1930 BENNO MOISEIWITSCH Piano Brahms Variations on Theme by Handel HMV D 7476/8
$
25
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Description
A series of great Solo instrumentals - Piano Violin Cello Harp, Winds and Brass on 78 rpm records
Click on this link to see more Solo Instrumental Records!
One of the great Romantic pianists, Benno Moisewitsch.
in his first multi record set
Benno Moiseiwitsch plays Brahms Handel Variations , Op.24 (
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 97)
The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 (1861)
00:00 Aria , Variations 1 - 4
03:53 Variations 5 - 9
08:04 Variations 10 - 13
12:20 Variations 14 - 19
16:19 Variations 20 - 25
20:31 Fugue
Recorded in 1930
Please see top of the page for condition
Moiseiwitsch was particularly known for his interpretations of the late Romantic repertoire, especially the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff (who was an admirer of his playing and referred to Moiseiwitsch as his "spiritual heir").
Benno Moisewitsch is by many considered the last "subjective" grand piano player in the grand 19th century tradition, as opposed to the literal piano players of the 20th century,
Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) remains one of the stellar keyboard talents developed by Theodor Leschetizky, who stressed both delicacy of touch and directness of the musical point. Moiseiwitsch cultivated a wide repute for his interpretations of the music of Rachmaninov, and the composer often referred to Moiseiwitsch as his favorite pianist. The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (8 September 1955) derives from a Proms Concert at Royal Albert Hall, and it elicits the sugary finesse that marked the Moiseiwitsch style: the soft landings; the lightly deft, pearly figuration; the impish, flexible approach to both ornaments and rhythm. Even the Dies Irae motif in the score takes on a lilt and swagger more appropriate to Chopin’s zal, as if death could dance the mazurka. Malcolm Sargent lights up the orchestral tissue with taut strings, harp, and triangle, while Moiseiwitsch turns the piano into a violinist’s whirlwind palette without effort. The middle variations--choreographed as Paganini’s love-scene--drips with erotic suggestiveness. The famed Variation 18, an inversion of Paganini’s A Minor original--flows with silken inevitability. The last set of variants steams with electric current, the sudden agogics whipping off the pages in exemplary, bravura fashion.
Moiseiwitsch championed the C Minor Concerto by Frederick Delius from 1915, having inscribed it commercially with Constant Lambert in 1946. The performance generates considerable zeal and seriousness from the rather episodic work, whose sometimes, knotty, recalcitrant filigree Moiseiwitsch sails through. Still, the nineteen minute piece eludes easy classification of its ethos and darkly hued tone.
The C Minor Rachmaninov (13-14 August 1955) with Rignold for EMI is the second commercial inscription of the concerto Moiseiwitsch made, and the piano tone rings especially brilliant, with glittering trills and long-held, plastic caesuras. This same inscription graces the Philips collection for the Great Pianists of the 20th Century set. Mosieiwitsch and Rignold collaborate for sincere, romantic schwung, a genuine feeling for the composer’s alternately crisp and nostalgic sentiments. The last movement casts a crystalline film over the filigree well worth the price of admission, and initiates will sense that something unique lay in those Russian fingersprice rating
