Forgotten pianists of the LP era

Started by XB-70 Valkyrie, September 23, 2018, 05:41:09 PM

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XB-70 Valkyrie

Quote from: Josquin13 on September 26, 2018, 11:19:17 AM
The following 13 pianists aren't exactly forgotten, for the most part, but they certainly don't get the attention they deserve from record labels today, etc., in my view:

1. Nadia Reisenberg--exceptional Haydn, Chopin, and a forgotten early champion of the piano music of Samuel Barber.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgP75Vht2GI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vjqJikn-g (I like her Barber Excursions better than Horowitz's)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OStrdzRMA

2. Augustin Anievas--one of my favorite pianists for Chopin Etudes, & 4 Impromptus, and exceptional in Brahms too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xe_z1nfWNI

3. Halina Czerny-Stefanska--exceptional in Chopin, especially the Mazurkas, and Mozart.  She's descended from Carl Czerny (on her father's side), and plays like it.  I wonder if she ever recorded any of Beethoven's music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_AYlDx5cH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0FUfmC1pW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K-CC7WN5oU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tYMwY1EzYg

4. Youra Guller--one of the finest Beethoven pianists I've ever heard--her late sonatas are as good as anyone's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tftJwS9Z6bQ

5. Bruno-Leonardo Gelber--Yes, Gelber had an (all too) brief contract with Denon (& Orfeo) during the early days of the CD, but he was particularly exceptional in Beethoven & Brahms on LP--such as his brilliant EMI LP recording of Beethoven's "Les Adieux" Sonata, and Brahms Handel Variations, etc..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUQDCJzF5j8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diFAvwtp_-M

6. Lorin Hollander--a very fine pianist, who has kept busy, but recording-wise, Hollander seems to have been largely forgotten by the record labels?  A NY times critic once called Hollander, "the leading pianist of his generation."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i72w4c0W3E0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUjvtXM1LP0

7. Michel Block--excellent in Schumann & Chopin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt8ULpsmEvY&list=PLRxumvUx3zRRfixZ1oMkDQgXA_5k3MmUD

8. Reine Gianoli--excellent Schumann, Ravel, & Debussy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzc66QSZww8

9. Thierry de Brunhoff--exceptional in Schumann & Chopin, de Brunhoff retired from a thriving career on the concert stage to become a monk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlx5jME78tE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNqX_jWhUzY

10. Madeleine de Valmaléte--I don't know how much of a career de Valmaléte had on LP, though she did make shellacs in Berlin in the late 1920s, but her one Arbiter CD is remarkable!, especially her playing of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin.  She was the first pianist to record the complete Ravel piano works in France, so why hasn't that cycle ever been released on CD?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFmDWf2b55Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8_xojAY92M

11. Magda Tagliaferro--I mention the great Brazilian pianist because she recorded the complete Debussy and it has never been released on CD--to my knowledge.  Nor has her late CBS digital LP recording of Faure's Dolly Suite & other works with her student Daniel Varsano ever been released on CD--though it's on You Tube (Tagliaferro actually toured the Dolly Suite with Faure):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac1ugBRmpSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9lTTNsQPC0

12. Maryla Jonas--Yes, her life story is harrowing & tragic--another victim of the Nazis.  But she was a survivor.  Fortunately this great pianist has finally! had a box set released of her complete LP recordings: https://www.amazon.com/Maryla-Jonas-Story-Complet-Recordings/dp/B072KY1H9B/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1537988608&sr=1-1&keywords=maryla+jonas, which no piano lover should be without.  So, she's no longer forgotten.  Jonas is totally brilliant in Chopin Mazurkas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ5W8y2rJ94

13.  Dubravka Tomsic--although she may not have made many LP records, Tomsic is, IMO, the most unjustly ignored great pianist over of the past 25 years by the major record labels.  Her Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, & Debussy are all exceptional.  Incredible technique, and she plays without ego.  Yet DG & company continue to sign younger, lesser pianists.  That's just dumb.  The situation is so neglectful that Tomsic's playing sometimes gets misattributed to other pianists (& vice versa) on cheap, discount labels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7nH-Udsu08&list=OLAK5uy_mkgUBgeR3eI94jL1JKKJxy0EB2ofdiwWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IksKydCVXVs

Great list thanks. The Jonas LP reissues (link above) are a must, except I have nearly all of them on LP. I do not however have the Schumann Kinderszenen (78 rpm only I believe), which I am very curious to hear--but it is available for high-res download from various websites.
If you really dislike Bach you keep quiet about it! - Andras Schiff

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: XB-70 Valkyrie on September 25, 2018, 09:14:17 PM
Leonard Pennario is another one. From what I remember, I've only seen his name associated with lighter fare, Hollywood Bowl concerts, and the like. I was never too interested (largely for that reason), and I've never seen any reissues of his stuff. I wonder whether anyone cares--certainly some of these folks remain obscure for a reason.

You missed it. I think I may actually still have this set somewhere.

