BaL 16.12.17 - Schubert: Piano Sonata no. 21 in B flat D960

[vinteuil]

I take it that the Pires that has been so frequently praised on this Thread was the "winner"?

... but see my earlier - some of us may have been enjoying her erato disc, and the one chosen here was the recent dg...

.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... but see my earlier - some of us may have been enjoying her erato disc, and the one chosen here was the recent dg...

[Barbirollians]

... but see my earlier - some of us may have been enjoying her erato disc, and the one chosen here was the recent dg...

.

Yes the DG Pires it just headed the live Brendel,Lupu,Uchida and Bilson which I think were the final shortlist .

I thought that the excerpts showed how wise Richard B’s wife’s comment was !

[teamsaint]

I thought DON was a little bit less forensic than usual today, which would make sense with the vast arrary of available recordings.

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes the DG Pires it just headed the live Brendel,Lupu,Uchida and Bilson which I think were the final shortlist .

I thought that the excerpts showed how wise Richard B’s wife’s comment was !

I missed which Brendel recording was featured, a live performance with applause obvs., can't find the info on the website.

I'm glad I didn't delay my departure to complete my wildfowl count on the estuary, as they didn't start till 0950, so will have to listen to the whole thing later. Good to hear the ridiculously slow getting short shrift also....

[subcontrabass]

I missed which Brendel recording was featured, a live performance with applause obvs., can't find the info on the website.

From the website: Philips 4757191

[aeolium]

I must have missed the reason for discarding the Lupu.
Anybody remember why he decided against it ?

I don't think he actually discarded it - it was in the final shortlist. He just marginally preferred the Pires recording when forced to choose.

Anyway, as ever I really enjoyed DONs review, and learned a lot from it.

Agreed. I like the way he is enthusiastic about very different approaches to the music, rather than some reviewers who wish to narrow the range of possible interpretations. What a shame that the chance of an even more illuminating review was spoilt by the presence of AMcG's interventions - why McG is not content with being on air for the rest of the 3+ hour programme is a mystery.

I thought there were lots of good and interesting excerpts played - the only ones I really didn't care for were the Katsaris slow movement and the Barenboim excerpt from the Trio. I agreed about the Bilson being the best-sounding fortepiano version, and very much liked Lupu and Serkin. A pity that Curzon's recording did not feature but as DON was rather dismissive of Schnabel's recording he probably wouldn't have cared for Curzon's.

Of all BaLs, this was one least-suited to the twofer format.

[kernelbogey]

[...] What a shame that the chance of an even more illuminating review was spoilt by the presence of AMcG's interventions - why McG is not content with being on air for the rest of the 3+ hour programme is a mystery[....]

In that kind of format, my guess is, A McG is there to keep him on track. Personally I find this avowed conversation style less convincing than the traditional essay. (Although a longer, solo essay from DON would be entertaining and informative.)

[LeMartinPecheur]

I missed which Brendel recording was featured, a live performance with applause obvs...

Early on, in illustrating different ways of playing the dreaded trill, he said some very nice things about the 'classic' (his word) Brendel Philips recording. Certainly he was deeply into the live one later on in discussing the end of the work, but I don't think he ever expressed a preference for one over the other.

Perhaps because 'our Alf' wasn't his eventual winner, he didn't feel the need to? As others have said, he very much favoured finding plus-points that were worth our attention rather than heaving discs quickly out of the cart, bless him!

[LeMartinPecheur]

I must have missed the reason for discarding the Lupu.
Anybody remember why he decided against it ?

Anyway, as ever I really enjoyed DONs review, and learned a lot from it.

Those in the frame were Lupu, Bilson, Brendel (I don't think he made it clear which - see my previous post) and Pires - and possibly one other that I missed while scribbling He then just gave his reasons (illustration) for picking Pires. Like I said, he didn't seem to enjoy tipping people out of the cart.

The Serkin was still showing well as DON entered the finishing straight so perhaps he was the one I missed?

[silvestrione]

Early on, in illustrating different ways of playing the dreaded trill, he said some very nice things about the 'classic' (his word) Brendel Philips recording. Certainly he was deeply into the live one later on in discussing the end of the work, but I don't think he ever expressed a preference for one over the other.

Perhaps because 'our Alf' wasn't his eventual winner, he didn't feel the need to? As others have said, he very much favoured finding plus-points that were worth our attention rather than heaving discs quickly out of the cart, bless him!

I think, from the sound, it was the live Brendel (456573-2, June 1997) that was played in all the extracts from him, and it was McG who confusingly called it his 'classic' Philips recording, which makes us think of one of the two earlier studio versions.

It certainly looks as though DON is prepared to tolerate the lack of the repeat, in view of the rewards elsewhere in Brendel's performance.

[LeMartinPecheur]

It certainly looks as though DON is prepared to tolerate the lack of the repeat, in view of the rewards elsewhere in Brendel's performance.

I'm still prepared to tolerate its omission just as I am its inclusion, but I thank those on this thread who first aired the issue, shall we say?

[VodkaDilc]

Yes - at least I decided that the combination of DON and a "Twofer" was more than I could bear (and with AMcG contributing throughout the programme as well, I avoided R3 as if it were ... well, a weekday morning).

Exactly how I feel, ferneyhoughgeliebte. Until a few months ago, Saturday mornings was the one time I still listened to R3. This awful conversational chit-chat style of BAL was the reason I decided I could no longer even bear Saturday mornings. Gerontius last week was a wonderful return to form: a reasoned and planned out survey of the options available - with no interruptions or repetition. As ever with R3, there's clearly no point in requesting a permanent return to the well-tried formula.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm still prepared to tolerate its omission just as I am its inclusion, but I thank those on this thread who first aired the issue, shall we say?

[Pianoman]

I'm listening to the Bilson now on Spotify - even at 320 it sounds very good and is worth the subscription to be able to hear all the contenders. In fact, I've put the complete Bilson Schubert in a playlist as I'm so impressed with what I'm hearing. It'll be great to dip into this in the coming weeks, especially as the download price, as has been said earlier, is a bit steep...