BaL 29.06.24 - Chopin: Ballades

[gradus]

Shame Vasary got a pasting, I got to know the pieces thanks to him and can't say that his wayward way with the second ever disturbed my enjoyment.
I've heard Zimerman live and he is tremendous and his recording sounds a worthy winner but as KH almost said, its personal taste that counts.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Who is this Zimmerman fellow? I think we should be told.

Nelson Goerner on a Pleyel does everything in these pieces that I want to hear. Taking a modern Steinway to Chopin is like driving a Ferrari through the streets of Siena.

It sounds like an intensely pleasant sensual experience to be honest .

[Retune]

Who is this Zimmerman fellow? I think we should be told.

Highway 61 Revisited is worth checking out!

The other guy a very good (and not surprising) choice for the Ballades. Time to give his versions a spin. I have them in a couple of boxes, including the excellent DG Complete Chopin edition, which has a bunch of other top tier recordings (Pires Nocturnes, Pollini Etudes and Polonaises, Ashkenazy Waltzes and Mazurkas, and Zimerman's Piano Concertos, etc.). This set must still be in print because it doesn't go for silly money yet.

[silvestrione]

Although Zimerman looks ready for a Zimmer frame , he has yet to reach three score and ten. His interpretation has reigned virtually unchallenged on BaL. My word was Vasary wayward, Cortot was a necessary restorative tonic!
I loved the Richter: warts and all.
I've heard the 4 Ballades live on several occasions but I've never owned a copy. I'm not rushing to buy one but await the second coming of Richter along with his celestial piano and a saintly band of engineers.

There are two DG recordings of Richter in Ballades, one of the 3rd, and one of the 4th. I think they are also live, but in better sound with better piano. I am assuming what we heard were the live ones on Praga.

[mikealdren]

Postscript .
Just listened to the whole Zimerman F minor again as I remember it being fabulous. The piano sound on Radio 3 FM was pretty inadequate to be honest. It’s glorious playing and those “messy” thirds sound fine in CD quality. His pedalling is little short of miraculous. So good I had to listen to the Bacarolle that follows.

Interesting, the sound on 'Sounds' was really good, it instantly caught my attention and I'll be buying it. Like others, I find Perahia bland in these works.

[silvestrione]

Interesting, the sound on 'Sounds' was really good, it instantly caught my attention and I'll be buying it. Like others, I find Perahia bland in these works.

Yes, for me, the R3 on FM was marvellous sound, subtle and detailed, through my good old Creek tuner, LFD amplifier, and Ruark speakers!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, for me, the R3 on FM was marvellous sound, subtle and detailed, through my good old Creek tuner, LFD amplifier, and Ruark speakers!

So many interfaces between the listener and the studio it’s perfectly possible that my FM sound off the local relay was not up to scratch or poss an atmospheric problem or even just rooks temporally perching on my FM roof antenna.
The CD sound on that Zimerman track (off Qubuz) was outstanding.

[Pulcinella]

Kenneth's choice (sic) added to original post.

[Master Jacques]

Given the time constraints and twofer format, this was pretty much as good as BaL can get these days. With an expert reviewer who knows these Ballades and their contexts from the inside, and who describes what we're about to hear and how it is achieved, without emotive gush, Kenneth Hamilton's traversal would be time well spent for anyone, whether or not they knew the pieces well, slightly or not at all. Certain other prospective "librarians" ought to sit down and listen to this, before embarking on their journeys.

[HighlandDougie]

I’m in HK and about to go to a concert (Berg’s VC etc) so will try to catch up with this when I return, given MJ’s encomium above. But, trying to escape the heat this afternoon, yet another browse through Percival Records extensive if rather randomly ordered stock produced the Esoteric SACD issue of the Zimerman recording (along with a 3 CD set on Tower/Altus of Kiril Kondrashin conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra in the early 1980s in Brahms 4th, Tchaikovsky 1st, Prokofiev 5th, Christina Ortiz in Bartok PC 3 etc). Fortunately, I will be fully occupied with work from Monday morning until Friday evening so no real opportunity to jump on the MTR and punish my rapidly diminishing stock of HK dollars.

[Barbirollians]

That BAL which I finally caught up with on Saturday wasn't bad and Andrew McGregor did not interfere too much . The Richter I found myself ordering a DG CD coupled with the excellent Chopin Cello Sonata recording with Rostropovich/Argerich for a few quid secondhand.

[Barbirollians]

I also bought a cheap copy of the Zimerman . I own it on cassette but my cassettes live in boxes in the attic and my main system cassette player died years ago .

It is a long lost friend of a record . I was struck by how much I remembered of his interpretations and just how marvellous his playing is . It was my first Ballades record bought in my early 20s and it seems I took its excellence for granted.

[pastoralguy]

We were lucky enough to hear Yuja Wang play the 4 Ballads live at the Edinburgh Festival last week and I can only wish that she will record them soon. Astonishing performances.

[pastoralguy]

Listening to Gavrilov’s 1992 recording on DG just now. Absolutely beautiful playing, imho.

[akiralx]

Listening to Gavrilov’s 1992 recording on DG just now. Absolutely beautiful playing, imho.

I located a new copy of that recently, and started collecting his DG recordings, including the Grieg Lyric pieces (where he is more convincing in the faster pieces than the slower - and tends to play slower central passages too quickly, as in Wedding Day at Troldhaugen). I have only listened to the Chopin Second Sonata so far, so will listen to the Ballades.