The great thread of revealing your CD treasures!!!

[bennom]

Probably, this has been done before, but what do I care!

This is the great, grand and very big and majestic thread for the revealing of the hidden treasures of your CD collections. That is, unknown or little known recordings, preferably historical (Yes, I'm a snob). This is some of my dearest gems:

Igor Nikonovich plays Medtner. (Russian Disc) This is the most profoundly moving Medtner playing I've ever heard. The op 1 nr 1 is beatiful when anyone plays it. In the hands of Nikonovich, it actually plunges in to your soul and stays there, for ever. He also renders extraordinary interpretations of a collection of tales.

Raoul Pugno the complete 1903 recordings (The Piano Library). A hilarious cd, it was made by the Grammophone and Typewriter Company in Paris. The quality of sound is beyond description, it's a mix of glass harmonica and stone crusher. However, the acquaintance of mr pugno is rewarding! I admire his infinitely slow version of chopin's F sharp major nocturne. His Hungarian rhapsody no 11 (liszt) is brilliantly made in true tacky gypsy-style, he really gets the cimbalom feeling.

Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Schumann and Brahms (Testament). Not to unknown, I know, but it helped me change my attitude towards brahms Handel variations from hate to love. It is a terrible piece in hands of many, but he makes a real personnal, conversating, warm and admirable version of this overplayed piece. And a lot of mistakes, haha! Best of all: On the cover, you see Benno himself posing smoking a cigarette. I would like to see Kissin do that...

and at last, not pure piano music, but still:

Alexander Kipnis sings Brahms (EMI classics). This is the way Brahms songs shall sound. Sung by the deepest russian bass, but never brutal: sweet and fluffy like a huge bumble-bee. I better stop here...

[pianistimo]

i like your description of alexander kipnis.  wish i could hear it.  ivan rebrov is another great russian bass you ahve to hear.  my hubby has a bunch of his live recordings.

for a few other recordings from my hubby's collection:  beethoven's fourth pc played by claudio arrau and conducted by  bernard hatink  (he has such good taste)

sir george solti conducting sprach zarathustra , till eulenspiegel and don juan by richard strauss

frank grand piece syphonique, fantasie in A major, and pastorale on the organ played by marcel dupre

[pianistimo]

organ at chester cathedral played by roger fisher:  fantasia and fugue in G major by hubert perry, fuge, chorale and epilogue by herber howells, camille saint-saens fantasie in E-flat major, carillon sortie by henri mulet.

liturgical music from the russian cathedral (bruno giesen baritone)

tchaikovsky:  symphony #6 in B minor (pathetique) ernest ansermet

robert stolz conducting music of johann strauss

music minus one - john wustman pianist  playing schumann songs (for baritone)

these are all on records - so maybe i should go to wcu and start putting them on cd.

[pianistimo]

looking at the pricing makes me cry.  why didn't i think of starting a collection.  maybe i was too into clothing and shoes.

woah.  bernard haitink when he was young on the cover of this one.  smetana glinka and dvorak (ultava, russlana and ludmila, slavonic dances no. 1-5) with the orchestra of amsterdam

beethoven's pc #3 claudio arrau (same conductor as above)

tchaikovsky symphony #5 with london symphony and igor markevitch

paul dukas symphony in C and the sorcerer's apprentice with walter weller and the london philharmonic

[pianistimo]

lorin maazel and tchaikovsky's manfred symphony

ivan rebrov (ff) at carnegie hall and folk songs from old russia

slavonic liturgical music with the sofia male a cappella choir conducted by mikhail milkov

leonard bernstein playing 'berlioz greatest hits'  rokoczy march, the roman carnival overture, minuet o f the will-o the wisps, dance of the sylphs, march to the scaffold, and march of the pilgrims

also that recording has eugene ormandy conducting tuba miram from requiem op. 5 with temple university choir

rossini overtures with pierino gamba conducting the london symphony orchestra

[crazy for ivan moravec]

uhm... i don't have any gems here.

but i bought 25 sets (2 cds each jacket) of The Greatest Pianists of the 20th Century for only 200 PhP each jacket, that's like 4$.

i have complete cortot chopin preludes and etudes, and few other french stuff. i have moiseivitsch ballade no. 4, barcarolle(great opening).

nope, they're not fakes. it's the real thing! that's a gem in some way, hehehe.

a shop was closing and had this sale, so i didn't waste any time. only in the philippines.

