‘In every way the most transcendentally gifted young piano student I have heard in the last 25 years’ was Percy Grainger’s pronouncement of the young Eileen Joyce (1908–1991) when he first heard her play in 1926. From the goldfields in Western Australia whose capital city is the most remote in the world, Joyce defied incongruous and humble beginnings to forge a career that took her to the international pinnacle of twentieth-century pianism. Now, for the first time, her complete studio recordings, made between 1933 and 1959, are issued collectively as a 10CD box with a lavishly illustrated and annotated booklet.
The Tasmanian-born pianist Eileen Joyce was still a student of the legendary pedagogue Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London when she made her first recording, at her own expense, in June 1933. This was of Liszt’s concert study ‘La leggierezza’ and the Parlophone Company was sufficiently impressed by the recording to purchase it from her and request a side B. So began a 27-year-long recording career, stretching almost to her retirement in 1960. The many short pieces she recorded for Parlophone, documented on CDs 1-4 of this box, were not salon trifles but compact classics of piano literature by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Rachmaninov, among others. They are distinguished by a precision and clarity of articulation which became known as the hallmark of her playing as well as the flamboyance, strength and stamina that gave her so durable a career in concert.
More substantial works from those early years include piano trios by Arensky and then Haydn, recorded for Columbia once EMI had absorbed the Parlophone label. In 1942, she made her first complete concerto recordings, of the fine concerto by John Ireland and the First Concerto by the youthful Shostakovich. After the war she became a Decca artist and continued to record a remarkably wide range of repertoire, from classics and rarely heard miniatures to contemporary music. In fact her first recording for the label was never issued: Tchaikovsky’s Second Concerto, rarely encountered then as now. Shelved for mysterious ‘technical reasons’ it has been specially remastered for this set and shows Joyce at her best: a fearless performance, ‘one of the finest I have heard,’ according to the pianist Philip Fowke, ‘a performance of sparkle, passion and bravura’.
The set’s editorial content includes a personal memoir of the pianist from Bryce Morrison; a thoroughly researched and documented history of her early years by David Tunley; an account of her career by another Australian academic and historian of performing arts, Victoria Rogers; and the story of her career as a recording artist, by Cyrus Meher-Homji. For any pianophile, piano historian or simply lover of superbly crafted piano playing, this box promises a treasure-trove of exciting discoveries.
CD 1
The Parlophone Recordings
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Fantasia & Fugue in A minor, BWV 944
PIETRO DOMENICO PARADIES: Toccata in A major (from Sonata No. 6)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Rondo in A major, KV 386
Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART:
Suite, KV 399 (excerpts)
Piano Sonata in C major, KV 545
FRANZ SCHUBERT:
Andante in A major, D.604
Impromptu in E flat major, D.899 No. 2
Impromptu in A flat major, D.899 No. 4
FREDERIC CHOPIN:
Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2
Nocturne in B major, Op. 32 No. 1
Fantasie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66
Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57
ROBERT SCHUMANN:
Novelette in D major, Op. 21 No. 2
Novelette in A major, Op. 21 Nminor, BWV 543/S.462 No. 1
ROBERT SCHUMANN (arr. LISZT):
Widmung, S.566
Frühlingsnacht, S.568
RICHARD WAGNER (arr. LISZT): Spinning Chorus, S.440 (Der fliegende o. 6
Stücklein 1 (No. 1 of Bunte Blätter, Op. 99)
CD 2
The Parlophone Recordings (continued)
FRANZ LISZT:
Liebesträume No. 3, S.541 No. 3
Waldesrauschen (Étude de Concert, S.145 No. 1)
Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215 No. 1
Au bord d’une source, S.160 No. 4 (Années de pèlerinage I: Suisse)
La leggierezza (Étude de concert, S.144 No. 2)
Gnomenreigen (Étude de concert, S.145 No. 2)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (arr. LISZT): Organ Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543/S.462 No. 1
ROBERT SCHUMANN (arr. LISZT):
Widmung, S.566
Fruhlingsnact, S.568
RICHARD WAGNER (arr. LISZT): Spinning Chorus, S.440 (from Der fligende Hollander) (abridged)
CHARLES GOUNOD (arr. LISZT): Faust Waltz, S.407 (abridged)
JOHANNES BRAHMS:
Romance in F major, Op. 118 No. 5
Intermezzo in C major, Op. 119 No. 3
Capriccio in D minor, Op. 116 No. 7
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 76 No. 6
Rhapsody in E flat major, Op. 119 No. 4
Intermezzo in B flat minor, Op. 117 No. 2
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2
Ballade in G minor, Op. 118 No. 3
CD 3
The Parlophone Recordings (continued)
JOHANN NEPOMK HUMMEL: Rondo favori in E flat major, Op. 11
ADOLF VON HENSELT; Si oiseau j’étais (Were I a Bird) (Douze Études caractéristiques, Op. 2 No. 6)
PAUL DE SCHLÖZER: Étude in A flat major, Op. 1 No. 2
MORITZ MOSZKOWSKI:
Waltz in E major, Op. 34 No. 1
Caprice espagnole, Op. 37 (abridged)
ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (arr. GODOWSKY): Tango in D major (No. 2 of España, Op. 165)
ENRIQUE GRANADOS: The Maiden and the Nightingale (from Goyescas)
CHRISTIAN SINDING: Rustle of Spring, Op. 32 No. 3
EDVARD GRIEG:
