Messiaen Vingt Regards - Michel Beroff

[stucoy]

I have Michel Beroff's recording of Messiaen's Vingt Regards. It is so beautiful, and so virtuosic, that my little mind can't really imagine how it could be played better. Is Beroff's recording the best, or are there even better recordings out there? I will only accept as valid replies from those who are familiar with Beroff's recording, and also have heard several other recordings.

[thalbergmad]

Check out the recording in the Audition room by Ozzy, i think.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

Ozzy has a great recording. Steven Osborne and Pierre-Laurent Aimard are both better than Béroff, I think. Béroff just isn't as intense as he could be. Aimard is pretty much Messiaen's disciple, so he is the undisputed best, I think. Osborne just has a great recording.

[richard black]

Beroff's recording never really pressed my buttons. Try Malcolm Troup (used to be on LP on Altarus and CD on Continuum but I've a feeling neither is currently available - look around second-hand), Thomas Rajna (Saga LP, no idea if it's been reissued) and of course the composer's wife, Yvonne Loriod (I think she recorded it again in the 1980s but the version I have of hers is from the 1950s). There's a recording by John Ogdon from the mid-70s with some wonderful things in but also some unsatisfactory bits: he was not well when he recorded it. And I'll second the recommendations for Aimard and Osborne. The piece has been quite well served on disc, really!

[stucoy]

Ozzy has a great recording. Steven Osborne and Pierre-Laurent Aimard are both better than Béroff, I think. Béroff just isn't as intense as he could be. Aimard is pretty much Messiaen's disciple, so he is the undisputed best, I think. Osborne just has a great recording.

Aimard only studied with Loriod, I think, as did Beroff. So if your using that as a criteria, then Loriod herself should surely be the ultimate.

Maybe Steven Osborne is an underrated pianist. I have his Liszt Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses and his performance of the Benediction de Dieu dans La Solitude is superb, I think.

[quantum]

I like Osborne, and the Roger Muraro DVD is quite good (search for clips on YouTube).  As was also mentioned Ozzy posted it in the Audition room.

[argerichfan]

Ozzy has a great recording. Steven Osborne and Pierre-Laurent Aimard are both better than Béroff, I think.

Yes very much agreed!  And let us not forget John Ogdon.  I have a soft spot for his recording.