Notes and Editorial Reviews
Among recent Benno Moiseiwitsch reissues, the present release from Pearl is the most unusual yet systematic of the crop. It contains all of his acoustic recordings, dating from 1916 to 1925 when the emerging pianist was in his 20s and 30s. These discs are contemporaneous with early phonographic efforts by Hofmann, Rachmaninov, Busoni, Cortot, Grainger, Backhaus, and other keyboard eminences, and clearly reveal that Moiseiwitsch held his own among older, more established colleagues. Where do you begin to describe the numerous musical and pianistic felicities here? Try, for starters, the perfectly-spaced rubatos and revelatory inner lines throughout the pianist's supple Brahms B minor Capriccio (Op. 76 No. 2). Or listen to the easy ebb and
Read more
flow of his passagework, blissfully liberated from the tyranny of the barline, in the Chopin/Liszt My Joys, the Chopin F-sharp Impromptu, and Schumann/Liszt Frühlingsnacht (the latter is more songful and relaxed than Josef Lhevinne's famous electrical traversal). And what stupefyingly quick, feathery, and crystalline unison runs he achieves in Selim Palmgren's Bird Song and The Sea. Rarely has Scriabin's Nocturne for the left hand emerged with such freshly delineated textures: it sounds as if two hands on two separate pianos are involved!
Moiseiwitsch was not one to play by the book, and astute listeners will notice and hopefully delight in the pianist's textual emendations at times, such as those in the Chopin E minor Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1, or that sparkling coda he adds to Henselt's knuckle-busting etude Si oiseau j'étais. There are a few selections Moiseiwitsch re-recorded more effectively in the electric era, like Debussy's Jardins sous la pluie and Ravel's Jeux d'eau. Conversely, the pianist's acoustic Chopin C minor prelude is relatively straight and unadorned next to the one in his complete 1948 traversal of the Op. 28 Preludes. An interesting textual sidebar: the 1948 C-minor Prelude incorporates the "traditional" E-natural on the final beat of measure three, while the acoustic version sports the "controversial" E-flat favored by latter-day Urtext practitioners like Claudio Arrau.
Producer Donald Manildi adds a generous bonus in the form of some of the pianist's rarest early electrical sides. These include a Wagner/Liszt Liebestod (minus its opening measures) spun out in lyrical, independent lines and a Scarlatti-Tausig Pastorale and Capriccio with ravishing legato that melts in your mouth. Here also is the first and still best recording of Abram Chasins' once-popular Rush Hour in Hong Kong--so feathery, fleet, and nonchalant. Seth Winner's transfers are generally clear and clean. Comparing the present transfer of the acoustic Mendelssohn G minor concerto to Winner's earlier Pearl transfer (Benno Moiseiwitsch Volume 1, GEMM 9135), I found the earlier refurbishing noisier yet with more room tone and pedaling details. The differences, to be sure, are ultimately inconsequential given the built-in sonic limitations of acoustic orchestral recordings; but they are there. All in all, a set that no Moiseiwitsch lover and historic piano recording enthusiast should ignore.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
4.
Jeux d'eau by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901; France
Date of Recording: 05/10/1916
Length: 4 Minutes 19 Secs.
13.
Pastorale in E minor by Domenico Scarlatti
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: Baroque
Written: 18th Century
Date of Recording: 02/21/1927
Length: 3 Minutes 15 Secs.
Notes: Transcribed: Carl Tausig
14.
Sonata for Harpsichord in E major, K 20/L 375 by Domenico Scarlatti
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1738
Date of Recording: 02/21/1927
Length: 2 Minutes 40 Secs.
Notes: Transcribed: Carl Tausig
15.
Préludes, Book 1: no 12, Minstrels by Claude Debussy
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1909-1910; France
Date of Recording: 06/11/1919
Length: 2 Minutes 12 Secs.
17.
Waltzes (3) for Piano, Op. 70: no 1 in G flat major, B 92 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1833; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 06/28/1921
Length: 2 Minutes 16 Secs.
Notes: This selection is the second of two takes of Chopin's Op. 70 no. 1 recorded on June 28, 1921 included in this collection.
20.
Le roi s'amuse: Passepied by Léo Delibes
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1882; France
Date of Recording: 03/07/1922
Length: 1 Minutes 40 Secs.
22.
Sorochintsy fair: Hopak by Modest Mussorgsky
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia
Date of Recording: 05/04/1922
Length: 1 Minutes 33 Secs.
Notes: Composition written: Russia (1874 - 1880).
28.
Concerto for Piano no 1 in G minor, Op. 25 by Felix Mendelssohn
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Conductor:
Landon Ronald
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Albert Hall Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1831; Germany
Date of Recording: 01/27/1925
Length: 19 Minutes 57 Secs.
32.
Histoires: no 2, Le petit âne blanc by Jacques Ibert
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1922; France
Date of Recording: 05/23/1927
Length: 1 Minutes 53 Secs.
33.
Rococo by Selim Palmgren
Performer:
Benno Moiseiwitsch (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Finland
Date of Recording: 05/25/1927
Length: 2 Minutes 51 Secs.
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
