Confess, David. YOU'RE the evil god Cancrizans, aren't you? You seem to have such a singular connection with him and his nefarious plans. Very 'sus', as my 10 year old would say. :)
Let's leave it out there as one he wouldn't want to risk losing if he only chooses the Tchaikovsky. It makes the choice all the more agonizing for him.
We need a recording for Samson Francois - his Ravel could be a solid pick there. Also, I cannot think of another (better) Tchaik 1, maybe Volodos though his Brahms would be missed.
@@estel5335 particularly the amazing left hand concerto (just a wow performance) but I’d go with his complete Ravel, sure. I’d also choose the whole Argerich concertos box but I know Dave’s motives are to persuade Cancrizans and Dave does know him better…
Some years ago Argerich and Abbado appeared at the BBC Proms in a concert that featured Ravel's G Major concerto - Argerich astonished the spell-bound audience, especially in the sublime slow movement , where her exquisite playing induced a period of sustained acute quietude amongst the ever-so appreciative Royal Albert Hall audience - and remember, this venue is huge, and not a seat was vacant. You really did get the impression that Ravel's masterpiece couldn't be better interpreted. It was a marvellous concert and I remember that after a glorious concluding performance of The Firebird, Abbado conducted Wagner's Good Friday sequence from Parsifal as an encore! Oh I wish he had recorded Parsifal in its entirety.
I can’t agree more, one of the best recordings of literally anything by anyone ever made. Still every single time I hear it I’m filled with emotion and I chills over my entire body, even from the very first chord. If it wasn’t for that recording, which I’ve listened to for years, I probably wouldn’t even love classical music as much as I do now!
Hmmm, very difficult this. Do you go with her early solo recitals, her concerto work or her later chamber works (arguably more representative of her art these days). As has been mentioned by others I'd probably go with her Prokofiev 3 + Ravel disc with Abbado. Both of these could be considered her party pieces (Prokofiev 3 a party piece??) I remember hearing her play the Ravel with Dutoit in Edinburgh. There's always some jerk who has to cough during the quietest part of the slow movement, but to add to the whole multi-sensory experience, the old lady in front of me also farted very loudly. Martha did not look amused...😄
Fabulous! Thanks to another of your chats I had already listened to the Argerich/Abbado Tchaikovsky #1, and youzzers is it exciting! Thanks for your insights and also for promoting wonderful performances.
Wow! Your several accounts of your struggles with Brahms’s German Requiem have riveted me every time I have found one, but never more than with your recent Klemperer-inspired epiphany. I had always greatly admired the piece, but I had had the advantage, I now see, of having first heard it via Klemperer. And now, you have granted me my own such epiphany in my struggles with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, which came to my attention in my earliest days of classical music enthusiasm at the dawning of Van Cliburn’s triumph long years back. Huh, I remember saying to myself. What is wrong with me here? At that point, when everything was new to me, that was one of very few pieces that did not kind of sweep me off my fledgling feet, but what WAS all the shouting about? And, maybe for the sake of self-preservation, I blamed Tchaikovsky for appealing to dullards and ignored him as much as possible, only marveling every now and then when I encountered obvious non-dullards raving about him and his. I was clearly right, and so there just was no accounting for tastes. But now, inspired by your promise that I could not fail to be thrilled by this one of dear Martha Argerich’s versions of the thing, I gave it a try, and not immediately but only just past what struck me as all the usual opening bombast, BANG. And, well, good golly! Once again you [and she, of course] have jolted me out of my codger’s complacency and quite rejuvenated me, for which I thank you most sincerely.
There is no bottom, there is also no top - words to live by. Just like that movement in PDQ Bach's Preachers of Crimetheus: "Bottomless Sorrow; Topless Gaiety".
I heard Argerich play an unforgettable Prokofiev Third Concerto with Ozawa and Boston on a radio broadcast - I can't tell you how many years ago. It was like a steeplechase. It felt like it could careen out of control at any moment, but it never did.
If I Could Choose Only One Recording By... Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos - The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (1969) I chose this one over her Switched On Bach recordings because of the greater variety of music it contains. In addition to a realization of Bach's Brandenburg concerto No 4 that Glenn Gould called "the finest performance of any of the Brandenburgs-live, canned, or intuited-I've ever heard", it contains a couple of stunning Monteverdi fanfares and performances of Scarlatti sonatas that makes them sound like some sort of whiz-bang computer music. A selection of movements from Handel's Water Music completes the program. The final movement of the Brandenburg is guaranteed to blow your mind.
I'm absolutely with you on this. The Monteverdi Orfeo is utterly fantastic, and the whole album is so diverse (within its Baroque music constraints). I have an edition with Wendy's talk on it, and I just love hearing her speak about creating her work.
I have no problem with musicians making tons and tons of recordings because I (in effect) am paying critics like CT to sort through the pile, tell me which ones to listen to, and I ignore the rest.
I would like to make a request that might drive you a little crazy, but it's important for me (and perhaps others) since I am not in a financial position to purchase physical products. I have to rely on streaming, and streaming services are clogged with the recording company nonsense like catalog dumping. It helps to locate a particular performance if we know the recording date (which is almost always in the physical booklet). I know you hate extraneous details (I mean: who cares what mics were used or what speakers were used to monitor the recording?), but that date would really, really help. Thank you as always for all you do.
I honestly don't see how that would help if you know who the performers are and the label. If there's a need for a date as well, I usually provide it, but most of the time you simply don't need it.
I'll wait, sure. I'm just very curious. Apropos another issue. Why doesn't Martha Argerich give solo recitals ? My guess is stage fright. I think it's pretty obvious.@@DavesClassicalGuide
A vote for Maxim Vengerov’s Prokofiev violin concerto 1 with Rostropovich. A sentimental favourite that also happens to be one of the greatest recordings in a great catalogue.
