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Sakuraphon in Japan has recently published two wonderful Sirota CDs with many more to come, continuing Allan Evans’ work. This includes the Beethoven sonatas.

Do you have any of the Sirota late Beethoven sonatas? 109-111 apparently exist, Allan Evans was thinking about releasing them, but it never happened.

hmm, perhaps it is true that she can sound exactly like Anton Rubinstein!

Many thanks for sharing this!

March 17, 1940, NYPhil. She was only 26 at the time.

💯+💯

Thank you again.

good pedagogue

great control and expression!

Awesome, thank you!!

Woahhh!! Amazing find! Thanks!

Farnadi is a new name to me. I think I'll enjoy this.

Wunderbar! My father, Paul Ulanowsky, studied with Severin Eisenberger in Vienna before firs coming to the U.S. on tour in 1937. Your comment about style is well-taken. We need a cultural renaissance.

Despite the apparent glamour, Jorge Bolet has described tough times in the late 1940s/50s, years when he was grateful for the many friends who supported him in these ‘ghastly lean years... These were ‘terrible years... great struggle...half-starvation’. (Interview with The New York Times, 28 January 1973) Fresh from an engagement (3 concerts) in Caracas, Venezuela - most likely in the Teatro Municipal, arranged by the Asociación Venezolana de Conciertos, he had flown back on 14 February 1950 and gave this performance of Rachmaninoff 3 with Howard Mitchell in Constitution Hall, Washington DC on Wednesday 15 February. The programme also included Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony. Jorge was covering for Byron Janis who was ill (he had been due to play same concerto). Many of his engagements were covers for other pianists who were indisposed. For example, two weeks earlier on 1 February, 1950, for the 75th birthday of violinist Fritz Kreisler, there was a dinner at the Ritz Carlton hotel in New York City. Bolet played piano selections, ‘pinch-hitting’ for Claudio Arrau who had been unable to make plane connections to get to the dinner on time. (The New York Times, 2.2.50)

Fascinating use of deliberate wrong notes, exaggerations...very spirited, messy.

Thank you for this - I've always loved his recordings of this rep, terrific to hear a live broadcast!

Breathtaking. I'd love to hear the entirety of the 1958 Jubilee concert.

It is during the early years of the 1930s that Jorge Bolet had some sessions with Leopold Godowsky. He would go up to New York when he had mastered a few of the composer's compositions. Jorge's teacher at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, David Saperton had arranged the connection. He would practise some of Godowsky’s fiendishly difficult works (few others of his contemporaries at Curtis were up to the task) and then play them to the composer. ​​‘Jorge’s scores of these pieces bore Godowsky’s markings in red crayon-the daunting “Passacaglia,” based on themes from Schubert’s “Unfinished” symphony; the “Fledermaus” and “Künstlerleben” symphonic metamorphoses (on famous waltzes by Johann Strauss II); the “Java Suite” (based upon Godowsky's trip to [modern] Indonesia.' (Albert McGrigor) Jorge listed these lessons for 1932-3 in a submission to Grove's Dictionary of Music; but they do not seem to have been systematic lessons. Le Monde Diplomatique, August 1986 had a feature on Jorge at the Festival de La Roque-d’Anthéron, in which he states: 'I never heard Godowsky play; he had had a heart attack ("un infarctus"), and no longer played the piano. He was not a pianist for the big halls, he was - if you like - an artist of the salon. There are salons where the ladies are elegant and where hands are gently kissed. It is of such ladies that we must think when we play Godowsky, not of dancers wearing après-ski boots.' Jorge's sessions with Godowsky came at a difficult time for the pianist/composer. Godowsky had suffered a debilitating stroke 17 June 1930 in London, while recording the E major scherzo of Chopin. His motor reflex system was irreparably impaired. Jeremy Nicholas in his biography of the pianist/composer has further appalling detail. In August 1932 his son Gordon had slashed his wrists and on 27 December he was found dead in his New York address, having gassed himself. Then Godowsky's wife Frieda died in the Ansonia Hotel; her funeral 6 December 1933 was attend by Kreisler, Heifetz, Bruno Walter; Josef Hofmann and Mischa Elman played. Godowsky was grief-stricken. After 42 years, the pillar of his life was gone. Even if he had been able to play in public, he would probably still have had to teach as well in order to supplement his income. Even Rachmaninoff, Hoffman and Horowitz were finding it difficult to earn substantial sums during the Depression. On 24 June 1934 (for six weeks), to earn money he set up a series of masterclasses in New York, as he had done the previous year in Los Angeles (August 1933). In May 1935 he was in Moscow and Leningrad at the invitation of Heinrich Neuhaus (1888-1964), his former pupil who had attended his masterclasses in Berlin and then in Vienna (1909-1914); he would himself later teach Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels and Radu Lupu, born in Galați, Romania (1945-2022). Only the most talented pupils would take part and all expenses would be paid. Godowsky was invited to visit the Kremlin - quite a distinction for foreigners in those days. But the situation in the country so upset him that he left as soon as possible declining an invitation to meet Stalin.

