PIANO LIBRARY:
WESTMINSTER &
AMERICAN DECCA
EDITION (BLUE BOX)
DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)
Continued from Part 1:
The American Raymond Lewenthal (1923-1988) was an exact contemporary as the ill-fated William Kapell, and belonged to the generation of OYAPS (Outstanding Young American Pianists) which included the likes of Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman. His allotment is four discs, two of which were previously issued in The Liszt Legacy 10 CD box-set more than a decade ago.
An all-Scriabin recital disc is common these days but not in 1956, and its title Vers la flamme (Towards The Flame) is in reference to the late incendiary poem for piano (Op.72) which Vladimir Horowitz championed, and was supposed to foretell nuclear fission and the atomic bomb. The programme selects the most representative of Scriabin’s early (24 Preludes Op.11), middle (Fantasy Op.28) and late (Preludes Op.74) works.
A Beethoven disc brings together three popular “nickname” sonatas, the Pathetique (Op.13), Moonlight (Op.27 No.2) and Appassionata (Op.57), where Lewenthal sounds perfectly idiomatic. More unusual is his album of Toccatas for piano, which include the usual suspects – J.S.Bach (BWV.911), Schumann, Prokofiev, Debussy and Ravel, besides unearthing those by Alkan and Czerny. The rarities are by Azzolini Della Ciaia (1671-1755), Valery Jelobinsky (1913-1946), Gian Carlo Menotti (Ricercare and Toccata on The Old Maid and the Thief) and his own Toccata alla Scarlatti. Lewenthal’s impeccably refined technique in all means of prestidigitation speaks for itself.
Lewenthal’s four disc, entitled Moonlight & Keyboard, has the cheesiest cover art, more akin to pulp fictional romances. This is a very well-curated set of nocturnes, night pieces and slow movements. Included are Debussy’s Clair de lune, Liszt’s Liebestraum No.3, two Chopin Nocturnes, a Waltz and Fantaisie-Impromptu, Saint-Saens-Godowsky The Swan, the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Schumann’s Traumerei and other shorts.
The Odessa-born Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) was one pianist whose virtuosity could be exalted in the same breath as Rachmaninov and Horowitz. He gets three discs. The first couples two Beethoven sonatas (Moonlight & Les Adieux) with the Andante favori and Schumann’s Prophet Bird (from Waldszenen) as add-ons. The second is all-Schumann, Kreisleriana (Op.16) and Kinderszenen (Op.15), with the Romance in F sharp major (Op.28 No.2) and Arabeske (Op.18) as fillers.
Moiseiwitsch’s own take on Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition does not stray far from the original except for minor tweaks and a severely excised Baba Yaga’s Hut and unsatisfyingly foreshortened Great Gate of Kiev. A disappointment, but that does not extend to Schumann’s Carnaval, which is far more satisfying. All three albums were recorded in 1961, at the end of his illustrious career, with little diminution of his tonal mastery, dexterity and wit.
Continued in Part 3:
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