PIANO LIBRARY (YELLOW BOX)
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION
DG Eloquence 484 3089 (22 CDs)
Continued from Part 1:
The best-known name of all is the 17-year-old Vladimir Ashkenazy, whose recorded live performances at the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw include the Second Piano Concerto (with orchestral tuttis cut, as it was traditional but errant) and solo pieces (including Ballade No.2, two Etudes, two Mazurkas and Scherzo No.4) which constituted his very auspicious debut album. The fill-ups were a selection of Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux (Op.33) recorded in 1956 by his then Moscow Conservatory teacher Lev Oborin (1907-1974), himself a Chopin winner in 1927.
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| Vladimir Ashkenazy |
The next Chopin competition in 1960 (won by Maurizio Pollini) saw the Belgium-born Michel Block (1937-2003) awarded a special prize by Arthur Rubinstein despite finishing in eleventh place. His splendid recital from the competition includes the Second Sonata (Funeral March Sonata), a Waltz, three Mazurkas and the Heroic Polonaise (Op.53).
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| Michel Block congratulated by Arthur Rubinstein in 1960. |
Still on Chopin, there are two discs by Hungarian pianist Julian von Karolyi (1914-1993), another prizewinner of the Warsaw competition in 1932. The earlier, from the early 1950s, includes all four Ballades, four Impromptus and the Berceuse (Op.57), while the 1964 recording has the Third Sonata, Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise (Op.22), a Mazurka, a Waltz and the rarely heard Bolero (Op.19), all in serious good fun.
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| Julian von Karolyi |
The Italian pianist Dino Ciani (1931-1974), student of Alfred Cortot, was a rising star when he died at a tragically young age in a car accident. He eclectic tastes extended to a disc which includes the Second and Third Sonatas by Carl Maria von Weber, with early Romantic era piano writing combining bel canto and finger dexterity, a forerunner of Chopin’s style. A second disc includes a previously unreleased recording of Debussy’s Preludes (Book One) from 1971, coupled with the Children’s Corner Suite. Comparisons with Michelangeli in this repertoire are inevitable, with Ciani sounding warmer and more engaging than his legendary peer.
Continued in Part 3:
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