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Meloclassic's Monumental Walter Gieseking Edition · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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Thank you. This is Jed Disler and welcome to
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The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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to piano recordings. Thank you so much for considering
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I promised that I would talk about the new Walter
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Gieseking 130th Anniversary Edition. box set
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from Mellow Classic that came out late in 2025.
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I recently reviewed it for International Piano
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Magazine. It comprises 29 CDs and one DVD, and
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it took me quite a while to go through all of
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the recordings and listen to them and take copious
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notes on the performances. Back in the January
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2023 issue of Gramophone, my review of the Warner
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Classics Gieseking box with the complete Columbia
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Graphophone recordings on 48 CDs. In that review,
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I wrote that this legendary pianist, Walter Gieseking's
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prolific official discography, did not tell the
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complete story. Because as many of us piano mavens
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know, there are tons of live and broadcast Gieseking
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performances that exist. And many of these have
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circulated on CD and LP and in various digital
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formats. And these recordings include works that
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Gieseking did not set down in the recording studio.
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And they also include performances of works that
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he did record. but the performances are often
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very different, and they provide a kind of gloss
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on the quote -unquote official discography. There
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is a lot of material in this box set that appears
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for the first time, and recordings that have
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appeared. that are in this box largely benefit
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from the producer Lynn Ludwig's remasterings,
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which are all based on original source material,
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so far as I understand. The 29 CDs are organized
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by radio station origin in more or less chronological
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order, and there is full information provided
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in regard to venue and recording date. However,
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I regret the absence of an index of works by
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composer, which would have made it so much easier
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to locate specific repertoire, particularly in
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pieces for where there are multiple recordings.
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And I also should mention that this is not the
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complete Gieseking broadcasts, because there
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is a lot of material that is not in this box
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set that has come out before elsewhere. Although
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Walter Gieseking's latter -day reputation largely
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rests upon his Debussy and Ravel interpretations,
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he embraced an unusually wide repertoire throughout
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his career, from Bach and Scarlatti to the contemporary
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composers of his era. In contrast to the coolness
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and reserved demeanor that sometimes characterizes
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his commercial recordings, Gieseking's broadcasts
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and live performances often reveal that he could
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burst his bubble and that he could take enormous
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chances when so inclined, as well as wear his
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heart on his sleeve on occasion. To be sure,
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Gieseking's motoric genius and his uncanny sight
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-reading abilities and his effortless keyboard
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facility sometimes yielded careless and sometimes
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slapdash results. But I doubt that Gieseking
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broached his broadcast engagements with long
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-term posterity in mind. But let's go through
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the 29 CDs so that you get a sense of what's
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in the collection and what the highlights are.
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The first disc... contains these gorgeous 1933
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radio broadcasts of Brahms piano pieces, Opus
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118, Numbers 2 and 5, and also 119, Number 3.
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These appeared on Music and Arts, I think, as
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well. And these performances put Gieseking's
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later studio versions from the 1950s totally
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in the shade. Also on this disc... are the five
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pieces opus 47 by Hans Fitzner. And all I can
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say is that Gieseking makes a compelling case
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for some really uncompelling music. Then we have
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a June 16, 1943 broadcast that contains Gieseking's...
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best performance i believe of the mozart d major
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sonata kershaw 576 and a fantastic beethoven
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opus 10 number one that just has so much sense
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of tension and release that his more contained
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and conservative 1950s emi recording really doesn't
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have and then we have the walter nieman barker
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rolls this is lightweight innocuous stuff but
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Gieseking just plays it with such delicacy and
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color and nuance. On CD No. 2, the June 16, 1943
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broadcast continues with the Schumann Sonata
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No. 1 and the third movement. Let's just say
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it lives dangerously. Then the pianist Michael
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Rauchheisen, who is best known as being an accompanist,
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joins Gieseking to play Gieseking's children's
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pieces for piano duet. Then there's a Beethoven
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Moonlight Sonata, where the adagio is really
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measured, much more than in Gieseking's commercial
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recording from the 50s. And there's some beautiful
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Brahms, Op. 76 No. 8. 8 and 3. And I think these
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are better than the commercial recordings from
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the 50s. Also, we have Julius Weissmann's Sommerland,
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Op. 32. These are very pleasant piano pieces,
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and you're never going to hear them played better.
