BaL 17.07.21 - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor

[Ein Heldenleben]

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Not impressed by Freire extracts.

What this BAL seems to showing is how difficult some engineers find it to get a decent recording of a piano. That Nelson Freire clip appeared to have the mic inside the piano.

[Alison]

What this BAL seems to showing is how difficult some engineers find it to get a decent recording of a piano. That Nelson Freire clip appeared to have the mic inside the piano.

[Goon525]

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Martha wins I suspect.

Predictably, and probably deservedly so. But did anyone pick up a reason for Ben Grosvenor not making the final cut - she only said positive things about, I thought?

[Ein Heldenleben]

At the risk of repeating earlier BAL comments the big problem with this BAL is the shortlist is too short. There should definitely also be a historic recommendation which might have allowed for longer excepts from Horowitz and included some of Richter.

[Alison]

I would not want to be without Brendel (Philips), Bolet, or Grosvenor.

Will be looking to add the live Cherkassky :-)

[Alison]

The master. The days when you could identify a pianist from their playing and “sound”. I think that’s all been trained and tutored out now.

What a thrilling bass note in his extract!

[HighlandDougie]

Katy Hamilton, as a musicologist rather than a performer (like DON, say), clearly wanted to concentrate on the music, which I think might explain why so few pianists were represented - hence the slightly longer extracts. It came across as a less "bitty" BaL than is sometimes the case. Her choice of pianists also seemed to be designed to illustrate different approaches - the Freire was there, muddy recording aside, because of his more "romantic" approach to the music, France Clidat because of her feeling for the "innerness" of some of the passages. Whatever, I thoroughly enjoyed it and, although I'm sorry that BG didn't get a second extract, I do think that Argerich deserved the laurels this morning (and not just because I have her recording).

[Darloboy]

A word of caution to anyone looking to buy the Argerich after this programme. The details given on the Record Review web site are for her 1961 recording; not the 1971 recording which Katy Hamilton recommended.

Not the first time this type of error has been made recently.

[makropulos]

A word of caution to anyone looking to buy the Argerich after this programme. The details given on the Record Review web site are for her 1961 recording; not the 1971 recording which Katy Hamilton recommended.

Not the first time this type of error has been made recently.

My copy of this CD clearly states 1971 for the Sonata and 1961 for the rest of the disc. Honestly it’s the right one!

[vinteuil]

My copy of this CD clearly states 1971 for the Sonata and 1961 for the rest of the disc. Honestly it’s the right one!

... yes. The 1961 'debut recital' didn't include the Sonata - on this disc it's her 1971 recording added to the works from the debut recording. In the DG Complete Recordings they are on separate discs.

Did she, in fact, record it in 1961 at all??

/

[Goon525]

My CD reissue of her Debut disc has the Sonata added and shown as 72. But yes, it clearly is the right one.

[Jonathan]

I missed this earlier on as we were at the allotment (as we incorrectly assumed that it would cooler early on) - will have to catch up on Listen Again later. I had a suspicion Argerich would win.

[gradus]

I missed this earlier on as we were at the allotment (as we incorrectly assumed that it would cooler early on) - will have to catch up on Listen Again later. I had a suspicion Argerich would win.

Oddly enough so did I.

[Darloboy]

... yes. The 1961 'debut recital' didn't include the Sonata - on this disc it's her 1971 recording added to the works from the debut recording. In the DG Complete Recordings they are on separate discs.

Did she, in fact, record it in 1961 at all??

/

Apologies to everyone (including Record Review)! I shall take more care before posting in future.

Alpie’s list does include a 1961 recording which I’d (wrongly) assumed was the one on the debut recital CD.

[Jonathan]

Well, having listened this afternoon, I felt that a longer programme would probably have given a better representation of the work however, there's nothing that can be done about that. I used to not be particularly taken with Argerich's performance of this work however, with repeated listenings, I have come to admire it more. It's not my favourite though as I don't seem to have a favourite. I'm going to have to get the Zimerman and Benjamin Grosvenor ones though, as both sounded superb too.

I have to say that I've got to Bolet's recording in the Liszt boxed set that I got cheap a few weeks ago and, so far, I'm impressed with that one.