What are you listening to right now?

[visitor]

This guy's improv except of Gershy's Summertime, wowzer
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7088161624011812864?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

[transitional]

Not listening to anything right now - last thing I heard was a recording of D 850 2nd movement over on Pianosociety (which isn't active at all anymore for some reason)

[visitor]

This guy's improv except of Gershy's Summertime, wowzer
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7088161624011812864?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

Same composer pianist wrote this ,  I corresponded with him and got the score for this beautiful piece (sad story behind it) and considering learning it later this year if progress on other stuff rolls out quickly enough , still super pretty to listen to so playing regularly;

[lelle]

I suddenly wanted some Rubinstein in my life again and listened to his recordings of the Chopin Polonaises today. It's all high quality stuff but some of them he really owns. I'm glad I revisited these recordings.

[thorn]

Alicia de Larrocha's recital of Albeniz Iberia + Navarra encore at Carnegie Hall. I haven't heard this recording before, the recording quality isn't as good as the other one I know (from Royal Festival Hall) but glad it popped up on my YT suggestions

i=S-WOK3PieqHRRqTL

[transitional]

Heard this today, and it was quite an experience. I think it's the first time I've ever heard Andriessen.

xAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8&index=1

[summoner]

Cyclone

[transitional]

Never heard Gieseking's Beethoven yet, so I'm currently in for 7 and a half hours of this.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

I just recently bought the complete set of Cziffra's recordings (41 CDs, in total), so I'm in for a whole lot of Cziffra over the next few weeks.

[kaideedee17]

rn I've been listening to a lot of grand and flashy pieces which means ive been listening to a lot of liszt

So far some highlights have been:
Spanish Fantasy
transcendental etudes
Mephisto Waltz no.1
The Hungarian Rhapsodies
And also the Liebestraums (no1 and no2 are heavily underrated)

I do feel like these highlights may be a bit basic but these are just my favorites so far. Any recommendations for what I should listen to next?

[transitional]

I do feel like these highlights may be a bit basic but these are just my favorites so far. Any recommendations for what I should listen to next?

Annees de Pèlerinage Volumes I and III if you're into Liszt right now. Those are my favorite Liszt pieces.

[frodo5]

rn I've been listening to a lot of grand and flashy pieces which means ive been listening to a lot of liszt

So far some highlights have been:
Spanish Fantasy
transcendental etudes
Mephisto Waltz no.1
The Hungarian Rhapsodies
And also the Liebestraums (no1 and no2 are heavily underrated)

I do feel like these highlights may be a bit basic but these are just my favorites so far. Any recommendations for what I should listen to next?

Yes - his sonata in B minor.  It is one of the greatest piano compositions of the 19th century - easily makes my top 10 list of favorite 19th century piano compositions.  Pick a great pianist to listen to.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

rn I've been listening to a lot of grand and flashy pieces which means ive been listening to a lot of liszt

So far some highlights have been:
Spanish Fantasy
transcendental etudes
Mephisto Waltz no.1
The Hungarian Rhapsodies
And also the Liebestraums (no1 and no2 are heavily underrated)

I do feel like these highlights may be a bit basic but these are just my favorites so far. Any recommendations for what I should listen to next?

I recommend giving the Douze Grande Etudes (S. 137) and the Etudes d'Execution Transcendant d'Apres Paganini (S. 140) a try if you haven't already.

[thorn]

Yes - his sonata in B minor.  It is one of the greatest piano compositions of the 19th century - easily makes my top 10 list of favorite 19th century piano compositions.  Pick a great pianist to listen to.

I second this and recommend Zimerman for a studio recording and Larrocha's live 1982 one (both on youtube). Also the 2nd Ballade.

Back to the topic, I'm listening to Prokofiev 2 by Lugansky.

[klavieronin]

rn I've been listening to a lot of grand and flashy pieces which means ive been listening to a lot of liszt

So far some highlights have been:
Spanish Fantasy
transcendental etudes
Mephisto Waltz no.1
The Hungarian Rhapsodies
And also the Liebestraums (no1 and no2 are heavily underrated)

I do feel like these highlights may be a bit basic but these are just my favorites so far. Any recommendations for what I should listen to next?

The ballades, especially the second one, are very good.

[kaideedee17]

The ballades, especially the second one, are very good.

Yeah I've listened to all of them except no.2 for some reason so I will definitely have to go check that out. Thank you all for the great suggestions!

[klavieronin]

Yeah I've listened to all of them except no.2 for some reason so I will definitely have to go check that out. Thank you all for the great suggestions!

