What's Best in Piano Solo Recordings?

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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Over the years, solo piano albums in my collection have come and gone. I've stuck to a handful of the best in music and in recording, sometimes an album will have both qualities and that would be the ideal solo piano recording.

My favorites:

1. Beethoven's Appassionata - Kamiya on the Bosendorfer. RCA/JVC D2D cut at 45 rpm. Powerful and articulate.

2. December - George Winston. Windham Hill Half Speed recording. Lovely.

3. La Vie - Pierre Buzon. Audiolab Records Japan. Super lovely. The opening rendition of 'Love Story' always catches my 2 kids ears. Not their time, but they telling me how beautiful the tune is.

4. Kabi Laretei Plays Chopin, Mozart Handel. With Ingmar Bergman. Proprius Records. ATR Mastercut Pressing from Germany.
 

microstrip

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Over the years, solo piano albums in my collection have come and gone. I've stuck to a handful of the best in music and in recording, sometimes an album will have both qualities and that would be the ideal solo piano recording.

My favorites:

1. Beethoven's Appassionata - Kamiya on the Bosendorfer. RCA/JVC D2D cut at 45 rpm. Powerful and articulate.

2. December - George Winston. Windham Hill Half Speed recording. Lovely.

3. La Vie - Pierre Buzon. Audiolab Records Japan. Super lovely. The opening rendition of 'Love Story' always catches my 2 kids ears. Not their time, but they telling me how beautiful the tune is.

4. Kabi Laretei Plays Chopin, Mozart Handel. With Ingmar Bergman. Proprius Records. ATR Mastercut Pressing from Germany.

I fully agree with you concerning the LP recording of Kabi Laretei Plays Chopin, Mozart Handel. And I understand why your were able to summarize the previous ones in a short sentence and did not do the same for this one. The only think I can say is there is "un je ne sais quoi" in this recording ...

BTW, the translation on this site fully agrees with us :cool:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_translation_of_%27Je_ne_sais_quoi%27

What is the translation of 'Je ne sais quoi'?
Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Literature & Language > Non-English Languages and Cultures > Translations > English to French > What is the translation of 'Je ne sais quoi'?
Answer:

It is "Je ne sais quoi", and it means "I don't know what" in French. Quoi ("kwah") means "what".
Other than the literal translation, the colloquialism translates as "I'm not sure what it is. There is something intangible about it ... something that is difficult to describe in words."
You say it when you don't know what else to say. As an example, if you are tasting a recipe, and it is missing something, but you are not sure what it is missing, you might say "This is pretty good, but it is missing...It is "Je ne sais quoi"
This saying can also imply a positive message, for example, if you are tasting a recipe and it's fantastic, but you just can't put your finger on why, it's got a certain Je Ne sais quoi. It tastes great, but I can't tell you exactly why that is, it's got something I can't explain.

A note about the French: "Je ne sais quoi" is not a normal sentence for a French person to say in modern times. The normal sentence for "I don't know what" would be "je ne sais pas quoi" or more informally, "j'sais pas quoi". Dropping the "pas" and leaving only the "ne" for negation is very literary/poetic/old-fashioned. However, French people use this as a set phrase just like English speakers do. For example, "Il y a un je ne sais quoi qui fait que je ne peux pas détourner les yeux."
 

jadis

Well-Known Member
Apr 28, 2010
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Manila, Philippines
I fully agree with you concerning the LP recording of Kabi Laretei Plays Chopin, Mozart Handel. And I understand why your were able to summarize the previous ones in a short sentence and did not do the same for this one. The only think I can say is there is "un je ne sais quoi" in this recording ...

BTW, the translation on this site fully agrees with us :cool:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_translation_of_%27Je_ne_sais_quoi%27

What is the translation of 'Je ne sais quoi'?
Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Literature & Language > Non-English Languages and Cultures > Translations > English to French > What is the translation of 'Je ne sais quoi'?
Answer:

It is "Je ne sais quoi", and it means "I don't know what" in French. Quoi ("kwah") means "what".
Other than the literal translation, the colloquialism translates as "I'm not sure what it is. There is something intangible about it ... something that is difficult to describe in words."
You say it when you don't know what else to say. As an example, if you are tasting a recipe, and it is missing something, but you are not sure what it is missing, you might say "This is pretty good, but it is missing...It is "Je ne sais quoi"
This saying can also imply a positive message, for example, if you are tasting a recipe and it's fantastic, but you just can't put your finger on why, it's got a certain Je Ne sais quoi. It tastes great, but I can't tell you exactly why that is, it's got something I can't explain.

