PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 1

 

PIANO LIBRARY

WESTMINSTER 

& AMERICAN DECCA 

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

We have just listened through the Australian-curated Piano Library of old Deutsche Grammophon recordings which I casually referred to as the “Yellow Box”. Now we have the “Blue Box” of 21 discs featuring just ten pianists, of older countenance, and possibly of greater historical significance.

Several of them are very famous, and were very prolific in recording, often appearing on multiple labels, but here we relive their recordings on the American Westminster and American Decca labels, both catalogues of which have been absorbed under the Deutsche Grammophon / Universal umbrella. Some remain cult figures, and some just names which survive in the memory, but do not deserve to be forgotten. There is a fair bit of repetition of repertoire, especially with popular Beethoven sonatas, but there are several surprises of works which we do not get to hear nowadays.

Of the ten pianists, the only one I got to witness live was the Austrian Jörg Demus (1928-2019), who performed Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1981. He is also remembered as the four-hands piano partner of the better-known Paul Badura-Skoda. There is a separate box-set of his Bach recordings reissued by Australian Eloquence, but the two discs here see him in unusual French territory. 

The first is Cesar Franck’s Bach-inspired Prelude, Choral et Fugue, coupled with the Prelude, Aria et Final, both major works. The second is a Gabriel Fauré recital comprising the first five Impromptus, Nocturne No.6, Barcarolle No.6 and the underrated Theme et Variations. These are masterly performances despite grainy mono sound dating from 1952 and 1956 respectively.

The Hungarian Edith Farnadi (1911-1973) has a big 21 CD box-set issued on Scribendum, which include her two discs here. The first is a rare outing for all nine of Franz Liszt’s Soirees de Vienne, which are fantasies and conflations of Waltzes, Landler and Ecossaises by Franz Schubert. The most famous ones are No.6 and 7, which were championed by Horowitz, and it’s good to hear all nine works in perspective, performed with such feeling and grace. 

The second disc contains the three virtuoso paraphrases of Johann Strauss waltzes by Leopold Godowsky titled Symphonic Metamorphoses. Die Fledermaus, Kunstlerleben (Artist’s Life) and Wein, Weib und Gesang (Wine, Women and Song) were the subjects, and Farnadi is almost the equal of modern virtuosos like Marc-Andre Hamelin, but remember these recordings come from 1955!

Legendary Romanian pianist Clara Haskil (1895-1960) needs little introduction, having made many well-loved recordings on the Philips label. For Westminster, she recorded 11 Scarlatti sonatas, which are impeccably turned out. The fillers are three Chopin Mazurkas from the Russian-Romanian French pianist Youra Guller (1895-1980). Why we don’t get more of his playing is not satisfactorily explained other than that she got far less exposure than Haskil or Monique Haas.

There is another very satisfying Scarlatti sonata recital from the Moscow-born Nina Milkina (1919-2006) who emigrated to UK during her youth. There is simply no duplication in her selection of 11 sonatas with Haskil’s. Her second disc comprises four sonatas by the underrated Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), fifth child in J.S.Bach’s second marriage, which are persuasive but ultimately non-influential. These still make a good listen for some 39 minutes.

Continued in Part 2:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

 

PIANO LIBRARY:

WESTMINSTER &

AMERICAN DECCA

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

Continued from Part 1:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review 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:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX) / Review Part 3

PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX) / Review Part 3

 

PIANO LIBRARY

WESTMINSTER & 

AMERICAN DECCA

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

Continued from Part 2:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

The Brazilian Guiomar Novaes (1896-1979) was a favourite in Romantic repertoire, and here she is represented by Chopin’s Barcarolle, several of Debussy’s Preludes and Images, and some excellent Liszt – concert etudes Waldesrauschen (Forest Murmurs), Gnomenreigen (Dance of the Gnomes), Liebestraum No.3, Valse-Oubliee No.1 and Hungarian Rhapsody No.10.

The last two pianists were students of the great Ferruccio Busoni. Carlo Zecchi (1903-1984) became very well-known as a pedagogue. The major works in his recital disc are Mozart’s Sonata in D major (K.309) and Schumann’s Kinderszenen, and topped up with a selection of Scarlatti Sonatas, Chopin Mazurkas and Bach.

Dutchman Egon Petri (1881-1962) is the more famous of the two and is represented by five discs, the most of any personality in this box-set. These were the albums I listened to the most, moved by Petri’s rare combination of intellectual vigour and technical mastery. Bach-Busoni figures large here with a disc of transcription of organ works – the ubiquitous Toccata & Fugue in D minor (BWV.565), the Toccata, Aria & Fugue in C major (BWV.564), Prelude & Fugue in D major (BWV.532) and the St.Anne Prelude & Fugue in E flat major (BWV.552)

Fantasia Conttrappuntistica, Busoni’s fantastical completion of Bach’s unfinished Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of Fugue, complete with his own ornamentations and tangential elaborations, is another highlight. This album is completed by shorter pieces, popular Bach-Busoni transcriptions of chorale preludes, and Petri’s own transcriptions, the most famous being Sheep May Safely Graze.

There are two Beethoven discs, including the popular nicknamed sonatas (Pathetique, Moonlight and Appassionata) and the mighty Hammerklavier (Op.106).

