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Bach Guild's Big Chopin Box (rebroadcast) · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:08
  This is Jed Distler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:12
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:17
  You can subscribe to The Piano Maven through
• 0:20
  my Substack page by clicking on the link in the
• 0:24
  episode description. Paid subscribers get bonuses
• 0:28
  such as Piano Maven Zoom meetings where we share
• 0:32
  listening experiences and we will be having some
• 0:36
  special guests in the future. So please consider
• 0:40
  subscribing to help us reach out further into
• 0:44
  the piano community and to keep this podcast
• 0:46
  in production. Back in our first season, I talked
• 0:51
  about those big... box downloads from the Bach
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  Guild, where you get the download equivalent
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  of a big box set, like getting hours and hours
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  of music all bundled together for 99 cents. And
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  I talked about a release that was called the
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  Big Piano Concerto Box. So I'm browsing through
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  my computer now, and I'm looking through the
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  Bach Guild. big box catalog. And I'm seeing things
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  like the big Schubert box, the big Vivaldi box,
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  the big ragtime box. They even had these little
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  big boxes. I'm looking at something called the
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  little big Bach box, which is five hours of music
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  instead of 17 hours of music. I mean, that's
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  still a bargain for 99 cents. And as I said the
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  last time when I was discussing the Bach Guild
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  boxes, most of the material in these reissues,
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  in these download reissues, comes from the Vanguard
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  catalog because Bach Guild originally was a label
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  that was an affiliate of Vanguard in the 1950s.
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  other labels such as the pro art label that thrived
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  in the 1980s and then it totally disappeared
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  and i've talked about this label on previous
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  episodes so anyway for this episode i'm going
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  to go through what bach guild calls their big
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  chopin box and i've provided a link for you to
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  look at it and order it if you feel so inclined.
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  There's a lot of fine material here, actually.
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  You get the entirety of Peter Serkin's Chopin
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  CD for the Pro Art label. This was his only Chopin
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  release on that label. He did, I think, three
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  LPs or three CDs or three. or others for RCA
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  Victor in the late 70s, early 80s. But this was
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  the one Chopin disc for pro art. And it's very
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  good. His performances are always contrapuntally
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  aware and texturally transparent. Although sometimes
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  he lays down the unabashedly virtuosic ardor
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  in pieces where you'd want a little more fire
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  in the belly, such as... in the coda of the fourth
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  ballade or those big climaxes within the f minor
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  fantasy or that volatile ending of the b major
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  nocturne opus 32 number one but he does offer
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  some interesting and very convincing performances
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  of the opus 63 and opus 41 mazurkas as well as
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  the e minor waltz and the A flat waltz, opus
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  34, number one. The Chopin first concerto appears
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  here in the Vanguard recording with Rosina Levine.
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  This also was included in the big piano concerto
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  box. Levine, I think, was in her early 80s when
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  she made this recording, and she does not summon
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  up a lot of power. especially in the third movement
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  rondo, where the fast unison runs are a little
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  cautious. I mean, understandably, perhaps. But
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  her rounded phrasing and her natural rubato,
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  I think, are worth thousands of piano lessons.
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  Oh, I had forgotten to mention when I talked
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  about this recording earlier that... The first
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  movement has that standard cut in the orchestral
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  introduction that used to be commonly observed
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  in concert and on many earlier recordings of
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  the E minor concerto. It really wasn't until
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  the mono LP era that you started to hear the
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  first movement orchestral introduction complete
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  on records. So that's one small strike against
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  the Rosina Levine recording. hey, you're not
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  buying this for the orchestra, you're buying
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  it for the piano player, right? However, for
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  Piano Concerto No. 2, Bach Guild picked a recording
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  with the Portuguese pianist Siqueira Costa, and
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  he just had such a gorgeous sound, and the fluidity
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  in the poetry that he brings to his solo part
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  is just wonderful. And he's supported really
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  admirably by Gilbert Varga and the Royal Philharmonic.
