......) No better way of sampling music: convenient, easy to search and good quality sound. All you have to do is register - and off you go.

Thank you waldo...as a technophobe, I have always thought that Spotify would be far too complex for me to deal with, but thanks to your post, I'm going to give it a try.

[waldo]

Thank you waldo...as a technophobe, I have always thought that Spotify would be far too complex for me to deal with, but thanks to your post, I'm going to give it a try.

I really hope you do - it is a real treasure trove and saves an awful lot of money in the long term. Once you've had a good listen to a piece, it seems to take away the itch to buy it. (As far as I can see, young people don't actually buy music anymore: they just rent access to the music through Spotify-like services.) I think you have to register using facebook, so you will have to make up a facebook account if you don't already have one. Took me about a minute

Using it couldn't be simpler: you type "Schubert" and "Impromptus" in the search box and around a hundred album front covers appear. You click on the one you want and a track list appears. Press play - and it plays. It may as well be magic.

[Sir Velo]

I was referring to the Eloquence set on Amazon, which clearly says in the title that it contains the 1970s analogue recordings:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BRENDEL-PLAYS-SCHUBERT-RECORDINGS-DIGITAL/dp/B005C4VHWY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396981674&sr=8-1&keywords=brendel+schubert+1970

This must be a mistake on Amazon's part if you say that the notes of the set state otherwise. I assumed they were the recordings I am familiar with on the Philips Duo 456-061 containing the complete Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, which I think is no longer available.

Brendel's 1970s set is available on Eloquence.

The 1980s digital set is available on a Decca box set.

The Philips Duo CDs of the Impromptus/Moments Musicaux and the Late Piano Sonatas are all available on a Decca twofer.

My preference, like DP, is strongly for the earlier analogue set. There is real poetry and drive about the playing and none of the finicky, intellectualising which some critics have found in the later Brendel.

[Don Petter]

That's interesting if so as I have always wanted to hear his analogue G major sonata D894 which has never before been reissued on CD. I have the later digital set - the D845 from that is especially superb.

Brendel's analogue D894 (recorded February 1972) has been on CD before. I have it in the 5CD box set which is 'The Art of Alfred Brendel - Volume 3 - Schubert', which was issued in 1996. The full set had five volumes, with 25 CDs (Mozart/Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and Brahms/Schumann). If you acquired the complete set in one box it included a bonus CD of Brendel's debut recording, from 1951/2, of Liszt's 'The Christmas Tree'.

The Schubert volume is basically all analogue recordings, apart from the two sonatas D537 and D664, from 1982.

[BBMmk2]

I am surprised no-one has picked up again on the Radu Lupu recording. Now on Decca legends, deservedly so!

[amateur51]

I am surprised no-one has picked up again on the Radu Lupu recording. Now on Decca legends, deservedly so!

Radu Lupu's recording is mentioned in msgs #6, 20, 44 and 45

[amateur51]

... I don't know the Orkis - perhaps I should invest? Yes, I'm generally a big fan of the Vermeulen - for the sonatas I usually go to him - or Bilson - rather than Badura-Skoda. Actually for the Impromptus my current fave is Lubimov (Matthias Müller 1810 for D899; Joseph Schantz 1830 for D935).


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PS - have decided to invest in the Viviana Sofronitsky - on the strength of her Mozart concertos



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Many thanks for alerting me to Viviana Sofronitzy's recording, vints. You pointed me towards her Mozart piano concertos and I have been grateful ever since

[MickyD]

It sounds wonderful, waldo...the only problem will be that I will spend far too much time on it!! But it is a good alternative to the rather mean extracts that you get on Amazon. I do have a Facebook account, so will definitely give it a whirl. Thanks again.

[verismissimo]

... I don't know the Orkis - perhaps I should invest? Yes, I'm generally a big fan of the Vermeulen - for the sonatas I usually go to him - or Bilson - rather than Badura-Skoda. Actually for the Impromptus my current fave is Lubimov (Matthias Müller 1810 for D899; Joseph Schantz 1830 for D935).
PS - have decided to invest in the Viviana Sofronitsky - on the strength of her Mozart concertos

Expensive post, vinteuil. Now I've also invested in the Sofronitsky Mozart concertos. Been holding off from buying such an HIP set for several years!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

On a more general note, I consider Schubert to be an exceptionally fine writer of piano music. He composed within the reasonable limits of the instrument and made it "sing" every bit as much as more exclusive piano composers like Chopin and Medtner. But in order to sing, perhaps you really need a piano with good sustaining power - large frame and long strings. Clementi pianos are fascinating, but do they really do justice to these pieces?

[vinteuil]

... are you suggesting that Schubert's music is better served by playing it on instruments unlike anything he would have encountered?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes.