great post.
If it’s a Qobuz playlist, you can just post the Qobuz link here and we can import it.
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Excellent. Thank you for making and sharing. I’ll see if I can convert the Roon Playlist to a Qobuz playlist. Any thoughts on how to do this? A shame if this is not straightforward. Then again, easy to say, what with different streaming services and personal holdings.
I came across a few other wonderful articles
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Thank you. Here’s the playlist in order, missing items 7 Mozart piano sonata in F major K533/494 and 8 Weber Sonata in E-flat major Op. 39. I’ve added his (the) first ever Busoni Fantasia Contrappuntistica on SPA recording. It’s mono, as is the Mussorgsky recording, but no less wonderful to hear for that.
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After listening to a recent StickyNotes Podcast, The Ravel Sound
during which conductor Joshua Weilerstein spoke with a master of scores at G. Henle publishers, Norbert Müllermann, about how contemporary scores are created (not nearly as straightforward as one might think) and a Steinway piano tuner par excellence, Stefan Knüpfer, who implied that one can even “tune” a sound board. Curious, I looked into Mr. Knüpfer a bit more and found this remarkable video, Pianomania
He works with Lang Lang, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alfred Brendel (a relatively minor part in the video), which, in the end, led me to begin revisiting some of Mr. Brendel’s recordings prior to his death. At one point during the video, he mechanically works on a sound board, demonstrating that it is possible to change its acoustic characteristics, although tuning seems the wrong term. The video documentary is 1.5 h long, but held my attention. Fascinating inside baseball (or cricket or …,).
I had recently listened to the remarkable composer/performer collaboration between György Kurtág and Pierre-Laurent Aimard for the first complete Játékok recording. Not something to sit down and listen to from beginning to end, but fascinating and with Mr. Aimard’s remarkable pianism, quite compelling to this listener. Recommended to those curious about musical epigrams matched to people, things and processes.
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The playlist opens in qobuz Webclient, but when I click ‘Listen on Qobuz’, the Qobuz app opens up but without the playlist. I have a French Qobuz account.
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Sorry about that @jacobacci. It opened for me here in US. Anyone else in North America or in other Qobuz coverage regions having issues? I’ll try to find a different way to share and will contact Qobuz to see what suggestions/constraints they offer. Can you open it from Roon? It does on my system. It would be nice to make this seamless for sharing playlists, when created from content that is common to the multiple streaming services. Big ask. Perhaps the blog moderator could chime in with best practices or pass this along to someone able to inform us of constraints and most universal approach.
it did that to me here in the US the first time I opened it. I just clicked it again, and it worked fine.
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East-West baroque music interceptions: Constantinople. Very educational and enjoyable.
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Back to live performances. Just heard Daniil Trifonov perform live in Winona, MN, a small town athwart the upper Mississippi River, at their annual 2 week Beethoven Festival. Mr. Trifonov performed works he’s taken on the road before, with Tchaikovsky performance as first and last elements, a sampling of exquisitely performed Chopin Waltzes and, just after intermission, Samuel Barber’s superb Piano Sonata in E flat minor, the evening’s pièce de résistance. I had avoided listening to Samuel Barber’s music for decidedly misguided reasons (not the first time, I fear). I thought his works might be cliché and stuffy. Boy, was I wrong.
Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers commissioned the Piano Sonata in 1947 for the League of Composers 25th Anniversary and Vladimir Horowitz took a keen interest in its development, hoping to premiere it. He made suggestions incorporated by Mr. Barber during the 2 y composition process. When Mr. Barber found himself stalled on the fourth movement, Mr. Horowitz called him and suggested he was a stitico (constipated) composer. This so angered Mr. Barber, he reportedly composed the wondrous Fuga the next day, “which has kept pianists busy ever since.” This is an astonishing movement (now, now), combining as it does 12-tone music with the fugue form. Mr. Horowitz premiered the piece in 1950. Mr. Trifonov’s performance was magnificent, possibly the best piece of live piano music performance I’ve had the privilege to hear. After the Fuga movement, the audience was shouting out its delight. I sent a note to Mr. Trifonov’s manager expressing a hope that he might record this, although, like fireflies, it might be best observed in the wilds of live performance. I was informed that it is under consideration.
Here are two recordings of this piece. The first by Mr. Barber’s “favorite” pianist, John Browning.
The entire recording is well worth hearing.
The second is by the always marvelous Marc-André Hamelin
It is paired with a splendid Charles Ives’ Concord recording, Hamelin’s second.
Once again, I find both recordings just the tiniest bit pale compared to the live performance. Maybe there was a bit of Russian inflection and the visual impact of the performance may change one’s auditory perceptions. However things may be, it was a thoroughly vivifying thing to see and hear. My wife commented approvingly that “this is what I think of when I think of a concert pianist.” Well, there it is.
Other suggestions for Samuel Barber recordings much appreciated.
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I was listening to Jed Distler‘s podcast today and he recommended this recent recording by the pianist Kate Liu! Really stellar playing and the recording is magnificent. Seemingly perfect mic placement to give u a several rows back and very present bass and range. Certainly many other outstanding choices for the two pieces but this is a great pairing.
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Aristo Sham won the Cliburn 2025. He’s clearly a very gifted pianist!
Hopefully, the recording of the final will soon be available on Qobuz…
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@bill_perkins I’m very envious regarding the Daniil Trifonov concert you attended.
I was fortunate to hear Trifonov a few summers back performing a new concerto by Mason Bates.
Daniil Trifonov is really something in my book and it’s pretty clear, based on “My American Story - North”, that he’s passionate about works by American composers.
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Listening to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No.2 - John Ogdon playing.
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Listening to these excellent performances, most of which are also good recordings (or HDTT tape transfers)…
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Wonderful choices. I haven’t yet listened to Rachel Podger/Brecon Baroque Biber, but have listened to Bojan Čičič/Illyria Consort of some of the same pieces. Wonderful. Well engineered, beautifully executed with excellent instrumental balances and piquant compositions. Had Rachel Podger/Brecon Baroque in my listening queue and looking forward to it.
Currently listening to music Purcell composed for harpsichord sensibly and sensitively performed with wonderful dynamics and almost-plucked-level articulation on piano by Romanian Cristian Sandrin. This work was pick of the litter in the Instrumental review section in July’s BBC Music Magazine, Kate Bolton-Porciatti commenting. She writes, “Sandrin’s grasp of Baroque rhetoric blends with the piano’s expressive breadth” and he “sets the bar impressively high”. I find it among the nicest Baroque harpsichord to piano adaptations I’ve heard. Serves as both an engrossing or ambient (say, for a Sunday morning) listen. Would love to hear from others about recommended harpsichord versions of these Purcell compositions. A choice collection of lessons indeed.
The Munch/BSO (as David Hurwitz calls it, the most French orchestra in the world) Berlioz is one of my favorites.
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