THE PAUL BADURA-SKODA EDITION
Deutsche Grammophon 479 8065 (20 CDs)
****1/2
This
handsome twenty-disc box-set celebrates the 90th birthday of
Austrian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda (born 6 October 1927), who is best known for
his interpretations of the Viennese classics – the music of Mozart, Beethoven
and Schubert.
These are gloriously represented by his recordings on the
now-defunct British Westminster label from 1951 to 1965. All the five Beethoven
piano concertos are accompanied by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra conducted
by Hermann Scherchen. These and six Mozart piano concertos (Nos.19, 20, 22, 23,
24 and 27), also partnered by Viennese orchestras, sound fresh and energetic, and
occasionally include his own idiomatic cadenzas.
As
a sensitive chamber music, he partnered fellow Viennese Jörg Demus in 4-hands
piano music by Mozart and Schubert; and violinist Jean Fournier and cellist
Antonio Janigro in selected piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and
Brahms. With members of the Barylli Quartet, an ebullient reading of Schubert’s
Trout Quintet was the result.
Less
well known are his performances of 20th century and Romantic
repertoire, the latter including some unexpected choices – piano concertos by
Chopin, Franck, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin. The young Badura-Skoda
displayed a fire and passion one might not have been aware of.
Just as
satisfying are the discs of solo piano music (Schubert, Schumann, Chopin,
Brahms and some anachronistic Bach), capped by an hour of encores which has him
attempting Liszt and Ravel. The majority of the recordings are in monaural
sound, but revelatory listening beckons.
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