see end of review for contents
rec. 1947-54
APR 5572-74 [79:02 & 76:24 & 72:56]
In their different ways APR and Naxos have been covering something of
the same territory in Cortot studies - not that they are alone, as EMI
has recently issued capacious boxes devoted to the pianist. Toshiba and
Shinseido amongst Japanese companies have also been busy. APR has been
working structurally through the recorded legacy and here are volumes
2, 3 and 4 in their ‘Late Recordings’ marque.
Volume 2 is rather fascinating for a number of reasons. An appendix compiles
new takes that were selected for LP from the original sessions which had
produced 78 sides. Those chosen are the ones that show most disparity
between the 78 sides and the subsequent LP release. The Bach Aria, for
instance is much faster in the LP take and has less deeply etched bass
tone. It’s more equalized and hardly represents Cortot’s true
tone. A more conventional sound world emerges from these LP takes. I think
most admirers of the pianist will much prefer the 78 versions, not least
the deftly witty Schumann. The previously unpublished Franck Prélude,
Aria et Final is a real find, recorded in 1947, and showing the pianist
in powerfully energised form with a conception that is both convincing
and towering. Unfortunately one side hasn’t survived so there is
a good segue into his earlier 1932 version. Yes, we go from the 1947 Steinway
to the 1932 Blüthner and back again, but never mind. His 1949 Debussy
Préludes are heard in not-so-great sound due largely to deficiencies
in the material used for the matrices. The playing itself is full of felicity
and fancy, full textured pearly tone and deep, heroically pointed accents.
This performance fully deserves to stand beside the 1937 recording of
the Préludes, though there are few obvious interpretative divergences.
Chopin is the focus of volume 3, recorded between 1949 and 1951. APR has
sequenced the works in such a way that the Nocturnes, Preludes, Waltzes
and Etudes run in sets, even when recorded at different sessions. Thus,
for example, the three Nocturnes with which the disc starts contain music
recorded at two sessions, two years apart. The superbly desynchronised
chordal playing was beginning to seem interpretatively passé by
now - but only to those for whom sleek chording and impersonalised playing
was the thing - and the depth of Cortot’s tonal resources is still
remarkable, and so too the songful treble. The F major is especially beautiful.
It was the sessions’ supervisor, David Bicknell, who encouraged
Cortot to record tried and trusted repertoire, a tactic that was not always
to Cortot’s liking, but which reflected HMV’s nervousness
as to the sustainability of the pianist’s technique. True, the 1933
Abbey Road recording of the Barcarolle is more convincing, and fleeter
than this 1951 remake but two decades had passed by, after all. There
are some thumps in the D flat major Waltz from November 1949 and the A
minor Waltz (October 195) sounds strangely hollow. Do not overlook Mendelssohn’s
Variations sérieuses, in this conspicuously successful 1950
recording.
Regarding volume 4, Cortot often reprised works in the studio, sometimes
multiply so. Both the Ländler and Litanie, for instance,
were recorded in London in 1937 and are presented by Naxos (8.112012)
and in truth they are artistically superior to these early 1950s remakes,
fine and enjoyable though they are on their own terms. We also have a
bracing May 1953 Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No.11. Of rather more significance
is the recording he made at the same time, of Carnaval. Cortot
set down this work three times - 1923, 1928 and, here, once again, 1953,
mirroring the three recordings he left of the Piano Concerto. This last
recording is a noble study but vitiated by wrong notes to such an extent
that it does intrude; approximations in the Marche des Davidsbündler
are the order of the day, not the exception. If you can listen through
these well-worn Cortotisms you will still find much to excite the poetic
instinct, albeit the early electric of 1928 is the place to go for a more
comprehensive account of his way with the work.
APR groups the works into composer sequences; therefore we are not presented
with a chronological run of recordings. Thus it is that we can hear the
Chopin recordings of, in the main, June and July 1954 - the exception
is the slow movement of the B flat minor sonata, recorded on the same
day as Carnaval. Single movements from the sonatas were released,
and various pieces were attempted by Cortot, by now beginning to suffer
from Parkinson’s Disease, and not completed. The Etudes evince something
of his youthful brio and the Tarantelle in A flat major is attractively
dispatched. Documentation is good and the transfers too, though I marginally
prefer the competing Naxos Carnaval.
These discs trace Cortot in the studio between 1947 and 1954 and reflect
the vicissitudes of the time, and sometimes the toll taken on the pianist
himself. They also contain much transcendent pianism and offer a concentrated
focus on his post-war legacy.
Jonathan Woolf
Disc contents
Volume 2
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
“Aria” (Concerto in F minor, BWV1056 - Adagio); arr. Cortot
[2:59]
Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
“Minuet” (Harpsichord Suites 1 and 8 - Minuets) arr. Cortot
[2:15]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Litanie arr. Cortot [3:25]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Vogel als Prophet, Op.82/7 [2:39]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Nocturne in F sharp, Op.15/2 [3:17]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Wiegenlied arr. Cortot [2:26]
César FRANCK (1822-1890)
Prélude, Aria et Final (previously unpublished) [20:26]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Préludes Book One [32:57]
Appendix: 1948 ‘encores’ in LP version
BACH arr. Cortot “Aria” (Concerto in F minor, BWV1056
- Adagio); PURCELL arr. Cortot “Minuet” (Harpsichord
Suites1 & 8 - Minuets); SCHUMANN Vogel als Prophet, Op.82/7
rec. 1947-49, London
Volume 3
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Nocturne No.2 in E flat major Op.9/2 [4:08]
Nocturne No.4 in F major Op 15/1 [4:24]
Nocturne No.7 in C sharp minor Op 27/1 [4:33]
Etude in E major Op 10/3 [4:04]
Etude in C sharp minor Op 10/4 [2:14]
Etude in F minor Op 25/2 [1:33]
Trois Nouvelles Etudes [1:50 + 1:39 + 1:46]
Barcarolle in F sharp minor Op 60 [8:17]
Prelude No.15 in D flat major Op 28 (Raindrop) [4:34]
Prelude No.25 in C sharp minor Op 45 [4:01]
Berceuse in D flat major Op 57 [4:04]
Waltz No.3 in A minor Op 34/2 [4:14]
Waltz No.6 in D flat major Op 64/1 (Minute) [1:33]
Waltz No.9 in A flat major Op 69/1 [2:54]
Waltz No.9 in A flat major Op 69/1 [2:53]
Waltz No.11 in G flat major Op 70/1 [2:33]
Waltz No.12 in F minor Op 70/2 [2:05]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Variations sérieuses in D minor Op 54 [10:55]
Alfred Cortot (piano)
rec. 1949-51, London
Volume 4
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Moment musical in F minor D780/3 [1:43]
12 Deutsche Ländler D790 [8:59]
Litanie auf das Fest Aller Seelen D343 arranged by Alfred Cortot [3:26]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Hungarian Rhapsody No.11 S244/11 [4:57]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Carnaval Op.9 (1834) [25:38]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Nocturne in F sharp major Op.15/2 [3:12]
Etude in G flat major Op.10/5 Black Keys [1:42]
Etude in F minor Op.25/2 [1:34]
Etude in G flat major Op.25/9 Butterfly [1:05]
Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op 35 - Marche funèbre only [5:45]
Tarantelle in A flat major Op.43 [3:16]
Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor Op.58 - Largo only [7:20]
Waltz in C sharp minor Op.64/2 [3:00]
Alfred Cortot (piano)
rec. 1951-54, EMI Abbey Road, London
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