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Another Box Set Wish List · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Distler and welcome to the Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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At least I hope it's friendly. I try to be friendly.
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You can subscribe to the Piano Maven podcast
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through my sub stack page by clicking on the
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link in the episode description. I hope you will
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consider a paid subscription because you'll get
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bonuses like free downloads at the beginning
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of every month. If you subscribe, you will definitely
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help keep this podcast in production throughout
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the rest of this year. At the end of our first
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season of podcasts, I did an episode about piano
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box sets that I would like to see released. I
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got a lot of positive and interesting listener
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response to my propositions, but I've been thinking
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more about this topic. So I've come up with another
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list of 10 piano reissues or box sets that I
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would really like to see. And I think maybe you'd
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like to see them also. So here we go. The first
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on my list is a complete edition of Edwin Fisher's
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commercial recordings. Now, we have had many
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reissues of this wonderful pianist, but we haven't
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quite had all of his commercial recordings on
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CD, at least in the West. There have been some
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loose ends here and there. For instance, some
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of the Beethoven sonatas that he recorded in
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the 1950s have never made it onto CD, so far
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as I know. But I think that a truly complete
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edition of Edwin Fischer's commercial 78s and
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LPs as both pianist and conductor really should
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be all boxed up. I think this is something that
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either Warner Music or APR could do and I think
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this collection could include any live Edwin
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Fischer items that EMI had previously released
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or if there are any live performances that they
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could get away with issuing where there are no
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problems with copyright or licensing. Number
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two on my list, I would love to see a complete
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edition of the recordings by pianist Beveridge
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Webster for the Dover label and the Desto label.
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Beveridge Webster. was a great American pianist
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who had studied with Isidore Philippe and Nadia
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Boulanger in Paris, and he also studied with
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Arthur Schnabel in Berlin. He had met Ravel in
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Paris, in fact, and he was the pianist who played
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the world premiere of the Zagane for piano and
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violin. I don't know who the violinist was for
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that performance. But in addition to French repertoire,
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Beverage Webster was a fervent champion of new
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American music. He made the world premiere recording
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of Elliott Carter's piano sonata, for example.
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And for the Desto label, he recorded the complete
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solo piano works of Debussy. And for the budget
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Dover label in the 1960s, this was a record label
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that was affiliated with Dover Books. Remember,
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Dover would do all of these inexpensive reprints
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of music and literature. Well, they had a label
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also and there were quite a few LPs. There was
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a certain time when you could find sealed copies
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of Dover LPs for 99 cents in some store in New
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York. I have a vivid memory of seeing those LPs,
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but I don't remember which store. But in any
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event, for Dover, Beverage Webster recorded quite
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a bit. He recorded the Schumann novelettin, all
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of Stravinsky's piano music. There was a disc
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of the second Viennese school composers, a wonderful
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Beethoven hammer clavier sonata he did for Dover.
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He recorded Ravel's Gaspard Alainouille and Le
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tombeau de Couperin. He recorded Rachmaninoff's
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Etudes tableaux. There was a Brahms release.
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It's a very distinctive discography. I have no
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clue where these master tapes might be if they
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still exist. But I would really do anything to
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see a complete Beverage Webster edition. And
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maybe this could also include that Schubert.
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this key made for the American MGM label in the
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1960s. I almost forgot he did record the Roger
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Sessions Second Sonata, which is a fabulous recording.
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There also is a website called classicmusiccds
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.com. I've put a link to that in my episode description.
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These are historic CDRs that are sold by a record
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collector. He has a four disc set drawn from
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the Beverage Webster Dover catalog, and it also
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includes the Schubert MGM disc. But I haven't
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heard the CDR, so I cannot vouch for the transfer
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quality. I would assume that they are copied
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from LPs, and they are not cheap, but I did put
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a link to it so you can explore and decide for
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yourself. Number three on my list. Imogen Cooper
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had recorded six CDs for the Ottavo label in
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the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was a series
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called Schubert, The Last Six Years, which included
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all of the piano music that he wrote in the last
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six years of his life from 1823 through 1828.
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It's a marvelous collection. And it's not to
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be confused with the three double albums of live
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performances of Schubert's piano music for the
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Avi label. Those came out much, much later. But
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it's this Otavo series I'm talking about. And
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you can find it online as a download and in streaming.
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But the physical discs are not so easy to source.
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Now, I don't know if they were boxed up before,
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but I really think that they should come out
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as a box set. I would really love to see these,
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and they really deserve much more attention.
