Forgotten pianists of the LP era

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Ginette Doyen--wondering about her Mendelssohn Songs Without Words--apparently quite a collector's item on vinyl

Ania Dorfman see above

Maryla Jonas: Some of the most beautiful Chopin I have ever heard, especially the nocturnes. She had quite an interesting story. Rising to fame when the Nazis invaded her native Poland, she refused to play for them and escaped to Brazil, where later (I believe) Artur Rubinstein helped her start a career in the U.S. I just digitized one of her LPs entitled Piano Miniatures with short pieces by Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn (hence my renewed interest in his piano pieces). I have enjoyed the other LPs (Chopin) for years.

Vlado Perlemuter is another favorite, especially the Ravel, and especially the Concerto in G

Eugene List, Arthur Balsam, Gyorgy Sebok are others I've only heard as accompanists, but am curious about. I would also list Paul Badura Skoda, but I don't think he is all that obscure. I am an avid LP collector, and love this era of recording, and am interested to hear thoughts on these and others. Others will follow as I sift through my collection, but this will hopefully be an interesting start to this thread for now.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Noel Lee
Abbey Simon
Ruth Laredo
Eugene Istomin
Michael Ponti
John Browning
Rudolf Firkusny
Bruce Hungerford
Misha Dichter
Ingrid Haebler
Walter Klien
Shura Cherkassky
Andor Foldes
Samuil Feinberg
Lev Oborin
Jan Panenka

There might be varying degrees of "forgotten" here (Firkusny) but, well...here it is.....

[Cato]

Ruth Laredo
Eugene Istomin
Michael Ponti
John Browning
Rudolf Firkusny
Bruce Hungerford
Misha Dichter

You have some great ones there: how about  Claudio Arrau and Wilhelm Backhaus ?

https://www.youtube.com/v/7U726VrX-U0


https://www.youtube.com/v/1hrNrRS_ajg

[Dancing Divertimentian]

You have some great ones there: how about  Claudio Arrau and Wilhelm Backhaus ?

Two great names, fer shur, but as I read it the OP is looking for pianists not so well known...on the "forgotten" side.

[Ken B]

Gyorgy Sandor.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Right, people like Arrau, Backhaus, and even Feinberg have been reissued at least once or many times (incl the GPOC series, so not very obscure). Firkushny as well--although he is a good addition and one I'm curious about. But at least the first two on my list, afaik, there is nothing currently in print.

[Daverz]

Alan Marks

https://www.discogs.com/artist/343720-Alan-Marks

Beveridge Webster:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beveridge_Webster

[JBS]

Arkivmusic is promoting thus heavily.

Is he actually worthwhile?

[Mandryka]

But at least the first two on my list, afaik, there is nothing currently in print.

There's a huge amount of stuff released by Ginette Doyen by Bibliotheque National de France, I can see about a dozen CDs. Dorfmann is pretty well served too

[Biffo]

Noel Lee
Abbey Simon
Ruth Laredo
Eugene Istomin
Michael Ponti
John Browning
Rudolf Firkusny
Bruce Hungerford
Misha Dichter
Ingrid Haebler
Walter Klien
Shura Cherkassky
Andor Foldes
Samuil Feinberg
Lev Oborin
Jan Panenka

There might be varying degrees of "forgotten" here (Firkusny) but, well...here it is.....

I don't think Firkusny, Haebler or Cherkassky can count as forgotten.

John Browning is interesting to me. When I first started buying LPs he recorded the Prokofiev Piano Concertos and they had an excellent review in Gramophone. Unfortunately I couldn't afford them at the time and after that he seemed to fade from view. For some reason fairly recently  I remembered those recordings and looked him up on the internet; he had a long and distinguished career in the USA but doesn't seem to have made much of an impact on this side of the Atlantic.

[Cato]

I don't think Firkusny, Haebler or Cherkassky can count as forgotten.

John Browning is interesting to me. When I first started buying LPs he recorded the Prokofiev Piano Concertos and they had an excellent review in Gramophone. Unfortunately I couldn't afford them at the time and after that he seemed to fade from view. For some reason fairly recently  I remembered those recordings and looked him up on the internet; he had a long and distinguished career in the USA but doesn't seem to have made much of an impact on this side of the Atlantic.

Do you know his performance of the Barber Piano Concerto ?

https://www.youtube.com/v/HobIr7logJc


An interview from 1995:

http://www.bruceduffie.com/browning.html

[Karl Henning]

John Browning is interesting to me. When I first started buying LPs he recorded the Prokofiev Piano Concertos and they had an excellent review in Gramophone. Unfortunately I couldn't afford them at the time and after that he seemed to fade from view. For some reason fairly recently  I remembered those recordings and looked him up on the internet; he had a long and distinguished career in the USA but doesn't seem to have made much of an impact on this side of the Atlantic.

Browning plays the concerti on this set:

[asin]B004H6P2LA[/asin]

[Biffo]

Many thanks to Cato and karl for their responses.

I haven't heard the Barber recording, something to explore. A very interesting interview. The Testament set (concertos only) looks tempting. Amazon UK has a bargain price secondhand copy of the Sony box, new copies are exorbitantly expensive. I heard Leinsdorf conduct the LSO in Symphony No 5 aeons ago but not sure I want all the symphonies etc.

[Irons]

First ever recording made by the chap on the left. He did go on to make many more but not as a pianist!

[Draško]

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

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Any Malcuzynski fans here?

[asin]B00DKAH79O[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

I heard Leinsdorf conduct the LSO in Symphony No 5 aeons ago but not sure I want all the symphonies etc.

Only ("only"!) four of the symphonies are in the Leinsdorf/BSO box, but you will especially enjoy the Second and Sixth, I believe.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Alan Marks

I've got him playing on the Rochberg Piano 5tet, a recording stranded on vinyl.

Does Paul Jacobs count? I've got his Bach/Brahms/Busoni on Nonesuch. His recordings seem to be kind of hard to find nowadays.

William Bolcom - maybe better known as a composer, but he made some interesting recordings of American music (incl. his own) for Nonesuch.

[Holden]

Rafael Orozco
Richard Farrell
Noel Mewton-Wood
Andre Tchaikovsky
Peter Seeman
Andre Krust
Louis Kentner
Jean-Marie Darre
Abbey Simon
Michel Block
Terrence Judd

I had LPs (mostly via World Record Club) from most of these pianists. Orozco introduced me to the Chopin Preludes and Kentner the Liszt TEs.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Can't believe I forgot one of my favorite pianists: Agustin Anievas!!