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  This recording came out originally in a series
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  of budget CDs issued under the imprimatur, the
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  Royal Philharmonic Collection. Some of you might
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  remember these discs. I think they came out in
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  the late 90s. There was a whole slew of them.
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  And there were some fantastic orchestral items
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  in this series with Charles McCarris conducting.
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  There was a Richard Strauss disc, and he did
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  a wonderful Berlioz symphony, Fantastique. But
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  let's get back to Chopin. Also in this box set,
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  we have the Chopin waltzes in the recording that
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  came out on ProArt featuring the Brazilian pianist,
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  Arthur Moreira Lima. And these are... gracing
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  and idiomatic and colorful interpretations, as
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  good as any out there. And I had mentioned this
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  recording when I did my Joyce Hato scandal podcast
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  episode, because these were the Chopin waltzes
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  that were stolen for the Joyce Hato edition.
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  But they are authentic. Arthur Moreira Lima,
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  the Chopin waltzes, a really nice cycle. Also
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  in this set, we have Bruce Hungerford's recording
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  for the Vanguard label of the Chopin B minor
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  sonata. And this is a fascinating interpretation,
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  and it really surprised me when I first heard
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  it, because given that Hungerford approached
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  playing the Beethoven sonatas with really great
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  integrity and rectitude in terms of following
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  the text, his Chopin... is relatively subjective
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  and volatile with a lot of unexpected freedom
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  but always within the bounds of good taste and
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  musical sense for the preludes opus 28 we have
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  the vanguard recording by jean -marie dare who
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  was one of the great french pianists of her generation
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  and her very clear and finger -oriented technique
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  is really quintessentially of the French school.
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  I've always liked these performances for their
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  clarity and honesty, although I know that some
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  listeners might find them to be on the dry side.
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  Also, we have a few selections from the recording
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  of Chopin's Polonaises made for Vanguard in 1967
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  or 1968 or thereabouts with the pianist Alfred
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  Brindle. The selections from his Chopin Polonaise
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  album offered here are the Andante, Spionato,
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  and Grand Polonaise, the Opus 44 F -sharp minor
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  Polonaise, the big A -flat heroic Opus 53 Polonaise,
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  and the Polonaise Fantasy Opus 61. This was the
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  one and only Chopin album that Alfred Brendel
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  ever recorded, and in an interview that he gave
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  many, many years later, he said that this Chopin
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  disc did not particularly make him happy, nor
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  did it make my late friend Harris Goldsmith happy.
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  He reviewed it for High Fidelity magazine, and
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  the opening sentence of his review contained
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  just two words, and These two words followed
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  by an exclamation mark were these. Occupied Poland.
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  That's just priceless. I mean, that probably
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  could have stood as the whole review and collectors
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  would have immediately understood. I actually
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  like this disc, believe it or not. And that may
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  surprise many of you because... You know that
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  I blow hot and cold over Alfred Grendel's artistry,
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  although I certainly respect the man. I mean,
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  how can you not? Now, I do have to admit that
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  Grendel inflects Chopin's Polonaise rhythms with
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  more of a Prussian and a Polish accent, but I
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  don't find him to be rigid or unyielding at all.
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  And I would even say that Grendel's angular phrasings
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  and rather spare sonority and the polonaise fantasy
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  convey a kind of nervous energy and linear tension
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  that is actually akin to what vladimir horowitz
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  often brought to this piece and if you listen
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  to the trio section of that a flat polonaise
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  Brendel pays attention to shaping the right -hand
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  melody in the right way, just as Van Cliburn
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  did, rather than focus all of his energy on those
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  famous left -hand octaves and just ignore that
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  right hand. And even more surprisingly, Brendel's
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  Andante Spionato in Grand Polonaise has a really
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  fetching and playful quality that I don't always
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  hear in so -called Chopin specialists. And by
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  the way, there is a BBC performance with Brendel
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  of the Andante Spinato and Grand Polonaise that
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  came out on Decca. And I think that's even a
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  more spontaneous recording. Then we have the
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  Op. 26 No. 1 Polonaise in C -sharp minor and
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  the two Op. 40 Polonaises with the pianist Ronan
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  Ohora. And these are good, solid performances
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  as you... always expect from this pianist. And
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  these were in the Bach Guild big piano box that
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  I spoke about in the first season. We also have
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  one selection with Leon Fleischer. We have a
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  beautifully thought -out rendition of the Berceuse.
