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Reviews in Retrospect - IPQ's critics pick the best of 1998 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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I've been looking at a back issue of International
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Piano from the days when the magazine was known
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as International Piano Quarterly, and this is
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one of the earliest issues. It's issue number
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six. It was released in the winter of 1999. And
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this was a magazine that I wrote for at its inception.
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And then for many years, I was not a contributor.
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And then when Tim Perry took over the editorship
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a couple of years ago, I came back into the fold.
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But I've been looking at an article. which contains
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the pick of 1998, the critics choose. And 10,
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no, not 10, 12 critics were asked to do this.
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They were asked to select their favorite piano
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disc of 1998, plus two... mention a recording
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that they would most like to see reissued. And
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the editor, Harriet Smith, said that this is
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almost an impossible task, given the exceptional
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quality of so many of 1998's recent piano releases
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and reissues. But, well, someone has to do it.
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So 12 of us were asked to... make these picks
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and in alphabetical order I'm going to read what
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the picks are and we're going to see just how
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many reissue requests eventually came to pass
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and also to look at the top picks to see if these
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releases have stood the test of time and it looks
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like most of them pretty much have although not
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all of them are still available. The first critic
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listed is yours truly, Jed Disler. And I mentioned
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several significant 1998 releases, such as Vanguard's
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reissue of the Percy Granger Greek Concerto from
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Our House Denmark, which was a long suppressed
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disc. eventually did come out on CD. I also mention
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Robert Helps' recordings of the Roger Sessions
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sonatas, and I also mention Mark -Andre Hamelin's
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unprecedented cycle of the complete Mettner sonatas,
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which is still a reference version to this day.
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And I also mentioned the William Capelle edition
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from BMG that contained that pianist's complete
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RCA Victor commercial recordings, and it also
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included a lot of unreleased material. That was
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a major, major release. But curiously, I mentioned
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for my favorite release from 1998, the Mozart
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Sonatas recorded... in the early 50s by lily
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krauss on the discophile francais label and they
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were beautifully remastered on music and arts,
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and I always like these performances because
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they're very tough and angular, very different
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from the Apollonian and symmetrical Walter Gieseking
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performances of the same vintage. I guess I was
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just really smitten with the Mozart at the time,
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and I still think it's a wonderful cycle, but
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I'm not sure why I said that that was the best
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of the year. In relation to the Capelle and the
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Mettner, which I thought were much more important
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releases, and I think they are in retrospect,
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but for my request about what I wanted to see
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reissued, I made a big pitch for the recordings
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of music of J .S. Bach by pianist Lucas Foss
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from the 1950s that were... released on American
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Decca. I talk about these recordings all the
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time. It's sort of like a bee in my bonnet, I
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guess. But these have never turned up on CD,
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and they include the Bach three -part inventions
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and the first and the fifth keyboard concertos.
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Actually, Lucas Foss made several other recordings.
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for American Decca as a pianist, the Hindemith
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Four Temperaments, and also his own second concerto.
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And in fact, last year when I was talking about
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box sets that I wanted to see, didn't I mention
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that I wanted all of the Lucas Voss American
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Decca piano recordings all boxed up? I think
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I did. The next... critic on this list is David
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Fanning. His top 1998 release was a disc on RCA
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by Yevgeny Kissin with the Beethoven Moonlight
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Sonata, the Franck Prelude, Chorale and Fugue,
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and the Brahms Paganini Variations. I think the
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Paganini Variations really has stood the test
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of time as a reference version. And for the historic
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choice, for an item that has not yet appeared
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on CD. David Fanning picked Lazar Berman's 1963
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stereo recording of the Liszt Transcendental
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Etudes, and indeed they did eventually come out
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on Melodia on CD, and I reviewed that release
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for Classicstoday .com, in fact. For his top
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1998 choice, Michael Glover, chose Volume 1 in
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the Melodia BMG series of discs devoted to performances
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from the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
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And this disc featured the 1962 co -winners Vladimir
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Ashkenazy and John Ogden. I can understand why,
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because these are all terrific performances.
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And for the historic choice not yet on CD, asked
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for a collection of performances by the tragically
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short -lived pianist Terence Judd. And these
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had appeared on the Chandos label on LP, and
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he wanted to have a CD reissue. And indeed, Chandos
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did bring out three CDs of Terence Judd performances
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eventually. The next critic on this list is Charles
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Hopkins, the late Charles Hopkins, who was quite
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an erudite writer, and he knew so much. much,
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my goodness. He was also an exceptional pianist.
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His top choice was the reissue on the Marston
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label, encompassing the complete commercial recordings
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by the Liszt people, Emil von Sauer. And for
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his historic choice, Charles Hopkins mentioned
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several possibilities for his historic choice,
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but the main pianist he mentioned on this list
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was Blanche Selva, who was the dedicatee of many
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works by Albáñez, and she was the one who gave
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the first performances of the four books of Iberia
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in consecutive years between 1906 and 19... 1909.