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My fourth choice on this list, this is a total
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no -brainer. It's a complete edition of the RCA
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Victor and Columbia Masterworks recordings by
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the pianist Alicia de la Rocha. Portions of this
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great pianist's RCA Victor discography have been
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boxed up, like her Mozart cycle, the three Granados
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discs that she made for the label. But we really
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need to have all of Alicia de la Rocha's RCA
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material brought together and boxed up. I mean,
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how difficult could that be? And the set also
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should include her one solo Ravel disc that Columbia
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Masterworks brought out. I'm not sure if it ever
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came out in the West. I do have a Japanese CD
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copy of this. Also, there was a mono version
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of the Albanese Iberia Suite that came out, I
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think, in 1958 on two LPs on Columbia Masterworks.
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The one that was issued on Epic in stereo on
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LP was actually the Hispavox. recording, which
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was published in the EMI Alicia de la Rocha box.
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So let's have Sony BMG bring out the complete
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Alicia de la Rocha RCA and Columbia album collection.
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How difficult could that be? And I know that
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it would sell like crazy. And I have another
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request of Sony BMG, which is number five on
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my list. This would be a box set of the complete
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Gold and Fisdale Columbia Recordings. I'm talking
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about Arthur Gold and Robert Fisdale. They were
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a terrific two piano team. They were also authors
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and they were television show cooking hosts.
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Now, some of their Columbia Recordings have appeared
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as part of other box sets, but we could really
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use a complete and systematic survey of everything
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they did for Columbia Masterworks. There are
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some items that they've recorded that were never
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on CD, so far as I know. There was a wonderful
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coupling of the Zé Judonfon and the Brahms Haydn
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variations. They made a really fine recording
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of Schubert's grand duo that's long been missing
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in action. Of course, all of the contemporary
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music they recorded in the 1950s deserves attention.
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Anyway, it's just a thought, but I think a complete
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gold and Fisdale album collection would be great.
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I would love to see that happen. Now, this next
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item on my list, number six on my list, I had
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not realized that these recordings were available
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in download and streaming format, but I would
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love to see some kind of a physical incarnation
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of them. And these are the complete recordings
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of Messian piano music by the Brazilian pianist
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Josie D 'Oliveira that she made for the Vox label.
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She recorded the cycle Vingt Regards sur l 'Enfant
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Jésus, and she also recorded the complete cycle
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of the catalogue d 'oiseaux. These were beautifully
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engineered, but I remember when they came out
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on LPs, the surfaces were just horrible. I'd
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love to see these remastered on physical CDs,
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but I suppose you can get the download. So maybe
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this isn't a very strong choice for number six,
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but these are recordings that I think are quite
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special and I would like to see it. So I'm keeping
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it on the list. But my seventh item on this list
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is something that may be kind of arcane and it
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doesn't totally fit into the piano reissue theme
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because many of the items that I'll be talking
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about are not piano items or centered around
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piano, but there is quite a lot of piano here.
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But anyway, what I would love to see is a box
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set devoted to the complete classical releases
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issued on the dial label. If you are a jazz maven,
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you probably know that Ross Russell started a
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record label called Dial in 1946. And he was
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mainly concentrating on modern jazz and the great
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bebop players like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
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and a lot of other musicians of that era. But
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in 1948, he stopped recording jazz and he turned
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his attention to contemporary classical music
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with a big concentration on the Second Viennese
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School. And this was in the very, very early
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days of LP. and some of these recordings were
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made in the US, but others were taken from French
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masters. Now, I don't have a complete dial classical
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discography on hand, but I can tell you that
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some of the piano items were the Bartok Sonata
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for two pianos and percussion with William Masello's
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and Mauro Ajamian playing and the percussionist
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Saul Goodman and Abraham Marcus. And there was
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also a reissue of the recording from 78s of Olivier
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Messiaen and Yvonne L 'Oreal, his wife playing
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Messiaen's Vasion de la Men for two pianos. I
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don't remember what label that was on. It came
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out in France in the late 40s and there was this
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LP issue, and I used to have the LP a long time
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ago. There also was the Schoenberg concerto with
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Claude Heffler as soloist. Also, there was a
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recording of the Alan Hovhannes piano concerto
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with Mauro Adjemian. And I think you can still
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find that on archive .org, but in a very scratchy
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copy, which is not very easy to listen to. Now,
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I have no idea where the original master discs
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or tapes for all of these dial recordings live
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or if they exist. But I do think it would be
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kind of cool to have a box set of the complete
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classical dial releases because there were not
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all that many of them, but I think it would be
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a very interesting thing to have. Number eight
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on my list. Now this is probably wishful thinking.
