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I'm looking for a recording of the Transcendental Etudes that is quite monstrously played and has very clear audio. So far I only have Lazar Berman's recording, and while his technique and interpretations are astounding, the horrendous sound quality is an annoyance. Any suggestions? I've heard that Arrau's, Jeno Jando's, Berezovsky's, and Leslie Howard's are good, but I really don't know.

Suggestions? They're some of my favorite pieces ever written.

Berezovsky's are by far the best.

see Berezovsky playing them at youtube.com.

I have yet to see all of Berezovsky's, but from what I've heard so far, I like them much better than Arrau's...and that should be saying something.

My favorite is Nelson Goerner's. The recording is hard to find, but the sound quality is great and the performance is jaw-dropping.

What do you guys think of Jeno Jando's? Just by listening to the samples on Amazon, his interpretations seem strikingly original and well-executed.

I don't like Jeno Jando's playing at all in general. I've heard most of his recordings on Naxos.com and i never listened all the way to the end of any one recording.

Derulux has already mentioned it. There is an incredibly good Philips recording of the etudes by Claudio Arrau. He started playing all of them when he was a child and studying with Martin Krause in Berlin.

I also have the Arrau and think it's the second best instrumental recording I ever heard (followed only by Maurizio's Chopin Etudes...)

all you mentioned are great but I also like Richter (sound quality is not-so-great but you can buy a lot on different recordings of his TEs) and I like Kissin very much (he recorded nos.5,8,10,11,12-I have nos. 8,10 and 12 if you want...)

I really like Jando's Naxos recording, very tidily executed but with plenty of fire when needed. Berezovsky's live DVD recital is tremendous - some of his tempo choices are a little high for comfort but for sheer spectacle (aurally and visually) it's unmissable. The clips on Youtube are good tasters, but the sound and picture quality of the DVD is needed to get the full experience.

Ill start off by saying i cant stand Arrau's version of anything besides Liebestraum. Berezovsky's TE's are amazing, and yes i agree that Berman's are amazing but the sound quality sucks... its annoying, but sometimes adds to the impact. Also, for the best Mazeppa ever listen to Janina Fialkowska's. Perfectly clean, but loud as heck.

Reaper, listen to the veteran professional pianist above (who's made the same statement many times before, and is obviously serious): get the Arrau.

Arrau's incandescent music making beats Berezovsky's vague fleetness pretty easily. And it's in good sound, too.

Arrau's TE's are among the best recorded music of Liszt IMO. Good sound quality as well.

I can't stand Arrau's "Mazeppa", and that, in turn, turned me off to the rest of the etudes. (At the time, Mazeppa was my favorite of the transcendentals.) I won't say all his etudes are bad, because, quite frankly only #4 sticks firmly in my mind. Because it does so in a negative way, I'm not inclined to comment positively on his other interpretations.

Ulux, don't let Arrau's rendering of Mazeppa keep you off from the rest forever... It hasn't been one of my favourites, either (although it does have some excellent stuff in it, the very beginning and the following cadenza, for example, as well as the octave sequences of which the first comes after the first mule-ride sequence). Besides, I've always thought Mazeppa needs more speed than it can handle, anyway...

I wish Pollini records them,

and Hamelin too.

I saw Pollini live and he performed four encores, one of which was the number ten.

That aside, I think I'll get Arrau's.

That's interesting, I quite like Arrau's recording. He seems to be more concerned with the music rather than the fireworks (although, with these pieces, having both in your mind is even better!)

Bolet, but sound quality is perhaps showing some age...