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Paolo Bordoni's Complete Schubert Waltzes · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to the Piano
• 0:11
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:15
  Many years ago, I owned a set of three LPs, vinyl
• 0:20
  LPs, on the EMI Labels budget line, Seraphim
• 0:26
  Records. And this three LP set consisted of Franz
• 0:31
  Schubert's Complete Waltzes, played by the Italian
• 0:36
  pianist Paolo Bordoni, who was born in Bergamo
• 0:40
  in 1942. And he passed away in 2022 at the age
• 0:46
  of 80. And by all accounts, he was a very inspiring
• 0:50
  teacher and supportive colleague to those who
• 0:53
  knew him. I never knew him, but I knew these
• 0:57
  delightful Schubert waltz recordings, and I never
• 1:01
  thought that they would ever turn up on compact
• 1:04
  disc. But... In fact, the whole cycle came out
• 1:07
  in a budget -priced two -disc set for the price
• 1:13
  of one reissue on EMI. And these discs also were
• 1:19
  available as part of a Schubert Collector's Edition
• 1:23
  box set on EMI that contained 50 compact discs.
• 1:29
  Anyway, this is a release that is well worth
• 1:32
  trying to source. Now, you may not want to listen
• 1:36
  to all 138 Schubert waltzes in one single sitting,
• 1:42
  as some critics are bound to do, for the simple
• 1:46
  reason that two and a half hours of short pieces
• 1:49
  in triple meter and in mostly binary form can
• 1:54
  probably drive anyone nuts. However, if you take
• 1:58
  these pieces in relatively small doses, you will
• 2:02
  absolutely delight in the melodic turns of phrase
• 2:06
  and the striking harmonies that always remind
• 2:10
  you of why Schubert is so hard to resist. And
• 2:16
  I find it hard to resist Paolo Bordoni's crisp
• 2:20
  articulation and his true stylish flair and obvious
• 2:27
  affection for... these unpretentious gems. And
• 2:31
  he just plays them very simply and beautifully,
• 2:34
  although he does inflect the repeats with very
• 2:37
  subtle changes in rubato and dynamics. And he
• 2:42
  does so without sounding predictable about it.
• 2:45
  And he also lavishes a lot of care over ornaments,
• 2:49
  but he does so without being fussy at all. I
• 2:53
  really, really love these performances. So if
• 2:56
  you can find the CDs anywhere, or if you can
• 3:00
  find this release on download and streaming platforms,
• 3:04
  I highly, highly recommend it. By the way...
• 3:09
  Paolo Bordoni also recorded a really lovely LP
• 3:13
  of Schubert's sonatas for the EMI label, which
• 3:18
  includes the two completed movements of Schubert's
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  C major sonata with the Deutsch number 840, the
• 3:25
  so -called Reliquie or Reliquie. I don't know
• 3:30
  how you pronounce that. It has that nickname.
• 3:32
  And this disc has never been reissued in any
• 3:36
  format so far as I know. Although there is a
• 3:39
  transfer of the Deutsch 840 Sonata on YouTube
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  from a slightly scratchy LP copy. I've posted
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  a link to it so you can hear it. I hope it will
• 3:53
  be reissued, and I hope that these Schubert waltzes
• 3:56
  will... come back into very accessible circulation.
• 4:01
  I'm very happy to have this cycle in my collection.
• 4:05
  And as I said, I love Paolo Bordoni's relaxed
• 4:10
  and unpressured, yet always deeply musical and
• 4:14
  sensitive stylizations of the Schubert waltzes.
• 4:19
  This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
• 4:21
  to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
• 4:24
  to piano recordings. And I look forward to being
• 4:28
  with you for our next episode.