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Message |
md
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Piano music
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Feb 23 04:06 UTC 2000 |
In Item #34, dbratman writes: "I would much rather
listen to Murray Perahia or the late Claudio Arrau
play Schumann than almost anybody playing almost
anything by Chopin." Good topic to continue.
Who are the great composers of solo piano music? Who
are your favorites? Least favorites? Who is overrated?
Unfairly neglected? What are your favorite solo piano
compositions, and which recorded performances of them
do you like best?
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| 10 responses total. |
oddie
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response 1 of 10:
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Feb 24 05:40 UTC 2000 |
Well, I *like* Chopin, though I don't think I've heard much Schumann solo
piano music. The only thing that faintly annoys me sometimes is when it seems
that ornamentation is tacked on to the theme in a way that obscures more
than it beautifies. (It also strikes me as strange sometimes that modern-day
performers seem to feel obligated to perform an "authoritative" edition of
the score with the ornaments exactly as written, as Chopin himself is said
to have varied his own interpretations of his music considerably from one
performance to the next)
I like Glenn Gould's performances of Bach keyboard music--he seems to place
more importance on his own interpretation of the music than many others. Or
perhaps it's just that his interpretations are more idiosyncratic than other
people's. ;) Other than that I suppose I haven't listened to enough different
recordings of the same music to be able to form opinions about the performers.
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md
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response 2 of 10:
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Feb 24 12:49 UTC 2000 |
Chopin's melodies are certainly more memorable
(hummable?) than Schumann's, for the most part.
Chopin uses symmetry, inversions, and lots of
other tricks that make his tunes stick in your
mind.
I love Schumann's Kreisleriana and especially
Carnaval. The Waldszenen is an old childhood
favorite. Mitsuko Uchida has released a Schumann
disk that competes with anything previously
recorded, imho.
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oddie
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response 3 of 10:
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Feb 25 05:17 UTC 2000 |
<smacks self upside the head> Of *course* I know some of Schumann's piano
music--my piano teacher's last recital was an all-Schumann concert, and I
played three pieces from Carnaval. Which three? I can't quite remember the
titles -- one was the piece representing Clara Wieck, and the other two were
the pieces that represent the two sides of his character, Eusebius and
Florestan (Eusebius is the passionate, exuberant one; Florestan the
reflective, quieter personality, IIRC) They are lovely pieces, come to think
of it, and also in some ways more "avant-garde" (for the time) than Chopin,
as some are written in odd time signatures or rhythmic groupings, or don't
resolve on the last chord in the conventional fashion.
Also I love Rachmaninov's piano music (although recently I have been listening
more to a disc of two-piano suites by Argerich & Rabinovitch more than I have
to the solo music). I've played some Rachmaninov preludes too, including the
famous c#(?) minor. The thing which everybody notices about Rachmaninov is
the huge, often rather dissonant chords, but (as I realized while practicing
one of the preludes) there's always a beautiful melody buried in them.
(Rachmaninov once said something along the lines of, "The greatest duty of
a composer is to create beautiful melodies." For which he was roundly rebuked
by Schoenberg et al.)
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orinoco
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response 4 of 10:
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Feb 25 20:58 UTC 2000 |
(Which just adds to my dislike of Schoenberg et al.)
I've been on another Stravinsky kick lately, listening to a lot of the
two-piano pieces he wrote. Apparently he wrote most of his orchestral music
in arrangements for two pianos before he orchestrated it, and he also wrote
a few pieces expressly for two pianos. My favorite part of the Rite of Spring
is the creative orchestration, but it's to his credit that it sounds almost
as good unorchestrated.
Apparently he's also got a piece called _Les Noces_ for _four_ pianos,
percussion, and voces, which I'm thinking I'm gonna have to track down one
of these days.
I think the only composer whose piano music I actively dislike is Mozart.
The sort of writing that sounds gorgeous and virtuosic in his operas just
strikes me as hopelessly goofy and frilly in his piano music.
A while ago, I ran across a recording of Keith Jarret playing Shostakovich's
preludes and fugues for piano. Gorgeous stuff - Bach's forms updated with
modern harmonies and rhythms - and a lot better-suited for the piano than
Bach, IMO - which only makes sense, since Bach was writing for an entirely
different set of instruments.
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