The final guilty pleasure is the album of Liszt transcriptions, once considered vulgar beyond belief but now rehabilitated in performances and recordings. The Mendelssohn Wedding March and Dance of the Elves from A Midsummer Night’s Dream have a touch of the whimsical rather than ceremonial. The Waltz from Gounod’s Faust is imperious as is Busoni’s own edition of the Mephisto Waltz No.1, which is possibly more difficult than the original. Beethoven’s lied Adelaide provides some gravity to the programme which ends splashily with Busoni’s edition of the Fantasy on two themes from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The two arias are Non piu andrai and Voi che sapete, of course.

This box-set has given me immense satisfaction, with hours of enjoyable listening and the realisation that great music can still be heard from the lesser-known and forgotten names of 20th century pianism. Their priceless art should always be celebrated.

PIANO LIBRARY: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION (YELLOW BOX) / Review Part 1

PIANO LIBRARY (YELLOW BOX)

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION

DG Eloquence 484 3089 (22 CDs)

During the early 1980s, when I was building a library of recordings on vinyl (those were the days before compact disc), I chanced across a selection of piano recital albums issued by Deutsche Grammophon under the Concours series. These were priced a few dollars lower than the premium series (featuring the famous likes of Pollini, Argerich and Barenboim), comprising recitals by young pianists who had been winners in recent international piano competitions. 

None of their names were known to me, but I took a chance on one such album by Boris Bloch from the Soviet Union, who had won the 1977 Busoni Competition in Bolzano.

His unusual programme included Beethoven’s short and humourous Sonata in F major (Op.10 No.2), several Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux, Rachmaninov’s Lilacs and Vocalise (as transcribed by the uncredited Zoltan Kocsis), Busoni’s Turandots Frauengemach (the best transcription ever of Greensleeves) and the Liszt-Busoni Fantasy on Two Motifs from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. The then-unfamiliar music and virtuoso playing simply blew my mind, and I became determined to purchase several more from the series.

Eight such albums, hitherto unavailable on CD, have been reissued by the Eloquence label of Universal Australia as part of a 22-disc boxset titled Piano Library (Deutsche Grammophon Edition). I just prefer to call it the Yellow Box, to distinguish it from the 21-CD Blue Box also issued at the same time. Listening to these recordings were a walk down memory lane, seeing old names (many of whom have been lost through time), admiring original album covers and savouring performances which honestly do stand the test of time.

Who were the other pianists? Another LP I had bought was devoted to the Cuba-born Jorge Luis Prats, prizewinner at the Marguerite Long Competition. His more standard competition-fare programme saw excellent performances of Beethoven’s late Sonata in A major (Op.101), Schumann’s Toccata (Op.7) and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. I did not own the Argerich recording then, but Prats was as good as it gets.

Another LP in my collection was that of the American pianist David Lively (winner of the Dino Ciani Prize of La Scala, Milan in 1977) who later settled in France. His very attractive dance-themed programme coupled Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin with Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka, Tango and Ragtime. For some unknown reason, this box-set has omitted Munich’s ARD Competition laureate Hans-Christian Wille’s disc of Mussorgsky, Ravel and Ginastera.

Still actively performing today is the German Alexander Lonquich (prizewinner at the 1976 Casagrande Competition in Terni, Italy), the youngest pianist in the boxset, represented by Schoenberg’s Three Pieces (Op.11) and Schubert’s Sonata in A minor (D.845). While the atonality of Schoenberg is soft-edged, the contrasts presented are stark. 

The Pole Ewa Poblocka (finalist at the 1980 Chopin Competition, the edition of Pogorelich infamy) showed she was not just a Chopin player, displaying width and breadth in both books of Debussy’s Images and J.S.Bach’s Aria Variata. A superb Chopin Scherzo No.1 (Op.20) was included for good measure.

The Soviet Mikhail Faermann (from Moldova) was the first prizewinner of the 1975 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition, and showed his considerable chops in Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata and Brahms’ Paganini Variations, with typical Russian flair for technical exactitude. He defected to Belgium in 1978, but strangely never made a further recording after this.

Some of the featured pianists have since passed on, including the South African Steven de Groote (1953-1989), winner of the 1977 Van Cliburn Competition, who died of delayed complications from injuries sustained in a self-piloted plane crash. His patrician programme paired Schumann’s Etudes Symphoniques (Op.13, without posthumous variations) with Beethoven’s Eroica Variations (Op.35), a very satisfying listen all round.

The late Brazilian pianist Diana Kacso (1953-2022), 2nd prizewinner to Michel Dalberto at the 1978 Leeds Competition, is represented by a strong and characterful Liszt Sonata in B minor, matched by an equally epic Chopin Polonaise-Fantasy (Op.61) and Etude in A flat major (Op.10 No.10) as encore. I did not buy the original LP as it split the Liszt sonata over two sides but am glad to have finally caught it on CD.

Youri Egorov

The Dutch-Soviet pianist Youri Egorov (1954-1988), prizewinner at the 1975 Queen Elisabeth Competition, tragically died of AIDs in the Netherlands at the height of a fast-rising career. His Schumann Carnaval, not issued as part of the Concours series but a strong fill-up for the Faermann album, serves as a loving memory of what could have been.

Continued in Part 2:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION (YELLOW BOX) / Review Part 2

PIANO LIBRARY: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION (YELLOW BOX) / Review Part 2

 

PIANO LIBRARY (YELLOW BOX)

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION

DG Eloquence 484 3089 (22 CDs)

Continued from Part 1:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION (YELLOW BOX) / Review 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.

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).

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.

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:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON EDITION (YELLOW BOX) / Review Part 3