Before he became a Decca icon, Vladimir Ashkenazy appeared on DG in performances recorded live at the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Their reissue here is complemented by a Rachmaninoff sequence with Ashkenazy’s teacher, Lev Oborin. At the same competition five years later, Arthur Rubinstein was so outraged at the low placing given by his fellow jurors to the Belgian pianist Michel Block that he created a special prize for him on the spot, and DG responded likewise by issuing precious recordings of his live Chopin performances from 1960.
Through the late 1960s and 70s, the ‘Concours’ and ‘Debut’ sub-labels on DG launched an array of pianists at the start of promising careers. They came from a rich variety of backgrounds and schools. Blockbuster Russians included Boris Bloch and Youri Egorov. New-World stars in the making included Steven De Groote and Zola Mae Shaulis. Among the young artists from the central European traditions were Veronica Jochum von Moltke (Eugen Jochum’s daughter) and Claude Helffer.
A few of these musicians, such as Ashkenazy, went on to enjoy long careers. Some disappeared from the limelight, lending to their legacy on record both rarity value and a melancholy sense of potential left untapped. David Lively, Alexander Lonquich and Ewa Pobłocka are still performing today, but their DG Debut albums have never been reissued on CD. Dino Ciani, Youri Egorov and Steven De Groote died tragically young while their careers were still in the ascendant. Other pianists retreated from the spotlight and became teachers, such as Roberto Szidon and Boris Bloch.
Alongside the fire-breathing virtuosity of Mikhail Faermann and Steven De Groote, the box reissues Beethoven sonata recordings made by Elly Ney at the end of her long career, and a mono-era account of the Diabelli Variations by the Swiss pianist Paul Baumgartner. These artists represent a link with the Clara Schumann school of pianism, while Erik Then-Bergh’s 1951 account of Reger’s Telemann Variations embodies an intellectual German style.
Pianophiles of every stripe will find something here to astonish and intrigue them. The recordings are issued in the Original Covers format, and the booklet includes an introduction to each of the pianists by the piano-specialist Jonathan Summers.
CD 1
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2; Ballade No. 2
Études; Mazurkas; Scherzo No. 4
VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra / Zdzisław Górzyński
RACHMANINOFF 6 Études-Tableaux, Op. 33*
LEV OBORIN
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 2
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2
RACHMANINOFF Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14; Lilacs, Op. 21 No. 5; Études-Tableaux Op. 33 Nos. 1 & 2, Op. 39 No. 5
BUSONI Turandots Frauengemach
LISZT Figaro Fantasy, S.697
BORIS BLOCH
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 3
CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 2; Polonaise, Op. 53; Prelude, Op. 28 No. 17; 3 Mazurkas; Valse, Op. 34 No. 1
MICHEL BLOCK
CD 4
DEBUSSY Préludes – Livre I (1971 recording – previously unpublished)*
Children’s Corner
DINO CIANI
*FIRST-EVER RELEASE
CD 5
WEBER Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3
DINO CIANI
CD 6
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 6
BRAHMS Paganini Variations
MIKHAIL FAERMANN
SCHUMANN Carnaval*
YOURI EGOROV
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DG
CD 7
BEETHOVEN Eroica Variations
SCHUMANN Études symphoniques
STEVEN DE GROOTE
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 8
BOULEZ Piano Sonata No. 2*
BERG Piano Sonata, Op. 1*
MILHAUD Le Carnaval d’Aix
CLAUDE HELFFER
Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo / Louis Frémaux
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 9
SCHUMANN Piano Sonata No. 2*; Novelette, Op. 21 No. 8*; 3 Fantasiestücke, Op. 111*; Nachtstücke, Op. 23 (Previously unpublished recording)°
VERONICA JOCHUM VON MOLTKE
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
°FIRST-EVER RELEASE
CD 10
LISZT Piano Sonata in B minor
CHOPIN Polonaise-Fantaisie; Étude, Op. 10 No. 10
DIANA KACSO
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 11
CHOPIN Ballade Nos. 1–4; Impromptus Nos. 1–4; Berceuse
JULIAN VON KAROLYI
FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD
CD 12
CHOPIN Sonata No. 3; Boléro; Mazurka, Op. 17 No. 4; Valse No. 14; Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante
JULIAN VON KAROLYI
CD 13
RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin
STRAVINSKY Tango; Piano-Rag-Music; Trois mouvements de Pétrouchka
DAVID LIVELY
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 14
SCHOENBERG 3 Klavierstücke, Op. 11
SCHUBERT Sonata No. 16
ALEXANDER LONQUICH
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 15
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 8 ‘Pathétique’ & 31
ELLY NEY
CD 16
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 14 ‘Moonlight’ & 23 ‘Appassionata’
ELLY NEY
CD 17
J.S. BACH Aria variata alla maniera italiana
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 1
DEBUSSY Images I & II
EWA POBŁOCKA
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 18
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 28
SCHUMANN Toccata
RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit
JORGE LUIS PRATS
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 19
J.S. BACH Goldberg Variations
PROKOFIEV Piano Sonata No. 7
