paul secor Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 I've read at least two interviews with Cecil Taylor where he's mentioned that he's been listening to Gary Graffman. I know nothing about Gary Graffman except for the mentions by Mr. Taylor and the fact that his playing career was curtailed by an injury to his right hand. Any thoughts, opinions, recommendations, non-recommendations, ... ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 I know nothing about Graffman, but I did notice one of those Sony boxed sets spanning his career. If you'll look at the comments on this Amazon page, you'll soon learn a lot about him: http://www.amazon.com/Gary-Graffman-Complete-Album-Collection/dp/B00C399368/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426799404&sr=1-1&keywords=gary+graffman+complete+album+collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Comments from a poster on rec.music.classical.recordings on that Sony Box: I've just finished listening to the Gary Graffman "Complete Album Collection." Mostly with great pleasure: I was well acquainted with about two-thirds of the recordings already from LP days. The album essay is frank about the limitations placed on Graffman's recorded repertoire: during both his RCA and his Columbia years, he remained in the shadow of more prominent (=better-selling?) artists such as Rubinstein, Cliburn, Horowitz, and Gould. Nevertheless, his considerable strengths are on display throughout the collection--superb technique, terrific energy and weight. He has the fleetness one associates with the post-war Americans but power of one of the Russians--almost Gilels-like in some works. My wife's response to the observation was, "Well he was sort of Russian," which is true. Those who like his general musical approach, as I do, will find few out- and-out failures here and much to enjoy. My biggest disappointments were his Brahms "Handel Variations," which I found rushed and brusque (contrast Fleisher), and some of his "big" Chopin (esp. Scherzo #1), ditto. OTOH, his Paganini Variations are excellent (if not quite up to Katchen's) and his op. 27 Nocturnes are lovely, so I won't generalize. His superb Prokofiev Sonatas ##2 and 3 and Concerti ##1 and 3 made me yearn for more of same. There should have been cycles of both, but alas.... His Brahms D-minor Concerto is a classic, but why no B-flat? (Yeah, I guess I know why). Terrific Schumann Symphonic Etudes and a surprisingly flexible Carnaval as well. Finally a word in praise of his Beethoven Sonatas. Only four of them, but they are all excellent, especially a gorgeous "Waldstein" and an "Appassionata" that is in the Gilels/Berman class, imo. Probably everyone here has an opinion about his Rachmaninov w/Bernstein and his Tchaikovsky w/Ormandy, both very much to my taste although I know that others have held a contrary view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Thanks for that, Larry. I don't mean to hijack this thread, but the mention of Fleisher reminded me about the Fleisher boxed set. Any thoughts on that? (And then back to Graffman.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsMobley Posted March 20, 2015 Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 (edited) Life's too short, world too vast, big music biz nearly always too banal then & now, do yourself a favor by skipping BOTH boxes & buying x # of CDs of new (to you) different repertoire. NONE of the performances by either Graffman or Fleisher or all that compared to best you've already heard elsewhere-- most interesting thing in the Fleisher is actually later one-hand set with the Schmidt & Korngold quintets. Otherwise, why not the Ahmed Adnan Saygun piano concertos? (There's an excellent two-cd set on CPO) granted the Busoni is a half-- maybe less-- a warhorse-- a quarterhorse?-- itself but... it goes places, forwards and back, most of Graff/Fleish don't even suggest-- though they should have. Edited March 20, 2015 by MomsMobley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Please -- not Hamelin's Busoni PC. Try Gunnar Johansen's. http://www2.broinc.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=&stocknum=&text=gunnar+busoni&filter=all&submit=Search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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