Despite her relatively
early death we are fortunate that Clara
Haskil left behind numerous examples
of her art, a situation that is particularly
true of these concertos. Collectors
will know that the Beethoven Concerto,
best known maybe from her commercial
1950 Lamoureux/Markevitch recording
for Philips, also exists in performances
with the Winterthur Orchestra under
the expatriate Czech Swoboda and the
Vienna Symphony and Karajan (the former
on DG, the latter on Tahra). The Schumann
was also taped with the Hague Orchestra
under van Otterloo for Philips – both
this and the Beethoven-Markevitch have
recently been reissued in a big Haskil
retrospective from Philips – but a Strasbourg/Schuricht
live traversal also exists. To add to
this archive we now have these two Ansermet-led
performances with the conductor’s own
Suisse Romande recorded in Geneva and
Montreux in 1956 and 1960.
If neither adds materially
to our collective knowledge and understanding
of Haskil’s approach to these works
there is still considerable merit in
hearing her accord with Ansermet. He
leads a rather dogged view of the C
minor Concerto, rather too italicised
and accented for many tastes I’m sure,
and his rather heavy orchestral carapace
fuses with Haskil’s pensively asserted
piano statements. The result is a certain
gruffness, not aided by a recording
that slightly recesses the strings and
seems to bring out the middle register
of the keyboard. Digital fetishists
will note that not all her runs are
smooth and there are a few dropped and
smudged notes along the way though those
who value musicianship will subsume
these as passing details. In the slow
movement Haskil speeds up fluently though
emotively it’s rather cool. The finale
is very much like her commercial Philips
recording – fluent but unexciting. I
enjoyed some of her mildly capricious
phrasing but I never felt a sense of
exultancy or drive; things are rather
too bottled up.
Her Schumann I find
more convincing as a statement. It cleaves
to a Lipatti-like control of tempo though
without quite his special luminosity
– the two of course were colleagues
and friends. It’s Schumann playing that
doesn’t take Myra Hess’s celebrated
pre-War scenic route; Haskil is very
much quicker though her control of rubati
is such that one doesn’t register this
at all. She’s nowhere near as fast in
fact as another famous pre-War interpreter,
Yves Nat, whose recording with Bigot
saw an electrically fast central movement.
It’s a pity that this 1956 recording
has the piano too close to the microphone
because wind detail gets submerged as
well as a slightly skewed perspective
generally. But against that weakness
we can appreciate her strong qualities
of mercurial sensitivity and chamber
intimacy in this work; and also her
attaca qualities as well, ones she found
seemingly easier or more natural to
lavish on this work than the companion
Beethoven.
The booklet is attractively
laid out and we can hope for more Haskil
from this source; I’m sure that Radio
Suisse Romande has riches to offer.
Jonathan Woolf
Clara Haskil (piano) 
