Sonatas and solo piano

[bkeske]

Got up on this quiet holiday morning, and had a desire for solo piano works. 

80% + of my listening these days is ‘classical’. So, as I had not listened  to it for quite some time, pulled my Scriabin VoxBox set of all his Sonata’s played by Ponti. I think recording piano has to be one of the biggest challenges in audio recording, and this box was recorded very well indeed. Excellant set. It also tells you a lot about your system overall, taking into account the quality of the recording, of course.

After Scriabin, I pulled my Debussy LP played solo by Claudio Arrau, am  listening to it right now. Very nice as well, although not as well recorded as the Scriabin set. 

I have others, but this is where I started today. Would be interested in others recommendations. Especially on vinyl.

Enjoy your holiday, and the music

Edited September 6, 2021 by bkeske

[bkeske]

Now up, Horowitz plays Schumann 

 

[GdnrBob]

The Vox box sets are rather underrated. My favorite is the Romantic Piano Concerto set. Considering the time they were recorded, and the price the set was sold, I find the recording quality to be very good.

For some reason, I find many Arrau recordings to be on the 'dry' side. Perhaps he liked it that way.

B

[bkeske]

Agree on the VoxBox (and VOX) recordings. I have many good ones.

The Arrau recording is not the best, it has its moments, but is inconsistent. Surprising, as Philips usually does a very good job.