Liszt only write two ballades, FYI. Chopin wrote four that are much more popular than the Liszt ballades but those aren't the ballades I was recommending.

[kaideedee17]

Liszt only write two ballades, FYI. Chopin wrote four that are much more popular than the Liszt ballades but those aren't the ballades I was recommending.

lmao my bad bro I'll check those out too yeah my mind immediately went to the Chopin ballades, just shows how I need to expand my horizons in music. Thank you

[quantum]

[frodo6]

Great work!  This composer is new to me.  Written 1924 I think I saw.  F# minor - sounds atonal in spots but goes back to tonality.  Ives wrote his piano sonata 2 in 1915 that has mixture of atonal and tonal.  It was published 1920 but I doubt many were aware of this work in 1924.  The piano here sounds a bit out of tune yet it looks brand new.  It also sounds a little harsh. I wonder if the piano was tuned just a few hours earlier and went out of tune due to being new?

I'm listening to the great Liszt transcriptions of the Beethoven 9 symphonies played by Scherbakov.  Mind blowing!  Scherbakov does an incredible job here.  Would post a link but I could not find on youtube after a quick look.  I have the Naxos CD's.

Edit:  Ives going in and out of tonality in sonata 2 is completely different than this work.  I'm starting to listen to this a 2nd time now.  I would have to spend time here to make more meaningful comment.

Edit2:  After 2nd listen - I think this is basically tonal throughout.  Harmonies are pretty wild in spots though..

[bryfarr]

George Enescu (1881 – 1955)  is a well known and respected composer, perhaps less well known for piano because his first instrument was violin. 

Piano Suite No. 1 in G minor, Dans le style ancien Op. 3 (1897)
Piano Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10 (1901/1903)
Piano Suite No. 3, Pieces impromptues Op. 18 (1913–16)
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F♯ minor, op 24, No. 1 (1924)
Piano Sonata No. 3 in D major, op 24, No. 3 (1933–35)
Piano arrangement of Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 (1951)

Regarding the recording, that pianist's dynamics are a little too abrupt, scaling from valley to peak a bit too quickly, I think this music would be better with more subtlety and nuance. I'm sure you can find better recordings.

[frodo6]

George Enescu (1881 – 1955)  is a well known and respected composer, perhaps less well known for piano because his first instrument was violin. 

Piano Suite No. 1 in G minor, Dans le style ancien Op. 3 (1897)
Piano Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10 (1901/1903)
Piano Suite No. 3, Pieces impromptues Op. 18 (1913–16)
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F♯ minor, op 24, No. 1 (1924)
Piano Sonata No. 3 in D major, op 24, No. 3 (1933–35)
Piano arrangement of Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 (1951)

Regarding the recording, that pianist's dynamics are a little too abrupt, scaling from valley to peak a bit too quickly, I think this music would be better with more subtlety and nuance. I'm sure you can find better recordings.

I think the performance provided is a fine performance.  I am just a little oversensitive to out of tune pianos.  But I can get past this here.

Yes, Enescu is well known and respected.  I had heard the name before but I never took the time to hear his music.  This doesn't mean anything except that I am not familiar with a lot of famous modern composers.

For comparison purposes - JUST FOR FUN 

In my Grove Concise Dictionary of Music:
Enescu has 17 lines
Villa-Lobos has 19 lines
Ives has 33 lines
Messiaen has 85 lines

In my History of Western Music by Grout:
Enescu is not mentioned
Villa-lobos has only a brief mention (1 sentence)
Ives has a couple paragraphs - about 1/2 page
Messiaen has 3 pages

In my Schwann Opus 1994 CD catalogue:
Enescu has a full page of CD listings
Villa-lobos has 2.5 pages of CD listings
Ives also has 2.5 pages of CD listings
Messiaen has almost 2 pages (1.9 pages) of CD listings

Again - Just for fun. 

[bryfarr]

I just started listening to John Adams' recent piano concerto, written for Yuja Wang.
It has a name:  Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
Easily found on YT
First listen - like it very much!

wiki: 
Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? is a piano concerto by the American composer John Adams. Its title is taken from a saying attributed to Martin Luther.[1] The work was premiered on March 7, 2019 by Yuja Wang and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.[2] A recording, made by Wang, Dudamel, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 2019, was released digitally by Deutsche Grammophon on April 17, 2020.[3][4] The piece is Adams' third piano concerto, after Eros Piano (1989) and Century Rolls (1997).

[bryfarr]

Listened to Shchedrin's piano concerto for the first time - quite easy and enjoyable to listen to, has Prokofiev inspirations but more neo-classical, perhaps

[brogers70]

Keith Jarret's piano recording of the Handel keyboard suites. Very beautiful.

