Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Ballade No.3 in A flat major, Op.47
Scherzo No.3 in C sharp minor, Op.39
Fantasy in F minor, Op.49
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No.23 in F minor, Op.57 Appassionata
Piano Sonata No.32 in C minor, Op.111
Van Cliburn (piano: Chopin)
Claudio Arrau (piano: Beethoven)
rec. June 1959, BBC Television Studios, London (Chopin) October 1959
(Appassionata)
and June 1960 (Op.111), BBC Television Studios, London
Menus, English: Picture Format 4:3: Region Code 0: DVD Format NTSC: Sound
Enhanced
mono: Black and White
ICA CLASSICS DVD ICAD 5073 [83:15]
Just a year after his remarkable victory at the first Tchaikovsky Piano
Competition
in 1958, Van Cliburn was filmed for BBC Television in London performing
three
pieces by Chopin. The film is in black and white and of very reasonable
quality.
The sound is in ‘enhanced mono’ and in similarly good
condition.
The BBC decided to go for a drawing room mock up, with French windows and
a
few strategically placed plants, or plant effects: I’m still not
quite
sure if they’re of the potted or stencilled variety. Cliburn himself
introduces
the three pieces from the piano stool but in an understated and modest
way.
There is one camera, and it mostly stays in a position as if from a seat
in
the imagined stalls - if you can imagine stalls in a studio drawing room
set.
Occasionally the camera pans slightly behind and above Cliburn. But there
are
no other shots. Simple, but effective.
Expect no grandstanding or barnstorming. This is genuinely poetic and
richly
relaxed playing. The A flat major Ballade is a study in lyricism and
legato,
with no straining at the leash. His feathery runs in the third Scherzo
attest
to a refined spirit, and a concern for the deftest of articulation. He
talks
of the ‘march of fate’ in the Fantasy in F minor in which
‘earth
passions [I assume earthly is meant] and spiritual awakening’ vie.
He
is at his youthful finest here, full of fresh and genuinely poetic
feeling,
and without exercising too much pedal. His dynamics are exemplary, his
imagination
vivid.
Van Cliburn shares this disc with Claudio Arrau, who plays the
Appassionata
four months later for the BBC. Gone are the French windows, gone is the
gentle
frivolity. There’s just a plain curtain in front of which he plays
with
his usual concentration. The sound quality is a touch less detailed than
the
Cliburn, and the print quality just a little less clear. Still, apart from
a
high level hum, these aren’t things to worry about. With Arrau it
wasn’t
really just a question of slowing tempi over the years. Some of his tempi
got
slower, but some didn’t. With the Appassionata he was
remarkably
consistent over the decades. What did change was a thickening of textures
which
made it seem as if his tempi were slower. In 1970 and again in 1983, both
these
filmed performances being on Euroarts [2058708 and 2058678 respectively],
the
tempi are almost identical to this 1959 BBC. The weight of chording here,
though,
is just that much brighter and lighter, and the camera angle going behind
his
right shoulder allows one to see just how the weight was produced.
There is what is called a ‘Bonus’. This isn’t because of
timing,
as the whole box only lasts 83 minutes, but because, one assumes, of
picture
quality. This June 1960 performance of Op.111 is in the worst picture
quality,
very grainy and indistinct, and in poorer sound quality than the other
works.
There’s some tape waver too. There is just one instance of front-on
camera
work where Arrau is framed beneath the lid, which reflects his face as he
plays
- an old standby that never fails to hit the mark. Once again it’s a
question
of bulking chords rather than tempo per se that distinguished the
middle
period from the late Arrau. This is still middle period, and highly
effective.
At the end Arrau courteously bows to the camera from the piano stool.
There is a wealth of Arrau on DVD at the moment, so this wouldn’t be
at
the top of my shopping list. Van Cliburn admirers however can enjoy it for
its
near concurrence with the piano competition that made him a star.
Jonathan Woolf
Van Cliburn admirers can enjoy this for its near concurrence with the piano competition that made him a star.
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