There was a lot of fuss a couple of years ago, when Murray Perahia moved from CBS Sony to DG, and his first LP on the Yellow Label was a Beethoven disc, coupling the ‘Moonlight’ sonata with the mighty ‘Hammerklavier’.
But not much since. Is he still making records?
Incidentally, anyone wanting an LP of the ‘Hammerklavier’ need look no further than Maurizio Pollini’s magisterial account, also on DG, from around 1977 in lovely warm analogue sound. Pollini re-recorded a number of Beethoven sonatas for DG, but - wisely, perhaps - didn’t touch the ‘Hammerklavier’.
I understand the frustration. I don’t have a vinyl set up (it would bankrupt me) but I’ve been buying CDs a lot lately anticipating that they will suffer the same fate of becoming infrequently issued collectors’ items. For now, in CD land it’s still difficult to choose, but their window of availability is more limited than before.
I was lucky enough to see him in concert at the RFH and Barbican a few times, particularly when his great friend Claudio Abbado was chief conductor of the LSO.
I would place him on a par with Emil Gilels, whom I saw just the once, conducting the LSO in a Mozart symphony and playing his last Piano Concerto, K 595.
An absolute sensation when it was originally issued and still a fantastic Messiah. The bounce, momentum and rough edge that was new to this work have made it to newer recordings by Jacobs and Haim amongst others, but Bernarda Fink’s alto and Neal Davies’ bass remain unsurpassed.
Pollini’s 1977 recordings of the 5 late Beethoven sonatas, 28 to 32, have never been bettered. They are magnificent and should be in every Classical music collection.
Yeah, I wouldn’t expect that kind of information in liner notes for any release from DG in the 70s. I don’t know that there is a publicly-accessible way to find out what was and wasn’t recorded to four-track.
I’ve always enjoyed Renaissance/Baroque lute music, and BIS has a great history of supporting performances of it. The recordings from ca 1980 with Jakob Lindberg are excellent.
I went to look up this Kapsberger recording on Qobuz to discover I added it to my library in 2019 soon after it was released. I am playing it now while working.
Yes, I have the Bach Works for Lute on Astree with Hopkinson Smith. Those are great. I also have a recording of Luis Milan, El Maestro 1536 performed on the vihuela, which is a Renaissance guitar. It’s great. You should look for it if you don’t have it.
I have an instresting lute album on L’Oissaeu-Lyre: the Complete Lute Music of John Dowland. It’s a 5-LP box and each LP has a different lutenist (Anthony Bailes, Jakob Lindberg, Nigel North, Anthony Rooley, Christopher Wilson).
I have much of Emma Kirkby’s Reanissance and Baroque stuff on L’Oiseau-Lyre vinyl LPs. Great stuff.
