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Eloquence Piano Library - Deutsche Grammophon Edition · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  You can subscribe to The Piano Maven podcast
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  from my Substack page, and there's a link to
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  do so in this episode's description. A paid subscription
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  will get you a monthly download. plus Zoom meetings
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  every few months. And I hope you will consider
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  taking out a paid subscription to keep this podcast
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  in production. The Australian eloquence label.
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  issued two fascinating piano library box sets
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  late last year, and I've been getting requests
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  to talk about them. On my last podcast episode,
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  we covered the 21 CD collection drawn from the
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  Westminster and American... Decca Labels. And
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  for this episode, we're going to be covering
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  the Piano Library box set that's drawn from the
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  Deutsche Grammophon catalog. It's a 22 -disc
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  collection, and there is a lot of wonderful material
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  here. There's quite a wide range of artists and
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  repertoire. in this collection. Quite a few of
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  the CDs are reissues of releases that came out
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  in the late 70s and early 80s on Deutsche Grammophon's
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  mid -price Concours series. This was a series
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  mostly featuring live performances by primarily
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  young competition winners, many of whom would
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  go on to successful careers. And the collection
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  also resuscitates some virtually unknown and
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  long -available rarities from the DG back catalog.
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  So I'm just going to go through this box set
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  disc by disc, and let's see what we get. Let's
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  see, CD number one. This is a disc with really
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  legendary performances by the 18 -year -old Vladimir
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  Ashkenazi, recorded live at the 1955 Warsaw Chopin
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  Competition. This originally came out on a Heliodor
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  LP, and I think some of these also came out on
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  EMI. I don't really know the whole chronology.
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  etymology of the labels these performances came
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  out on. But in any event, what we have here are
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  from the 1955 Chopin competition. We have the
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  second concerto, the ballade number two. We have
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  two etudes, two mazurkas, and the most scintillating
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  and cohesive performance of Chopin's Scherzo
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  No. 4 that I've ever heard since the Horowitz
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  1936 HMV recording. And filling out this disc
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  are six selections from Rachmaninoff's Etudes
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  Tableau, Op. 33, with the pianist Lev Oberon.
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  I don't really like his playing very much. I
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  think he was a better chamber player than soloist.
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  I find his playing in this Rachmaninoff set rather
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  workaday and ordinary. I don't think it's all
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  that special. Certainly not on the level as the
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  young Ashkenazi. But on CD number two, we have
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  Boris Block in the first two of the Rachmaninoff.
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  Opus 33, Etude Tableau. And my God, what a difference.
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  It's like feasting on caviar after having had
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  an appetizer of white bread and mayonnaise or
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  something. But this CD reissues the Concourse
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  disc featuring Boris Block. It's an absolutely
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  stunning release, and I never thought I would
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  see the day where it would appear on CD. I've
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  treasured this LP for decades. It's just fantastic.
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  And it begins with a really witty and highly
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  profiled reading of the Beethoven Sonata No.
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  6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2. This is just fantastic
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  piano playing. And then there's... the Rachmaninoff
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  group I talked about, there's the Busoni elegy,
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  and then the fantasy on two motives from Mozart's
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  Marriage of Figaro that I talked about with Egon
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  Patry, who recorded this on Westminster. And
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  as wonderful as the Patry recording is, and it
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  really, really is wonderful, this Boris Bloch
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  version is just... on a whole different level.
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  It's light. It's quicksilver. It's so full of
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  character and color. And I don't think I've heard
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  this piece played better, to be honest. This
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  is just a wonderful disc with a Boris block.
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  CD number three. offers live performances by
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  Michel Bloch from the 1960 Warsaw Chopin Competition.
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  And although Bloch didn't make it to the 1960
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  finals, his talent impressed Arthur Rubinstein,
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  one of the jury members, so much that Rubinstein
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  bestowed his own special prize onto the young
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  pianist. And you can really hear why Rubinstein
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  was impressed. I think it's instructive to compare
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  Michel Bloch's 1960 performance of the Chopin
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  Second Sonata, which is very exuberant and fresh,
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  and then hear it next to the weirdly studied
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  and super, super slow studio version that he
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  made decades later for the OM label, which is
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  one of the most bizarre recordings you've ever
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  heard. It's like night and day. CD number four
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  features the Italian pianist Dino Ciani, and
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  this was an LP coupling of Debussy's Preludes
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  Book One and the Children's Corner Suite, and
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  they... came out in the form of an LP test pressing
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  that was never released. The Children's Corner
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  eventually came out on CD in Deutsche Grammophon's
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  complete 2018 Debussy edition, but the preludes
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  appear here for the first time. And I marginally
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  prefer these performances to Ciani's Deutsche
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  Grammophon remakes that did come out officially
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  on LP and CD. CD No. 5 contains Dino Ciani's
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  studio recordings of Carl Maria von Weber's second
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  and third piano sonatas, and these were reference
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  versions at their time, and they're still really
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  quite wonderful. CD No. 6 features the pianist
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  Michael Feiermann. And this is his fabulous Concours
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  debut recital. It includes a really wonderful
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  Prokofiev VI sonata. This is as commanding and
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  idiomatic as one can get. And it also has one
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  of the top versions of the Brahms Paganini variations
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  that I know on disc. I would put this among my
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  top five favorite editions. And filling out this
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  disc is a live 1975 Queen Elizabeth competition
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  performance of the Schumann Carnival with the
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  21 -year -old Yuri Egorov. We just talked about
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  Yuri Egorov on this podcast. And I think this
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  interpretation is a little more communicative
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  and spontaneous than the later studio recording
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  that he made for EMI. CD8 features the Concours
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  recital from 1978 by Steven de Groot, and it
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  contains Beethoven's Eroica variations and Schumann's
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  symphonic etudes. I've always felt these performances
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  were kind of hard -toned and expressively generic,
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  and I think other recordings really do. better
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  justice to this tragically short -lived pianist,
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  such as his Rager concerto with Michael Galen.
