for the piano: Schubert vs. Mozart vs. Chopin

I love me some Mozart but I'll give Fred the piano and Wolfie the strings

If this is STRICTLY about solo piano, then it's Schubert for me. (The Mozart solo sonatas are a nut I have not yet cracked but I am certain it's still my problem, not his).

But if the brief includes Mozart's piano concertos, then I cannot vote. The Mozart PCs vs. the Schubert sonatas? Best stalemate in the universe.

I actually wrote a bunch about Schubert already in the Liszt v LvB v Schumann poll thread.

Chopin, jeez I've tried SO MANY TIMES with him, heard the whole body of work dozens of times, and it just never quite takes. I think I'm just not made for him, constitutionally. He's too perfect! The bleeding edges and ruinous grasp of Liszt and the torn impulses and disjunctions of Schumann suit me better on a gut level.

That's a really interesting take on Chopin, to me. I don't subscribe to it - he seems so emotional to me, the first thing I feel when I hear Chopin is affinity, sympathy, common emotional ground. But I do see what you're saying: every note is in place. Most of my favorite music is rife with imperfection! But Chopin -- the depth of emotion is all to me, with him.

Yeah i feel that it's THERE but it just doesn't pierce into me somehow?

It's funny, if I was a pianist instead of a guitarist/former saxist I wonder how different my responses to all these guys would be...

OK, I'm curious what an example of a classical piece that's appealing because it's "rife with imperfections" would be. I agree that "every note is in place" with Chopin, but that's not exactly the first thing I would think of to describe, say, some of the Op. 28 preludes. Or the coda of the second sonata!

The pieces that initially got me into Chopin were the polonaises.

Well yeah finale of the second sonata, true true. In fact most of the second sonata.

Also the etudes, the barcarolle, the ballades, the scherzos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ_XsVcCtTM

Also the etudes, the barcarolle, the ballades, the scherzos

These all fall into the "almost too perfect" category for me. But life is long and I may change...

I think what we're talking about here is Chopin as being experimental in form. And I would probably even go further and argue that it's more characteristic of his general style. Are the ballades more formally experimental than the polonaises?

And I mentioned the Op. 28 preludes, but there are probably plenty of nocturnes and mazurkas that could qualify as formally experimental miniatures, too.

He is definitely experimental in form, sometimes radically. The Ballades and Mazurkas are probably some of the most so.

OK, I'm curious what an example of a classical piece that's appealing because it's "rife with imperfections" would be.

Entirety of Bruckner, one of my favorite composers! Except maybe Te Deum, I think he gets nearly perfect there, but the rest has these moments of overreach, visible struggle - I sort of love that stuff

rain gathering in the sky, listening to Sonata No. 2 (Olga Kern, Harmonia Mundi, terrific) - Chopin wins this poll for sure

Chopin for me as well, later Schumann stuff has been a revelation for me recently tho

Mozart vs. Capcom

dare I ask wtf Capt. L is talking about

lol

http://www.ndnguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/marvel_vs_capcom_2.jpg

in the pantheon of all-time arcade greats

deeply, deeply relevant

rain gathering in the sky, listening to Sonata No. 2 (Olga Kern, Harmonia Mundi, terrific) - Chopin wins this poll for sure

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 6 March 2011 00:28 (25 minutes ago)

the german gods sent the rain cuz they knew u were going to decide a damn franco-slav could do sturm und drang better than them

it's not the sturm und drang it's the finer feelings that Chopin excels in!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hk2dup6KMsI/TSTllKjZ6iI/AAAAAAAAAWI/AIno1vO3Dsg/s1600/bismarck.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Chopin
Because Schubert and Mozart wrote other things besides piano music

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

dang

polonaise in Ab major op 53 olga kern

whole life lived in 6:49

paul badura-skoda

everybody remotely interested in this thread get him doing mozart at the very least

Thanks. I've been wanting to get into the Mozart sonatas but wasn't sure who to go with. Don't want to hear it overly romanticized.

^ u need the Ivan Moravec Plays Mozart disc on Supraphon IMO.

Also I believe Aero has repped strong for the period-piano Mozart recordings of Kristian Bezuidenhout before, I really want to check out one of those. I think there are now two volumes on Harmonia Mundi and an earlier one on a smaller label...

uchida tbrr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ79dUvhrXs

low placement of schubert incomprehensible to me

is he on spotify? could use a good sunday morning mozart sesh

uchida tbrr

she is truly one of the greatest pianists of all time imo

but badura-skoda on mozart is something that everybody who loves mozart should really hear because he really seems bent on making the voice of the composer audible. just so crisp

i love the uchida schubert box

Schubert, and only Schubert, on R3 for the next few days...

On the classical thread I was going bonkers recently over Andsnes' recording of the Sonata D958.

do you rate andsnes w/ liszt?

Trying to play this now and realizing I never will get it even remotely close to performance tempo. It's depressing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1eE8sZKIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoUIBcl7iw imo

Why come piano gotta be so hard!

do you rate andsnes w/ liszt?

― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan)

I like his Liszt recital disc pretty well, and his Grieg, but his Schubert's on another level entirely (at least D958 and D959 which are the ones I have).

good recording of Schubert's impromptus?

I've tried about 12 different cycles and I just keep coming back to Brendel (his analog one from the 70s, available in a 2fer with the Moments Musicaux etc, not his digital one). It has the most subtly hypnotic effect. I don't like for the performer to do too much to these pieces. They should just 'come down from the sky and stand there'.

oh sweet thanks. I listened to some of Krystian Zimerman play on youtube, but I don't know Schubert from Flaubert

Zimerman is ok but not great (I do love him in Liszt and Debussy). an easily available alt choice imo would be Radu Lupu.

I stan for Lupu that dude is great plus it's fun to say his name

It really is!!!

I've sung it before to myself as well: ra-DOOO, Lu-POOO, ra-DOO lu-POO ra-DOO...

As for Ravel, I love Bavouzet's set. He does away with the dare I say anglocentric emphasis on softer tones that we've come to expect from 'impressionist' composers.

You are welcome, V/Austin.

Schiff is not always seen as a go-to interpreter of Schubert, but this is a very good set of the non-sonata solo piano stuff: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Impromptus-Klavierstucke-Moments-Musicaux/dp/B000007OTU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1530918314&sr=8-8&keywords=schubert+schiff

ECM Schiff much more interesting than London Decca Schiff in almost any repertoire IMO

Jon — Sorry, I know it's late, but I got there eventually: https://youtu.be/KuDYXWixedk

Hey - I was finally going to try to capture the audio stream from this but the video's not up anymore :(

started learning Fantasy in Fm for four hands with someone who is much more experienced in playing classical music than me...we'll see how it goes