Brana continues its
reclamation of Polish pianist’s Felicja
Blumental’s recorded legacy with this
rather disparate trio of recordings.
I think we can dispose of Saint-Saëns’
ebullient and terpsichorean Wedding
Cake, a ten-minute romp, which is nicely
played by Blumental but in very constricted
sound and less than first rate accompaniment.
The Kuhlau is another rarity and cut
from a much better aural cloth. Dedicated
to C.E.F. Weyse, this was one of only
two concertante works written by the
Danish Kuhlau. A Court composer (unsalaried
but prestigious) and an admired pianist
whose career took him across the continent
of Europe he was, compositionally speaking,
on the cusp of the new Romantic aesthetic
whilst retaining distinct classical
procedures, as can clearly be heard
in this attractive work. The Allegro
opening is gallant as could be before
developing some Beethovenian power (the
Dane had met Beethoven and knew his
music). Kuhlau throws in a fine, pompous
orchestral march section, on which the
piano muses and decorates prettily and
wittily. There’s some notable wind writing
along the way as well. The Intermezzo
has a gracious, unperfumed cantilever;
melodically it’s not especially individual
or distinctive but has charm. The finale
is light-hearted and perky with good
touches for the animating left hand
of the note perfect pianist.
Though she is more
generally remembered for her committed
forays into the contemporary and Latin
American piano repertoire we have enough
examples on disc to show how adept a
classicist Blumental was and her ventures
into the romantic literature were also
rewarding. Her Schumann was recorded
in Vienna in 1958 with Hans Swarowski
conducting the Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra.
The sound can be a wee bit papery but
her playing is attractively scaled and
persuasive in its avoidance of specious
rhetoric.
This is another worthwhile
retrieval of Blumental material; the
notes are rather brief but the emphasis
is rightly on a pianist who invariably
has interesting things to convey.
Jonathan Woolf
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Salzburg Symphony Orchestra/Theodore Guschlbauer,
recorded Salzburg, 1969 
