Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Bach Guild's Big Chopin Box

Transcript

Bach Guild's Big Chopin Box · 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
• 0:55
  Guild, where you get the download equivalent
• 0:59
  of a big box set, like getting hours and hours
• 1:04
  of music all bundled together for 99 cents. And
• 1:08
  I talked about a release that was called the
• 1:11
  Big Piano Concerto Box. So I'm browsing through
• 1:16
  my computer now, and I'm looking through the
• 1:19
  Bach Guild. big box catalog. And I'm seeing things
• 1:25
  like the big Schubert box, the big Vivaldi box,
• 1:29
  the big ragtime box. They even had these little
• 1:32
  big boxes. I'm looking at something called the
• 1:35
  little big Bach box, which is five hours of music
• 1:40
  instead of 17 hours of music. I mean, that's
• 1:43
  still a bargain for 99 cents. And as I said the
• 1:48
  last time when I was discussing the Bach Guild
• 1:51
  boxes, most of the material in these reissues,
• 1:57
  in these download reissues, comes from the Vanguard
• 2:00
  catalog because Bach Guild originally was a label
• 2:05
  that was an affiliate of Vanguard in the 1950s.
• 2:16
  other labels such as the pro art label that thrived
• 2:21
  in the 1980s and then it totally disappeared
• 2:23
  and i've talked about this label on previous
• 2:26
  episodes so anyway for this episode i'm going
• 2:31
  to go through what bach guild calls their big
• 2:35
  chopin box and i've provided a link for you to
• 2:40
  look at it and order it if you feel so inclined.
• 2:44
  There's a lot of fine material here, actually.
• 2:48
  You get the entirety of Peter Serkin's Chopin
• 2:52
  CD for the Pro Art label. This was his only Chopin
• 2:57
  release on that label. He did, I think, three
• 3:01
  LPs or three CDs or three. or others for RCA
• 3:06
  Victor in the late 70s, early 80s. But this was
• 3:09
  the one Chopin disc for pro art. And it's very
• 3:13
  good. His performances are always contrapuntally
• 3:17
  aware and texturally transparent. Although sometimes
• 3:21
  he lays down the unabashedly virtuosic ardor
• 3:26
  in pieces where you'd want a little more fire
• 3:29
  in the belly, such as... in the coda of the fourth
• 3:33
  ballade or those big climaxes within the f minor
• 3:37
  fantasy or that volatile ending of the b major
• 3:43
  nocturne opus 32 number one but he does offer
• 3:48
  some interesting and very convincing performances
• 3:51
  of the opus 63 and opus 41 mazurkas as well as
• 3:58
  the e minor waltz and the A flat waltz, opus
• 4:02
  34, number one. The Chopin first concerto appears
• 4:08
  here in the Vanguard recording with Rosina Levine.
• 4:13
  This also was included in the big piano concerto
• 4:17
  box. Levine, I think, was in her early 80s when
• 4:21
  she made this recording, and she does not summon
• 4:24
  up a lot of power. especially in the third movement
• 4:27
  rondo, where the fast unison runs are a little
• 4:31
  cautious. I mean, understandably, perhaps. But
• 4:35
  her rounded phrasing and her natural rubato,
• 4:39
  I think, are worth thousands of piano lessons.
• 4:43
  Oh, I had forgotten to mention when I talked
• 4:46
  about this recording earlier that... The first
• 4:51
  movement has that standard cut in the orchestral
• 4:55
  introduction that used to be commonly observed
• 4:58
  in concert and on many earlier recordings of
• 5:03
  the E minor concerto. It really wasn't until
• 5:06
  the mono LP era that you started to hear the
• 5:10
  first movement orchestral introduction complete
• 5:12
  on records. So that's one small strike against
• 5:16
  the Rosina Levine recording. hey, you're not
• 5:19
  buying this for the orchestra, you're buying
• 5:21
  it for the piano player, right? However, for
• 5:25
  Piano Concerto No. 2, Bach Guild picked a recording
• 5:30
  with the Portuguese pianist Siqueira Costa, and
• 5:34
  he just had such a gorgeous sound, and the fluidity
• 5:38
  in the poetry that he brings to his solo part
• 5:42
  is just wonderful. And he's supported really
• 5:46
  admirably by Gilbert Varga and the Royal Philharmonic.
• 5:50
  This recording came out originally in a series
• 5:54
  of budget CDs issued under the imprimatur, the
• 5:59
  Royal Philharmonic Collection. Some of you might
• 6:03
  remember these discs. I think they came out in
• 6:06
  the late 90s. There was a whole slew of them.
• 6:10
  And there were some fantastic orchestral items
• 6:13
  in this series with Charles McCarris conducting.
