Album of the Evening

[AnotherSpin]

Exile On Main Street, didn't care what mastering. Sounds just right.

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You may want to check numerous covers of Rev. Gary Davis songs done by Grateful Dead.

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Love this album.

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Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas (24/96). A fantastic album.

 

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+1

[AnotherSpin]

Kempff's interpretations are of course very good, although I tend to prefer Arthur Schnabel (in much inferior sound quality), Yves Nat, Rudolf Serkin or, for a bit of period-instrument fun, Ronald Brautigam.

I guess DG remastered its second, stereo set of Kempff's Beethoven? By some reason I prefer earlier mono. Artur Schnabel's set is available in several editions, some of them sounds better than others. Some prefer Naxos, others Pearl or Dante, Membran sounds best for me. You may want to check what will sound better for you, given the merits of this first ever recording of the cycle it might be very rewarding quest. I agree with your recommendation of Brautigam and would like to add recent Michael Korstick set as another new one which would be interesting for checking. From earlier ones I love first Philips set from Alfred Brendel. Of course, I see no point to doubt everybody will have its own preferences among tens and tens of available sets...)

[AnotherSpin]

Love these guys.

+1. I was surprised to hear them couple of years ago on NPR - they seem to preserve the great shape after long period of time since their debut.

[AnotherSpin]

Speaking of the Goldbergs and an artist's reflection on their approach, you might enjoy Jeremy Denks recent take on the "Variation".

 

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+1. Very good recording.

[AnotherSpin]

Thanks for your views and recommendations. As I keep listening to Kempff's stereo recordings, my appreciation of his interpretations is growing, especially for the middle sonatas. For the early ones, I decidedly prefer Brautigam. For the final ones, I find Serkin (ÖRF-DG 1980s live recording) and Richter (1963 Leipzig live recording - Parnassus CD) hard to beat.

Thank you for reply. Many years ago I had some Richter recordings of sonatas which I liked then, but not anymore. Fortunately, we have a huge variety of Beethoven sonatas recordings to choose from today.

[AnotherSpin]

 

I feel these Columbia releases are his 'defining" milestones.

You may want to check his early albums, such as My Goal's Beyond, or Extrapolation. And his recordings with Miles Davis.

[AnotherSpin]

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Yes another new Goldberg by a very talented artist. I'm still making up my mind on the interpretation.

 

In any case, the harpsichord sounds quite different (very nice actually) to my other recordings.

Didn't hear this one yet, but I am sure interested. Reminded me that there are Goldbergs from another Iranian guy, Ramin Bahrami, which is very special. Do you have it?

[AnotherSpin]

(...) Note that the Bahrami is on modern piano while the Esfahani is on harpsichord. (...) Esfahani takes a lot of liberties even with the Aria, I'm still not sure I'm fully convinced but this may need some more time. (...) Do you refer to his recording on Decca?

1. Of course, I remember it, I was just glad some interesting modern Bach renditions originated from such unusual place as Iran. Even if both musicians currently live in the West what I presume. 2. I didn't hear Esfahani's Goldbergs in its entirety yet, but from short Aria snippet I realized how different it is. 3. Yes, I believe it was on Decca (I am traveling now away from my hd archive..)

[AnotherSpin]

Yes, Bahrami grew up in Germany from a very young age according to Wikipedia, and Esfahani lives in the UK to my knowledge.

I was listening Esfahani yesterday evening. Yes, he tells his very own story with some unusual accents. By some analogy I recalled Goldbergs from Taiwanese Chen Pi-hsien (piano). Do you know it?

and another not well known performance with its own uniqueness of quite different kind would worth a listening, that is from Japanese Ito Ema (piano):

 

[AnotherSpin]

alt-J, discovery from Captain America: Civil War. The soundtrack's number 'Left Hand Free' is infectious and whole album, 'This Is All Yours' is joy.

 

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I'm of the mind, (perhaps biased by the time of my birth, 1951) that the years 1968 to 1972 were the Golden Age of popular and rock & roll music. This includes of course Motown and R&B. By popular I am not referring to "pop" music per se.

My favorite Dead years are from 72 to 80

[AnotherSpin]

Alice Sara Ott: Wonderland

 

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A very good Grieg album by young German/Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott.

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I was listening to this one, no ignition happened... Also some other of her recordings, as Beethoven which includes my dearly loved 3d with mostly the same result. She recorded a program of Russian ballet music with another young-very-promising pianist, Francesco Tristano. Do you listen him? One of his albums would be a shock for Bach's purists (I am thinking about very last track):

 

[AnotherSpin]

After a long day at the office:

 

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How strange...))) I was listening for the same album yesterday evening.

[AnotherSpin]

Hawniyaz

Kayhan Kalhor et al.

 

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I was thanking you for posting this – it reminded me to dig my archives for several gorgeous recordings from Kayhan Kalhor and some other Iranians which I didn't listen for ages.

[AnotherSpin]

You have good taste :-)

Oh thank you, with recording similar to this one my taste has limitless area for developing...)

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The Ghazal album "Moon Rise Over the Silk Road" was my first exposure. I was really taken with the music. He is a virtuoso from a great Persian classical music tradition, and merits more attention.

 

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I should have couple of Ghazal albums from him in original Iranian editions. Great music.

[AnotherSpin]

This is an amazing album! Thanks once more! Can you recommend some other musicians from this part of the world.?

 

Mohammad Reza Shajarian is very good. You may want to check Hossein Alizadeh, Dariush Talai, Ali-Akbar Moradi. Alim Qasimov from Azerbaijan would be recommended as well. Lot of great Turkish musicians are not far away from this tradition, some of them recorded together with Kayhan Kalhor, and others.

[AnotherSpin]

@ AnotherSpin

Thanks!

You welcome! You may also want to check Shahram Nazeri, his Rumi album is heart-melting.

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Oh yeah, this sounds fantastic! Thx again!

 

Ps. Unfortunately it seems that finding his CDs may be difficult ..

Did you try amazon?

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I never had the impression that Brendel recorded much of Bach's work relative to the scope of his discography. Interesting that he regrets never having committed the Goldbergs to record.

Some of the greatest pianists had extremely limited repertoire. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli first comes to mind.

[AnotherSpin]

A Cerulean State

 

 

Reminded me about absolutely stunning album from wonderful musician, Maria Schneider, and her orchestra - it has a track Cerulean Skies. I couldn't listen it too much.