BaL 12.04.14 - Schubert: Impromptus D899

[vinteuil]

... two more :

Melvyn Tan, fortepiano after Nanette Streicher 1814, on a virgin veritas twofer

Jan Vermeulen, fortepiano by Nannette Streicher 1826, on the et'cetera label.

[verismissimo]

I find much charm in the intimacy of the version recorded by Peter Katin on a square piano...

Me too Micky. But I'm not going to ditch Brendel (Vox), Schiff (Hungaroton) or Uchida any time soon!

[Keraulophone]

I would love to hear Richter playing the g flat major Impromptu, but alas it is not going to happen!

Is this genuine, I wonder?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMtrfVlMVY
Complete with incorrect bass line in bar 5.

[Barbirollians]

Is this genuine, I wonder?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMtrfVlMVY
Complete with incorrect bass line in bar 5.

Could it be from here ?

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Melodiya/MELCD1002231

[aeolium]

I very much liked the Gieseking recording of the two sets, which I first heard in the 1970s. It was reissued on CD on the Theorema label in the 1990s but I am not sure it would count as being available for the purposes of BaL.

Apart from that, I'm keen on the first Brendel and Lupu, though there are a lot in EA's list which I have not heard.

[MickyD]

... two more :

Melvyn Tan, fortepiano after Nanette Streicher 1814, on a virgin veritas twofer

Jan Vermeulen, fortepiano by Nannette Streicher 1826, on the et'cetera label.

Have you heard the Orkis version, Vinteuil? Which fortepiano version is your favourite? I seem to recall you waxing very lyrical over Vermeulen some time ago.

[vinteuil]

Have you heard the Orkis version, Vinteuil? Which fortepiano version is your favourite? I seem to recall you waxing very lyrical over Vermeulen some time ago.

... 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



.

.

[Barbirollians]

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.

[silvestrione]

Ah yes, I think I have that disc in an earlier incarnation, and it is just 2 and 4.
I would love to hear Richter playing the g flat major Impromptu, but alas it is not going to happen!

By an amazing coincidence, I was in Travis and Emery yesterday, the small music shop in an arcade off Charing Cross Road, and came across a second hand Sviatoslav Richter CD from DOREMI which does indeed have a live performance of Impromptu D.899 no. 3! My favoured Richter discography on trovar.com does not list it. It's said to be from Budapest August 27 1967. A different one from the youtube version and the Melodiya one? I have not yet checked for the incorrect bass.

Anyway, it does look like I was wrong (as usual!), and I now look forward to finding a Richter performance of Brahms PC1 and Beethoven PC4!

[gurnemanz]

By an amazing coincidence, I was in Travis and Emery yesterday, the small music shop in an arcade off Charing Cross Road, and came across a second hand Sviatoslav Richter CD from DOREMI which does indeed have a live performance of Impromptu D.899 no. 3! My favoured Richter discography on trovar.com does not list it. It's said to be from Budapest August 27 1967. A different one from the youtube version and the Melodiya one? I have not yet checked for the incorrect bass.

Anyway, it does look like I was wrong (as usual!), and I now look forward to finding a Richter performance of Brahms PC1 and Beethoven PC4!

Another small coincidence that you should happen to mention that shop. On Sunday we were on our way from an Italian restaurant in Panton Street (Nonna's Kitchen) to ROH for Jonas Kaufmann in Winterreise and happened to go down that small street and I commented to my wife that I didn't remember noticing the shop before. It was closed. Next time I'll go in.

[verismissimo]

... I'm generally a big fan of the Vermeulen - for the sonatas I usually go to him...

Vermeulen Op 90 Impromptus - purchased. Thanks, vinteuil.

[waldo]

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.

As much as I admire Perahia (especially in Mozart and Chopin), I really don't enjoy his Schubert. It sounds dull and unconvincing to my ears; totally lacking in interest.

As for Brendel - I have never understood his appeal in any repertoire. What do his many fans find in his playing that I don't? It is a mystery. Ditto, for his curly haired disciple, Paul Lewis.

Overall, I think it has to be Lupu for D899.

[vinteuil]

Vermeulen Op 90 Impromptus - purchased. Thanks, vinteuil.

... I find that Vermeulen has recorded these twice!

There is the recording which is part of vol 2 of the Works on the et'cetera label, with a Nannette Streicher of 1826, coupled with D935, D894, D568.

And an earlier (?) recording, vol 1 of the Works on the vanguard label, with a Johann Nepomuk Tröndlin of 1825, coupled with D845.

I haven't got the latter - but will soon find a way to get it....

[Barbirollians]

As much as I admire Perahia (especially in Mozart and Chopin), I really don't enjoy his Schubert. It sounds dull and unconvincing to my ears; totally lacking in interest.

As for Brendel - I have never understood his appeal in any repertoire. What do his many fans find in his playing that I don't? It is a mystery. Ditto, for his curly haired disciple, Paul Lewis.

Overall, I think it has to be Lupu for D899.

I am sorry for your ears. I would have described Perahia's playing as the exact opposite of your statement .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Noting the use of the term "fortepiano" when referring to period instruments, it does seem that this terminology aids understanding in discussions, but the term itself was not in widespread use at the time of those instruments' construction.
Clementi published - Sei Sonate per clavicembalo o pianoforte, not Sei Sonate per clavicembalo o fortepiano. He sold pianofortes, that soon became known as Clementi Pianos, not Clementi Fortes.

Take the following quotation from Jane Austen's Emma:

Mrs. Cole was telling that she had been calling on Miss Bates, and as soon as she entered the room had been struck by the sight of a pianoforte - a very elegant looking instrument - not a grand, but a large-sized square pianoforte; and the substance of the story, the end of all the dialogue which ensued of surprise and enquiry, and congratulations on her side, and explanations on Mis Bates's, was, that this pianoforte had arrived from Broadwood's the day before, to the great astonishment of bot aunt and niece - entirely unexpected; that at first, by Miss Bates's account, Jane herself was quite at a loss, quite bewildered to think who could possibly have ordered it - but now, they were both perfectly satisfied that it could be from only one quarter; - of course it must be from Colonel Campbell.

A very long sentence too!
Are there examples of the use of the word "fortepiano" in the literature of the period?