Great to hear the Ravel and Prokofiev in live performances - thank you for sharing! Of course his studio recordings of these two pieces became classics. I heard him play one movement of the Ravel live - as an encore(!), after a concerto performance, and at about the same time also heard him play the Prokofiev live in solo recital. In both cases, I feel that young version of me didn't know the music well enough to adequately appreciate the performances! 😐

It's the most dynamic and agressive interpretation. I love the passion and energy, but still Hamelin's more delicate interpretation has stolen my heart!

Liszt wrote that the Hammerklavier takes about an hour to perform. In which case, he probably played it at tempi similar to this.

Yeah, I would also remove the "The Threat" Variation, she knows what's up

Master

What a mess!

Wow Benjamin! What a massive tour de force!

I heard him perform this at the Proms a week ago with Ed Gardner. One of my all time favourite pieces of music. The first movement is noticeably slower under Ticciati. Utterly brilliant.

Great job! I'm familiar with Bolet's Godowsky/Chopin recordings, but I've missed a few. Saperton is also very good, but he has Godowsky's coolness, I prefer Bolet.

Recorded in 1954 Radio Broadcast Piano: Ignaz Tiegerman Cairo Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Oreste Campisi

Magnifique ! JBolet mérite des millions de vues YT

is it just me or does she look a little bit like Medtner?

It's absurd to think, as hansulrichbehner8026 below apparently does, at least for anyone familiar with the great Russian pianist Gregory Sokolov, that his sometimes deliberately slower tempi are a consequence of a lack of virtuosity. Just listen to and watch his astounding performances of the Brahms 2 or Rach 3 concerti, the Chopin etudes, and his Bach Partitas. His power, phrasing and articulation are a miracle, to say nothing of his musicality. If you want uniformity, listen to AI generated music. Brahms reportedly said after hearing a performance of his G minor Rhapsody, played slowly, that he loved it. Then a second pianist played it much more quickly, and he said he loved that performance, too. Someone asked him how he could love both and he said it could and should be interpreted differently by different pianists.

Fantastic colourful playing, beautiful legato and articulation. I'm not a big fan of the orchestra, what is the rush? The are obviously ahead of Tiegerman on occasions, in an unpleasant way. To be picky, I do feel this performance is mostly the outer turmoil of Brahms, and could do with a bit more inner struggle. BTW why is it so often the case that the better the performance, the worse the sound quality will be 😥

Wow! Incredibile

Careful with Tiegermann. I started pitch stabilizing the arbiter tracks and had some copyright issues from whoever owns arbiter’s rights, so def worth testing what is clear before investing time in a big vid. Love channel!!

6:30, 6:53

I'm listening to it now and it's obvious from the first minutes that it's great. I'm not a Brahms person but I've always loved Tiegerman's Brahms, his Capriccio and Intermezzo recordings are beautiful. The lively, flexibility, boldness, powerful and passionate playing here reminded me of Huberman's recording of the Brahms violin concerto, which is my favorite recording for that piece and Brahms himself could not hold back his tears when he heard Huberman play the Brahms's Violin Concerto. Thanks for the upload!

I think you are correct in pointing out the increasing number of performances of this piece. I have seen it live twice in the UK in the last two months, once in Birmingham and once in London at the Proms this week, and there is a third performance later this year, also in London.

11:08 reminds me of the bell that heralds the dawn in Saint-Saens Danse Macabre...

over the top... in places,,, vulgar? can think of plenty of non musical noise out there.... bravo! well played

I hope you have seen my points about your potential copyright breach, in my comments below, DreamBoat? Did you get permission from the radio company to stream this performance?

15:31

Who's the conductor? Fabulous Bolet, making MUSIC!

6:16, 7:05

As usual with him _ Comme d'habitude avec lui ❤❤❤

Cool, wasn't aware she recorded any Dutilleux.

スゴイ！！！

OMG Wow!!!!!