Bach; Chopin: 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: 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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Advantages: Sheer luxury of tone and sonority
Disadvantages: Can we ever have enough time for such diversity?!

...Chopin from a female hand! I'd say, if you want just one set of these nocturnes you'll do no better than shop here with this lovely lady! There are so many ways to interpret Chopin no one pianist will ever get him wired 100% but here is a very good offering from Deutsche. I previously had a set by Ashkenazy and I way prefer this: less of the thundering concert pianist and more the subtlety of a chamber recital which for me is the style Chopin himself aspired to: he constantly shunned the concert platform and was best at home in Parisian salons. Still some thunder and lightning here, tho'! Probe Chopin's inner soul in his most enigmatic, restless, vital, original, diverse dynamic set of works for solo piano. Super for the student: listen before you learn, and sublime for the classical connoisseur, I think secretly even concert... Read review

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