Along with their set of the complete Wilhelm Backhaus
acoustic recordings Pearl has now released the thirty acoustic items
and one Concerto performance that Benno Moiseiwitsch recorded between
1916 and 1925. In addition there are some of his thrilling 1927 early
electrics and a couple of unassailable discs from 1928 and 1930.
It would be easy in the welter of releases, not least
historical releases, to overlook a set such as this. Moiseiwitsch releases,
after all, continue to appear – later recitals, BBC concertos, his fabled
1938-44 recordings including his Rachmaninov, and others. But it should
be noted that this is the first systematic and complete reissue of his
entire acoustics and presents a pianist of the most formidable gifts,
one of the greatest colourists in music, in comprehensively devastating
form.
Moiseiwitsch was never seen as a superman virtuoso
– but he had a magnificent technique, equal to almost all demands placed
upon it. Throughout these two discs there is more than sufficient evidence
of his tonal beauty, freedom, pliancy and flexibility of phrasing for
a lifetime’s study. Added to which is an emotional impress, despite
the poker-faced indifference of his demeanour, impossible to obscure.
In Debussy’s Jardins sous la pluie he is vivid,
exciting and utilises colouristic effects to superb effect. Colouristic
shading can once again be appreciated and savoured in his Ravel whilst
his quick wit can be heard in a favoured composer of his, Palmgren.
His control of dynamics – and of dynamic shading – is a significant
part of his pianistic armoury; listen to the close of the Chopin Op
64 No 1 Waltz for a perfect example. The Weber Moto Perpetuum, a famous
record, shows a digitally superior skill, timing, lightness of touch
and his own recast ending. Textually Moiseiwitsch was apt sometimes
to change detail – doubles for example in the left hand or employing
interlocked octave passages – but this was not done superciliously as
an act of self-aggrandizement. Donald Manildi’s notes call this practice
a "personal signature" and I think it’s also true to say that
Moiseiwitsch generally saw internal logic to his amendments – as here
in the Weber or elsewhere in the E Minor Chopin Nocturne with his embellishments.
Moiseiwitsch had a superfine sensibility, with a truly
sparkling tone, a pearly treble, perfectly balanced. In the Rubinstein
Barcarolle his inflexions are marvellously apposite, his rhythmic bounce
infectious but never inflated. That E Minor Nocturne is especially passionate,
with quicksilver ornaments and trills whilst the Mendelssohn Concerto
shows the pianist in perhaps even greater relief. There is some tremendous
dexterity here and a caressing intimacy at the close of the first movement.
The recording certainly doesn’t flatter the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra
under the estimable Landon Ronald – horns and some of the strings having
a bit of an off day – but it catches the soloist in unstoppably effervescent
form.
He fused virtuosity and poeticism in his playing; a
perfect balance and an equilibrium of means and manner pervaded his
musicality. He could be infectiously wry (as in Chasins – very fast)
or shimmering with affection in Scarlatti where he brings out, unostentatiously,
wholly musically, inner voices. There is unforced eloquence married
to singular, unforgettable beauty of tone everywhere on these discs.
This tremendous set, presented in chronological order, in excellent
copies, shows the breadth of Moiseiwitsch’s repertoire and his mastery
of it. Listening to the pianism enshrined in them can only deepen one’s
understanding not only of Moiseiwitsch’s art but of the art of the piano
itself.
Jonathan Woolf
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what else is on offer 
Benno Moiseiwitsch, piano