ZOLA MAE SHAULIS
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 20
J.S. BACH Toccatas, BWV 911–915
ZOLA MAE SHAULIS
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 21
IVES Piano Sonata No. 2 ‘Concord, Mass., 1840–1860’; Three-page Sonata
ROBERTO SZIDON
CD 22
REGER Telemann Variations
ERIK THEN-BERGH
BEETHOVEN Diabelli Variations
PAUL BAUMGARTNER
“Chopin is here in the drawing-room – where very arguably he belongs – and not in the concert-hall. Von Karolyi exaggerates nothing, but is content to play with simplicity and poetry … the Fantaisie-Impromptu is played delicately and with very great skill.” Gramophone, October 1955 (Von Karolyi – Chopin)
“If he played this way at 17, what will he do in ten years? For this is one of the most extraordinary potentials I have ever heard.” Gramophone, April 1957 (Ashkenazy – Chopin)
“Though she now lacks the strength and glossy technique of many younger pianists, nevertheless [Elly Ney] holds one’s interest by sheer integrity and quality … Her approach is more philosophical than romantic.” Gramophone, November 1959 (Ney – Beethoven)
“Michel Block won the Arthur Rubinstein prize [at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw], and I must say I’m on Rubinstein’s side … Block’s rubato is managed with such freshness and musicianship that you only discover what a lot of it there is if you try tapping the rhythm.” Gramophone, March 1961 (Block – Chopin)
“Oborin’s performance is wonderfully authoritative and controlled… You could call [the Etudes-Tableaux] the sonnets of a piano virtuoso. At least that is how Oborin plays them.” Gramophone, December 1967 (Oborin – Rachmaninoff)
“Claude Helffer’s coruscating performance of Boulez’s Second Sonata … To play it, and play it with such mastery, is a real tour de force.” Gramophone, May 1971 (Helffer – Boulez)
“Hats off, gentlemen, a genius! Roberto Szidon plays incomparably the finest performance of the Concord Sonata on records … The Three-Page Sonata is also magnificently done.” High Fidelity, May 1972 (Szidon – Ives)
“The Debut series is fully justified if it enables gifted young pianists to reach a wider public. If they are all as musicianly as Miss Shaulis we shall have no cause for complaint … She sounds eminently sensible and sympathetic, and so does her playing of the Goldberg Variations. She has the two fundamental qualities of a good Bach player: excellent control of the part writing and a nice sense of rhythm.” Gramophone, September 1972
“All these performances have a natural, unforced momentum which makes them beautifully unassuming. Miss Shaulis is somehow quietly devotional without ever suggesting anything so magisterial as a high priestess of Bach.” Gramophone, October 1976 (Bach: Toccatas)
“Bloch’s joie de vivre and seemingly instinctive command of rubato and nuance evoke and preserve an almost improvisatory freshness … This young man has technique to burn and a perpetually singing tone.” High Fidelity, January 1981
“Bloch has a truly astonishing ability to handle huge masses of musical sound, steering and directing the movement like a master pilot.” Stereo Review, February 1981
“The ‘French touch’ is instantly recognizable in [David Lively’s] clear, limpid account of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin … The Stravinsky pieces are engagingly rendered.” High Fidelity, January 1981
“De Groote is an exceedingly well-schooled musician and has a mind of his own. High Fidelity, January 1981
“Everything David Lively plays (on this record at least) exhibits the greatest naturalness, and his technical proficiency, while equal to the music, seems never to be on display … I would probably enjoy hearing him in almost anything.” Stereo Review, February 1981
“[Jorge Luis Prats’s] pianism is obviously on a very high level … Particularly noteworthy are his vibrant, expansive account of the Schumann Toccata and his tautly propulsive Gaspard … The tight, sprinting compression of ‘Scarbo’ almost defies belief.” High Fidelity, June 1981
“Naturally, [Ewa Pobłocka] plays Chopin, and she plays it with instinctive understanding… More unexpectedly, she also plays Bach, and with delicacy [and] great finesse.” Stereo Review, October 1982
“Mikhail Faerman strikes me as a major artist. He has lots of power and technique, but he can play lyrically and delicately too, and he really knows how to bring out the individual character of a passage. He gets manifold opportunities to do that in the Brahms Paganini Variations, and he doesn’t miss a trick.” Stereo Review, October 1982
“Alexander Lonquich is another impressive pianist … He makes Schoenberg’s Op. 11 both transparent and expressive. His Schubert Op. 42 is a genuine performance, fully thought through, constantly moving and breathing.” Stereo Review, October 1982
“Schumann was perfectly suited to Egorov’s temperament… A mercurial Carnaval, issued on a DG LP, gave a hint of what was to come.” Gramophone, August 2020 (Egorov – Schumann)
“Ciani’s Weber [is invested] with an enchanting grace, vivacity and charm, never forgetting the Sonatas’ operatic inspiration.” Gramophone, June 2011 (Ciani – Weber)
“Joyous, elegant and crisply articulated.” Gramophone, February 2017 (Then-Bergh – Reger)
“An exceptionally persuasive 1952 account of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations … a profoundly intelligent reading and, as it draws towards the closing fugue, profound too.” Gramophone, September 2017 (Baumgartner – Beethoven)