PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part I

 

PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS

Sony Music 88843091752 (30 CDs)

Here is another “piano cube”, a boxed-set released by the German division of Sony Music in 2014, comprising 30 discs from the vast back catalogues of the leading American labels RCA Victor and Columbia Masterworks. A total of 30 pianists are represented, and is presented in chronological sequence, from historical pianists during the monaural era to the early 2010s. Its selection across the board is rather impressive, but by not having 50 CDs, for me, is a lost opportunity.

It is almost regrettable to consider how many great pianists and their recordings have not been chosen. The likes of Jorge Bolet, William Kapell, Van Cliburn, Gary Graffman, Charles Rosen, Eugene Istomin, Lazar Berman, John Browning, Fou Ts’ong, Peter Serkin, Cyprien Katsaris, Tedd Joselson and even Denis Matsuev / Sergei Edelmann / Vladimir Feltsman – all of whom recorded for RCA / Columbia – could have easily filled another 15 discs. As I said, a lost opportunity.

We should be satisfied with what we have, and there are still lots to be discovered and enjoyed. The earliest recordings date from 1940 and before, and there can be no more definitive performances than those of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). This compilation includes only short pieces – a selection of Preludes, Etudes-tableaux and transcriptions – all short enough to fit a single side of a 78 rpm disc. The second disc sees Bela Bartok (1881-1945) in a selection of Mikrokosmos and his legendary recording of Contrasts with violinist Joseph Szigeti and clarinettist Benny Goodman. These are historically significant recordings, and thus a great start.

All the great early performers were emigres to American from the Old World including the Bohemia-born Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991) in performances of Beethoven’s First and Third Piano Concertos. From the stylish Frenchman Robert Casadesus (1899-1972), ne gets to hear Mozart's Piano Concerto No.21 and 24, performed with his own cadenzas. 

The pair of Ukraine-born Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) and Poland-born Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) are highlighted in repertoire they championed, for which they were justly celebrated. Horowitz in Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas and Rubinstein in Chopin’s Waltzes and Impromptus were nigh unimpeachable, even to this day.

During the post-Stalinist thaw in the Soviet Union, two Russian pianists made famous debuts in USA to great acclaim. Emil Gilels (1916-1985) came first, immortalised by his recording of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with Fritz Reiner – famously described to have been “stewed in Russian juices”. “Wait till you hear Richter!” was his response to just accolades, and Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) obliged with Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto with Erich Leinsdorf and the Chicago Symphony. Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata (Op.57), from his 1960 American tour, is the substantial filler. Both these recordings have become priceless relics of the Cold War.

Continued in Part II:

pianomania: PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part II

PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part II

PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS

Sony Music 88843091752 (30 CDs)

Continued from Part I:

pianomania: PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part I

A generation of OYAPs (Outstanding Young American Pianists) were born in the 1920s, gaining fame and prominence in the 1950s and 60s. They are represented by Leon Fleisher (1928-2020), whose recordings of Beethoven piano concertos (the Second and Fourth Concertos included here) with George Szell are still celebrated for freshness and vigour. Byron Janis (1928-2024) was a natural in Romantic repertoire, and here we enjoy his takes on Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Liszt’s Totentanz.

Several non-Americans also made their mark with Columbia and RCA. From Frenchman Philippe Entremont, both Liszt Piano Concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy are excellent if not wholly representative of his art. The Canadian Glenn Gould (1932-1982) is surprisingly not represented by either his 1955 or 1981 recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, instead one hears the Six French Suites and his humming along. From the Briton John Ogdon (1937-1989), one gets his mighty take on Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and very unusually, the Chaconne (Op.32) and Suite (Op.45) by Danish composer Carl Nielsen.

There are five women pianists in this set. The Hungary-born Lili Kraus (1903-1986) was a born Mozartian, and one will enjoy her performances of the first five Mozart Piano Sonatas (K.279-283) and Rondo in D major (K.485). Instead of Spanish repertoire (Albeniz, Granados and Mompou), its most significant champion Alicia de Larrocha (1923-2009) is instead heard in Mozart’s Piano Concertos No.22 and 26 with the English Chamber Orchestra led by Sir Colin Davis. Honestly speaking, she deserved two discs.

From Martha Argerich is a rare solo disc from 1976, with Schumann’s Fantasy in C major (Op.17) and eight Fantasiestucke (Op.12), before she abandoned recording solo repertoire altogether. Filipina legend Cecile Licad, last winner of the Leventritt Award, gets her due in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. The fifth woman pianist, is part of the duo of Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen, who perform both books of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances (Op.46 and 72).

The unique Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) comfortably straddled between classical and jazz, and his album Mozart No End and The Paradise Band is piano marmite, an acquired taste for sure. He performs Mozart in an inimitably free-spirited way; the Fantasie and Sonata in C minor (K.475 and 457), with several jazz pieces of his own. Love it or hate it. Emanuel Ax is represented by four popular Sonatas of Haydn, Hob.XVI: 20 (C minor), 23 (F major), 48 (C major) and 50 (C major), all worth listening for their wit and humour.

Continued in Part III:

pianomania: PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part III

PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part III

PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS

Sony Music 88843091752 (30 CDs)

Continued from Part II:

pianomania: PIANO: GREAT RECORDINGS from SONY MUSIC / Review Part II

The multi-Grammy and Gramophone Award winner Murray Perahia has three discs - the most for a single pianist - to his name. His disc of Bach’s Goldberg Variations edges out Glenn Gould, for reasons only known to record executives. I would have loved Perahia and Gould included, simply for the sake of comparison. His Gramophone Award winning album of Handel’s Keyboard Suites (including The Harmonious Blacksmith) and selection of Scarlatti Sonatas (no doubt an influence by Horowitz) is excellent. 

The third disc is the best-selling piano duo recital with Radu Lupu (1945-2022) which had Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor, Mozart’s Sonata in D major (K.448), Variations in G major (K.501) and Fantasy in F minor (K.608). If only this “billion dollar” duo had recorded more than this.

By no means making the numbers are the German Gerhard Oppitz who is totally idiomatic in the rarely heard and performed Carl Maria von Weber Konzertstuck in F minor (Op.79) and both piano concertos with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Colin Davis. The Uzbekistan-born Yefim Bronfman is the fire-eating virtuoso in an all-Russian disc of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka and Tchaikovsky’s Dumka.

The younger generation has not been ignored. Evgeny Kissin is totally idiomatic in Chopin’s Four Ballades, Berceuse, Barcarolle and Scherzo No.4, where musicality, intellect and virtuosity find a rare parity. His compatriot Arcadi Volodos should have been honoured with his 1997 Sony debut disc of encores, but we get instead Schubert’s incomplete Sonata No.1 in E major (D.157) and Sonata No.18 in G major (D.894, the so-called Fantasie), fine performances nonetheless.

After Volodos, the fall-off in terms of big name appeal is a marked one, with recitals by Martin Stadtfeld, Juan Jose Chuquisengo and Nikolai Tokarev, all of whom are not household names despite their interesting programmes. 

For all the discs, original cover art has been retained. While track-listings are available on the back, there is no booklet or biographical essays to speak of. Without sounding like a broken gramophone, despite its successes, this collection still comes across as a missed opportunity.