I hope this is the right place for me, a semi-casual piano-player (i.e. I have been paid to play!), to introduce my website which includes pianists such as Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington (a rare solo!), Eileen Joyce, as well as rather a lot of Schnabel. I plan to upload Solomon's Brahms "Variations on a theme of Handel" and Benno Moiseiwitsch's performance of the famous Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto in the near future. This is all probably a displacement activity to compensate for the fact that although at school I was good enough (just!) to perform the Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto (perhaps the first schoolboy to do so, this was in 1959 and it was written in 1957) before my limited manual dexterity and poor short/long term memory for scores convinced me that a professional pianist I was not. Nevertheless, for a lot of piano acolytes there is a fascination in the achievements of those who do make the grade. I can't be the only one who is competent enough to play Beethoven, say, in small chunks and get a feeling for how we think the music should go to find that no concert pianist shares our view. In the end you end up listening to a performance enjoying it for its own qualities and simultaneously "translating" it in your head to the one you wished you could play. It's a "Walter Mitty" scenario. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the website.

www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk

This looks like quite an undertaking. I shall enjoy exploring. I have Beethoven on in the background at the moment.

How is it connected from the computer to a stereo system (mentioned)?

How did you eliminate all that static noise from the old 78's? (in general)

Thank you

I found the section on the PROCESS!

You connect a lead with one end a stereo jack exactly the same as on headphones into the headphone/line-out socket on your computer and the other end of the lead is a pair of phono plugs that plug into the "line-in" or "aux" socket on your audio system making sure ( by listening!) that you have got the left/right option correct. The red phono plug is usually "right input". Happy listening.

Wonderful stuff - i ll listen to all of them when im home

I have Brahm's Haendel Variations by SOlomon - Quality is quite bad ... looking forward to hear your version!


Thanks!

Clive,

Great site with great music. Thanks for sharing it, I intend to listen to a lot of the selections you have posted.

I feel compelled to let you know, however, that I found the term "transcription" to be misleading, and thus I was disappointed. In general, a "transcription" of a recording refers to a written score, in musical notation, of what one is hearing on the recording. In other words, I went to your site expecting to find sheet music of these recordings. Unless I completely missed something, what you have are re-engineered recordings, NOT transcriptions. Or did I miss it somehow? If so, sorry.

Legal Beagle, I'm sure I got the term from someone else but you have a good point and I will change my description forthwith, thanks, Clive

Boy did that go right over my head!

I need to know what I need to buy. A 'lead'? And then the same as.....?

Sorry but I have no idea what I might need. ABC's please! I am not sure what the back of my PC even looks like say nothing about the back end of my nice stereo system.

I have shared your sight with two concert pianists and another piano forum. I am just so pleased at what you have shared with us.

This will help anyone wanting to connect their lap-top/computer to their hi-fi/audio system
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/03/25/how-to-connect-your-pc-to-your-hi-fi/
hope this works, music on earphones is a poor substitute for the real thing, Clive

I agree that the term "transcription" could be confusing in this case. But I was reminded that in the old pre-magnetic tape days of radio broadcasting, the term was used for the process of recording live radio broadcasts - they called it "transcribing" onto "transcription discs" (which were phonograph records in some non-consumer formats). These days, I understand there is a fairly lively traffic in old transcription discs in the turntable hobbyist world.

I discovered today -

ALL THE TRACKS listed at the bottom of the pages, at least on Duke pages. Don't have to stop and click on the next one.

Really enjoying it Clive. A lot of music in there that I was not aware of. My musician friends are thrilled with it too!

A couple of comments over in the old coffee room, Well Tempered Forum

http://well-temperedforum.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9130004433/m/4531091906

and private notes.

Thank you all for your welcoming comments. As promised I have now uploaded Solomon playing Brahms and Moiseiwitch playing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto. If you don't know this version of the Brahms, you are in for a treat!. The performance is as varied as you could wish for including a "Cathedrale Engloutie" type variation with the pedal held down longer than usual. Some variations are muscular, dynamic whereas other are smooth and subtle. It makes for a satisfying whole and even the fugue doesn't pall. As for the Rachmaninov, today's youngsters can access "Brief Encounter" at the click of a mouse but in my teenage years the new films were all we could experience and growing up with this set of records it was my own incurable romanticism that gave the piece its cachet. Unlike the Brahms, where the discs were somewhat worn, the Rachmaninov has come up with some sparkle and details like the cymbal played unusually quietly in two sections of the third movement show what a great orchestrator the composer was.