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  And there was also a two CD set on Finlandia.
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  There was a memorial release to Steven de Groot,
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  I think. Those do him better justice. This disc
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  is okay, but it's nothing special. CD number
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  eight features Claude Helfer playing the Boulez
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  Sonata number two. This is a really fluent and
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  very accurate performance. This recording totally
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  fell between the cracks because it would be superseded
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  by Maurizio Pollini's more famous recording from
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  a few years later. in the late 1970s, which I
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  think has more ferocity and a wider dynamic range.
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  But there's also a very fine Berg sonata with
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  Claude Helfer on this disc. It's really good.
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  It's not like the greatest Berg sonata ever,
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  but it's a very strong performance. And also
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  on this disc, he plays Mio's Le Carnaval d 'Aix,
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  D apostrophe A -I -X. How do I say that? Aix,
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  you know, my French leaves everything in the
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  world to be desired. But this is a real romp
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  through this piece, and Louis Frémaux is the
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  conductor. CD 9 features a 1963 Schumann recital
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  from Veronica Joichem, and she was the daughter
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  of the conductor Eugene Joichem. When this disc
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  was released, She was known then as Veronica
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  Joachim von Moltke. And on this Schumann recital,
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  she's playing the second sonata, the eighth novelette,
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  the Fantasiastück Op. 111, and the Nachstück
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  Op. 23. These are decent and serious and rather
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  centrist interpretations. I don't think they're
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  that special, especially when you compare them
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  to her wonderful Clara Schumann recordings from
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  decades later. or the amazing Bach Busoni Chaconne
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  that she also recorded, which I think is one
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  of the best versions of that piece. The 10th
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  CD features the late Brazilian pianist Diana
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  Cosco. She retired from the public eye to raise
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  a family, but it's really good that this disc
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  came out because she really had talent, and it's
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  good that her... talent is preserved in these
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  marvelous live performances from 1978 of the
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  Lissanata, the Chopin Polonaise Fantasy, and
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  Chopin's Opus 10 No. 10. And I'm really happy
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  that this was preserved on CD. CDs 11 and 12.
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  are studio recordings by the Hungarian -German
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  pianist Julian von Karolyi. His 1952 Chopin ballads
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  may not be the deepest ones in the shed, but
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  I love his capricious expressive gestures and
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  little dabs of color here and there. I think
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  even better is a 1964 recital of Chopin. And
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  it has a wonderful andante spinato and grand
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  polonaise with just fantastic double notes and
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  the most seamless trills ever. And he manages
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  to pull off a real breakneck tempo in the Chopin
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  B minor sonata scherzo's outer sections. And
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  he gives one of the best performances I've heard
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  of, the bolero. This has great flair and dazzling
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  passage work. And he also plays the A minor mazurka,
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  Op. 17 No. 4 of Chopin. This is just a gorgeously
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  phrased performance that yields nothing to people
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  like Horowitz and Paderewski. And that's the
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  ultimate compliment. CD No. 13 features the American
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  -born and French -based pianist David Lively.
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  And he brings clarity and intelligence and sophisticated
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  musicianship to really everything he touches.
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  This is a 1979 Concours recital that I think
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  is absolutely first -rate. He gives a really
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  transparent and wonderfully articulated performance
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  of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, and he hits
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  on just the right tempos for each movement. And
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  there's a wonderful Stravinsky tango and a Stravinsky
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  piano rag music. And also he plays the three
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  movements from Petrushka. This is a fabulous,
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  fabulous performance. And had this gotten the
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  same attention that Polini's did, it probably
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  would have given Polini a little bit of a run
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  for its money. I mean, this is really a Petrushka
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  on the highest level. CD number 14 features the
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  19 -year -old Alexandra Longquitch. And this
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  is from 1979. It's a Concours release, you know,
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  in that live series. And you get Schoenberg's
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  three pieces, opus 11, and the Schubert sonata
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  in A minor, Deutsch number 845. And it's really
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  interesting to hear that at 19... Longquist was
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  such a forthright and impetuous player, which
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  is such a contrast to the sometimes rather micromanaged
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  Schubert that you got from his EMI and Alpha
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  recordings decades later. Okay, now we get to
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  CDs 15 and 16. Some listeners will warm to the
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  rough -hewn honesty of Elie Nies. 1950s solo
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  Deutsche Grammophon recordings of the Beethoven
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  Moonlight Pathétique, Appassionata, and Opus
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  110 sonatas. But I have to say, I generally find
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  her post -war recordings rather prosaic and boring.
