BaL 30.11.13 - Chopin: 4 Ballades

[Karafan]

Iwas hoping for a link, Ammy!

[amateur51]

Iwas hoping for a link, Ammy!

This looks like it, Karafan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopin-Ballades-Etudes-Nocturnes-Polonaise-Fantasie/dp/B008KMUZR8/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1385825109&sr=1-1-fkmr2&keywords=Chopin+4+Ballades+Richter+Prague

[Karafan]

Well, I'm certainly hoping so Ammy Given that this is the one I ordered (hair-trigger-style) at 10:15 this morning! (Having searched the small print I could find nothing confirming the 1960 date though!).

Cheers
Karafan

[silvestrione]

Well, I'm certainly hoping so Ammy Given that this is the one I ordered (hair-trigger-style) at 10:15 this morning! (Having searched the small print I could find nothing confirming the 1960 date though!).

Cheers
Karafan

Yes I ordered it before the programme had even ended! Stunning playing indeed.

[Black Swan]

This one was unfortunately in a way a non-starter for me. I have the Perahia disc and as I had to look for it, you can surmise it is not one I play often. So I think it will do as there are so many other discs I am hoping for this Christmas.

[BBMmk2]

I love the way Murray Perahia interprets and plays his repertoire. He has such a deftness of touch and a great feeling for the music he is playing.

[VodkaDilc]

I listened to this BAL last night via my trusty Sky+ and found it very enjoyable and informative. Some random thoughts:
1 Did she dismiss my favourite recording, Perahia, too easily?
2 Was my other favourite, Sudbin on Bis, mentioned at all, even in the list provided in message No 1? The CD is only two years old, so surely it's still available. (Apologies - I've now checked and the CD does not include all the Ballades.)
3 The reviewer's style and delivery were excellent. Can we now remove the 'conversation' style BALs to the dustbin of trendy R3 ideas which did not work? The 'chat' an hour later between the programme's host and two distinguished pianists sounded like something destined for Private Eye's Pseuds Corner. If I, as a pianist and CD enthusiast, had to switch off, how did the casual listener respond? I am afraid that Mr MacGregor does seem to foster this nit-picking nonsense! I wish he would stick to introducing - while remembering that people listening on car radios cannot follow his mumbled ends of sentences. (I always listen at home now, but had many years of trying to understand him while driving.)

[VodkaDilc]

Spare me DON, by the way - far too idiosyncratic! Let's give Jessica Duchen a chance. I remember being quietly impressed by her review of the Faure Cello Sonatas.

She was excellent, wasn't she? DON's Patrick Moore style gets me reaching for the off button.

[silvestrione]

She was excellent, wasn't she? DON's Patrick Moore style gets me reaching for the off button.

Yes I agree she was excellent. A crucial part of a good BAL is choosing the extracts well, which includes length, and where they start and stop, and introducing them with hints about what to listen for (though sometimes it can be 'just listen to this!', as with one of the Richter extracts), and she did that superbly: e.g. Zimerman in the 'barcarolle' passage in No 4.

[amateur51]

Yes I agree she was excellent. A crucial part of a good BAL is choosing the extracts well, which includes length, and where they start and stop, and introducing them with hints about what to listen for (though sometimes it can be 'just listen to this!', as with one of the Richter extracts), and she did that superbly: e.g. Zimerman in the 'barcarolle' passage in No 4.

To open with that Richter playing in number one was magical I thought - I can still hear it

[Don Petter]

She was excellent, wasn't she? DON's Patrick Moore style gets me reaching for the off button.

I'm glad everyone thought this a good BaL. I happened to get in the car in time to hear just her final summing up, and was struck by her rather strange halting delivery, as if she was reading from a script which she had never seen before. Perhaps it was just being at the end of a concentrated three quarters of an hour.

I wasn't too enamoured by the later chatty piano discussion, either (which seems to have polarised forum opinion). I don't really like Bach on the piano, which didn't help at the start, and did we ever get any 'fur flying'? It just sounded like the usual three way chummy aggreefest, which seems to me to be a waste of valuable quality R3 time.

[VodkaDilc]

It just sounded like the usual three way chummy aggreefest, which seems to me to be a waste of valuable quality R3 time.

Wonderful way of putting it. I couldn't agree more.

[BBMmk2]

Hmmm...three blokes in a pub discussing Chopin 4 Ballades.........

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hmmm...three blokes in a pub discussing Chopin 4 Ballades.........

Sounds like the beginning of something that should be on the "Current Favourite Jokes" Thread!

[BBMmk2]

[QUOTE=ferneyhoughgeliebte;356294]Sounds like the beginning of something that should be on the "Current Favourite Jokes" Thread! [/QUOTE


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