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The Best of Idil Biret · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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Greetings and welcome. This is Jed Distler, and
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this is the Piano Maven, which is your friendly
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podcast guide to piano recordings. I had a suggestion
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from a listener that I devote a podcast episode
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to that humongous box set. released a few years
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ago that contained the complete recordings by
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the Turkish pianist Edil Beret. Well, it's not
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quite a complete edition of Edil Beret's recordings
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because many items have been released since that
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box set came out. But I can't think of another
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single pianist who has recorded so prolifically
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except... very possibly for Vladimir Ashkenazi.
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Actually, he may have been much more prolific
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because if you count his recordings as a conductor,
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that would certainly add a lot of discs to a
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set. But this Edelberet box set was a limited
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edition of 130 CDs and four DVDs. Now, I thought
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that on one hand, I could... just do a podcast
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episode where I wheeze through the box and I
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just do these very quick, quick, quick comments.
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Like, here's our complete Beethoven concertos.
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Nah. Okay, here's the complete Beethoven sonatas.
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Nah. Here's a complete Chopin piano music. Eh,
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so -so. Here's the complete Brahms piano music.
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Ah, this one is great. Here are the Rachmaninoff
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concertos. Really, really good. Here... or the
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Hindemith Concertos. You know, I could have done
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something like that, and maybe it would have
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been satisfied. But realistically, I thought
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it would be more useful for collectors and piano
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mavens if I could draw up a list of some of Edelbereth's
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best recordings, ones that give a well -rounded
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view of her discography, but also These are releases
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that I have greatly enjoyed in the past and that
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I continue to enjoy. So let's begin with the
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music of Beethoven. I've spoken before on this
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podcast about Idil Beret's release on the Finadar
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label that contained Beethoven's Pathetique and
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Hammerklavier sonatas. And these are really strong
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and vividly detailed and interestingly characterized
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readings that I think, have a lot more vibrancy
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and shape than in the remakes that she did for
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her complete Beethoven cycle for her own label.
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So that is a release to consider, the original
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Finidar release of the Beethoven Pathétique and
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Hammerklavier. And you can find that on Edelbereth's
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own label distributed by Noxus. Although Edelbereth's
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complete Chopin cycle is one that I find kind
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of uneven. I gave it a fairly good review years
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and years ago, and I just find that not all of
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the performances have been holding up equally
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as well for me. But she does give a very scintillating
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and quite stylish performance of the rarely heard
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Krakowiak for piano and orchestra. I think this
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is one of that work's very best recordings. I
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should talk about the Berlioz Symphony Fantastique
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in the Franz Liszt solo piano transcription.
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This was a big showpiece for Idole Barrett, and
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she made this transcription's world premiere
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recording. I think it was in 1979, certainly
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the late 70s. And again, it was for the Finidore
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label. It's a colorful and virtuosic performance
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that totally takes the music's quirkiness into
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account. And I find that this premiere recording
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that Edelbereth did for Finadar is even more
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incisive and energetic than in the remake that
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she did for Noxus, which is still very good in
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and of itself. But it's this first version that's
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definitely the one to get. It's a wonderful recording.
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However, one of Edelbert's best recordings of
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anything contains the three piano sonatas of
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Pierre Boulez. And this was on Noxus. I think
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it came out in the mid -90s. And her command
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of the notes and her feeling for long lines and
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her feeling for narrative sweep count for a lot.
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She really understands what to convey in this
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music. And whether or not you respond to the
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strict, total serial 12 -tone language of the
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young Boulez, Edelberet makes a very convincing
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case on this composer's behalf. Edelberet's cycle
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devoted to the complete piano works of Brahms
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is probably her most consistently satisfying
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cycle devoted to one composer. If I had to pick
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just one recording from it to represent on this
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list, it would be the Piano Sonata No. 3 in F
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minor, Op. 5. In many ways, her interpretation
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is modeled after the one by her teacher and mentor,
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Wilhelm Kempf. I am talking about the kind of
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clipped and angular passage work. and also her
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strong attention to bass lines and her very discreet
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pedaling. It's a very line -oriented reading,
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but there's a lot of energy and power. Also,
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like Kempf, she really feels the second movement
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on Dante Espressivo as two beats to the bar rather
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than a heavier four beats to the bar. and sometimes
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unyielding approach, maybe not as tender or as
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expressive when you compare it to the slower
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performances by people like Claudio Arrau. Also,
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I should say that Ido Barrett's very first recording
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of the Paganini variations of Brahms from the
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early 60s is great fun to hear. It's purely unabashed.