Recently added to my site, a performance of the Hammerklavier Sonata by a pianist who will remain unnamed for a while!

www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk
(select Classical and scroll down). I hope this gives some pleasure.

prompted by the receipt of birthday good wishes from the forum, while enjoying(?) temperatures in the upper 30s here in Tuscany, I am reminded that I have not revealed the name of the pianist in the performance of the "Hammerklavier" on my web-site. He is Louis Kentner and I hope that those of you who don't know much about him will give his performance a listen. I am sure you will find it rewarding. In the interim, following an earlier recommendation from Leagle Beagle I have described my processing as Restoration rather than the misleading "Transcription"

www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk

Eileen Joyce
One of the two modern pieces of music that I found in my father's collection of 78s when I began to explore them in the 1950s was the first Piano Concerto of Shostakovich with Eileen Joyce. As a contrast to this pianist's interpretations of the Mozart Piano Sonatas already on my site ( see link below) I now present the Shostakovitch concerto together with what for me is a major discovery, John Ireland's piano concerto (also with Eileen Joyce and the Halle). The Shostakovich got pretty short shrift from the Gramophone reviewer in 1941 as you can see for yourselves on the Archive but I enjoyed the piece and was given the chance to play the solo part in the Second Concerto with the school orchestra later in the decade.
To my shame I have not yet bought the Eric Parkin set of Ireland piano works although I have three of the four volumes of scores and stumble through them from time to time, but here I am listening to "Song of Springtides" from the Parkin set (wonderful!!!!) on YouTube and lo-and-behold one of the themes is almost identical with one from the Concerto. There are several modern recordings of this rarely performed work and here is a relatively painless chance to get to know it. I say relatively because the records themselves are slightly dished/off-centred but I hope you can hear through the imperfections and enjoy the harmonic invention and the marvellous piano playing of Eileen Joyce.

The Ballet "Dante Sonata" was conceived by Frederick Ashton shortly after the beginning of the Second World War. Constant Lambert, Musical Director of the Vic-Wells Ballet, orchestrated a piano piece by Franz Liszt; "Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata" from "Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie" to provide a work that is very dramatic, operatic even, many different rhythms and textures giving scope for all aspects of dance. The original principal dancers were Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes. Birmingham (UK) Royal Ballet recently revived the work. A memoir of the wartime performances is to be found on their website.
http://www.brb.org.uk/4236.html
Louis Kentner was the pianist in the contemporary recording with the Sadler's Wells Orchestra conducted by the arranger, Constant Lambert. As presented on my site, I have placed the piece as a postscript to Louis Kentner's performance of the Hammerklavier Sonata feeling that for it to come first would be inappropriate! You will necessarily hear the opening bars of the Beethoven as the file loads and I hope that those who have shied away from the demands of such a peak of musicality ( as I have, in the past) will be persuaded to give it an extended trial.

http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/transcriptions_07.php

Celestial Jazz.
My site has 8 CDs worth of Jazz music already up featuring many great Jazz pianists and I have recently added a ninth under the title "Jazz7".
This latest group of tracks begins and ends with Fats Waller in raucous mood but the second track has him playing Celeste. You will find the Celeste topping and tailing Louis Armstrong's "Basin Street Blues" which also includes a wordless vocal chorus accompanying Louis, also wordless, practising one or two licks you will hear later in his trumpet solo. Even more bizarrely on the unlikely vehicle of "Just a Gigolo" you will hear a tightly muted Louis with a burping Tuba,a guitar playing arpeggios, and, yes, a Celeste. For contrast there is Jack Teagarden's vocal on Benny Goodman's "Basin Street Blues", Gene Krupa's drum solo on "Who" from the Goodman Trio, and as well as Piano Solos from Fats and Earl Hines, a truly amazing experience........."Running Ragged" from Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang and two others.
Enjoy.
http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk

Since I changed lap-tops, I managed to lose my connection with this site, but can now tell you that in the mean-time the following pianists have been added
Lili Kraus playing a Concerto, Fantasia and Sonata, from Mozart as well as a Schubert sonata and the Eroica variations by Beethoven
Edwin Fischer playing a Mozart Concerto, a Bach Concerto, 3 Schubert Impromptus and a Schumann Fantasia

in addition we have Schnabel playing Moments Musicaux and a Sonata by Schubert

For those who enjoy orchestral there is Toscanini's Pastoral recording from 1937.

Thank you for sharing Clive. Listening to the Schnabel Schubert pieces this morning.