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But I would love to see all of the recordings
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that the American pianist Grant Johansson made
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for the Golden Crest label all brought together
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in one box set. I don't know if that could be
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done, but perhaps it could be because VAI brought
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out his complete foray piano music cycle on CD
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many years ago. So the master tapes must be lurking
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about somewhere. And he recorded quite a lot
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of interesting repertoire, a lot of French music
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that's not impressionist, which was kind of a
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specialty of his. There's a wonderful Goldberg
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variations of Bach, by the way, with Grant Johannessen.
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Surprisingly good. But let's see, maybe that
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could happen. Who knows who would bring that
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out? Number nine on my list. Now this is definitely
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wishful thinking. Many collectors know that there
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are several recordings on Deutsche Grammophon
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by pianist Christian Zimmerman that have never
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been on CD. One is the 14 Chopin waltzes, and
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then there was another disc with four Mozart
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sonatas. Now, there were some recordings of Brahms
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piano music that Christian Zimmerman recorded
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in the early 1980s. that came out first on LP
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as part of Deutsche Grammophon's 1983 complete
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Brahms edition. And these recordings included
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the three piano sonatas, the scherzo number four,
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the ballads, opus 10, and the Bach, Chaconne,
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and Brahms arrangement for piano left hand. Now
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the ballads and the scherzo and the sonatas did
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appear on CD, but Only very briefly, my understanding
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was that Zimmerman wasn't happy about this release
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on CD and that he requested that the CDs either
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be withdrawn from the catalog or they would not
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be pressed in any further editions. So I think
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it would be great to see all of these so -called
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forbidden Christian Zimmermann, Deutsche Grammophon
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recordings brought out in a small box set. But
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this is wishful thinking and I highly doubt he
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would sanction a project like this, but you never
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know, right? Now, for my 10th item on this list,
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this is a project that is so important and it's
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really a crime that it's not available anymore.
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In the mid -1990s, The pianist and scholar and
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musicologist Artus Wodehaus produced this extraordinary
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collection of seven CDs for the Pearl label.
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It was a series called Keyboard Wizards of the
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Gershwin era, devoted to pianists and composers
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slash pianists who were active in the 1920s,
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30s, and 40s, and all who were masters of what
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you might call novelty piano. meaning not quite
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jazz, but far more sophisticated than cocktail
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piano playing. And with a virtuosity that is
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really comparable to a lot of what you find in
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the most demanding classical repertoire. And
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most of these pianists were classically trained
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and they specialized in virtuoso popular music.
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And most of what they played was not improvised,
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but either written out 100 % or meticulously
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worked out beforehand. And the melody is always
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to the fore. And this is a genre that is so well
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worth exploring. And as I said, Artis Wodhaus
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was the curator and producer of this series and
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all of the audio restoration was done by the
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great Seth B. Winner. So these old recordings
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sound as good as they are ever going to sound.
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I'm not going to go through the content in detail,
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but I'll go through what's on each volume. Volume
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one is dedicated to the pianist Pauline Alpert,
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who was a great virtuoso, who Gershwin himself
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particularly loved. Volume two features the composer
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and pianist Dana Swiss. Volume three featured
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the piano duo of Ardyn and Almann. And the great
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novelty composer and pianist Zez Confrey gets
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all of volume four. He's probably most famous
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for Kitten on the Keys, and he recorded that
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several times, and you have several Zez Confrey
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recordings of Kitten on the Keys on this disc.
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Volume five was a compilation with various pianists.
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Volume six featured three women, Constance Meringue,
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Muriel Pollock, and V. Launhurst. and the seventh
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and final volume featured another amazing virtuoso.
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Her name was Ray Da Costa, R -A -I -E. I'm not
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sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Now,
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I would imagine that artist Wodehouse has the
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rights to the master tapes. I don't know if that's
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a fact or not, but I would love to see this entire
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series. reissued. It really deserves a new lease
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on catalog life. So do you realistically think
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that we will see any of my box set wishes turn
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into reality soon? As the great jazz pianist
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Fats Waller used to say, one never knows, do
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one. This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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to piano recordings. Thanks for tuning in and
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I look forward to being with you next time.