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Ten Over-Recorded Piano Works · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  You can subscribe to The Piano Maven through
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  my Substack page by... going to the link that
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  I've provided in our episode description. And
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  I hope you will consider taking out a paid subscription
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  to the podcast because paid subscribers get such
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  goodies as a free download at the beginning of
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  each month, as well as links to Zoom meetings
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  that we have every few months. So definitely
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  consider a subscription to keep this podcast
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  going. A listener asked me to make a list of
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  the ten piano pieces that I felt were recorded
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  way too often. So, after some thinking, I did
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  come up with a list. Now, I wouldn't necessarily
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  say that these ten works that I've picked are
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  the top ten over -recorded works, because there
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  are so many other over -recorded piano works
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  that easily could fit this bill. But the pieces
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  that I've picked definitely abound in recorded
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  versions. Maybe some of these pieces may not
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  seem to be such obvious candidates for this list.
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  But these pieces... do seem to be turning up
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  more and more in the catalog these days. So sometimes
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  there are trends or fads where a certain work
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  will start showing up more often on disc than
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  usual. So let's get cracking on my list. Number
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  one. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Can you believe
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  that this work was once considered a mere connoisseur
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  item and mostly of interest to specialists or
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  scholars? Well, with all due respect to pioneers
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  like Wanda Landowska and Claudio Arau and Rosalind
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  Turek, who made important pioneering recordings
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  of the work in the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s,
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  it really was Glenn Gould's 1955 debut recording
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  for Columbia Masterworks that made the Goldberg
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  Variations sexy. gave it both box office potential
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  and a kind of intellectual cachet that is stuck
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  in the piano community. And more pianists than
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  ever have been lining up to record the Goldbergs,
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  whether or not they have anything special to
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  say about this music or not. It's actually becoming
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  something that All of the latest hotshot young
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  pianists are expected to play and record the
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  Goldbergs. And of course, if you don't take all
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  of the repeats, you are committing blasphemy.
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  Okay, number two on my list is Beethoven's Moonlight
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  Sonata. Well, this piece was over -recorded going
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  as far back as the early days of 78s. I don't
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  think that the moonlight has the same aura of
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  mystery or sense of challenge or, again, the
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  intellectual cachet that... let's say, the Beethoven
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  hammer clavier sonata has or his opus 111. Actually,
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  I could have chosen opus 110 for an over -recorded
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  piece because this sonata seems to be popping
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  up more and more on disc these days. It's definitely
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  over -recorded. But throughout the history of
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  classical recordings, you do see the moonlight
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  pretty often, and there have undoubtedly been
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  pianists who recorded the Moonlight Sonata because
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  their record companies requested it. So in this
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  sense, it's definitely over -recorded. Maybe
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  it's not over -recorded so much today as it was
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  in the past, but in terms of the totality of
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  the catalog throughout history, yes, I would
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  say that the Moonlight has been recorded way
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  too many times for its own good. Number three.
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  Schumann's Christ Liriana, Op. 16. Now here is
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  a piece where more and more young pianists are
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  breaking down doors to record it, and their interpretations
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  are growing more mannered and mincing by the
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  minute, and you keep hearing it. in concerts
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  too. And I don't even find it to be the most
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  interesting of Schumann's large -scale piano
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  suites. I mean, I could do without some of the
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  repetitions in the second movement. I personally
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  would be happy to skip over the fourth and sixth
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  pieces altogether, but you didn't hear me say
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  that. But in my opinion, there have been more
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  uncompetitive Chryslerianas showing up in the
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  catalog in recent years than at any other time.
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  But there are some exceptions. Benjamin Grosvenor's
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  Decca recording and also Alexander Gagiev's recording
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  on the Accousance label. These two... I think,
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  are the best recent versions of Chrysalion that
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  really do add something to the history of the
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  work on recordings. And there are fabulous recordings
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  of this piece, don't get me wrong, but it's just
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  being done so much now by people who really don't
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  have any business recording it. I would say the
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  same thing about my fourth piece on this list,
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  Chopin's B minor sonata, the sonata number three.
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  Look, it's a great work, it's full of challenges,
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  and it also has a kind of intellectual cachet.
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  Especially if you take the first movement repeat,
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  you get brownie points, absolutely. But there
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  are so many basically decent, yet ultimately
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  unmemorable versions that have been springing
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  up like dandelions in the past decade or so.
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  Number five on my list actually is by List, L
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  -I -S -Z -T. And I'm talking about the List Sonata
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  for Piano in B minor. Now, I actually welcome
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  new recordings of this piece from people who
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  are really engaged with the work and have something
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  to say with it. And there's so much to this music
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  that it really can absorb different types of
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  interpretations. But I would recommend a moratorium
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  on new recorded versions. for the time being
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  unless these recordings come from really big
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  league list interpreters and the standard has
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  been pretty high but I don't know if we really
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  need as many recordings of this piece as we have
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  these days. And by the way, Liszt's Dante Sonata
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  is being recorded a little too much these days.