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untrammeled virtuosity. The dynamic range is
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kind of limited. I think it's all kind of mezzo
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forte to forte, but it's kind of a machine -like
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recording. But I enjoy listening to it just because
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the virtuosity is way over the top. I mean, not
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over the top like Manard. It's just the precision
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and kind of typewriter -like precision. It's
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kind of fun to hear. I mean, it's not my top
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recording of the Puccini Variations, but I do
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get a kick out of it. And while we are on the
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topic of Brahms, I think that Edelbert's recording
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of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 is one of
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the best in the catalog, actually. It's totally
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under the radar. Nobody ever talks about it.
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I reviewed it when it came out. on an individual
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disc coupled with Schumann's Introduction and
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Concerto Allegro. And I just pulled out my original
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review from classicstoday .com. And let me read
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it to you because I think this really describes
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what the performance is like. I wrote that if
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you were looking for a budget -priced Brahms
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D minor concerto, I mean, I don't know if it's
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budget -priced anymore these days. But if you're
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looking for a Brahms D minor concerto, consider
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this one. It's played with distinction, forethought,
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care, and real individuality. The tumultuous
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first movement is sculpted with broad rhetorical
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brushstrokes, yet never sags under its weight.
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Credit conductor Antoni Witt. who takes great
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care to shape and clarify the composer's difficult
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-to -balance orchestration. Idle Beret channels
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her considerable technique toward musical ends
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and admirably integrates the first movement's
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taxing chains of trills, descending octave thunderbolts,
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and upward scale passages into the orchestral
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fabric. So this is a really, really good recording.
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Also, the Schumann introduction in concert Allegro
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has a wonderful performance here. The piano writing
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just soars like crazy. It's a marvelous performance.
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Among Edelbereth's recordings of Robert Schumann's
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piano music, I like her very sensitive and poetic
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readings of the Bunterblatter Op. 99. It's very
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poetic and flexible playing, and the recording
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quality is a little bit on the dry side, but
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I think that kind of adds to the intimate aura
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of these performances. I really like them a lot.
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Ida Barrett's cycle of the four Rachmaninoff
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concertos, which also were made with the conductor
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Antoni Witt, are well worth checking out, especially
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in the first and fourth concertos. And they just
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play the first concerto to the hilt, and they
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bask in the virtuosity and emotional generosity
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of the music. And the fourth concerto is really
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great, especially with the orchestra. At the
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very beginning, you know, those repeated brass
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and woodwind chords are so clear, but they're
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so beautifully balanced. And also listen to how
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Ido Barrett just... gambers through that final
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movement in the fourth concerto. She's every
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bit as playful as Earl Wilde, and it's a really
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terrific performance. If I had to choose one
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release to represent Idil Beret in the Music
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of Franz Liszt, it probably would be the second
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volume in a cycle that was devoted to some of
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this composer's works. This volume two contains
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the first versions of the 12 etudes that would
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eventually become the 12 transcendental etudes.
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These are really superb performances of these
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youthful efforts. And also, there are wonderful
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performances here of the three concert etudes,
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Il Lamento, La Legerezza, and Un Sospiro. And
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also, the two concert etudes, Waldisrauschen
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and Nobenregen. God, these are... beautifully,
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beautifully played, especially the Waldesrauschen.
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There's also a disc of Wilhelm Kempf's original
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transcriptions and compositions. This was on
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the Marco Polo label originally. And you know
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that Ida Barrett is going to put her best efforts
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on behalf of her teacher. Kempf's music is kind
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of lightweight and old -fashioned, but it's very
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sincere. in beautifully crafted music, and Ido
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Barrett plays his music and his transcriptions
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with obvious love and devotion. In the late 1970s,
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a handful of audiophile -aware labels experimented
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with direct -to -disc technology, which meant
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that they bypassed the analog tape machine and
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they fed the recorded signal directly to metal
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parts on a disc -cutting lathe, just like in
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the 78 RPM era. No splicing or inserts were possible,
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which meant that an entire LP side had to be
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cut in one continuous take, including pauses
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between pieces or movements in real time, and
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this could be very nerve -wracking for sure.
