Chopin Fantasie Impromptu, Opus 66

Reprince, The recording engineer was Leszek Wojcik on the Kissin Chopin Vol 1. It was recorded in 1993 in Carnegie Hall. (Hard to believe Kissin has been around that long!)

Obviously I've been surprised by Jax2's comments, at least the degree to which he has found the recording defficient, especially the gain issue. The rest I can ascribe to different audio systems and sonic preferences, if they exist.

Please post if you do have the opportunity to hear a MC SACD disc played back on a Redbook CD player. In other 2 channel SACD's with a Redbook layer that I've heard on my Redbook CD players I can charge any 'differences' I've thought I've heard to my imagination.

Funny thing about audio, even though neither Kissin nor Hewlett are ever likely to be my favorites in Chopin, I'm buying two more CD's just to resolve some audio issues and find out if I'm missing something, performance wise. Go figure! :-)

My favorite Chopin interpreter has been Moravec, particularly his recordings on the old Connoisseur Society label. Some of his work was released on CD by VAI, but I’m not sure if this Impromptu was in those collections.

On the Kissin, it's not the same engineer, but I’ll tell the story anyway. I got the chance to hear the master tape of a Kissin recording at Carnegie made by Tim Martyn for RCA (I got Tim to bring his console and some of his master tapes to an NJAS meeting at my home last year). For that recording he used a pair of spaced omnis out in the hall, and a three (I believe—might have been a stereo pair) mic array over the piano to add presence. Since we were listening to the master tape and had the mixing console, we were able to cut out either of the microphone feeds and listen to just the omnis or the array over the piano. I would say that from your description the recording engineer for the Kissin probably had more of the close-up mics in the mix, while the omnis alone sounded closer to your description of the Hewitt recording (though it sounded about as realistic and balanced as anything I've ever heard in a concert hall—Tim’s observation was that Carnegie's acoustics are good enough that you really didn’t need anything more than the omnis, and I think that was the consensus in the club after our listening). So I think you’re right about the different recording styles, though keep in mind that a recording engineer might have used a number of styles to put the performance on tape, but the producer and the artist have a bigger say in the mix from the mics and the sound of the resulting finished product.

Interesting experience. That must have been fun! Wish I'd been there.

I suspect we (audio equipment enthusiasts) could all benefit from a greater understanding of the various recording practices of recording engineers and how those practices translate into the sound we are hearing from our systems.

Re Moravec - I have two VAIA CD's, his Nocturnes on NONESUCH, and Four Scherzi on Dorian. No Impromptus that I could find. I share you opinion of Moravec's Chopin - I usually buy anything I can find by Moravec, but there is so little, especially when compared to his huge talent.

Since you mentioned a great talent, FWIW, I think one of the most, not exactly underrated, but at least most overlooked performer of all of Chopin's solo piano music when recommendations are being made, is Ashkenazy. Hearing his performances juxtaposed to Kissin's (in general) illustrates how far Kissin has to go before he is entitled to all of the acclaim he seems to have generated. IMHO - I'm not a Chopin specialist. Unfortunately I've found the CD's are a bit bright and not as agreeable as his performances. Thats why I didn't mention them to Jax2. I could also say about as much about Biret's Chopin, (as well as her Brahms and Rachmaninoff). Excellent overall performances on less than optimum recordings by Naxos - but on the cheap for people who want to explore.

I'll look forward to your comments on formats if you get the chance. Jax2 has offered to burn and send me a copy of his SACD and I'm going to take him up on it. It might be interesting to compare notes.

Newbee, are you a pianist? I have listened to Kissin's CD few times by now. I haven't listened to it too critically yet to judge the performance. It was very enjoyable from the first listen, so it is difficult for me to say. I also have Ashkenazy recording, which is fine, but I actually prefer Kissin. It just sound fresh and more alive.
Ashkenazy at times sounds like he played this stuff too many times already.
I'll definitely have to listen to the Kissin recording few more times.

Audiophile1,

FWIW, I JUST recieved my copy of the Kissin Impromptus 4 this AM, my earlier comments were about his recording on Volume 1 at Carnegie hall which did not include it.

For performance comparisons, for Jax's purposes, I did a down and dirty listen to it as well as the Hewlett and Nakamatsu versions which I had previously commented on to Jax2 in my original post, and which I selected because of my view of the 'dreamy nature' of their performances of Impromptus 4.

The tone, or contrasts in tone, in Hewletts and Nakamatsu's was softer, less sharply delineated, if you will. The tempo about the same. Some will love Kissin's version I think, especially if you like a more masculine style (and I do with a lot of Chopin, especially his sonatas). And that is how I heard the Kissin recording. But that was just once, Ill be listening to it again and I'll keep an open mind. I love alternatives in everything.

BTW the acoustic and recording techniques are totally different from my other Kissin/Carnegie Hall recordings I mentioned to Jax2. I think this last recording (made in 2007) is more balanced over the entire spectrum and if you like Kissin's Chopin there is no reason not to have this CD nor any of his others for that matter if you are not too anal about audio.

BTW, you make take solice in the fact that my piano experience is as limited as my computer keyboard skills. Slow, hunt and peck, with lots of errors. But, as I love a good read, I love the music from a solo piano. A prime interest for me.