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I mean, if you're ever going to hear them played
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at all. The third and fourth CDs. encompass marathon
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sessions from January 22nd and 23rd, 1945. The
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highlight of these recordings, I think, is the
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Bach English Suite No. 6. This is one of the
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most impassioned and committed recordings of
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any Bach on the piano that I know. And this...
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Cording appeared on the Urania label on LP, and
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it was also transferred to CD when Urania had
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this series in the late 1980s. It was a short
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-lived reissue series. And I think that this
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transfer is much better equalized. The one on
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Urania was a little shrill to my taste. There's
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a performance of Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata
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here that I think would give Roadrunner pause.
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It's completely crazy. There's the little Schubert
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A major sonata, Deutsch number 664. It takes
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Gieseking a little bit of time to rhythmically
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settle into this performance. There's this Liebestrom
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number 3, which I don't think exists in another
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Gieseking recording, if I'm not mistaken. This
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one I'm not crazy about because he kind of overshoots
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the climaxes and gets too loud too soon. I think
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Gieseking's Schumann symphonic etudes from these
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sessions are masterfully controlled. But he also
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plays Kreisleriana of Schumann, and the fast
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movements just go like a bat out of hell, and
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they're very perfunctory. CD number five has
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a Schumann concerto from 1944 with Robert Hager
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conducting. Very excellent performance. Then
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there is a performance of the Beethoven Emperor
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Concerto with Arthur Rother. Now, this is not
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the stereo one that's been out in many places
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and the one that I talked about in a previous
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podcast. This is actually a mono recording. The
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stereo version. actually dates from September
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1944, and it has Helmut Kruger conducting. It
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was always misidentified as being conducted by
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Arthur Rother, but it doesn't really make any
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difference because... I don't feel that Gieseking
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really plays that much differently than he does
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in his studio recordings of the Emperor Concerto.
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And then there is a little snippet from the Brahms
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B -flat Concerto in the second movement where
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Gieseking just sails through the sotto voce octaves.
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But this little snippet was an advertisement
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for a concert. CD number six, Oy Vey, it's all
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music of Hans Fitzner. A 1941 performance of
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the piano quintet. It's missing some music, but
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it doesn't really matter because the piece is
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just so uninteresting. And also on this disc
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is the Fitzner Piano Concerto from a 1943...
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broadcast or live performance. I don't, I can't
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remember what it is. It doesn't really matter
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because this is just a big piece of chromatic
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sludge. I cannot abide this piece. Gieseking
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plays it great, but honestly, I don't care. I,
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you know, the Fitzner concerto. CD No. 7 will
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really interest collectors because we have fresh
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transfers from Gieseking's own aircheck copies
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of his really magnificent Rachmaninoff Concerto
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No. 2 performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra
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of Amsterdam in 1940, conducted by Willem Mengelberg.
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This is just really powerful. passionate, stylish,
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inspired music -making on every level. Then there
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is the 1939 Rachmaninoff Third Concerto with
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the New York Philharmonic with John Barbaroli
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conducting. I think this was March 1939. This
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performance has been out before, and it... is
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controversial in certain ways because Gieseking
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plays the opening statement of the theme in a
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very slow and reserved way. And he tends to be
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kind of aesthetic and literally doesn't have
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the kind of ebb and flow and tempo fluctuation
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that you often get in Rachmaninoff performances.
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So it may not sound totally idiomatic, but...
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He really builds the music and he really warms
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up as the piece progresses. The performance is
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uncut and that was very rare in those days because
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Rachmaninoff made cuts when he recorded the piece
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and Horowitz always took cuts. And Gieseking
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plays the heavy chordal cadenza in the first
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movement, not the lighter one that both Rachmaninoff
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and Horowitz favored in their recordings. And
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Gieseking plays that cadenza with great authority.