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Now, eventually, Ward Marston brought out a disc
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of Blanche Selva recordings. I don't think it
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was her complete recordings, but there was a
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choice selection of 78s, including a very fine
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Bach Partita No. 1. The next critic on this list
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was another musician and a really exceptional
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musician, Igor Kipnis. And while he did mention
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the William Capelle edition, his first choice
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also was that first volume of international Tchaikovsky
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competition discs on Melodia BMG, the one including
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Vladimir Ashkenazy and John Ogden. And for his
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historic choice, he made a pitch for the later
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EMI Chopin recordings by Benno Moiseevich. Those
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were high on his list. And very soon after this
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article, when Phillips brought out their great
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pianists of the 20th century series, that did
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include... the Moiseevich stereo Chopin recordings.
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He also wanted the Chopin 24 Preludes with Moiseevich,
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and those, of course, did come out on APR, and
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they came out on Noxus. The next critic on this
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list is Max Lopert, and his top choice for 1998
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is interesting. It was a Schubert disc. on the
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Erato label with pianist Till Fellner, including
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the A minor sonata, Deutsch number 784, 12 Grazer
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Walzer. D924, and the 6 Momo Musico. I've never
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heard this disc, and I don't think this was a
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disc that was very high on anyone's radar, and
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I doubt that it's easy to source now, but I'm
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going to look for it because I'm very curious
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now. And for the historic choice, Clifford Curzon.
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He talks about the failure of Decca to reissue
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on CD almost all of his mono LP performances.
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Eventually there were a series of Clifford Curzon
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reissues in small boxes, and then eventually
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Decca did bring out their complete Clifford Curzon
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edition. So I'm glad that happened. Next, my
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friend and colleague Farhan Malik. mentioned
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the William Capel edition for his first choice
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of 1998. And then for reissues, he talks about
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Benno Moiseevich and Leopold Godofsky and Raoul
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Koshalsky wanting their complete recordings to
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come out. And eventually, Ward Marston did bring
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out a complete Leopold Godofsky edition and a
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complete Raoul Koshalsky. But Alfred Grunfeld
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has not fared as well on CD since 1998. There
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was a reissue on the Opal label. Opal was a subsidiary
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of Pearl. And that really tidied us over. But
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we have never had a complete and systematic Alfred
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Grunfeld reissue. He was one of the earliest
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born pianists to record. famous for his very
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fluffy and flashy salon arrangements and transcriptions.
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And I think that was the majority of what he
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recorded. But there is interesting other repertoire.
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Another good, good friend of mine, Donald Minildi,
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is the next critic on this list. And he just
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retired as the curator of the International Piano
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Archives at Maryland. And his two top choices.
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He cheated. He mentioned two top choices, and
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I guess that's okay. The William Capel edition,
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which doesn't come as a surprise, and also the
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Marc -Andre Hamelin recording on Hyperion of
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the complete Mettner sonatas. That's a very wise
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choice, obviously. And for reissues, he mentions
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a lot of different things. He talks about Benno
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Moiseevich. because at the time there was not
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a heck of a lot of Moiseevich on CD. He wanted
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to see the rest of Solomon's Beethoven sonatas
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reissued on CD. I think some of them had already
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been available on EMI, but eventually Testament
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brought out the whole series of them, I believe.
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And he asks for reissues of Shira Tchaikovsky's
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HMV LPs. We've had some of that material, but
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not all of that. In fact, on my recent box set
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wish list, I asked for a complete and systematic
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edition of all of Shira Tchaikovsky's HMV and
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EMI recordings. And I'd love to see that. And
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he also asked about... Ernst von Dohnany's 1957
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discs of his own solo piano works and the second
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concerto. The solo works came out on APR later
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on, and only just recently has the second concerto
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emerged on CD in the Adrian Boult Stereo Recordings
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box set from Warner. And he also asked for the
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best items from the extensive EMI legacy of John
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Ogden, and we did eventually get something in
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the EMI Icon series. I think we got a 17 -disc
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set of John Ogden. I can't remember if it was
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17, 18 CDs. Maybe it was more, but it was a pretty
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big release, and it had a lot of things that
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had never been on CD before, such as the Ronald
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Stevenson Passacaglia on DSCH. Bryce Morrison
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is next, and his top choice... was a live Scherer
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-Czerkoski recital from the Salzburg Festival
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in 1968 that came out on Orfeo. That was a good
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choice, actually, because it's a very interesting
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recital. It has the Chopin Preludes, the Brahms
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F minor Sonata, the Liszt E major Polonaise,
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and the sixth partita of... a very beautiful
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performance, and also Richard Rodney Bennett's
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five etudes, which are not the easiest pieces
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in the world. And I remember I asked Richard
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about this, and he said, oh yes, Shura just played
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them brilliantly and with great eccentricity.
