This guy seems to be one of the most consistently good pianist I've heard in a long time.

Just found 2 very rare disks of his, out of print Chopin disks. They are both simply great.

Felt like expressing my admiration of this pianist.

Definitely agreed. I have several of his Rachmaninov discs, and I think the playing just excellent. Helps too, that Hyperion's sound (as usual) is first class.

He plays the pants out of the Rachmaninov First Sonata, and his recording of the Tippett Piano Concerto (a favorite work of mine) is exquisite (the piece suits him very well).

Not to mention the Second Sonata in all its 1913 glory.

Yes, Shelley's 8-disc box set of Rachmaninov's complete music for piano is wonderful ... one of my favorite sets, in luminous Hyperion sound. He also did the complete piano works of Lizst for Hyperion, and I think that clocked in at about 95 discs, on 57 sets. I don't think Shelley has ever made a bad recording, but one rarely sees him in recital, at least in the United States.

You mean Leslie Howard for the Liszt?

Oh yes, duh... Thanks for pointing that out.

I've heard only the first volume of Leslie Howard's Lizst ... the waltzes, and thought it was beautiful.

Is one of them a recording of the Chopin Preludes? I love that CD!

The two I got were of him playing the Chopin's 3rd Sonata, Barcarolle, 3 Impromptus and the Fantasie Impromptu as well as him playing the 4 Chopin Scherzi, Berceruse and Fantasie.

I don't have his Chopin 2nd disk w/ the Preludes on it.

I second everything everyone praised him for. I whole-heartedly agree!

I also own the 8-CD box set of Shelley's Rachmaninov completel piano solo music. There's so much to be admired through and through...

I also own the Rachmaninov two-piano suites played by Mr. and Mrs. Shelley? Another excellent recording...

Ho, ho... but they invade Argerich-Rabinovich territory. As Ms. Argerich might say: "they only do what is possible."

This board is a bloody addiction. Here I am at Starbucks (with delicious latte) posting when I have a Christmas service to play for the Anglicans in less than two hours.

Wish me luck... I'd rather have a "real" drink at the moment. But that will come later in abundance. Oh indeed...

Shelley's solo Hummel is, I think, a bit better - more stylish - than Hough's glibly vapid take on that music. Hummel may not be Beethoven, but there's still more depth in that music than either of those pianists find in it.

I disagree about the Hough comment though.

Hough's Hummel recordings are fantastic. So are Shelley's.

I have heard him several time performing Mozart piano concertos (playing and conducting) ... Just fantastic. Also a very nice person.

I must confess to being more than a little surprised after reading through the previous comments. A newcomer to piano music could be forgiven for thinking that Mr Shelley has just appeared on the scene, whereas his London debut was as far back as 1971. Where have you all been??
I am fortunate enough to have collected a good number of his recordings over the years, including his very valuable contributions to Hyperion's peerless Romantic Piano Concerto series. His consumate musicianship has been too well documented over the years for me to add any more plaudits.
Given a choice between the high profile, "instant virtuoso" young generation of pianists and the experienced craftmanship of Mr Shelley, I know where my preferences lie.

I've known of Shelley for a long time.

I've been right here.

But after hearing his absolutely incredible performances of Chopin (which are very hard to obtain) I felt a compulsive desire to dedicate a thread to him.

I agree, he is a very capable pianist.

I haven't heard except his Rachmaninoff. Of course listening to him playing other composers will provide more insight into his interpretations.

I've known him for a long time too. For some reason he is not widely known or discussed here in the US. Mr. Shelley is not new to me like the comment suggested before.

As to Rachmaninov's two-piano suites I know Jason you're an Argerich fan. I once owned the disc you mentioned in your post. I listened to it the 1st time and to my surprise I did not like it at all. I tried to see 'her view' so hard by listened and re-listened. Finally I gave it away to a friend who is a newbie in classic music. To me this is one of those discs that I cannot stand it at all. The way she took the liberty with the beats rubs me the wrong way somehow.

Well Andrew, I certainly understand. I respect your posts on this board and do not dismiss your point of view.

That said, the Argerich-Rabinovich Teldec CD continues to polarize. Many have disliked it. There have been a fair amount of grumbling along the lines of "they didn't bother to read the Russian poems", they never properly entered into the "spirit" of the music, their "musical distortions" make it impossible. And so on... the catalogue of sins continue to mount.

Well perhaps. Ashkenazy-Previn always make a safe recommendation. But as Argerich might say: "they only do what is possible". And that's rather the most exasperating thing about A-P. It's Rachmaninov without the guest of honour, it's Rachmaninov as only a so-called "conservative" composer, not the radical pianist who rethought so much of the standard repertoire.

Minus my admiration for Argerich, the Teldec CD contains music making that astounds me on the highest level. But IMHO of course.

And that gets me off-topic to the next post...

Wonderful music- I have that recording. Also of interest would be Steven Osborne (Hyperion 67461) which I recently heard. Hard to choose between the two.

Tippett has written some incredible music. The Concerto for Double Strings is a fascinating piece (memories of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro?) not to mention the Fantasia Concertante. I've heard a few of the operas, but cannot claim any knowledge of them.

One of Tippett's greatest (short) choral works must surely be his setting of the Anglican canticles for St. John's College, dating from 1961. It is an utterly amazing rethink of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis... and it is still done -generally in a "festal" atmosphere- on a regular basis.

One wonders if that setting was just for the money. Tippett was agnostic and most certainly the "church" conveniently overlooked his sexuality and pacifism.

I so wish I could purchase Osborne's recording, but since I am currently residing in a philistine country with practically no stores with good art music CD sections, I'm rather ... inconvenienced. The fact that it has all the piano works on two discs is a major plus (love them all, though I have reservations about the First Sonata).
I don't know of the canticles you mentioned -- must check them out when I can. As for the operas, if you love the piano concerto you'll probably also love "The Midsummer Marriage", full of ecstatic lyricism -- check out the reissued Lyrita recording led by Colin Davis. If you love the Second Symphony and Second Piano Sonata do check out "King Priam" (the Chandos is the only recording I think). And the fourth and fifth quartets (especially as recorded by the Lindsay Quartet, of course!) are wonderful! And I think the Fourth Symphony is one of the greatest works of its kind from the 20th century. Apologies if you already know these works.
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the Anglican Church a bit more tolerant of homosexuality than, ahem, other churches?

I wouldn't be surprised if they were, given the reason the church was created and its history.