Pianoforte Recordings

[peanutbutterjam 0]

Hi guys, can anyone recommend me some good recordings of the pianoforte?

 

I love pianoforte solo music, partly cause I play the piano myself. But so far I'm quite disappointed, simply because I haven't found a sound that sounds close to a piano. It might be my playback system though, but in any case recommend me some good recordings!

 

Thanks!

[iggyting 0]

Hi guys, can anyone recommend me some good recordings of the pianoforte?

 

I love pianoforte solo music, partly cause I play the piano myself. But so far I'm quite disappointed, simply because I haven't found a sound that sounds close to a piano. It might be my playback system though, but in any case recommend me some good recordings!

 

Thanks!

 

Interesting to hear from a pianist complaining about high fidelity! "I haven't found a sound that sounds close to a piano" - how much are we (the listeners) 'losing' out? regards

[fuwen 0]

Good piano recordings (based on music and interpretation) a lot, but good piano recordings (in terms of hifi) very difficult to find. Piano is a very difficult instrument to record. So far from what I have heard good audiophile recordings mainly are jazz music or some pops. In classical music very difficult to achieve good results I guess due to the great dynamics.

 

Despite that, I have no problem enjoying classical piano recordings, just focus on the music itself, forget about how a piano should sound .......

Edited November 25, 2008 by fuwen

[peanutbutterjam 0]

Interesting to hear from a pianist complaining about high fidelity! "I haven't found a sound that sounds close to a piano" - how much are we (the listeners) 'losing' out? regards

 

Haha no la i'm not a professional musician or anything. But as correctly pointed out by fuwen, somehow good recordings of piano is very difficult. I don't know how to describe it, but if you have ever heard say a real live pop band vs a recorded one, and a real live piano vs a recorded one, you'll be very surprised that somehow the former could sound very similar to the original, while the latter just fails.

 

Its very hard to describe in words, its a bit like "describing architecture using dance", but if you ever heard a real piano you'd be quite surprised that even v good systems fail to reproduce the piano sound realistically.

 

Well if anyone happen to know a good recording, let me know... For now as fuwen quite accurately pointed out, there's A LOT of good piano music, we just have to make do with what we can enjoy...

[peanutbutterjam 0]

I think i finally found a way to espress this unsastisfaction of mine with piano recordings. Let's try:

 

The piano is in essence a percussion instrument. Sound is produced by the hammer hitting the strings. Thus a piano has this percussive quality, this "twang" sound, which is completely lacking in recordings. Somehow the piano seems sterile after going through the mikes.

 

Any views on this?

[iggyting 0]

I think i finally found a way to espress this unsastisfaction of mine with piano recordings. Let's try:

 

The piano is in essence a percussion instrument. Sound is produced by the hammer hitting the strings. Thus a piano has this percussive quality, this "twang" sound, which is completely lacking in recordings. Somehow the piano seems sterile after going through the mikes.

 

Any views on this?

 

Yeah, I think you 'hammer the right strings" here. The lack of 'twang' is due to the lack of resonance and of 'decay' in the recording - that's what the audiophiles say - which make the sound as unpalatable as the two slices of peanut-butter-jam pictured. Yakkity! More than that, this makes the reproduced music lacking in depth and 'weight'. But not all is lost; good recordings still convey sufficient 'realism' like a 'live' session.

[kidult 0]

i'm also looking for good audiophile piano recordings.... everytime, after listening to a live piano performance, i will not listen to my piano CD for a while... ya just can't feel the "twanggggg"...... don't have the "shiok" feeling

[iggyting 0]

A good recording is a happy 'coincidence' of good artistry, an acoustically-tuned venue and a competent recording team. Happy musicians make happy music. Thus a good recording is a 'collectable'. I venture to put my head on the block by recommending an inexpensive "Naxos" series of 10 volumes of piano music Naxos 8.553852, 8.553119, 8.553073, 8.553516, 8.553062, 8.553656, 8.553656, 8.553961, 8.553594, and 8.553659.

I only have the 8.553961, vol 7, Rossini Transcription of Frank Liszt's "Soirees musicales" n "Guillaume Tell Overture". The pianist is Kemal Gekic (a Czech, I think) on a Steinway. It was recorded at Szt. Istvan Conservatorium, Budapest, on 20th & 21st 1996. The recording team comprised of producer, Tamas Benedek, supervisor, Jeno Simon, and balance engineer, Gabor Mocsary (all relatively 'unknown', I think). The recording I have is well-balanced, good in the dynamic range and harmonics, well played. The other recordings were by other pianists (Arnaldo Cohen, Jeno Jando, Philip Thomson, Oxana Yablonskaya, n Joseph Banowetz - relatively 'unknown' pianists?); and if these were done by the same technical team as in the 'Franz Liszt's, I would think they are also similarly well-recorded. Now just don't hold my words against me - I do mind losing my head. Perhaps try one first.

[peanutbutterjam 0]

A good recording is a happy 'coincidence' of good artistry, an acoustically-tuned venue and a competent recording team. Happy musicians make happy music.

Haha sad musicians make very beautiful music too, albeit a little depressing at times. Like Tchaikovsky. His stuff seems to have this sad overtone. But very beautiful nonetheless, definitely one of the world's most fantastic art.

 

Let's face it, I think we have many fantastic music out there just for piano alone for us to keep listening on for decades. Our generation is also blessed with a number of very talented pianists. What we seem to lack are recording engineers of the same passion.

 

I fully agree with you, every good recording is a timeless piece of art. It is a rare gathering of the best composers, pianists, and recording engineers. This is especially difficult since art was always subjective, whether you like the music of the composer, whether you like the interpretation of the music by the pianist, whether you like the interpretation of the sound and acoustic space by the recording engineer, for all these elements to come together to truely excite me, I always take it as a gift from god.

 

Hm must go try your recommendation. The last recording that excited me was this recording of Rhapsody, Op.79-2 by Brahms performed by Jorg Demus, and that was quite a few weeks ago... Time for more excitement

Edited November 30, 2008 by peanutbutterjam

[sputnik00 0]

while not exactly piano music, the discussion about the "twang" brought this to mind.

 

was just listening to a recording of Bach's flute sonatas by jean-pierre rampal and on one of them he is accompanied by a cembalo (or harpsichord).

 

such a special sound, it has these interesting harmonics with every note. very delicate.

Edited December 27, 2008 by sputnik00

[peanutbutterjam 0]

while not exactly piano music, the discussion about the "twang" brought this to mind.

 

was just listening to a recording of Bach's flute sonatas by jean-pierre rampal and on one of them he is accompanied by a cembalo (or harpsichord).

 

such a special sound, it has these interesting harmonics with every note. very delicate.

Agreed, the Harpsichord is such a fantastic instrument to listen to for detail. Its the type of sound (with a good composition, e.g. Bach Goldberg Variations) that really brings me goosebumps, especially live or well recorded ones.

[don 0]

you could try David Lanz. he has some excellent pieces..