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He's on better pianistic form in this broadcast
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than he is in a later broadcast of the Rachmaninoff
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third with Mengelberg, which is not in this collection,
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by the way. Discs 8 through 12 contain artistically
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and sonically variable concerto broadcasts from
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Heischer Rudfunk, and they mostly are conducted
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by Kurt Schroeder. Gieseking goes crazy in the
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finales of the Mozart, Kerschel 271, and 488
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concertos. He's just off to the races and to
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hell with everybody else. He also gives you a
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really virile Schumann concerto, a sloppy Greek
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concerto, and... a Rachmaninoff second concerto
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that he just kind of sloughs off. It's nowhere
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near as good as the one with Mengelberg. There's
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also the really fine Debussy Fantasy, which was
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also in the Warner box, and the transfers are
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comparable. We have an interesting novelty, the
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Casella Partita, Alfredo Casella. This is a big,
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serious piece, and I wish the sound quality was
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a little better because the orchestration is
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very complex and thick, and with the loud tooties,
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everything gets so congested, and I think you
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really need... an up -to -date recording to really
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hear the intricacies of the orchestration. But
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Gieseking plays the piano part very well. On
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the other hand, the Walter Piston concertino
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is a very light and transparent piece, and the
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close micing allows you to hear everything. We
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also have Winifred Zillig conducting Beethoven's
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Concertos No. 1 and 5. No. 5 is the Emperor Concerto.
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These do not add anything to what we already
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know from Gieseking's commercial versions. CD
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13, we have Winifred Zillig conducting a string
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orchestra in Hindemith's Four Temperaments. It's
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not the greatest orchestra in the world, and
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it sounds like the piano is a baby grand that
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needed tuning. But again, Gieseking is completely
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attuned. all puns intended, to this music. He
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knows when to be in the forefront, and he knows
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when to pull back to accompany when the strings
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have the thematic interest. Also on CD 13 is
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the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Hans Rossbaut
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conducting. This is not a very good performance
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because Gieseking sounds rough around the edges
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and ragged and rather tired. And apparently,
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he did this performance in the evening after
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a full day of teaching and without practicing.
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The transfer is not so good as a transfer that
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came out on the SWR label, which has a lot more
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body to it and sonic impact. But given the problems
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with the performance, that's kind of academic.
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Discs 14 through 18 offer solo recordings from
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Frankfurt Radio, all dating from 1947 to 1949.
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The Beethoven Impassionata is better controlled
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here than in the earlier one I talked about,
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but there's a really demonic and risk -taking
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and rather reckless Beethoven Op. 111 that is
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just kind of amazing to hear. You know, you had
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to be there, but it's... really quite exciting.
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And Gieseking really turns on the demonic faucet
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in the Scriabin fifth sonata. This is a performance
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that's been released before. I think it came
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out on Pearl years ago. This is fantastic Scriabin
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playing. There's also a very sensitive and cultivated
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Chopin third ballade. And this is interesting
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because Gieseking did not play that much Chopin.
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So this adds the Chopin third ballade to his
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I like the expressive ruggedness of the Schumann
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fantasy in these sessions, but I find that the
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Brahms Sonata No. 3 is not so much rugged but
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ragged, and it's often distracted. I think Gieseking
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just wanted to get it over with. CDs 19 -24 present
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more wide -ranging repertoire recorded between
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1947 and 1954. There's a lot of great stuff here.
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More Scriabin, the third, seventh, and ninth
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sonatas. really driven and visionary performances.
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There's some Poulankin foray that he did not
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record elsewhere. There's his best performance
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of the Beethoven opus 28 sonata and his best
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performance of the Beethoven opus 31 number one
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here. And the first three movements of the Schubert
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G major sonata, Deutsch number 894, are played
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to perfection. But the fourth movement... is
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a little heavy -handed. I was kind of disappointed.
