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Earl Wild at 88, on the 88s · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jet Distler and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings.
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  A listener wrote to me asking if I could comment about the pianist Earl Wilde and pick one
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  of his recordings to recommend.
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  And the problem is there's so many fantastic recordings with Earl Wilde that you're just
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  spoiled for choice.
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  He was such a great pianist.
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  He lived from 1915 until 2010.
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  And I was privileged to have met him on several occasions once we got together for an extensive
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  interview.
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  And we really seemed to hit it off and he was incredibly forthcoming with information.
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  He never held back his opinions.
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  And I think he enjoyed saying outlandish things about sacred cows.
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  And I do have to admit that I egged him on and I encouraged him to say all kinds of scandalous
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  things.
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  But he was a musician who took his work seriously.
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  He remained open and curious about everything in the music world.
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  He packed a lot of musical experience and life lessons into his 94 years on this planet.
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  And I think he did some of his best playing in his 80s.
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  He even said so himself.
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  He was playing at full capacity with more mastery and more depth and more, well, more
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  everything, well into his 90th year.
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  And the solo disc that I want to talk about came out in 2003 to mark his 88th birthday.
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  And I remember when I reviewed this originally, it just blew me away.
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  I thought, wow, how wonderful and alive his playing is and how fresh his interpretations
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  are.
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  So we're talking about a release on the ivory classics label, Earl Wilde's Recital at 88.
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  He actually was 87 at the time of the recording sessions.
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  But you know, 88 years old, 88 keys on the piano, I guess that makes for better publicity.
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  But let me run down the contents for you.
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  This is just a wonderful disc.
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  The opening selection is Earl Wilde's Transcription of an Adagio by Alessandro Marcello.
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  And it just sings and sings and sings in both hands.
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  And then you have Mozart's F major sonata, Kershaw 332.
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  You will rarely hear such a clear and perfectly proportioned performance.
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  And again, it just sings and it scintillates big time, especially in the finale.
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  He doesn't take the first movement exposition repeat, but honestly, who cares?
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  And there's also a wonderful performance of Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor.
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  There's not one note or one phrase that falls under the table.
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  But Wilde's technique and his amazing accuracy never happen at the expense of power or dynamic
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  build.
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  It's an absolutely first class performance.
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  The centerpiece of this disc is Mili Balakirev's Piano Sonata in B minor.
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  It's a really sprawling and very meaty work.
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  And Earl Wilde plays it quite well.
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  It's one of the better performances on disc.
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  There is some competition, but I think it's a really, really competitive performance.
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  I especially like the little rhythmic lifts and the accents in the mazurka movement.
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  They're really, really stylish and appropriate.
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  But what was kind of a revelation to me was the four impromptus of Chopin, or I should
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  say were the four impromptus of Chopin.
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  I should be grammatically correct here.
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  They are on the brisk and unsentimental side, but they are so full of color.
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  And Earl Wilde's multi-leveled legato touch is a result mainly of sophisticated finger
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  work with very, very discreet use of the sustained pedal.
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  And last of all, Earl Wilde's own delightful, entertaining, over the top, and totally inimitable
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  treatment of the Mexican hat dance.
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  Who else would transcribe that for an encore but Earl Wilde?
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  So if you don't believe in miracles, all you have to do is get hold of this release and
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  you will change your mind.
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  This is Jed Disler and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
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  guide to piano recordings.
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  Thank you for tuning in and happy listening.