Don't overlook Michelangeli's recording of the D-minor Chaconne.  I prefer
his studio recording.  Note that this is a Bach violin work re-imagined by
Busoni as an organ work before writing it out for piano, and Michelangeli
was first a violinist and organist before taking up piano, and as a pianist
obsessed with tone, so he seems like the perfect interpreter for this
arrangement.  And his may be the "best", although I could never live with
just one.  His tempos are quite fast, particularly in the studio recording;
some expression may be lost (although certainly not at the climax, where
the arpeggio triplets enter, after the great crescendo).  Bolet's, already
mentioned in this thread, does sound more like Bach, with his crisp
staccatos and less romantic approach.  Kissin's is rather heavy-handed and
the interpretative details don't quite seem to come together, although his
pianism is never in question.  Oddly he shuns the Picardi third at the end.
Petri's is quite wild.  Rubinstein has a heavy foot and we find the pedal
pressed down in some unexpected places.  All in all I like Michelangeli and
Bolet.

In my sheet music, there are some alternative renderings given on a smaller
stave above the main staves.  Only in the crescendo before the triplets
towards the end is the playing markedly different; the other places they
appear seems to be for ease of playing.  Only Michelangeli, that I have
heard, plays these notes.  No explanation is given of them in my score.
Are they Busoni's? Are they Michelangeli's, and later editors thought it
wise to include them? Does anyone else play them? I prefer the notes
Michelangeli plays in the passage I mention.  Anyone have an opinion on
this?

Samson Francois' Toccata, Adagio and Fugue is on the Philips Great Pianists
series and is quite a treat despite its occasional wildness.

Michael Cooper
[log in to unmask]