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  Also, there is some material from the one disc
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  that Guillemard Nováez recorded for the Vanguard
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  label. we have her lovely although kind of underplayed
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  third and fourth ballads and we have her very
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  dashing renditions of the black key and butterfly
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  etudes and the three equal size ronan o 'hara
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  is back again for a very good first ballad not
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  the most exciting in the world but well played
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  Also with Ronan O 'Hara, we have the two opus
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  nine nocturnes, the C minor nocturne opus 48
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  number one, and three mazurkas, the B flat opus
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  seven number one, D major opus 33 number two,
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  and A minor opus 56 number one. Also, he plays
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  a very sensitive fantasy impromptu. I enjoy that
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  a lot. Oh, I see here there is more from Bruce
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  Hungerford's Vanguard Chopin album. I talked
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  about his B minor sonata a little earlier. We
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  have masterful and very individual renditions
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  of the F minor etude, Op. 25 No. 2, the first
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  of the Nouvelle etudes, a beautiful nocturne
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  in D flat, Op. 27 No. 2. There's also a Leon
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  Fleischer performance of that I wish they had
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  included, but this Hungerford performance is
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  really quite lovely. Also, his recording of the
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  C -sharp minor mazurka, opus 50, number three,
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  is one of my very favorites of this piece. I
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  even put it on the same level as Dinu Lepati,
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  believe it or not. And last but... Not least,
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  we've got a very worthwhile set of the four scherzos
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  with Jean -Marie Daré. I think she recorded these
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  for Vanguard in the mid to late 60s. I'm not
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  really sure. You may know the correct recording
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  dates. But anyway, she unleashes a truly demonic
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  and exciting... scherzo number one in B minor.
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  And also, like Vladimir Horowitz, she plays the
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  upward B minor scale at the end, not in unison
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  in both hands, as Chopin wrote, but in interlocking
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  octaves. Horowitz was famous for that. Oh, by
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  the way, you know, William Capel did that too
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  in a live performance we have from his 1953 Australian
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  tour. I wonder what other pianists... played
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  interlocking octaves in the coda. Maybe you know,
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  I can't really think off the top of my head who
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  else may have done that. Jean -Marie Daré's second
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  scherzo, I think, is a bit all over the place.
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  It doesn't quite have the sense of line and repose
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  in the trio that you might hear from like Arthur
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  Rubinstein. And if the fourth scherzo's second
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  theme doesn't really sing out, as much as i would
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  like it to you cannot deny jean -marie daré's
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  rhythmic poise and talk about rhythm her articulation
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  of the octaves and the third scherzo is like
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  looking at brilliant and impeccable etchings
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  which are very different from those big brush
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  strokes and the volatility that you get from
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  martha argorich who pretty much owns this piece
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  but But I would not underestimate Jean -Marie
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  Daré. She's a seasoned and authoritative Chopin
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  player. So if anything in this collection piques
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  your curiosity, then I would definitely download
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  Bach Guild's big Chopin box. It's totally worth
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  99 cents. You know, if it costs you a little
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  bit more, like $1 .29 or something like that,
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  or even $1 .79, it's still an extraordinary download
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  bargain. This is Jed Disler, and you've been
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  listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
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  guide to piano recordings. I look forward to
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  being with you for the next episode, so take
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  good care until next time.