• 6:16
  There was a Richard Strauss disc, and he did
• 6:19
  a wonderful Berlioz symphony, Fantastique. But
• 6:23
  let's get back to Chopin. Also in this box set,
• 6:27
  we have the Chopin waltzes in the recording that
• 6:30
  came out on ProArt featuring the Brazilian pianist,
• 6:35
  Arthur Moreira Lima. And these are... gracing
• 6:40
  and idiomatic and colorful interpretations, as
• 6:43
  good as any out there. And I had mentioned this
• 6:48
  recording when I did my Joyce Hato scandal podcast
• 6:53
  episode, because these were the Chopin waltzes
• 6:56
  that were stolen for the Joyce Hato edition.
• 6:59
  But they are authentic. Arthur Moreira Lima,
• 7:04
  the Chopin waltzes, a really nice cycle. Also
• 7:08
  in this set, we have Bruce Hungerford's recording
• 7:11
  for the Vanguard label of the Chopin B minor
• 7:14
  sonata. And this is a fascinating interpretation,
• 7:18
  and it really surprised me when I first heard
• 7:21
  it, because given that Hungerford approached
• 7:25
  playing the Beethoven sonatas with really great
• 7:29
  integrity and rectitude in terms of following
• 7:32
  the text, his Chopin... is relatively subjective
• 7:36
  and volatile with a lot of unexpected freedom
• 7:41
  but always within the bounds of good taste and
• 7:44
  musical sense for the preludes opus 28 we have
• 7:49
  the vanguard recording by jean -marie dare who
• 7:52
  was one of the great french pianists of her generation
• 7:56
  and her very clear and finger -oriented technique
• 8:02
  is really quintessentially of the French school.
• 8:07
  I've always liked these performances for their
• 8:10
  clarity and honesty, although I know that some
• 8:13
  listeners might find them to be on the dry side.
• 8:17
  Also, we have a few selections from the recording
• 8:20
  of Chopin's Polonaises made for Vanguard in 1967
• 8:26
  or 1968 or thereabouts with the pianist Alfred
• 8:31
  Brindle. The selections from his Chopin Polonaise
• 8:35
  album offered here are the Andante, Spionato,
• 8:39
  and Grand Polonaise, the Opus 44 F -sharp minor
• 8:43
  Polonaise, the big A -flat heroic Opus 53 Polonaise,
• 8:48
  and the Polonaise Fantasy Opus 61. This was the
• 8:54
  one and only Chopin album that Alfred Brendel
• 8:57
  ever recorded, and in an interview that he gave
• 9:01
  many, many years later, he said that this Chopin
• 9:05
  disc did not particularly make him happy, nor
• 9:09
  did it make my late friend Harris Goldsmith happy.
• 9:13
  He reviewed it for High Fidelity magazine, and
• 9:16
  the opening sentence of his review contained
• 9:19
  just two words, and These two words followed
• 9:24
  by an exclamation mark were these. Occupied Poland.
• 9:30
  That's just priceless. I mean, that probably
• 9:34
  could have stood as the whole review and collectors
• 9:37
  would have immediately understood. I actually
• 9:40
  like this disc, believe it or not. And that may
• 9:43
  surprise many of you because... You know that
• 9:47
  I blow hot and cold over Alfred Grendel's artistry,
• 9:51
  although I certainly respect the man. I mean,
• 9:53
  how can you not? Now, I do have to admit that
• 9:57
  Grendel inflects Chopin's Polonaise rhythms with
• 10:02
  more of a Prussian and a Polish accent, but I
• 10:06
  don't find him to be rigid or unyielding at all.
• 10:10
  And I would even say that Grendel's angular phrasings
• 10:15
  and rather spare sonority and the polonaise fantasy
• 10:20
  convey a kind of nervous energy and linear tension
• 10:24
  that is actually akin to what vladimir horowitz
• 10:28
  often brought to this piece and if you listen
• 10:32
  to the trio section of that a flat polonaise
• 10:36
  Brendel pays attention to shaping the right -hand
• 10:40
  melody in the right way, just as Van Cliburn
• 10:43
  did, rather than focus all of his energy on those
• 10:47
  famous left -hand octaves and just ignore that
• 10:51
  right hand. And even more surprisingly, Brendel's
• 10:55
  Andante Spionato in Grand Polonaise has a really
• 10:58
  fetching and playful quality that I don't always
• 11:03
  hear in so -called Chopin specialists. And by
• 11:07
  the way, there is a BBC performance with Brendel
• 11:11
  of the Andante Spinato and Grand Polonaise that
• 11:14
  came out on Decca. And I think that's even a
• 11:16
  more spontaneous recording. Then we have the
• 11:21
  Op. 26 No. 1 Polonaise in C -sharp minor and
• 11:26
  the two Op. 40 Polonaises with the pianist Ronan
• 11:30
  Ohora. And these are good, solid performances
• 11:34
  as you... always expect from this pianist. And
• 11:38
  these were in the Bach Guild big piano box that
• 11:42
  I spoke about in the first season. We also have
• 11:46
  one selection with Leon Fleischer. We have a
• 11:49
  beautifully thought -out rendition of the Berceuse.
