Bach; Chopin; Mendelssohn: Piano Works

Advantages: A discovery unforgettable
Disadvantages: Nothing

...(Rewrite on 09/07/2001) Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (great italian "virtuoso") spent his life to search a kind of perfection during interpretations. He knew this perfection to be impossible but, for him, "perfection" was union between composer and player. Then,this perfection isn't impossible... Glenn Gould tryed the same sound by his pianos: in this way he was very careful to music structure: beauty of musical phrases, to give a geometrical "presence" to music a.s.o. Of course his Bach interpretations (but Beethoven and Mozart also), even if on a piano and not on a harpsichord or "fortepiano" , are excellent. Michelangeli is on the other side of the moon... His Chopin is mysterious, full of shadows and, in some compositions, unknowable. But, how does Michelangeli obtain this wonderful result? To answer it is simple and very... Read review

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Advantages: Outstanding playing, interesting repertoire
Disadvantages: Full price disc

...This disc from Murray Perahia on the Sony label is quite simply one of the best solo piano discs to be released in recent years. Containing four Bach/Busoni transcriptions, excerpts from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words and some of Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert songs, the disc shows off Perahia's astounding technique and musicality simultaneously. I've listened to this disc almost every day for the past two months and I'm STILL not bored with it! It seems to have a piece of music for every mood, from the upbeat, almost jazzy feel of the Bach to the sombre gallop of Schubert's Erl-King. This is the first disc of Perahia's that I've really got into - can't wait for his forthcoming disc of Bach's Goldberg Variations!... Read review

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Advantages: Wide range of little-know music played live by world-class pianists
Disadvantages: None for those who enjoy classical Piano Solo music

...asks me to play a berceuse when she goes to bed. As requested, I play a berceuse on the piano, while my daughter upstairs in bed falls asleep. Bloch's performance here is suitably soft and soporific (sleep-inducing). Marc-Andre Hamelin Hamelin plays three composers here: Leopold Godowsky Godowsky is famous for his extremely difficult Studies on Chopin's Etudes (Studies). Chopin's original set of 24 etudes is widely considered to be a set of masterpieces. Although Godowsky's versions are famous for their extreme difficulty, and are often described as some of the most difficult works ever written for piano, there are some which are sheer poetry (the poetic ones are not recorded on this CD). They have often been criticised as inappropriate attempts to improve on Chopin's works. They are best viewed as works in their own right... Read review

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