Album recommendation of Chopin's Nocturne?

Which nocturne?

Maria João Pires (and Daniel Barenboim) comes first to mind as good options. Pires' recording is very highly regarded by Gramophone.

Moravec

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Nocturnes-Frederic/dp/B000005J03/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307147025&sr=8-1

Rubinstein

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Collection-Frederic/dp/B000026OW3/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1307147057&sr=8-8

Francois

http://www.amazon.com/Icon-Samson-Francois/dp/B0032700TE/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1307147144&sr=1-2

These are somewhat dated recordings, but are outstanding interpretations.

Moravec is my personal favorite.

For more modern recordings.

Pollini

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Nocturnes-Frederic/dp/B000B8ISNM/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1307147429&sr=1-2

I have the Pollini and enjoy it.

Rubinstein, followed by Pires and Barenboim would be my rec's.

The one I absolutely luvvvv seems to get very little respect these days: Andrzej Wasowski

Rubinstein and Arrau are both lovely, although they're both more of the gorgeous atmospheric readings. The set I have is the Rubinstein here in just the nocturnes: http://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Rubinstein-Chopin-Nocturnes-Vol/dp/B000031WBV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307393149&sr=8-1

If you prefer more dramatic readings, get your hands on Cortot (he didn't record the complete set afaik), it's definitely worth listening to. Some would say he is to Chopin like Schnabel is to Beethoven. Here's a Youtube of one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-kaDxaVBFA.

Ignaz Friedman only recorded 1 Nocturne (the Op. 55 No. 2), but the recording is legendary and on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYuXYE3MpiQ

Other great performers in these pieces include:
Moiseiwitsch

Sofronitsky (this is fantastic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5K3Aea-s0k)

Rosenthal (a student of Liszt)

I know that the old masters are amazing interpreters, but sometimes you just want an album that's beautifully recorded clean stereo.

Especially when you are recommending a piece of music to someone whose music background you don't know (e.g. I don't know codeninjas), it's can be dangerous to recommend something that's very noisy and mono - hoping that the person in question appreciates the interpretation so much that he or she is willing to disregard the horrendous audio quality.

(I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just thinking aloud :) Very nice that you linked the youtube videos liuzerus87!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot 

Classical music has been recorded in beautiful clean stereo since RCA's Living Stereo series back in 1954. Age is largely irrelevant because classical music has always been well recorded on the whole. If you are limiting yourself to current recordings because you think old ones don't sound as good, you are missing out on a lot.

Rubinstein is a great recommendation... Probably the best recommendation.

[Dr. Dre Voice] YEAH! [/Dr. Dre Voice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot 

Classical music has been recorded in beautiful clean stereo since RCA's Living Stereo series back in 1954. Age is largely irrelevant because classical music has always been well recorded on the whole. If you are limiting yourself to current recordings because you think old ones don't sound as good, you are missing out on a lot.

Rubinstein is a great recommendation... Probably the best recommendation.

Yes, the Rubinstein recording liuzerus87 linked is something I agree being beautiful clean stereo - on the other hand EMI's 2008 digital remaster is not, neither is Cortot or Friedman.

Good remasters from 60s and onwards can indeed be of amazing quality. Most of the 50s recording I've heard are not quite there yet though.