Tír Na HiFi

Listening to Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier tonight, performed by two wonderful harpsichordists. Book 1 by Céline Frisch is more studied, more reserved and is perhaps more delicate, whereas Book 2 by Christophe Rousset is more ebullient and exudes a greater sense of style and panache. Both are simply exceptional performances and rank among the very best that these great works have received.

Finishing up tonight with Céline Frisch’s profoundly beautiful reading of the Goldberg Variations. Subtly nuanced, gently probing and deeply serene, this is one to savour.

Powerful but also delicate stuff and a great test of the bass in your system.
Mark

I saw this won a Gramophone award so had to have a listen, and it's truly gorgeous. Right up there with Zimerman in enjoyment, and that's really saying something.

Which Zimerman version are you referring to, Simon? The first version with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Giulini or the second version with the Polish Festival Orchestra which Zimerman conducted from the piano? I believe that Zimerman requested that DG withdraw the first version from the catalogue because he became dissatisfied with it over time.

It's funny you should ask that, as I always thought that I had the first version in the Chopin box set. Only recently did I discover it's the second, but I've spent so much time listening to the first in streaming that now I'm confused which is which.

In any case, Zimerman's intensity in the slow movt of the Concerto no 1 is what gets me. It just unfolds so beautifully that I'm captivated every time by the control and the length of the musical line. Utterly gorgeous.

I agree, Zimerman is a very special artist. The Chopin concertos are deceptively simple and difficult to perform successfully, in my opinion, and there is a tender lyricism about both of Zimmerman’s versions of this repertoire which is utterly natural and never sounds mannered or forced. I also like Argerich and Pires in these works as well.

The first recording of his that I heard was the Ravel disc with Pierre Boulez. Extraordinary performances which I still consider to be among the very finest. I’m also very fond of his recordings of the Franck and Szymanowski violin sonatas (with Kaja Danczowska) and the Strauss and Respighi violin sonatas (with Kyung Wha Chung). I really wish he would record more chamber repertoire.