What are you listening to?

[Ciaran]

Lots of Chopin coming out this year on period pianos from the Chopin Institute in Warsaw. Also Alain Planès has just brought out a disc of Chopin on a Chopin-era Erard. I'm planning to investigate these myself (a good excuse to get more Chopin CDs!): I already have the Preludes from the Chopin Institute: very good!

[Seán]

.... Oddly enough I find piano works more 'difficult' to like. Not sure why, I'd expect that to be the opposite with most people.

Actually, I am with you on that one Dave, to a large degree....piano music, especially solo piano music, has always been way down on my list for some reason also.

Having listened to Jazz for most of my life I find solo piano in classical music easy to listen to, to get attached to and to return to again and again. That said I don't have nearly enough Chopin in my collection, I hope to address that in due course.

[Seán]

On the TT two very old LPs of mine, I'd almost forgotten I had them:

A stunning performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony:
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Evgeny Mravinsky conducting


A gorgeous delicate performance of two of Haydn's symphonies by the BPO:
Haydn Symphony No 92 & 104
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Hans Rosbaud conducting

[Diapason]

BWV 525, 526 & 529

My now wife walked up the aisle to the first movement of BWV 529. Joyful stuff.

[jaybee]

I'm defintely a solo piano fan....

to the extent that I sky+'ed the whole series of the Barenboim masterclasses on skyarts HD and has a marathon Beethoven session....

very educational (to me anyway), furthered my understanding of the technicalities involved and the various decisions a performer makes at the highest level to nuance what has been written, how far you should and can go without making a mess of it...

loved it!!

also am a big Chopin fan (prob the most recent composer I like)

[Seán]

These days I'm making my way through my very old LPs, this is one I've had for years:

Arnold Schoenberg
Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 42
SWF Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden
Alfred Brendel - Piano
Michael Gielen conducting

[Seán]

Shosatkovich's great First Symphony beautifully played by the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln:

Shoshtakovich Symphony No. 1
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Dmitri Kitajenko conducting

[fergus]

On the TT two very old LPs of mine, I'd almost forgotten I had them:

A stunning performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony:
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Evgeny Mravinsky conducting

The Mravinsky is great stuff indeed.....interesting to read about you delving into your old vinyl collection Seán....I wonder what other almost forgotten delights you will come across....

[fergus]

My now wife walked up the aisle to the first movement of BWV 529. Joyful stuff.

I'll bet that you were playing the organ at the time!?!?

[fergus]

Very interesting to read what people write about solo piano....and Chopin....amazing the way tastes can be so diverse....but that is the fun of somewhere like this!!