[superstition2]

Obscure but great:

Tcherepnin, 3rd symphony. Singapore symphony. BIS label.
Tcherepnin, 5th piano concerto. Singapore symphony. BIS label.
Rachmaninov, 4th piano concerto, 1927 version. Icelandic Symphony. William Black, piano.
Rachmaninov, 4th piano concerto, original vers. Ashkenazy cond. Alexander Ghindin, piano.
Myaskovsky, 2nd piano sonata. Auraphon label. Boris Lvov, piano.
Myaskovsky, 3rd piano sonata. Melodiya label. Richter, piano.
Roslavets piano music. Marc-André Hamelin, piano.
Sofronitsky playing Scriabin's 9th sonata. "Great Pianists" Sofronitsky set.
Ornstein, piano music. Naxos label. Janice Weber, piano.
Tviett, 1st and 5th piano concertos. Naxos label.
Englund, piano concertos 1 and 2.
Dvorak, symphonies #4 and #8. Excelsior label.
Brahms, piano concerto #2 played by Artur Rubinstein in Warsaw, 1960.
Mahler, symphony #10 adagio movement. Excelsior label (disc with Brahms symph #2.)

Here are a few that are not so obscure, but are great:

Rachmaninov, sonata #2 original version. Ashkenazy piano.
Scriabin, Poem of Ecstasy, Piano Concerto, Prometheus. Ashkenazy/Maazel.
Beethoven, piano concerto #5 and Pathetique sonata, Peter Toperczer, piano. Excelsior.
Satie, 6 gnossiennes and (véritables préludes flasques, pour un chien). Anne Queffélec.
Prokofiev, symphony #5. Naxos. Kuchar conducting.
Prokofiev, symphony #6. Slatkin, conductor. (I don't like the third movement.)
Scriabin, piano music (sonatas 3, 4, 5, 10). Robert Taub, piano.
Horowitz plays Mozart (sonatas).
Prokofiev, 2nd piano concerto. Ashkenazy, piano.
Rachmaninov, symphony #1. Leonard Slatkin, conductor.
Rachmaninov, piano concerto #3. Horowitz, piano. 1950s recording.
Bach, concerto for 4 harpsichords. Excelsior label.
Bach, harpsichord concerto in D minor. Gould, piano.
Bach, "ultimate organ collection". Anthony Newman, organ.
Stravinsky, Le Sacre. Stravinsky, conductor.
Poulenc, organ concerto. (I have two recordings, both good, but give edge to Previn's.)
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition. Richter, piano.
Berg, piano sonata. Uchida, piano.
Scriabin, sonatas volume 1. Glemser, piano.
Shostakovich, symphony #15. Slovák, conductor.
Rachmaninov playing his 2nd and 3rd concertos.
Rachmaninov playing Chopin's Bb minor sonata.
Horowitz playing Scriabin's 5th, 9th, and 10th sonatas. Sony's "Horowitz plays Scriabin".
Horowitz playing Liszt's B minor sonata. "Great pianists."
Richter playing Prokofiev's 7th sonata live. Melodiya label.
Richter playing Prokofiev's 6th sonata. "Great pianists" label.
Scriabin, piano concerto. Chicago symphony.
The Hours, by Philip Glass. (Overly compressed compositions, but nice nonetheless.)
Horowitz Recital. CBS Masterworks.
Rachmaninov, the Isle of the Dead. Litton conducting London symphony.
Mozart's Requiem. Gardiner, conductor.
Lloyd-Webber's Requiem. Maazel, conductor. (Highly flawed work, but has its moments.)
Messiaen's Turangalia symphony (original version). Previn, conductor.
Complete Scriabin sonatas. Taub, piano.
The Early Satie. de Leeuw, piano.

there are many more...

[bennom]

Ok, fellow gentlemen, that is great stuff!!

...but how about some personnal reviews and descriptions of why these items have become your dearest recordings??? 

[thalbergmad]

I have some Padarewski 78's, but i have never played them.

[liszt1022]

Rachmaninoff - The Complete Recordings (ten awesome CDs)
Hamelin - Busoni piano concerto
Hamelin - complete Godowksy studies
Carlo Grante - complete Godowsky studies
Leslie Howard - Beethoven symphonies 1-9 in Liszt's arrangement
Dag Achatz - Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring, piano solo
Dickran Atamain - Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring, piano solo


Leslie Howard - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Todd Crow - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Pierre Reach - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Francois-Rene Duchable - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Nikolai Petrov - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Idil Biret (1979) - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Idil Biret (1992) - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique
Bruno Mezzena - Berlioz/Liszt - Symphonie fantastique

(...that's every one there is)