[asin]B000JCEB1I[/asin]

XB-70 Valkyrie

#42
Thanks. Amazon search sucks. Have you heard it? Reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
If you really dislike Bach you keep quiet about it! - Andras Schiff

Josquin13

#43
XB-70 Valkyrie,

My pleasure.  I thought of one more pianist, who was I think better known during the LP era than she is today--French-American pianist Evelyne Crochet. Granted, there is a recent 2006 recording that Crochet made of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 & 2, but a substantial part of her LP legacy is out of print or never put on CD.  Such as her excellent 1960s complete solo piano music of Faure series for Vox/Turnabout--which, unless I'm mistaken, has ever made it onto CD (Edit: see correction below).  However, I did find it all on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Ptsm-7Q5A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV44n2CNk-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqZ9xeHjIPc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpXGxNf1xZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG7ae9xodfI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28FPuPLu1BI

Here are links to Crochet's more recent Bach Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 & 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFY9mj6m548
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6xpqqVZU4

& here is what (no less than) Trevor Pinnock had to say about her Bach:

" I have been listening to your recording of Bach Wohltemperierte Clavier and it has moved me so deeply that I simply have to write to say thank you, for it has enriched my day on an extraordinary level. Your music speaks directly to the inner spirit in a way which is so rare. I normally do not listen to recordings but your Bach is irresistible. How much the world needs music making that reveals deep truth in this way! Thank you for this great gift. "

Here too is a YT link to Crochet's highly regarded early 1960s Vox recording of Schubert's Fantasie in F minor, D. 940, for piano four hands, with a young Alfred Brendel--which was my first recording & introduction to this beautiful work (& it wasn't until Maria-Joao Pires recordings came along decades later--with pianists Sermet & Castro--that I found digital recordings I liked as well as Crochet & Brendel's fine version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BdGo_t-5E4

I also remember that Crochet recorded some of Satie's music for Philips (some of which were world premiere recordings at the time), along with a Schubert album for Philips too.  Edit: There are selections on You Tube (with LP crackles, if anyone's missing those):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DzE6PJGcPE&list=PLF1D3D919EA386BD7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzaW2cbtDMc

EDIT: I've just found the pianist's website, and find that in 2012 Crochet additionally recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations: Here is what Alfred Brendel had to say about the recording:

" In her remarkable Goldberg Variations, Evelyne Crochet is the very rare case of a pianist who, after working for decades in near-seclusion, has emerged as a Bach-player of considerable stature. Her cantabile permeates all the voices. But there is also an impish side that keeps the rhythm alive. Her technical control has remained impeccable. My congratulations! "

By the way, if anyone's interested, I see that Crochet's complete Faure for Vox can be purchased on her website, in two 3 CD sets:

http://evelynecrochet.com/purchase.html

Here's what a New York Times critic had to say about her Faure,

"A must for Fauré fans.... She has undertaken the job which is, to judge from her sensitive playing, a labor of love. She has technique to spare but is in no hurry. Her tone is admirable for its clarity...."

I'd say Crochet's Faure playing stands up well against any of the highly regarded Faure pianists of the past & present.


George

Quote from: Draško on September 25, 2018, 07:51:30 AM
Antonio Barbosa, Brazilian pianist, died relatively young. One of my favorite recordings of Chopin Scherzi, on Connoisseur Society LP, never made it to CD. He also recorded some fine Liszt, especially Schubert/Liszt.

https://www.youtube.com/v/GRyBEZ3vDFY

Wow this is great! Would love to get an LP rip in lossless if anyone has one.
"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure

XB-70 Valkyrie

Last night, just shelled out $100 on eBay for the Doyen recordings of the Mendelssohn Songs without Words on three delicious early-50s Westminster LPs. I have heard some of these on YouTube, and they are superb. I will likely go after some of her Chabrier, Chopin and Faure, etc in the future.

If you really dislike Bach you keep quiet about it! - Andras Schiff

Mandryka

Quote from: XB-70 Valkyrie on October 24, 2018, 11:39:14 AM
Last night, just shelled out $100 on eBay for the Doyen recordings of the Mendelssohn Songs without Words on three delicious early-50s Westminster LPs. I have heard some of these on YouTube, and they are superb. I will likely go after some of her Chabrier, Chopin and Faure, etc in the future.



I know it's not the same, but if you want I can let you have a FLAC transfer of that Mendelssohn LP.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Mandryka on October 24, 2018, 11:47:47 AM
I know it's not the same, but if you want I can let you have a FLAC transfer of that Mendelssohn LP.

You can also buy the CD from amazon.com for about $14.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007W5BSAW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A22T3HGYDD9Q3&psc=1

XB-70 Valkyrie

#48
Thanks guys, but I just have a thing for wasting money on LPs... 8)

...

And watches. I could have a timex that is more accurate and far less troublesome than my mechanical watches, but I just love that winding and that ticking!
If you really dislike Bach you keep quiet about it! - Andras Schiff

Holden

Quote from: George on October 24, 2018, 03:58:02 AM
Wow this is great! Would love to get an LP rip in lossless if anyone has one.

I agree with you George, this is some of the best Chopin I've heard. I'll have to see what else I can find on the 'net.
Cheers

Holden

Draško

Quote from: George on October 24, 2018, 03:58:02 AM
Wow this is great! Would love to get an LP rip in lossless if anyone has one.

I don't have any kind of rip, maybe you could try asking at rmcr if that thing still functions.

Quote from: Holden on October 24, 2018, 02:19:09 PM
I agree with you George, this is some of the best Chopin I've heard. I'll have to see what else I can find on the 'net.

When searching have in mind he is often credited as Antonio Guedes Barbosa.

He recorded maybe half of dozen or more solo albums for Connoisseur Society, mostly Chopin, but also some Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Villa-Lobos. Only three were reissued as Connoisseur Society CDs: Chopin Waltzes, Liszt ( Dante Sonata & Schubert/Liszt songs) and Debussy (book II preludes) plus some Villa-Lobos.

A few things have been reissued on CD by some Brazilian label Kuarup: Complete Chopin Mazurkas and the same discs of Waltzes and the Liszt one.

All is long out of print but Kuarup releases are on Spotify and a lot of it is on youtube (in variable quality)