Eloquence Classics

“Mr. Demus’s performances seem above reproach.” High Fidelity, July 1953 (Demus – Franck)

“If César Franck ever played the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue with the power and passion that Jörg Demus puts into it, his tiresome wife’s suspicions would have been amply confirmed … [Demus] has the power of seeing a work as a whole which, in both these pieces, is of supreme importance.” Gramophone, January 1954 (Demus – Franck)

“Demus not only does full justice to this French music, he does it honor. His approach is warm, sensitive, often forceful yet never forced, and Westminster has allowed the tone of his piano to sound glitteringly natural.” High Fidelity, 1956 (Demus – Fauré)

“Miss Farnadi has a real flair for these works, as she does for Liszt’s (with which they have much in common). She does not lose sight of the basic tunes and dance rhythms, but she handles the decorative material with great delicacy, color, and appropriate capriciousness.” High Fidelity, May 1956 (Farnadi – Strauss paraphrases)

“Haskil is in top form here, playing with warmth and finesse, understanding for the outline, and wonderful attention to detail … Her ornamentation is skilful but not fussy, her tone, at all times, beautifully controlled.” High Fidelity, September 1951 (Haskil – Scarlatti)

“If somewhat rough-hewn, the playing has a firm, direct quality in stereo.” High Fidelity, September 1958 (Lewenthal – Beethoven)

“Lewenthal is just the man for this sort of thing and his large-scale, generous approach generates plenty of excitement. The early Preludes are gracefully and poetically played.” High Fidelity, April 1970 (Lewenthal – Scriabin)

“Raymond Lewenthal is revered by pianophiles, even if only the most avid of them will have the original long out-of-print Westminster LPs … The playing is sensational.” Gramophone, September 2012 (Lewenthal)

“Mr. Lewenthal, a young pianist from Texas, has the technique for these works, which is saying a great deal, and he does not overlook musical values either.” High Fidelity, May 1957 (Lewenthal – Toccatas)

“Nina Milkina’s Scarlatti combines a matchless alternating verve and reflection with character and resource.” Gramophone (Milkina – Scarlatti)

“At all times there is musical beauty, wit, and charm for those who will listen closely and repeatedly. Fortunately, the performances are stylistically pure, for Miss Milkina plays with crisp, clean articulation, an exactly controlled dynamic scale, and serenity of spirit.” High Fidelity, August 1959 (Milkina – C.P.E. Bach)

“Played from the heart with an unfailingly lovely tone.” Gramophone, September 2012 (Moiseiwitsch – Beethoven)

“If you look upon these works as romantic pieces, best realized in a ripely expressive manner with a tasteful application of sentiment. Moiseiwitsch offers the best of the stereo editions, even surpassing the recent Rubinstein set.” High Fidelity, September 1963 (Moiseiwitsch – Beethoven)

“This is the sort of Schumann interpretation that charmed Victorian and Edwardian audiences … Kreisleriana has many diverse moods and benefits from Moiseiwitsch’s whimsical resourcefulness.” High Fidelity, July 1962 (Moiseiwitsch – Schumann)

“Moiseiwitsch had an interesting enough musical personality to hold one with him in most things he did … He never played just notes; he played the music as he perceived it; and this is what he offers here. In the context of piano-playing today, the recording comes as a slightly old-fashioned but rather interesting document.” Gramophone, June 1964 (Moiseiwitsch – Beethoven)

“The pianist gives both works old-style performances, ones in which inner voices are stressed and much rubato permitted … One can appreciate many rarefied details in Moiseiwitsch’s guided tour – the unhatched chicks chirp engagingly…” High Fidelity, April 1962 (Moiseiwitsch – Mussorgsky)

“The Liszt works are played with emphasis on poetry and washes of colour rather than with the customary brilliance and dash. She indulges in lavish pedal effects, producing a lovely atmosphere.” High Fidelity, September 1963 (Novaes recital)

“Mme. Novaes’ supreme gift is that of eliciting tonal beauty from the keyboard … to hear the exquisitely spun phrasing of the Chopin slow movement, the magical coloration she imparts to the Debussy pieces … such experiences epitomize the most treasurable aspects of Novaes’ artistry.” Stereo Review, November 1963 (Novaes recital)

“Heartily devout playing that makes much of round-shaping a phrase and warming a chord in a frank exploitation of expression neatly eluding extravagance.” High Fidelity, March 1957 (Petri – Beethoven)

“The Appassionata is perhaps the most remarkable of the three … the sheer urgency and excitement of this playing is a joy. In my experience Beethoven does not appeal to young people today as he did before the war, but I think he would if there were more Petris around.” Gramophone, June 1961 (Petri – Beethoven)

“Petri … strove to realize what might be called the ‘architexture’ of the music… Petri opts for a tight-knit realization in relatively fast tempi.” Stereo Review, August 1968 (Petri – Beethoven Hammerklavier)

“If one wants to hear the [Bach chorale preludes] played on the piano by a very sensitive musician, this record will serve admirably.” High Fidelity, September 1959 (Petri – Bach/Busoni)

“The Fantasia Contrappuntistica was probably Busoni’s masterpiece for the piano, and it receives a quite staggering performance … Petri is superb at juggling with several strands of counterpoint and almost never loses clarity. I found this performance overwhelming, and I have played it again and again.” Gramophone, June 1961 (Petri – Busoni)

“The D minor Toccata and Fugue sounds tremendous and the climax is overwhelming … The E flat prelude gets a knock-out of a performance.” Gramophone, June 1961 (Petri – Bach)

“An extraordinarily interesting document … Petri’s style of playing is descended through Busoni’s through Liszt’s; and it almost goes without saying that his feeling for the spirit in which these transcriptions were made is something that no other living pianist can rival.” Gramophone, April 1962 (Petri – Liszt)

“[Zecchi] is at his best in the Chopin mazurkas, which profit from his beautiful singing tone and lovely cantilena and are properly moody and capricious.” High Fidelity, June 1956 (Zecchi recital)