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And for the historic choice, Bryce Morrison also
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mentioned a reissue of the Terrence Judd recordings
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that Chandos had brought out. And, of course,
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there were three Chandos CDs that came out of
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Terrence Judd recordings. And I think Bryce annotated
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those, if I'm correct. My friend and colleague
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Peter J. Rabinowitz is the next critic on this
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list, and he picked, understandably so, the Marc
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-André Hamelin recording of the Mettner sonatas
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complete on Hyperion. He did mention the William
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Capel edition, of course, and he mentioned on
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the Marston label. one of the complete Joseph
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Hoffman editions and one of the Ernst Levy editions.
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And for his historic choice of something that
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had not yet been available on CD, Peter Rabinowitz
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asked for the Svyatoslav Richter live Carnegie
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Hall recordings from his 1960 concerts that were
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issued on Columbia Masterworks, and these were
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only available on the catalog for a very brief
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time on LP. I had researched the origins of these
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recordings and all of the intrigue that went
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into bringing them out and issuing them and the
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whole aftermath of the series. I wrote an article
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all about this for International Classical Record
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Collector, and I had interviewed Skyler Chapin,
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who was the A &R person at Columbia at the time,
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who was very involved with the Richter negotiations.
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Eventually, these did come out on CD, first on
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the Do -Re -Mi label, and these were all mastered
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from excellent... vinyl copies. But then the
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whole series came out, I think they were completely
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remastered, for the Sony BMG Complete Sviatoslav
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Richter RCA and Columbia Recordings Edition,
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which I annotated. Michael Spring is the next
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critic on this list, and he now is the head of
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the APR label. And interestingly, his top choice
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for a 1998 release was an APR disc containing
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previously unpublished recordings of Nikolai
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Metner playing his own music, recorded for Columbia
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in 1930 and 1931. And he also mentioned a disc
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of Hummel concerto recordings by Howard Shelley.
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Among the historic reissue choices that Michael
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Spring made for 1998 were the two sets of Chopin
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Mazurkas recorded by Richard Boxt, that's R -Y
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-S -Z -A -R -D, and Boxt is spelled B -A -K -S
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-T. If somebody can correct me with the pronunciation
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I will be most appreciative. He recorded the
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Chopin mazurkas on two occasions. The first of
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these cycles came out on Westminster, and the
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second came out on Moussa. And I've talked about
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these cycles before on this podcast. You can
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find the Westminster recordings uploaded on YouTube.
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Next, my friend Charles Timbrel had a very interesting
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pick for his top 1998 release. which was a debut
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disc on the Harmonia Mundi label in their series
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Les Nouveaux Interprétés. And this was a disc
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featuring François -Frédéric Guy, or do you pronounce
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his last name Guy? It's G -U -Y. I think you
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say Guy. And this was a disc... featuring Beethoven's
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Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, and the Sonata
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of Beethoven, Op. 109 in E major, Sonata No.
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30. These are wonderful performances, and I think
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they've held up very well. Now, this pianist
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did re -record all of the Beethoven sonatas in
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a complete cycle, and those are very fine performances
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too, but there's a freshness about these that
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I still like very much. He also did another hammer
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clavier in the interim, which I've reviewed as
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well. And Charles Timbrel mentioned three significant
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French pianists whose recordings he wanted to
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see reissued. One was Monique de la Brucholerie.
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And there have been some major reissue projects
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involving her. There was a nine -disc set with
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one DVD on Mellow Classic that came out, which
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I actually have not heard, but the repertoire
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is really quite impressive. It covers quite a
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lot of ground. And the Do -Re -Mi label has issued
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two double albums devoted to this pianist. He
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also asks for the pianist Henriette Faure. You
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spell her last name F -A -U -R -E. It's not pronounced
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Faure because there's no accent. Otherwise, you
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would call her... Henriette Forêt, but it's Henriette
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Four, and he wanted to have her Ravel recordings
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reissued. They have been reissued on the Socorrofon
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label in Japan, and that is not the easiest disc
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to source, although you can still find it. And
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for his final choice, Charles Timbrel. requested
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that Jacques Février's recordings of Debussy's
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solo piano works, which was more or less a complete
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cycle. would come out on CD. And they did eventually
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on the Accord label, and that was a reissue that
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was in print for about five seconds. Fortunately,
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I do have a copy of it, but it is not easy to
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source, and it might be interesting to have that
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available again. So there we have it. 12 critics
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for International Piano Quarterly back in 1998
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picking their top choice releases for the year
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and picking items that they would like to see
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reissued. And out of all of these releases that
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were mentioned, it seemed that there was a consensus
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around the Mettner cycle on Hyperion with Marc
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-André Hamelin, which still stands as a reference.
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And about half of us mentioned the William Capel
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edition, because that was a major, major release,
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bringing all of these long, unavailable recordings
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together under one roof. And the William Capel
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material is pretty much available now still,
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which is good. Anyway, I hope this was interesting
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for you. I thought it was interesting going back
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to 1998 to see what we all liked for piano discs
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of the year and what things that we wanted reissued
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and to see what transpired in the reissue market
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and what of the major... releases from 1998 have
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stood the test of time. This is Jed Disler, and
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you've been listening to The Piano Maven, your
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friendly podcast guide to piano recordings. Thank
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you so much for listening, and I look forward
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to being with you for our next episode.