Auteur : Guilhem Chameyrat
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Deutsche Grammophon releases two « lost tapes » of Rudolf Serkin playing Beethoven’s « Waldstein » and « Appassionata » Sonatas
On this Friday 17th November, Deutsche Grammophon released two « lost tapes » by Rudolf Serkin, dated 1986 and 1989. The album contains two previously unreleased versions of the ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Appassionata’ sonatas, which the pianist was unable to validate. His daughter, Judith Serkin, agreed to publish these recordings, and also wrote the introductory text that appears…
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A legendary recording: Bruggen conducts Mozart
Frans Bruggen is one of the most singular exponents of historically informed conducting – in other words, conducting with period instruments. The conductor has shown that it is not an oxymoron to be a ‘barroqueux’ while claiming Furtwangler as his main inspiration. There is an organic vision of music in Bruggen’s art, and under his…
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The art of Dinu Lipatti
Liveliness is an essential characteristic of Lipatti’s playing. With the Romanian pianist, time never seems to stand still. At first, there is something calmer, without being frozen – which would be in contradiction with the moving and temporal character of the music. Some performers place their interpretations in a moment as if out of time…
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A few words about a historical approach to historic recordings
Emile Berliner with his recording gramophone. The sound identity is part of the record. Certain technical constraints, such as the medium and its limitations, microphone placement and the sound spectrum, shape and modulate this sonic identity. And the performer is obliged to adapt to them. But these conditions have changed considerably over the course of…
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A legendary recording: Rudolf Kempe conducts the ideal Brahms Third in 1960
Rudolf Kempe is not the most talked-about conductor, and yet! Of course, Kempe’s name is still associated with Richard Strauss, and he was one of the greatest interpreters of his orchestral works, alongside conducting giants such as Herbert von Karajan and Fritz Reiner. The symphonic poems and symphonies were perhaps never as lively, natural, spontaneous…
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The art of Marcelle Meyer
When we try to identify a form of « French piano tradition » – which is sometimes already debatable – we often tend to speak of « pearl playing ». Marcelle Meyer’s style lies in a way of linking this pearled playing to an extraordinary expressive power, with notably an infinite palette of nuances in the high notes and…
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Alfred Cortot commenting Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata
At the École Normale de Musique de Paris, on 11 January 1958, 3 May 1959, 13 and 14 June 1960, Alfred Cortot recorded this commentary with musical examples explaining Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ Sonata. Here is the transcription.First, here is the original version, the English version is available just below. The Masterclass with the commentary in French…
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A legendary recording: Kempff plays Beethoven’s «Hammerklavier» Sonata in 1936
It is astonishing to note that Wilhelm Kempff’s style has only become wiser. However, it would be more accurate to say that it was a step towards wisdom. In the great German master’s late recordings, ardour has given way to idealism, but imagination has never dried up. Where many pianists would be confined to a…
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Brahms’ fourth, a discography
Table of content THE HISTORICAL VERSIONS: Fiedler, Weingartner, Mengelberg, De Sabata, Toscanini, Furtwangler, Kletzki, Abendroth, Busch THE GOLDEN AGE: Karajan, Walter, Beinum, Jochum, Stokowski, Klemperer, Reiner, Knappertsbusch, Schuricht, Bohm, Mravinsky, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Kempe, Szell, Kubelik, Gielen, Rosbaud, Bernstein, Sanderling, Celibidache, Giulini THE MODERNS: Kleiber, Haitink, Muti, Wand, Abbado, Mackerras, Chailly, Rattle, Ticciati, Blomstedt THE HISTORICAL VERSIONS…
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The art of Claudio Arrau
There is something elusive about Arrau’s art. His interpretations seem to take on an additional dimension with each new listening, and one seems to understand new meanings, sometimes radically different from the previous ones, as one moves through the pianist’s considerable discographic legacy. Arrau is a Chilean pianist, but it is the Germanic repertoire that…
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