I recently obtained the DS Mk. 1 from The Music Room. Listening to a lot of solo piano.
I know that some of my fellow audiophiles are attracted to the huge and varied sound of orchestra, but I was trying to figure out why I like piano. I think it’s because it represent the purity of one musician’s vision. One musician can cover a very large pitch, dynamic, rhythmic, and expressive range and we get to hear it exactly like they want it.
This is not to say multiple musicians are bad. Hearing a great ensemble of cooperating musicians is great too. I want both! (Yes I love big orchestral pieces.)
Not specifically anti soloist.
At this stage in my musical journey, still too much in the “general sounds” to hear before fine tuning to more “niche sounds”.
Having said that, do you have some favourites that you would suggest?
Perhaps, a top 5, full album list?
I’m with you there Mike. There are some pianists that can certainly make the instrument sound like more than one. Musicians like Ludivico Einaudi seem to have that magic. However, I think I more prefer the concerto or symphony platform for the piano. An example that comes to mind is Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. Certainly the piano has enough depth to make a fair go of the final movement, “The Bogatyr Gates” but I like Ravel’s orchestration of the suite just that little bit more.
Edit: Just came up with another of my favourites. Racmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini”. In the hands of a top pianist like, say, Daniil Trifonov, the piano really shines. But again, that’s a concertante for piano. I guess I just prefer the added colour an orchestra brings to the table.
The piano is its own little pocket universe. Some of my fondest personal memories are playing Yamaha baby grands in practice rooms at the University of Texas (I wasn’t a student but there was an entire floor of rehearsal rooms with just a piano within that I could visit pretty much whenever I wanted to). The isolation of the room, the sound of the soundboard filling the space, the zone in my head I could visit. . . just so satisfying.
I’m a Keith Jarret fan(atic), and he and Art Tatum are real mainstays of my solo piano listening world. There are also four volumes on Adventure Music, one each by Weber Iago, Phillipe Baden Powell, Jovino Santos Neto, and Benjamin Taubkin that I find fascinating and visit often. And any of the Thelonious Monk solo releases is worth stydy.
