When I was young an individual kindly gifted me a lifetime of treasured recordings exemplifying human creativity and expression. The following serve as a continuation of that effort with the aim to inspire others, perhaps while contemplating a theory.
Shlomo Mintz resurrects Paganini in a performance of the 5th Caprice.
Alexander Markov resurrects Paganini in a performance of the 24th Caprice.
The famed performance of Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony (finale).
HJ Lim plays a movement from Beethoven's Les Adieux piano sonata.
Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt's Fantasy on Mozart's Don Juan.
Rimsky-Korsakov-Cziffra - Flight of the Bumblebee (Cyprien Katsaris)
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1, 3rd mvmt (finale, Vladimir Horowitz)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3, 3rd mvmt (finale, Vladimir Horowitz)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3, 1st mvmt (cadenza, Vladimir Horowitz)
Recordings featuring pianist Vladimir Horowitz from 1952, 1930, and 1943 respectively.
Liszt - Rhapsodie Espagnole (abridged, Georges Cziffra)
Liszt - Orage de Annees de Pelerinages (Georges Cziffra)
Pianist Georges Cziffra certainly conjures an Orage: a violent storm.
Liszt - Wilde Jagde (Sviatoslav Richter)
This rare recording is circa 1940s.
Wibi Soerjadi - Paraphrase on Christmas Themes
Alkan - Saltarelle, Prestissimo Op.23 (Igor Roma)
Igor Roma was the winner of the Liszt piano competition. The full suite of recordings can be purchased from Amazon.
Scriabin - Etude Op. 8 No. 12 (Simon Barere)
Liszt - Faust Waltz (abridged, Simon Barere)
Liszt-Mozart - Paraphrase on Don Juan (abridged, Simon Barere)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2 (abridged, Simon Barere)
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 (abridged, Simon Barere)
Liszt - Piano Sonata, 3rd mvmt (abridged, Simon Barere)
Simon Barere and Vladimir Horowitz were students of Felix Blumenfeld. It is a travesty that the former is not as well known, and perhaps we may begin the task of rewriting that.
Liszt - Mephisto Waltz (abridged, Ervin Nyiregyhazi)
Additional information regarding this individual and his recordings can be found here.
Alkan - Symphony for Solo Piano, 1st mvmt (Raymond Lewenthal)
Raymond Lewenthal was among the first to introduce the compositions of Alkan to a large audience.
Yellow River Piano Concerto (abridged, Yin Chengzong)
The Yellow River Concerto transcribed and played by pianist Yin Chengzong circa 1970. The pianist won 2nd place at the famed Tchaikovsky piano competition (1960s). First place went to Russian Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Weber - Perpetuum Mobile (Konstantin Scherbakov)
The full suite of recordings can be purchased from Amazon. His website also features much pertinent information.
Bizet-Horowitz - Variations on a theme from Carmen (Vladimir Horowitz)
Sousa-Horowitz - Stars and Stripes Forever (Vladimir Horowitz)
Liszt-Horowitz - Rakoczy March (Vladimir Horowitz)
Mendelsohn-Liszt-Horowitz - Wedding March (Vladimir Horowitz)
Saint-Saens-Horowitz - Danse Macabre (Vladimir Horowitz)
Tchaikovsky-Grainger - Valse Des Fleurs (Percy Grainger)
This rare ecording has composer Percy Grainger playing his own transcription of les Valse Des Fleurs from Tchaikovsky's famed ballet. The recording was made in the 1920s.
Bach - Italian Concerto, mvmt 3 (Glenn Gould)
Mozart - Sonata No. 16, K. 545 (Glenn Gould)
Note how the piece is transformed when the notes are played in a broken (or non-legato) fashion.
Scriabin - Fantasie in B minor (Arcadi Volodos)
Scriabin is not as widely known as deserved. Perhaps the recording will inspire a further exploration of the composer's works. The full suite of recordings can be purchased from Amazon.
Chopin - Minute Waltz Op.64 No.1 (Ignaz Friedman)
Chopin - Minute Waltz Op.64 No.1 (Josef Hofmann)
Ignaz Friedman & Josef Hofmann are always a pleasure to hear. These recordings are from earlier in the 20th century.
Chopin - Nocturne Op.48 No.1 (Myra Hess)
The mood underlying this recording was likely motivated in part by bombs that had reigned down around Dame Myra Hess during WWII. Watch her video performance of Beethoven's Appaisonata featured on the Art of Piano (DVD).
Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.1 (Georges Cziffra)
Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.4 (Georges Cziffra)
Chopin - Etude Op.25 No.10 (Georges Cziffra)
Liszt - Apres une lecture de Dante (abridged, Georges Cziffra)
Franco-Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra performs Liszt and Chopin. Note how the climax of the fourth Chopin etude is conveyed, and pay particular attention to the pedaling adopted, which again reiterates Cziffra's mastery.
Chopin - Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante (Krystian Zimerman)
Krystian Zimerman's legendary performance of the work live at the Chopin competition (circa mid-1970s).
Chopin - Heroic Polonaise (Vladimir Horowitz)
Vladimir Horowitz recorded this work numerous times during his career, and I believe this interpretation (circa 1940s?) is my favorite.
Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.5 'Black Keys' (Ignaz Friedman)
Schubert - Impromptu No. 3 in G flat (Dinu Lipatti)
Liszt - Sonetto del Petrarca 104 (Dinu Lipatti)
Listeners are encouraged to visit the Lipatti & Haskill foundation.
Moszkowski - Etude op.72 no.11 (Vladimir Horowitz)
Live from the Hollywood Bowl circa 1945. The recording illustrates why Vladimir Horowitz is amongst the greatest pianists.
Isabelle Moretti seduces the crowd with an angelic rendition of Alphonse Hasselman's La Source. The segment is clipped from the DVD entitled: Jean-Francois Zygel's la boite de musique.
Chopin - Nocturne op.27 no.2 (Maria Pires)
Maestro Pires creates space within the passages, which in tandem with her delicate touch, conspire to convey a lovely interpretation.
Tchaikovsky-Liszt - Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (Grigory Ginzburg)
Liszt - Transcendental Study in A (Sviatoslav Richter)
Played with umatched intensity. This recording by Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter is from the 1940s.
Liszt - Mephisto Waltz No.1 (abridged, Dimitris Sgouros)
Moszkowski - Caprice Espagnole (finale, Vestards Simkus)
Chopin - Scherzo No. 2 (finale, Kemal Gekic)
The full suite of recordings can be purchased from Amazon.
Giovanni Martinelli delivers a moving rendition of Torna a Surriento.
Chopin - Scherzo No. 3 (finale, Ivo Pogorelich)
Ivo's famed performance from the Chopin piano competition (Warsaw, 1980).