Alexander Uninsky (piano)
Concert Tours in Europe 1951-1962
MELOCLASSIC MC1058 [79 + 70]
Alexander Uninsky was in his early 40s when he made the first of the recordings in this Meloclassics twofer. Kiev-born in 1910 he escaped revolutionary wars by travelling with his family to Paris where he studied with Lazare-Lévy. He toured widely and escaped to America during the War, only to return to Paris where he was to base himself for several years. A final move to America followed, before he died at the age of only 62.
Uninsky was never a true headline artist but he made numerous recordings and was admired in his day. As is its metier, Melo focuses on works new to his discography though the first disc disinters a 1958 broadcast of Chopin’s First Concerto – a work that he did in fact record commercially, for Philips, with van Otterloo. Carl Melles is the prosaic conductor of the RTL Orchestra but Uninsky reveals a decided affiliation for the composer, with the crispness of his treble and his powerfully convincing phrasing bringing a strongly masculine aura. He finds plenty of dextrous colour in the slow movement, and it’s probably the recording that leaves a slightly hard toned impression.
For the Rachmaninov Paganini Rhapsody we find a purposeful drive and a stoic elevation in that famous variation though Willy Steiner’s direction can be rather stiff from time to time. The first disc ends with Chopin’s Sonata No.2. In his youth Uninsky sometimes ran into criticism of his excessive drive and temperament and this could certainly apply to the opening movement in this 1961 recording, made the day before his Rachmaninov in Hannover. This is very fast with little space for meaningful rubato – though, it’s true, it’s not quite as fast as Cortot used to take it. He generates a certain swing in the Scherzo and takes a sensible tempo for the Funeral March.
Uninsky was for some time friends with Prokofiev and so the composer’s Third Piano Concerto, which Uninsky did much to popularise, is a welcome addition in the form of this Maastricht recording of 1951. He’s teamed with André Rieu, father of the more famous popular violinist, and the Limburgs Symphony. Uninsky’s admirable technique is strongly in evidence here and so too his vivid, rhythmic playing, as it was when he recorded it in the studio, once again with van Otterloo. Bach’s Partita No.2 is crisply played though in the fashion of the time he’s sparing when it comes to repeats. But this is a significant addition to Uninsky’s recorded repertoire as is Schumann’s Carnaval, another work I don’t believe he recorded commercially, which he plays with sure awareness of its changeable moods. Ravel’s Ondine acts as an encore, from a 1962 Paris studio performance.
These European concert tour performances are heard in the best possible sound and the biographical notes, as usual from this source, are full of detail.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: Rob Challinor
Contents
Fréderic Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor Op.11
Orchestre de RTL/ Carl Melles
rec. 19 Nov, 1958 Luxembourg, Radiostudio RTL, radio studio recording
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini Op.43
Rundfunkorchester Hannover des NDR/Willy Steiner
rec. 11 Apr, 1961 Hannover, Landesfunkhaus NDR, radio studio recording
Fréderic Chopin
Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op.35
rec. 10 Apr, 1961 Hannover, Landesfunkhaus NDR, radio studio recording
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Piano Concerto No.3 in C major Op.26
Limburgs Symfonie Orkest/Andre Rieu Snr
rec. 29 June, 1951 Maastricht, Staargebouw NCRV, radio studio recording
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Partita No.2 in C minor BWV.826
rec. 16 Apr, 1961 München, Lothstrasse, BR, radio studio recording
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Carnaval Op.9
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit
rec. 15 Feb, 1962 Paris, Studio RTF, radio studio recording