A note about the French: "Je ne sais quoi" is not a normal sentence for a French person to say in modern times. The normal sentence for "I don't know what" would be "je ne sais pas quoi" or more informally, "j'sais pas quoi". Dropping the "pas" and leaving only the "ne" for negation is very literary/poetic/old-fashioned. However, French people use this as a set phrase just like English speakers do. For example, "Il y a un je ne sais quoi qui fait que je ne peux pas détourner les yeux."

Microstrip,

You read my mind, exactly. I really don't know what to say about the Kabi record, it's hard to put into words really. I just love it. :)
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Angela Hewitt - Hyperion - Bach's Well Tempered. Bernard Roberts Nimbus Recordings Bach Suites and French Suites. Christopher Rousset - Bach Works (harpsichord). Elliot Gould - Bach Goldberg Variations (1980's Sony recording).
 

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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Angela Hewitt - Hyperion - Bach's Well Tempered. Bernard Roberts Nimbus Recordings Bach Suites and French Suites. Christopher Rousset - Bach Works (harpsichord). Elliot Gould - Bach Goldberg Variations (1980's Sony recording).

Thanks, lloydelee. Will look those up.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Hi Phil,

I own the 2010 Edition of Penguin Guide to Classical...i have found 90% of their high-rankings/rosettes to be extremely good. This is where i discovered all of the above, with the exception of Gould Goldberg which is super-famous anyway.

Andre Pletnev (Bach Sonatas and Rondos) and Angela Hewitt - Hyperion Bach Toccatas...also good.
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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New York City
Over the years, solo piano albums in my collection have come and gone. I've stuck to a handful of the best in music and in recording, sometimes an album will have both qualities and that would be the ideal solo piano recording.

My favorites:

1. Beethoven's Appassionata - Kamiya on the Bosendorfer. RCA/JVC D2D cut at 45 rpm. Powerful and articulate.

2. December - George Winston. Windham Hill Half Speed recording. Lovely.

3. La Vie - Pierre Buzon. Audiolab Records Japan. Super lovely. The opening rendition of 'Love Story' always catches my 2 kids ears. Not their time, but they telling me how beautiful the tune is.

4. Kabi Laretei Plays Chopin, Mozart Handel. With Ingmar Bergman. Proprius Records. ATR Mastercut Pressing from Germany.

I always preferred Laretei playing the film music of Ingmar Bergman on Proprius :) But have both of her LPs and wish there were more.

The other solo piano that stands out are the Ivan Moravec Connoisseur Society releases. The best are the early gold/cream label releases. His treatment of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Debussy are incredible.
 

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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Hi Phil,

I own the 2010 Edition of Penguin Guide to Classical...i have found 90% of their high-rankings/rosettes to be extremely good. This is where i discovered all of the above, with the exception of Gould Goldberg which is super-famous anyway.

Andre Pletnev (Bach Sonatas and Rondos) and Angela Hewitt - Hyperion Bach Toccatas...also good.

Great to know, lloy. :)
 

jadis

Well-Known Member
Apr 28, 2010
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I always preferred Laretei playing the film music of Ingmar Bergman on Proprius :) But have both of her LPs and wish there were more.

The other solo piano that stands out are the Ivan Moravec Connoisseur Society releases. The best are the early gold/cream label releases. His treatment of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Debussy are incredible.



This is what I have, Myles. It's the Film music. :)

 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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New York City

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
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New York City
Hi Phil,

I own the 2010 Edition of Penguin Guide to Classical...i have found 90% of their high-rankings/rosettes to be extremely good. This is where i discovered all of the above, with the exception of Gould Goldberg which is super-famous anyway.

Andre Pletnev (Bach Sonatas and Rondos) and Angela Hewitt - Hyperion Bach Toccatas...also good.

I've often used the Penguin guide too. The problem is that the PG only lists the LPs/recordings that happen to be in print. So if a performance quickly disappeared, chance of finding out about it are slim :( And that happened a lot with the early stereo releases which had limited number of pressings say in the '50s and '60s.
 

RogerD

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May 23, 2010
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I always like to play this late at night with the lights off.

Boris Berezovsky, Ravel: Gaspard De La Nuit / Sonatine / Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales / La Valse
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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^ [HDCD] encoded. 3-Disc set.

...And among a multitude of other excellent Piano Solo recordings...
Like from Angela Hewitt for example (Bach), and also from Claudio Arrau (Chopin).
 
Last edited:

c1ferrari

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May 15, 2010
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Say, can anyone recommend

solo piano recordings on redbook...preferably, AAD :confused:
Thanks :D
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Hi Sam,

All of mine were Redbook recommendations...AAD...did not check but all both musically engaging, and well recorded.
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
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Lloyd and Frank,

Thanks...
I'll check it out :p
 

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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Manila, Philippines

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