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  And so many young pianists are bringing it to
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  the concert stage and playing it in competitions
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  much more now than ever before, it seems. Number
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  six on my list is the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
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  No. 1. Again, how many new versions do we really
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  need? This work was over -recorded in the 78
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  era, even, and even in the early LP era. It was
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  over -recorded in the early stereo era, in the
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  early digital era, in the Stone Age, in the Space
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  Age, in every age. Every new version that comes
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  out seems to have planned obsolescence built
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  into it, with a few exceptions, of course. Always
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  happy to hear a really fresh and creative and
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  involving interpretation of this work. But the
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  recorded competition has been pretty fierce and
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  formidable, to say the least. Number seven. Now,
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  this choice may surprise you because... Only
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  up until recently, we did not have so many recorded
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  versions of Guido Agosti's piano transcription
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  of excerpts from Stravinsky's Firebird Ballet.
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  But now it's turning up all over the place. And
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  for every really good one out there, there are
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  four. relatively uninteresting versions. I think
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  we have to hold back on that piece for now. And
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  also there has been a proliferation of recordings
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  of Rachmaninoff's second sonata. This is number
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  eight on my list. And it doesn't matter whether
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  you play the original 1913 version or the 1931
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  revision or any combination of the two. This
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  work is... definitely over -recorded and mostly
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  by pianists who have not much sense of style
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  or a little clue how to keep the thematic and
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  decorative passages and textural perspective
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  or knowing when to hold back and when to move
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  ahead every time a new recorded version of this
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  piece comes out. I just want to scream. But then
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  again, I have to keep an open mind because you
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  never know if the next version scheduled to be
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  released is going to be another Horowitz or Weissenberg
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  or Zoltan Koscius or Van Cliburn in terms of
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  the great Rachmaninoff Second Sonata recordings
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  we know and love. Number nine on my list is Ravel's
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  Gaspard de la Nuit. This piece has musical and
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  technical challenges galore. And again, I think
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  this piece represents a kind of intellectual
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  cachet for those who take it on. You have more
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  and more recorded versions, it seems these days,
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  recorded live during competitions. And there
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  are more and more pianists who think that the
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  only way to play the final movement, Scarbo,
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  is to play it faster than anyone else, because
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  that will impress the jury and impress the critics.
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  And now that there's such a high standard of
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  excellent recorded versions of Gaspard de Lanouilly
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  in relation to decades ago, because simply this
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  piece is not a problem anymore for... anyone
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  to play among all of these kids. But, you know,
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  I think we can slow down the pace of new recorded
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  versions. Let's just take a step back with new
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  Gaspar Delaunay recordings out there, okay? And
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  finally, number 10 on my list, the Philip Glass
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  etudes. These are the easiest etudes to play
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  badly because they may seem relatively manageable
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  on the surface. but to find the right colors,
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  the right tempos, the right balances, the right
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  points of emphasis, the peaks and the valleys.
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  the right way to judge transitions, and so on
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  and so forth. It takes a special kind of pianist
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  and a special kind of musical intelligence to
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  make these pieces sound fresh and vital and meaningful.
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  And I've heard so many recorded versions that
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  just fall flat because the pianists think that
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  it's just enough to play the notes. Hey, it's
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  minimalism, right? I say wrong. And I'm talking
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  about not just pianists who've recorded the entire
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  cycle or big portions of the cycle, but also
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  pianists who've recorded one or two or three
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  etudes. Actually, there's one pianist out there
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  who I think is usually hopeless when... playing
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  standard repertoire, yet this pianist plays the
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  glass etudes with a lot of drama and subjectivity
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  and intensity, and you will know who this pianist
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  is if you have read my reviews. But I would say
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  that don't play all of the Philip Glass etudes
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  in concert, and definitely don't record them
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  unless you know what the hell you're doing. And
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  for my honorable mention, this is, I guess, the
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  11th piece on the list. Why are there more recordings
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  than we need of John Adams' China Gates? Probably
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  because it's short. Probably because it is manageable
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  technically. probably because it is pretty and
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  evocative music. It's a beautiful piece. And
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  probably, most probably, because young pianists
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  who need to acquire contemporary repertoire,
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  brownie points again, can easily take China Gates
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  into their repertoire. And then they'll say,
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  hey, look, you see, I have contemporary music
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  in my repertoire. You see, I play China Gates.
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  but it often turns up as the token contemporary
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  piece. Now, do these pianists have the courage,
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  let alone the technique, to take up John Adams'
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  amazing large -scale piano masterpiece Phrygian
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  Gates, which is the best thing that he wrote
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  for solo piano and has relatively few recordings?
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  Why don't these kids bring Phrygian Gates to
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  the Van Cliburn competition instead of trotting
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  out Gaspar de la Nuit or the Firebird? This is
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  a piece that requires a really specific kind
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  of pianistic and musical discipline, and it is
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  so effective with audiences. But we don't need
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  more versions of China Gates out there, and basically
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  every recording of it is good. You know, I haven't
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  heard a bad performance among the 500 gazillion
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  that are out there. In any event, I am sure that
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  I'm going to be hearing from you about other
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  piano works that you would consider to be over
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  -recorded. Now, maybe I should do a list about
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  works that I consider to be under -recorded or
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  not recorded enough. or maybe works that haven't
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  even been recorded that deserve their first decent
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  recording. I'm totally open to ideas. This is
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  Jed Disler, and you've been listening to The
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  Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings. And thank you for putting up with
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  my ranting on this episode. I will be with you
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  next time for the next episode. I hope we will
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  be together next time. Take good care.