Scherzo-Impromptu (No. 2 of Moods, Op. 73)
Butterfly (No. 1 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 43)
Melody (No. 3 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 47)
Solitary Traveller (No. 2 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 43)
Brooklet (No. 4 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 62)
To the Spring (No. 6 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 43)
Summer’s Eve (No. 2 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 71)
JEAN SIBELIUS: Romance in D flat major, Op. 24 No. 9
BERNHARD STAVENHAGEN: Menuetto scherzando, Op. 5 No. 3
SELIM PALMGREN: En route, Op. 9
IGNAZ FRIEDMAN (after EDUARD GÄRTNER): Viennese Dance No. 2
GABRIEL FAURÉ: Impromptu No. 2 in F minor, Op. 31
CLAUDE DEBUSSY:
Reflets dans l’eau (No. 1 of Images, Book I)
Toccata (No. 3 of Pour le piano)
JOAQUIN TURINA: Rapsodia Sinfónica, Op. 66
Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould
CD 4
The Parlophone Recordings (continued)
ANTON ARENSKY: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 32
Henri Temianka, violin ·
Antoni Sala, cello
SERGEI RACHMANINOV:
Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5
Prelude in E flat major, Op. 23 No. 6
Prelude in C minor, Op. 23 No. 7
Prelude in A flat major, Op. 23 No. 8
Prelude in A minor, Op. 32 No. 8
Prelude in D flat major, Op. 32 No. 13
EUGEN D’ALBERT: Scherzo in F sharp major, Op. 16 No. 2
RICHARD STRAUSS (arr. GIESEKING): Ständchen, Op. 17 No. 2
ERNO DOHNÁNYI: Rhapsody in C major, Op. 11 No. 3
ERIK BERGMAN:
Polka Caprice, Op. 1 No. 3
Himmelgesang, Op. 2 No. 1
CYRIL SCOTT:
Lotus Land, Op. 47 No. 1
Danse nègre, Op. 58 No. 5
RICCARDO PICK-MANGIAGALLI: Le Danse d’Olaf (Deux Lunaires, Op. 33 No. 2)
HARRY FARJEON: Tarantella
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5
CD 5
The Columbia Recordings
FRANZJOSEPH HAYDN: Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob.XV.25
Henry Holst, violin
Anthony Pini, cello
AMADEUS WOLFGANG MOZART:
Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, KV 332
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D major, KV 576
Romance in A flat major, KV Anh.205 (attribution)
Gigue in G major, KV 574
Minuet in D major, KV 355
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN:
Bagatelle in C major, Op. 33 No. 2
Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ‘Für Elise’
FREDERIC CHOPIN:
Étude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47
CD 6
The Columbia Recordings (continued)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14
EDVARD GRIEG: Ballade in G minor, Op. 24
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN:
Prelude in E major, Op. 11 No. 9
Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 11 No. 10
MAURICE RAVEL: Jeux d’eau
JOHN IRELAND: Piano Concerto in E flat major
Hallé Orchestra
Leslie Heward
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35
Arthur Lockwood, trumpet
Hallé Orchestra
Leslie Heward
CD 7
The Decca Recordings
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Piano Sonata No. 7 in C major, KV 309
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN:
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique’
Bagatelle in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 1
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Papillons, Op. 2
FREDERIC CHOPIN:
Waltz in B minor, Op. 69 No. 2
Waltz in E minor, Op. posth.*
CESAR FRANCK Variations symphoniques
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
*PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED
CD 8
The Decca Recordings (continued)
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44 (ed. Siloti)*
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Grzegorz Fitelberg
SERGEI RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf
SERGEI RACHMANINOV: Humoresque in G major, Op. 10 No. 5
ARTHUR BLISS: Baraza (from ‘Men of Two Worlds’)
National Symphony Orchestra & Men’s Chorus
Muir Mathieson
*UNPUBLISHED ON 78-rpm or LP
CD 9
The Decca Recordings (continued)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
London Symphony Orchestra
Anatole Fistoulari
The HMV Recordings
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Concerto for Three Harpsichords in C major, BWV 1064
Eileen Joyce, George Malcolm & Thurston Dart, harpsichords
Denis Vaughan, continuo
Pro Arte Orchestra
Boris Ord
ANTONIO VIVALDI (arr. BACH):
Concerto for Four Harpsichords in A minor, BWV 1065
(arr. DART) Concerto for Four Harpsichords in D minor
Eileen Joyce, George Malcolm, Thurston Dart & Denis Vaughan, harpsichords
Pro Arte Orchestra
Boris Ord
GEORGE MALCOLM: Variations on a theme of Mozart for Four Harpsichords
Eileen Joyce, George Malcolm, Thurston Dart & Denis Vaughan, harpsichords
The Saga Recordings
LUDWIG BEETHOVEN: Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ‘Für Elise’
ROBERT SCHUMAN:
Romance in F sharp major, Op. 28 No. 2
(arr. LISZT) Widmung, S.566
CD 10
The Saga Recordings (continued)
FRANZ LISZT:
Gnomenreigen (Étude de concert, S.145 No. 2)
Un sospiro (Étude de concert, S.144 No. 3)
GABRIEL FAURÉ: Impromptu No. 2 in F minor, Op. 31
CLAUDE DEBUSSY:
Clair de lune (from Suite Bergamasque)
La Cathédrale engloutie (Préludes, Book I No. 10)
ENRIQUE GRANADOS:
The Maiden and the Nightingale (from Goyescas)
Allegro di concierto
ERNO DOHNÁNYI: Rhapsody in C major, Op. 11 No. 1
EDVARD GRIEG:
Notturno (No. 4 Lyric Pieces, Op. 54)
Melody (No. 3 of Lyric Pieces, Op. 47)
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Royal Danish Orchestra
John Frandsen
Eileen Joyce, piano
MONO RECORDINGS