MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

CD REVIEW



Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

Not available in the USA

Crotchet

 

 

Alfred Cortot - Encores
Franz SCHUBERT (1798-1827)
Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen, D. 343 (arranged Alfred Cortot for piano) [3:28]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Impromptu No. 2 in F sharp major Op. 36 [4:39]
Etude No. 13 in A flat major, Op. 25 No. 1 "Harp Study" [2:09]
Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 [3:04]
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 (concluding section) [4:08]
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 [08:18]
Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 [04:22]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Lieder, Op. 49: No. 4. Wiegenlied (Lullaby) (arranged Alfred Cortot for piano) [2:34]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244/R106: Rhapsody No. 11 in A minor [4:16]
Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244/R106: Rhapsody No. 2 in C sharp minor [9:26]
Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244/R106: Rhapsody No. 11 in A minor [5:36]
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Aufforderung zum Tanze (Invitation to the Dance), Op. 65, J. 260 [6:35] Aufforderung zum Tanze (Invitation to the Dance), Op. 65, J. 260 [6:31]
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Keyboard Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430: IV. Air and Variations, "The Harmonious Blacksmith" [3:37]
Isaac ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909)
Chant d'Espagne Op. 232: III. Sous le palmier [3:37]
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)/Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Rigoletto: Paraphrase de concert S434/R267 [6:42]
Alfred Cortot (piano)
rec. Camden, New Jersey, 1925-26
NAXOS 8.111261 [79:02]

 


Naxos has been restoring Cortot’s acoustic and electric recordings with commendable assiduity. Here we have early electrics recorded between 1925 and 1926 for Victor in Camden, New Jersey and they make for memorable listening.

Each side has inimitable virtues. Schubert’s Litany for example courses with manifold voicings, shadings and colours; the left hand is in constant painterly motion, and it brings richness and poetry to the playing. Chopin’s A flat major Etude sports rubati that roll back and forth like waves, a perpetual play of time held in check and released. Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.11 is dispatched with leonine power, its drama matched by moments of playfulness and wit, all served up with Cortot’s seemingly limitless battalions of colour. Cortot’s Liszt is a vortex of drama and projection uncompromised by weakness or limitation, The Weber is an Invitation indeed – vivacious and full of verve. We can hear it in two takes made two months apart – both were issued on Victor 1201; there are also two performances of the Hungarian Rhapsody already noted; one from March 1925 and never issued on 78, the other from December 1926 and released on Victor 1277.

Mark Obert-Thorn’s note on the subject clears up what will be for some a peculiarity. “Part Two” (only) of the G minor Ballade was released on English HMV DB853. Twenty-one months later Cortot recorded the Ballade again, which was then issued on Victor 6612 – it wasn’t merely a case of “adding” Part One. Both performances it should be noted contain a veritable arsenal of dropped notes.

In short then Cortot’s Victors have a secure repository here. Not all the alternative takes are included, collectors will notice, but the disc is packed to the rafters in any case. Including them would have necessitated a companion but very brief appendix disc and there would be little genuine call for that, beyond the needs of highly specialist collectors. Obert-Thorn’s transfers are commendably vital.

Jonathan Woolf

 

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.