BaL 1.11.14 - Chopin: Preludes Op.28

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Pianist and lecturer Kenneth Hamilton talks Andrew through recordings of Chopin's Preludes Op.28, whittling them down to come up with the must-have recommendation for your library shelves.

Available versions:

Dmitri Alexeev
Martha Argerich
Sheila Arnold
Claudio Arrau (2)
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Stefan Askenase
Yulianna Avdeeva
Daniel Barenboim
Kaoru Bingham
Idil Biret
Rafal Blechacz
Christina Bjørkøe
Nick Van Bloss
Jorge Bolet
Ferruccio Busoni (piano roll)
Shura Cherkassky
Eun Joo Chung
Jean-Philippe Collard
Alfred Cortot (2)
Halina Czerny-Stefanska (download)
Alexandra Dariescu
Jeanne-Marie Darré
Florence Delaage
Nikolai Demidenko
François-René Duchable
Akiko Ebi
Brigitte Engerer
Christoph Eschenbach
Ingrid Fliter (2)
Samson François
Nelson Freire
Elfrun Gabriel
Emil Gilels
Jakob Gimpel
Håvard Gimse
Leticia Gomez-Tagle (download)
Daniel Grimwood
Friedrich Gulda
Adam Harasiewicz
Ian Hobson (download)
Mieczyslaw Horszowski
Ivo Janssen, Anna Enquist (speaking voice) with poems by Anna Enquist
Lydia Jardon
Rudolf Kehrer
Kevin Kenner
Ben Kim
Evgeny Kissin
Alicia de Larrocha
Jean-François Latour
Robert Lortat
Louis Lortie
Nikolai Lugansky
Anna Malikova
Victor Merzhanov
Benno Moiseiwitsch
Ivan Moravec
Eugene Mursky
Pavel Nersessian
Natalia Nikolai
Garrick Ohlsson
Rebecca Penneys
Murray Perahia
Vanessa Perez
Alfredo Perl
Maria Joao Pires
Ivo Pogorelich
Maurizio Pollini
Beatrice Rana
Dezsõ Ránki (download)
Gunther Rost (organ)
Arthur Rubinstein (multiple)
Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy
Tatiana Shebanova
Yuan Sheng
Grigory Sokolov (2 versions)
Giampaolo Stuani (download)
Wojciech Switala
Alexandre Tharaud
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Daniil Trifonov
Paris Tsenikoglou
Andrew Tyson
Hélène Tysman
Vlado Perlemuter (2)
Mikhail Voskresensky
Llyr Williams
Edward Wolanin
Irina Zaritskaya (download)
Juana Zayas (download)
Haochen Zhang

[visualnickmos]

A veritable listing! I don't know how you do, but it deserves applause..... your lists are always a great reference source; and that's coming from a no-list person!

[Rolmill]

Sadly, the Seta Tanyel recording on the old Collins label is I believe nla - it is played with sensitivity and clarity (and pretty well recorded), I like it a lot.

[amateur51]

Aaah Halina Czerny-Stefanska, a name to conjure with ... if you have big hands A wonderful Chopin player, imho but sadly avaliable only as a download. I have the LP somewhere.

Tremendous list EA - it's Ingrid Fliter not Filter tho'

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Tremendous list EA - it's Ingrid Fliter not Filter tho'

I'll go through the list and Filter out the mistakes.

[tigajen]

I believe Fliter has recorded this only once,on SACD and to follow on Vinyl.Apparently too late to be reviewed in this BAL

[LeMartinPecheur]

Aaah Halina Czerny-Stefanska, a name to conjure with ... if you have big hands A wonderful Chopin player, imho but sadly avaliable only as a download. I have the LP somewhere.

A name easier to conjure with on 78s when she was merely Halina Stefanska! One random purchase from a junkshop (late 70s?) of HMV C4082 Nocturne in C# minor op27/1 and Mazurka in C# minor Op6/2 made me watch out for it.

The watching only bore fruit a year or so ago when I found in Bath's Oxfam a couple of Polskie Nagrania LPs dating originally from c1959-60, apparently part of this label's complete Chopin series, on which she plays some five Polonaises. Each LP is shared with another pianist, Jan Ekier on one and Ludwik Stefanski on the other. Never heard of either of them, which may be why I haven't yet played the discs

Does anyone else know them?

EDIT Wiki reveals that Ludwik Stafanski was Halina's husband, and one claim to fame for Ekier is that he nearly reached the age of 101. Both appear to have been great figures in C20 Polish pianism.

[BBMmk2]

I have Ashkenazy and Argerich. Should be entrralling BaL

[amateur51]

I've just seen that the reviewer is to be the splendid Kenneth Hamilton, so it'll be a real treat

[LeMartinPecheur]

Somebody clearly agrees with ams and me in thinking Halina Czerny-Stefanska a wonderful Chopin player. Look at this s/h price on the riverpeople

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-spianoato-plolnaise-brillante-Czerny-Stefanska/dp/B000025V49/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1414233035&sr=1-7&keywords=Halina+stefanska

There's also her Preludes on LP, by the look of it in the same Polskie-Nagrania series as my two LPs mentioned above. So snap it up if you can - it's only £73.60 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Preludia-Pre...lina+stefanska

And if you've still got money to burn here's her Nocturnes http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-Compl...lina+stefanska Over a hundred quid but you do get 2 CDs...

On the first link I do like the look of "Andante spianoato & plolnaise brillante" though...

[Pianorak]

Guiomar Novaes (Music & Arts)

[visualnickmos]

I 'only' have Claudio Arrau playing these - Philips Silver Line Classics range - and find them more than satisfying, but then I do very much enjoy Arrau in Chopin. I like his approach - never too 'sugary' which can sometimes slip into Chopin. He probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, I know. I always like to hear different interpretations, nevertheless. However, I won't be in the market for another interpretation.

[Don Petter]

Isn't Perlemuter on Nimbus still available?

This seems to suggest it is:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/chopin-nocturnes-sonatas-preludes-etudes-3-vlado-perlemuter-nimbus-6cds.html

[Don Petter]

Also Ann Schein on MSR:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000CBUON0/ref=dm_rogue_cd

or download:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-Sonata-No-Minor-Preludes/dp/B001L9V9X6

[ardcarp]

Kenneth Hamilton is a great bloke...a fine pianist, an academic and a witty and entertaining speaker. A sort of thinking man's David Owen Norris. What a pity therefore we are going to have a 'pre-arranged dialogue' format. Why so?