Tag: Piano Music

1969, 1972, 1976, 1982, 1984, 2003, Music

Mauricio Kagel (2003) by Alexandre Tharaud

This collection is a little confusing in part because of the confusing nature of Rrrrrrr…, which can apparently be performed independently. The disc appears to be a compilation of his piano-based music. Calling “piano music” would be a misnomer, as there are lots of other instruments on a number of the pieces.

1887, 1909, 1911, 1919, 1922, 1927, 1928, 2001, Music

Janacek: Piano Works: Diary of One Who Disappeared; 15 Moravian Folk Songs (2001) by Thomas Ades et al.

This disc collects two sets of songs by Janacek; one is a proper song cycle, the other is a collection of folk melodies for piano and voice.

1915, 1919, 1922, 2004, Music

Ives: Concord Sonata; Songs (2004) by Pierre-Laurent Aimard with Susan Graham

This is one of those discs that pairs two different types of music and so, right off the bat, kind of annoys me. Ives has plenty of songs to release a whole disc (or many discs) of them, without instrumental music. (For example, one of his collections is called 114 Songs.) And he’s got plenty …

1995, Music

Franz Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Works 1773-1779 (1995) by Lola Odiaga

This is a collection of six of Haydn’s keyboard sonatas (played on piano) ostensibly written between 1773 and 1779. (However, there appears to be some debate as to when they were authored.) The sonatas are Nos. 39, 40, 41, 48, 49 and 51, which seems an arbitrary selection. However, the alternative cataloguing of Haydn’s works …

1868, 1884, 1988, Music

Grieg: Piano Concerto; Holberg Suite (1988) by Various Artists

This is one of those extremely annoying compilations where there is virtually no information: we know the performers of the pieces but not when or where. Labels like Quintessence get their hands on recordings that don’t have copyright protection in North America and release these recordings to unsuspecting consumers such as libraries, which is how …

2009, Music

Dvorak; Poulenc; Grieg (2009) by Marie-Josee Simard, Marie Fabi

This is an interesting recording that takes three well known sonatas (two violin sonatas, one of which at least is among the greatest of the twentieth century, and one flute) adapted for vibraphone. I am really open to this kind of stuff and I must say that I think this really works and I am …

1994, Music

Granados: Danzas espanolas (1994) by Angela Hewitt

I love Keith Jarrett, and I want to believe that his “improvised” sets from the mid ’70s on are indeed spontaneously conceived, but listening to these dances, I detect at the very least the inspiration for (to get snobby) the harmonic language of The Koln Concert at the very least, in two of these. This …

1890, 1904, 1911, 1990, Music

Granados: Goyescas; Allegro de concierto; Danza lenta (1990) by Alicia de Larrocha

This is a performance that pairs the Goyescas with two earlier pieces, one a complete piece for piano, and the other a dance excerpted from his first major work.

2007, Music

The Glenn Gould Collection Vol. 3: Johannes Sebastian Bach: The English Suites, the French Suites (2007 Compilation)

This is a compilation of Gould’s performances of many of Bach’s keyboard suites (originally intended for harpsichord but, as always, Gould plays them on piano). I am not sure of the original recording date because there is no booklet. I think he recorded them in the ’70s but I’m not sure. I believe I have …

1890, 1891, 1900, 1904, 1911, 1917, 1931, 1934, 2011, Music

The Complete Concertos (2011) by Alexander Glazunov, Performed by the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Jose Serebrier

I can be quite picky about compilations, especially when there is a supposed theme to them, such as “violin concertos.” I generally want my music to be at least of the same era – and performed by the same people – rather than a hodgepodge that some record exec thought was a good idea.

1886, 1890, 1978, 1980, 1995, 2006, Music

Franck: String Quartet; Violin Sonata (1978, 1995, 2006) by Fitzwilliam Quartet; Pierre Amoyal, Pascal Roge

I am a sucker for a good string quartet and I like to think that this is a very good string quartet. It’s certainly interesting for its era and, though not as ballsy as so many of the great quartets of the early 20th century, I think it would probably bear comparison with other notable …

1960, Music

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, Concerto in F (1960, 200?) by Various Artists

I’ve heard the Bernstein “Rhapsody” before, and I still like it perhaps more than any other version. His version of An American in Paris is also good. Don’t really know why the Concerto features Andre Previn instead, but it’s also a good version. If I didn’t like the music so much, I’d probably be annoyed …

1863, 1875, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1889, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1913, 1915, 1919, 1921, 2006, Music

Faure: Complete Piano Works (2006 compilation) performed by Jean-Philippe Collard

Faure’s music seems to my uneducated ears to be the missing link between composers like Chopin and Liszt and composers like Debussy and Satie. That’s really the best way I can size it up: this music often possesses the technical demands of Chopin, Debussy or Liszt, but it also often possesses the sense of momentness, …

2011, Music

Piano Quintent; String Quartet by Edward Elgar (2011) performed by Goldern Quartet, Piers Lane

This is an odd combination: we get a string quartet, piano pieces seemingly picked at random from two separate eras of his career, and the piano quintet. I guess they wanted to give us our money’s worth or something.

1890, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1995, Music

Debussy: the Complete works for Piano (1995 compilation) by Walter Gieseking

Debussy’s piano music is as significant as Satie’s, even if it isn’t always as obviously revolutionary. Debussy eventually became very mainstream and so his music had much more currency. And it’s been absorbed so much it’s sometimes hard to tell how exactly he was breaking away (but other times it is very obvious). As someone …

1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1897, 1903, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1987, Music

Satie Piano Works (1987, 2003, 2012) performed by Aldo Ciccolini

Erik Satie’s piano music changed the way many people thought about music. It’s hard to imagine John Cage, cool jazz, ambient, post rock and a bunch of other things without this. It’s also really cool to hear the ragtime stuff.

1989, Music

Variations, interlude et final; Prelude elegiaque; La plainte, au loin, du faune; Sonate (1989) by Paul Dukas, performed by Margaret Fingerhut

This is a quite surprising collection. Dukas – who apparently destroyed much of his output – used to be somewhat dismissed when it came to his piano music but I find what’s here – both the famous sonata variations and the less famous other two works – to be great, if not exactly life-changing. It’s …