Géza Anda gave these concerto performances with the Stuttgart Radio
Symphony Orchestra, almost a quarter of a century apart. The disc thus
documents a musician who had developed and matured over a period of a
generation, playing two works strongly associated with him. But one
concerto was as yet not solidly part of his repertoire – it had yet to
be stabilised interpretatively. It is thus fascinating to hear his
performance of his compatriot Bartók’s Second Concerto, here given with
conductor Hans Müller-Kray in November 1950. Those familiar with the
soloist’s forays in this concerto – Praga has, for instance, recently
reissued Anda’s broadcast performance with Fricsay and the RIAS
orchestra in September 1953 on Praga PRD/DSD 350 108 - will know the
general outline of his performances. These were to an extent moulded
with Fricsay’s collaboration. Despite his familiarity with the work,
this Stuttgart
broadcast with the SWR sounds structurally tentative and
collaboratively edgy. The proportions of the work are far broader than
was later the case, especially the slow movement, which sounds out of
scale and too disjunctive at this tempo. There is also some scruffy
ensemble, which is perhaps not wholly reprehensible as the orchestra
would have been largely unfamiliar with Bartók’s idiom and had probably
never before played the concerto. What also rules it out is the sonics.
The sound is very watery and dull – it applies to the piano as well as
orchestra – and great chunks of detail go missing.
This
1950 visit was Anda’s first to the SWR orchestra but he was to return
several more times. In 1973 he and Ferdinand Leitner performed the
Tchaikovsky First – the same year the BBC taped him in Bartók’s Second
[BBCL 4247-2]. As ever in this work – witness, say, another of his
German broadcasts in his earlier collaboration with Solti and the
Cologne Radio Symphony in 1958 [ICA Classics ICAC5092] - he marries
poetic finesse and triumphant virtuosity. There are moments of
spellbinding lyricism, as well as dramatic flourishes, none of which
are marred by thumping. He was ever a natural poet of the keyboard, but
one who could roar with the best of them. Fortunately the recorded
sound here is excellent, and whilst some orchestral detail is smudged
and there are some passing ensemble incidents this is a galvanizing
reading through and through.
For Anda admirers here is an opportunity to hear his Bartók concerto in embryo, and to take pleasure in his Tchaikovsky.
Jonathan Woolf
Masterwork Index:
Tchaikovsky piano concerto 1