• 11:53
  Also, there is some material from the one disc
• 11:56
  that Guillemard Nováez recorded for the Vanguard
• 12:00
  label. we have her lovely although kind of underplayed
• 12:05
  third and fourth ballads and we have her very
• 12:09
  dashing renditions of the black key and butterfly
• 12:12
  etudes and the three equal size ronan o 'hara
• 12:17
  is back again for a very good first ballad not
• 12:21
  the most exciting in the world but well played
• 12:25
  Also with Ronan O 'Hara, we have the two opus
• 12:29
  nine nocturnes, the C minor nocturne opus 48
• 12:33
  number one, and three mazurkas, the B flat opus
• 12:38
  seven number one, D major opus 33 number two,
• 12:42
  and A minor opus 56 number one. Also, he plays
• 12:46
  a very sensitive fantasy impromptu. I enjoy that
• 12:50
  a lot. Oh, I see here there is more from Bruce
• 12:55
  Hungerford's Vanguard Chopin album. I talked
• 12:59
  about his B minor sonata a little earlier. We
• 13:03
  have masterful and very individual renditions
• 13:06
  of the F minor etude, Op. 25 No. 2, the first
• 13:12
  of the Nouvelle etudes, a beautiful nocturne
• 13:16
  in D flat, Op. 27 No. 2. There's also a Leon
• 13:20
  Fleischer performance of that I wish they had
• 13:23
  included, but this Hungerford performance is
• 13:27
  really quite lovely. Also, his recording of the
• 13:31
  C -sharp minor mazurka, opus 50, number three,
• 13:35
  is one of my very favorites of this piece. I
• 13:38
  even put it on the same level as Dinu Lepati,
• 13:41
  believe it or not. And last but... Not least,
• 13:45
  we've got a very worthwhile set of the four scherzos
• 13:50
  with Jean -Marie Daré. I think she recorded these
• 13:55
  for Vanguard in the mid to late 60s. I'm not
• 13:58
  really sure. You may know the correct recording
• 14:01
  dates. But anyway, she unleashes a truly demonic
• 14:07
  and exciting... scherzo number one in B minor.
• 14:11
  And also, like Vladimir Horowitz, she plays the
• 14:15
  upward B minor scale at the end, not in unison
• 14:19
  in both hands, as Chopin wrote, but in interlocking
• 14:24
  octaves. Horowitz was famous for that. Oh, by
• 14:27
  the way, you know, William Capel did that too
• 14:29
  in a live performance we have from his 1953 Australian
• 14:34
  tour. I wonder what other pianists... played
• 14:37
  interlocking octaves in the coda. Maybe you know,
• 14:41
  I can't really think off the top of my head who
• 14:44
  else may have done that. Jean -Marie Daré's second
• 14:50
  scherzo, I think, is a bit all over the place.
• 14:53
  It doesn't quite have the sense of line and repose
• 14:57
  in the trio that you might hear from like Arthur
• 15:00
  Rubinstein. And if the fourth scherzo's second
• 15:04
  theme doesn't really sing out, as much as i would
• 15:08
  like it to you cannot deny jean -marie daré's
• 15:12
  rhythmic poise and talk about rhythm her articulation
• 15:17
  of the octaves and the third scherzo is like
• 15:21
  looking at brilliant and impeccable etchings
• 15:24
  which are very different from those big brush
• 15:28
  strokes and the volatility that you get from
• 15:31
  martha argorich who pretty much owns this piece
• 15:34
  but But I would not underestimate Jean -Marie
• 15:38
  Daré. She's a seasoned and authoritative Chopin
• 15:42
  player. So if anything in this collection piques
• 15:48
  your curiosity, then I would definitely download
• 15:51
  Bach Guild's big Chopin box. It's totally worth
• 15:56
  99 cents. You know, if it costs you a little
• 16:00
  bit more, like $1 .29 or something like that,
• 16:03
  or even $1 .79, it's still an extraordinary download
• 16:08
  bargain. This is Jed Disler, and you've been
• 16:11
  listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
• 16:14
  guide to piano recordings. I look forward to
• 16:18
  being with you for the next episode, so take
• 16:22
  good care until next time.