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There's a complete run of the Debussy Preludes
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Book I from Hamburg Radio in 1950, and also from
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Hamburg Book II in 1953. And these are looser,
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more freewheeling performances compared to those
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in Gieseking's commercial recordings. And I mean
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this in a good way. CDs 25, 26, 27, and 28 all
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come from broadcasts stemming from Gieseking's
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only tour of Australia. And these concerts were
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recorded off the air by Roy Preston, who was
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a very enthusiastic home recordist. And you might
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know Roy Preston's name because he preserved
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some William Capel broadcasts that Sony BMG brought
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out a long time ago in that Capel Rediscovered
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release. The interesting things here are a complete
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Brahms second concerto. This is the only complete
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Brahms second we have with Gieseking, which he
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plays very well. He sets quite an optimistic
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tempo for the second movement, but of course
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they adjust to something a little more normal.
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And there's a complete Tchaikovsky concerto number
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one. There are a few little glitches in the first
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movement, but it doesn't matter. Gieseking never
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recorded this piece, but listen to what he does
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in the first and third movements, because he's...
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out -Vladimiring Horowitz in terms of drive and
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demonic force and just simply going bonkers.
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On the other hand, he plays the second -list
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legend, which I don't think exists in another
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Gieseking recording, and he plays it with such
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nobility and patience, and the music is just...
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unfolding so naturally and beautifully. I think
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this is his best list performance, Gieseking's.
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And there's a disc that comes from a broadcast
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where Gieseking played short piano pieces by
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contemporary Australian composers, Raymond Hansen,
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Miriam Hyde, and Roy Agnew. This is all very
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pianistically effective music, and apparently
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Gieseking got the scores very shortly before
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the broadcast. So he's basically sight reading,
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but as I said before, he was such an incredible
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reader that often his first readings would be
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better than performances of students who would
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just labor over pieces and never get anywhere
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with them. The final CD in the collection has
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odds and ends. including Gieseking's best performance,
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I think, of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. It comes
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from a BBC broadcast from 1950. There's a wonderful
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unpublished studio recording from 1942 of the
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Menuetto from that Schubert G major sonata I
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talked about. And there's a curious performance
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of the Beethoven Opus 109 from a private concert
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or live performance. It's not recorded all that
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well, and there are better 109s from Gieseking
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elsewhere. There's also a DVD that contains all
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of the visual footage we have of Gieseking that
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exists. And it's interesting to see a pianist
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of Gieseking's imposing size play with the utmost
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physical economy and delicacy. It's a real masterclass
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to watch him. Along with the recordings, the
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set includes a 640 -page book by Michael Weiblinger.
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It's called A Pianist's Journey Through the 20th
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Century. This is the most monumental and comprehensive
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documentation of Gieseking's life and career
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that I've ever seen. It makes extensive use of
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Gieseking's letters to his family and colleagues.
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He was a very prolific correspondent, and there
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are hundreds of previously unpublished photographs.
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Also, Waiblinger amply documents Gieseking's
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wartime activities and includes a full transcript
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of the pianist's post -war interrogation by the
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U .S. military. As you know, Gieseking stayed
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in Germany during the war, and he did a lot of
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performances that were at the behest of the party
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in charge. although there is no evidence that
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Gieseking was a Nazi party member. The final
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chapter of this book encompasses a lengthy and
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detailed essay by the pianist Stuart Linnell
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Gordon about his experiences in Gieseking's masterclasses
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at the Saarbrücken Conservatory after the war.
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I think that a book of this size and scope also
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should have included a complete Gieseking discography,
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but maybe I'm asking too much. But on the whole,
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I think specialist collectors with an interest
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in Gieseking, will want to investigate this 130th
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anniversary edition. And I've put a link to purchase
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it in our episode description. I find it illuminating
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and valuable, if not 100 % indispensable. But
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I think this is a collection that definitely
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belongs in the libraries of all serious conservatories
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and music schools, at the very least. This is
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Jed Disler, and you've been listening to The
23:54
Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
23:58
recordings. Thank you for listening, and I look
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forward to being with you for our next episode.