Forgotten pianists of the LP era

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

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

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I did not see this on Amazon.com. Have you heard any of it?

There is a three LP set of Doyen doing the Mendelssohn Songs w/o Words on eBay. Those early 50s Westminster LPs are incredible.

[springrite]

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

Oh, yes! One of my favorite as well.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Which performance of his (?) do you recommend? I've seen that name many times, but have never bought any of the recordings (Vox label in America I believe).

Seriously folks, you should snap up any and all Maryla Jonas you can find. I'm listening to the Songs Without Words now and it's amazing. 

[Mandryka]

This is a good example of the sort of thing Anievas did, I can let you have a good transfer if you want

https://www.youtube.com/v/4tBGozP-qzo

I haven't heard any Dorfmann.

[springrite]

Which performance of his (?) do you recommend? I've seen that name many times, but have never bought any of the recordings (Vox label in America I believe).

Seriously folks, you should snap up any and all Maryla Jonas you can find. I'm listening to the Songs Without Words now and it's amazing.

The Liszt sonata in B minor, and the Rachmaninov for starters, I'd say.

[Mandryka]

Anthony Bonaventura made some interesting piano recordings, Scarlatti sonatas in the early 1970s and Debussy Etudes. Again I can let people who are interested have good transfers

https://www.youtube.com/v/pqe6u5kCLcA

https://www.youtube.com/v/SO8Ru5SaLcc

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

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.

[Mandryka]

One I was really impressed by is Irén Marik, a student of Bartok who recorded some Bartok and Beethoven and possibly other things, she was rediscovered and rereleased by Arbiter, here's an image



I forget the desert connection, maybe she went to live in Cairo with Ignaz Tiegermann

Another impressive pianist who Arbiter revived is Leo Serota, who also has some connection to Egypt I think

[springrite]

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.

That is all I have no CD, nothing significant. But I have heard him in concert and he was magnificent!

[Cato]

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

Yes, those were and are great performances of great symphonies!  Symphonies II, III, and VI are Prokofiev at his best, and the Boston Symphony with Erich Leinsdorf are exquisite in those works.

[Biffo]

Yes, those were and are great performances of great symphonies!  Symphonies II, III, and VI are Prokofiev at his best, and the Boston Symphony with Erich Leinsdorf are exquisite in those works.

I ordered the bargain price secondhand box, now keeping my fingers crossed that it is OK.

[prémont]

One I was really impressed by is Irén Marik, a student of Bartok who recorded some Bartok and Beethoven and possibly other things, she was rediscovered and rereleased by Arbiter, here's an image

This may be even more interesting:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7966928--iren-marik-from-bach-to-bartok

I have put it on my wishlist.

[Cato]

Michael Ponti's Scriabin set on VOX was one of my favorites!

[asin]B00007J4SK[/asin]

[Draško]

Albert Ferber, Swiss pianist whose superb Faure recordings on Saga were never released on CD.

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

[Irons]

Albert Ferber, Swiss pianist whose superb Faure recordings on Saga were never released on CD.

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

Saga released two LPs of Albert Ferber playing Fauré. Finding a decent pressing isn't easy but for playing as good as that the hunt is worthwhile. Forgotten Records have Ferber playing Beethoven and Debussy on CD but not Fauré.

[Mandryka]

This may be even more interesting:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7966928--iren-marik-from-bach-to-bartok

I have put it on my wishlist.

Maybe, I've not heard it. The thing that bowled me over was Beethoven op 109, if I recall correctly there's an op 111 on that other one which a friend of mine said was also exceptionally good

[Mandryka]

Albert Ferber, Swiss pianist whose superb Faure recordings on Saga were never released on CD.

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

I have a transfer of Ferber playing the Fauré preludes which I can let you have if you want. It sounds pretty good to me.  Also the other side of the Saga LP, op 73 Theme and Variations and some small things.

[Josquin13]

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

[Draško]

I have a transfer of Ferber playing the Fauré preludes which I can let you have if you want. It sounds pretty good to me.  Also the other side of the Saga LP, op 73 Theme and Variations and some small things.

I'm pretty sure I have it as well, somewhere. If it happens to be otherwise I'll take you up on the offer. Thank you!   

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Thanks guys for bringing Anievas to my attention. Will check out teh Lizst B-min and  Rachmaninoff suggestions. Also, the Brahms Handel Variations sounded very promising.