BRACHA EDEN & ALEXANDER TAMIR Complete Decca Recordings / Review

BRACHA EDEN & ALEXANDER TAMIR

The Complete Decca Recordings

Decca Eloquence 485 0972 (12 CDs)

 

This was one boxed-set I purchased the instant it was released. The Israeli piano duo of Bracha Eden (1928-2006) and Alexander Tamir (1931-2019) had given me fond memories of my journey in classical music. It was November 1979, the inaugural year of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Resident Conductor Choo Hoey. My mother had bought tickets to attend my first-ever concert, and on the programme was this duo performing Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals and Poulenc’s Double Piano Concerto. It was a life changing experience as I had become hopelessly hooked for good.

 

Whether it was their outward flair and showmanship, razor-sharp coordination or innate musicality,  what was never in doubt was their sheer experience of playing together. The duo met in 1951 as students in Jerusalem, and the party lasted a good half-century. Before the Labecques, Pekinels or Tal and Groethuysen, they were the glamour duo dedicated to performing four hands / two pianos music. This box-set celebrates a recording legacy on Decca dating from 1964 to 1978, and with a few exceptions, covers major concert repertoire for two pianos and four hands. Although Carnival of the Animals is not included, while the Brahms Hungarian Dances and Dvorak Slavonic Dances are left incomplete, there is still much to relish.

 

Music from the 20th century’s first half was the duo’s forte, with the debut disc of Rachmaninov’s Second Suite, Milhaud’s Scaramouche, Poulenc’s Sonata for four hands and Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations (the first performances outside of Poland) winning plaudits. Fans of the fiery Argerich-Freire tandem will find these readings soft-edged, even tame in comparison, as they would Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion (with Tristan Fry and James Holland). This was coupled with the relatively obscure Poulenc Sonata for 2 pianos. Eden and Tamir were also early exponents of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (performed on two pianos to avoid overcrowding), but their efforts have since been bested by Ashkenazy-Gavrilov and more recently, Hamelin-Andsnes.

  

 

Similarly, the all-Rachmaninov disc with the First Suite (Op.5), Six Morceaux (Op.11) and Prelude in C sharp minor (Op.3 No.2), all early works, makes for pleasant listening but there have been more brilliant alternatives. There is however a disc of French music - Poulenc’s Double Piano Concerto (L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Sergiu Commissiona), Satie’s Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear, Debussy’s Prelude to Afternoon of the Fawn and Petite Suite – with added bonuses by Benjamin Britten (Scottish Ballad, Rondo alla Burlesca and Mazurka Elegiaca) which remains very competitive.  

Mozart’s complete Sonatas for four hands, which originally came on three LPs including the Sonata for 2 pianos (K.448) and Fantasy in F minor (K.608), are now housed in two well-filled CDs. The playing is well-disciplined and idiomatic, but probably best not heard in a single sitting. Relative rarities come in Schubert’s Variations on an Original Theme (D.603) and the Grand Duo (D.812), almost a symphony in form, performed with a gemutlich insouciance. Brahms’ Sonata in F minor has the same music as his Piano Quintet, and is curiously coupled with Saint-Saens’ Variations on a Theme by Beethoven, contrasting the serious with the playful.

 

On the virtuoso front, the Liszt opera transcription album comprising the Don Juan and Norma Reminiscences, Fantasy on Beethoven’s The Ruins of Athens and Rossini’s La Danza is awe-inspiring. Fashions change and virtually nobody plays or records these works anymore. As a final enticement, the disc entitled Two Piano Encores is a fun compilation of shorts by Rachmaninov, Khachaturian, Arensky, Weinberger, Poulenc, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann.

 

Even if the recordings of certain works have been surpassed over the past decades, going through these discs by the Eden & Tamir duo - almost a walk back in time - has been an enjoyable wallow. The original cover art on record sleeves have also been retained. One can never underestimate the power of nostalgia.