[bryfarr]

Carl Vine's 4th piano sonata is AWESOME, not suprisingly

[summoner]

One man death metal live

[louiseadams]

My favorite 

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Lot of Medtner lately, as well as finally getting around to listening to Rachmaninoff Sonatas.

[dizzyfingers]

Lot of Medtner lately, as well as finally getting around to listening to Rachmaninoff Sonatas.

Rachmaninoff?  Never heard of him.  Medtner, yes! Great music!  Maybe Rachmaninoff was a second rate composer-colleague, less known, less appreciated.  That's noble of you to give him a listen.

[lelle]

Rachmaninoff?  Never heard of him.  Medtner, yes! Great music!  Maybe Rachmaninoff was a second rate composer-colleague, less known, less appreciated.  That's noble of you to give him a listen.

Much of Medtner is soooo booooooring tho

[ned174849]

Much of Medtner is soooo booooooring tho

I’ve said this before and I will say it again…

Medtner > Rachmaninoff 

[Bob]

 

[Bob]

[psipsi8]

Some Mozart Piano Concertos in recordings by Mitsuko Uchida. I totally neglected anything by Mozart as I find it boring in general (particularly for piano) but these are awesome! Esp the c minor, d minor, Bb major, D major, E major , which I really like from the piano concertos I've listened to so far.

[dizzyfingers]

Some Mozart Piano Concertos in recordings by Mitsuko Uchida. I totally neglected anything by Mozart as I find it boring in general (particularly for piano) but these are awesome! Esp the c minor, d minor, Bb major, D major, E major , which I really like from the piano concertos I've listened to so far.

Most people list these concertos by their numbers, there are 27 concerti, bound to be some repeats of key; no idea which one is the E major.
I don't think anyone ever would say Mozart is boring after listening to any single concerto from numbers (13,17, 20, 21, 23, 24).  Maybe you were talking about the piano sonatas.  Those concerti (+ others) are considered pinnacles of Mozart's genius.

Although she has made a name for herself playing Mozart concerti, I don't care much for Uchida's interpretations.  They come across as overwrought, overthought.  I grew up listening to Perahia, who really captures Mozart's magic.

[dizzyfingers]

I listened to some of my recent favorites on a long flight last week:
Adams - Hallelujah Junction
Schnittke - concerto for piano and strings (Trifonov)
Bartok - concerto for two pianos and percussion (the sonata reworked as a concerto)

All 3 works are examples of 20th century creative genius, and if you haven't heard the Schnitke, I recommend you check it out.

[frodo10]

Beethoven Hammerklavier sonata.  Beatrice Rana's playing is mind blowing to me.  Can anyone post someone playing this any better from a technical perfection point of view?  Listen to the last movement at min.

[frodo10]

Bach WTC I Prelude 21 in Bb major
Spent 30 minutes on youtube trying to find a performance I totally love.  I'm coming up a little short.
I'll go with Ashkenazy and Scott Ross I guess or maybe Leonhardt.  Barton pretty good.  What's wrong with my ear today?

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[frodo10]

Oh ya baby!  This is what I'm talking about!  This guy can play!  And he's just an amateur?

[dizzyfingers]

Oh ya baby!  This is what I'm talking about!  This guy can play!  And he's just an amateur?

Regarding the Prelude, definitely very good technique but I find it quite boring - too fast and overly very strict with the tempo.  If you're ideal is to play like a robot - success!

[frodo10]

Regarding the Prelude, definitely very good technique but I find it quite boring - too fast and overly very strict with the tempo.  If you're ideal is to play like a robot - success!

I beg to differ, Dizzy!!!  But I respect your opinion. This is played to perfection!!!!  Who says so?  My ear says so.

[frodo10]

Tried to find Ashkenazy on youtube.  Where is it??

How about this one?  Even better than Barton.  This is how the big boys do it.

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[frodo10]

Oh ya baby!

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Oh ya baby!  This is what I'm talking about!  This guy can play!  And he's just an amateur?

I honestly can't tell the difference between that and a MIDI.

[frodo10]

[dizzyfingers]

Theses amazing pieces, "etudes", but Roslavets.  What a talented continuation of Scriabin's concepts of composition and piano sound:

[dizzyfingers]

Going to listen to the 3 Karol Szymanowski piano sonatas

The 1st mvmt of the 1st sonata was a bit of a chore to listen to, so much of a replica of Chopin/Scriabin without something convincing to say.  I'll check out the rest later.

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