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  These performances last appeared in the Deutsche
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  Grammophon mono -era big -box set. where the
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  producers edited out the appassionata's third
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  movement repeat that the pianist originally observed
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  in order to squeeze all four of these sonatas
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  onto a single disc. But here, the sonatas are
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  spread across two CDs, and the repeat was restored.
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  So you get these sonatas as originally released.
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  if you really, really want these performances.
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  I mean, I can live without them, to be honest.
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  CD 17 features the pianist Eva Pobloska's 1980
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  Concours recital. This is a wonderful disc. It
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  features Bach's variations in the Italian manner,
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  and I think this proves that this pianist's special
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  affinity for Bach... harkens back to the start
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  of what would be a long and distinctive career.
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  She also plays Chopin's Scherzo No. 1. It's a
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  beautifully turned out performance. And also
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  both books of Debussy's Images are here. These
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  are very beautiful and focused performances.
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  And clearly she had it all from the beginning.
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  CD 18 contains a 1979 Concours release with the
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  pianist Georges -Louis Pratt. It contains the
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  Beethoven Sonata No. 28, the Schumann Toccata,
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  and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. I think this
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  is still his very best recording, although he
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  did make a recording of Spanish music for Decca
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  in 2011, which is also really, really good. And
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  he's a real keyboard dynamo, but he doesn't have
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  to push really hard to make expressive points.
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  This is a really, really good disc. Now on CDs
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  19 and 20, we have two studio recordings by a
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  pianist whom I had never heard of before. Her
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  name is Zola May Shaulis. She lived from 1942
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  until 2021. Her career started off pretty strong.
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  In 1971, she won the coveted Nauberg Award, and
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  then she became a protege of Arthur Rubinstein
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  before making her 1974 Carnegie Hall debut. And
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  like Diana Cosco, she retreated from concertizing
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  in order to raise a family, although she did
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  continue to play. Her 1971 debut disc, includes
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  an unpretentious and no frills and no repeats
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  at all version of the Goldberg Variations, and
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  it's coupled with a really good Prokofiev Seventh
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  Sonata. I didn't even know about this Goldberg
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  Variations. You might remember that in our first
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  season, I did a podcast episode where I said
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  something like, Deutsche Grammophon only made
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  five piano... versions of the Goldberg variations.
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  And at the time, I didn't even know about this
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  recording. So I guess this is the sixth one.
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  CD number 20 features a 1975 release, which is
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  also music of Bach. It has five of the seven
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  toccatas. It never should have disappeared from
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  the catalog. It is so good, and I didn't even
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  know that this disc existed, but I'm so happy
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  that these two CDs with Zola May Chalice are
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  included here. CD number 21 features Roberto
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  Zidon's recording of the Charles Ives Concord
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  Sonata. This kind of held sway on the European
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  market as a viable and more easily available
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  alternative to American editions by people like
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  Alan Mandel and Gilbert Kalish and Ralph Kirkpatrick.
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  Several critics at the time really... praise
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  this interpretation for its cutting -edge brilliance
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  and its textual honesty, but I find it's a little
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  astringent and one -dimensional. For me, it hasn't
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  held up as well as some of the others, especially
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  considering what the competition is like now.
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  I don't think it's worn all that well, although
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  you can't deny that he just plays the living
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  daylights out of the piece technically. CD number
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  22. This is the last disc in the collection.
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  This came out as an individual release on Eloquence
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  a few years ago. It contains Eric Tenberg playing
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  Reger's Telemann Variations. God, this is such
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  a boring piece. But he plays it very, very well.
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  But what you really want this disc for... is
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  the recording of the Diabelli Variations of Beethoven
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  with pianist Paul Baumgartner. And my late friend
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  Harris Goldsmith cited the Baumgartner recording
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  among his top Diabelli Variations choices, and
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  I couldn't agree more. I reviewed this recording
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  in detail for Classicstoday .com, and I've posted
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  a link to that review. Anyway, I think this is
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  a fascinating box set, and I'm very happy that
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  all the people at Australian Eloquence, Cyrus
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  Mayer -Holmge, who is the artistic director of
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  the label, and everyone working with him. brought
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  this project to fruition in absolutely the right
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  way. And the booklet notes account for every
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  discographic nook and cranny. And there are wonderful
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  annotations here by Jonathan Summers that give...
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  important contextual information for the recordings
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  in hand. So I would definitely grab this box,
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  as well as the Eloquence Westminster Decca box.
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  These are collections well worth having. This
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  is Jed Disler, and you've been listening to The
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  Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings, and I look forward to being with
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  you for our next episode.