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But the first direct -to -disc release by a classical
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solo pianist was actually by Idyll Barrett. She
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recorded this for Finadar in 1976, and she must
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have had nerves of steel to get through the session,
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and she must have relished the challenge because
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she is on tip -top form on this recital. It includes...
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two Chopin mazurkas, the A minor Op. 17 No. 4
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and the B major Op. 56 No. 1. And these are much
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freer and imaginative performances than the straighter
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ones, relatively speaking, that she did in her
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Noxus Chopin cycle. She also plays the Scriabin
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10th Sonata. It's not an explosive kind of performance
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like Horowitz. It's not like that pressure cooker
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kind of Scriabin. But the performance has a lot
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of off -tints and very subtle dynamic hairpins
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that really beckon your attention. She also plays
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the Prokofiev second sonata, and this has great
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virtuosic aplomb, especially in the outer movements.
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Also on the CD edition of this recital. There's
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a performance of the seventh sonata, which was
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not on the original direct -to -disc LP. But
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it's a great, great performance. And, you know,
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there are little rushings here and there. I mean,
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come on, you know, there was no editing. But
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still, it's a very well put -together interpretation.
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Also, I want to mention a really nice concerto
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disc that originally appeared on the Alpha label.
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that coupled Frank's symphonic variations with,
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of all things, the piano concerto by Jules Massonet.
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And this coupling later appeared in The Big Box.
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And the Massonet concerto is a work from that
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composer's youth, and it is certainly not the
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most tightly constructed piano concerto around.
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But it has great tunes, and there's real sparkle
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to the piano playing. The second part of the
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Franck symphonic variations features some really
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spirited and scintillating finger work from Idole
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Barrette. There was also an interesting disc
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that came out a few years ago that contained
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three different recorded versions of Ravel's
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Gaspard de La Nuit, played by Idole Barrette.
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There was one from 1965 that was recorded for
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the Vega label, but it was not approved at the
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time that she recorded it. But then she discovered
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an acetate LP master in her archive, and then
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she allowed it to be released alongside recordings
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that she made in 1974 and 1984. And I did a detailed
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review of this disc for classicstoday .com, and
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you can look that up. But it's a fascinating
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issue. I mean, just to have three different recorded
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versions of Gaspard de La Nuit on one disc, you
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don't get that every day. And I really enjoyed
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reviewing it, and I'm happy to have that in my
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collection. And now for my final selection from
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Edelberet's big Noxus catalog. It's a four -disc
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collection of works by 10 Turkish composers.
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Some of these works are for solo piano. Others
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are for piano and orchestra. Some are studio
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efforts, and others come from archival tapes.
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I'm not going to go into great detail to talk
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about these four discs or the composers or the
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works, but I thought that... Given Idyll Barrett's
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Turkish roots and her lifelong advocacy for the
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music of her country, one really should investigate
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this release because it's the only way to hear
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many of the pieces included on these four discs.
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And you can certainly check it out through YouTube
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or on all major streaming platforms. In fact,
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you can easily access all of the Idyll Barrett.
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Knox's distributed recordings online. I also
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want to mention a live all Chopin concert that
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Edelbert played in Ankara, Turkey on October
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1st, 1999. Someone uploaded this recital to archive
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.org, and I've included a link to it in my episode
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description. This is a really interesting recital.
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It begins with a terrific reading of Chopin's
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Rondo alla Maser, Op. 5. Then there's the Chopin
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Sonata No. 3 in B minor, and it's a spirited
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performance that I like, although there are some
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signs of struggle and some overpedaling in the
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finale. There are some impetuous renditions of
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the second and third impromptus. There are flexible
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and poetic... readings of the C sharp minor opus
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50 number three and A flat major opus 59 number
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two mazurkas. And I think these are a little
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more imaginative than the ones in the studio
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Noxus recordings. And finally, there's a performance
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of the tarantella and A flat opus 43 that almost
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races off the rails. It's a little too fast,
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but it's a lot of fun to listen to. But still,
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I have to say that this live all Chopin concert
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catches fire in ways that Edelbert's solo studio
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recordings of Chopin did not, or did not consistently
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catch fire, let's put it that way. So I've recommended
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what I think are some of the best of Edelbert's
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vast number of recordings, and it's a good place
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to start. on my list when faced with such a massive
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discography. You have to say that she was one
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of the most industrious and musically eclectic
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pianists of her generation, and she is an artist
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greatly respected by her fellow pianist colleagues.
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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. Thank you for listening,
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and I look forward to being with you for our
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next episode.