This hefty seven-disc
set is a consolidation of some of
Solomon’s most august recordings.
So there’s nothing new for collectors,
merely – to employ an understatement
- a distillation of that fabled
wisdom in a box that retails at
around the £17 mark. For which you
really can’t ask for more.
Newcomers to his
art will have to balance the pleasures
of acquiring the Third and Fifth
Beethoven concertos without the
rest of the cycle. Similarly you
have the Second Brahms concerto
but not the First – and some of
his greatest, most profoundly important
Beethoven sonata recordings but
not all that he recorded.
So even at this price bracket one
might still be tempted to augment
this box with the extensive Testament
reissue series.
That’s a dilemma
that can only really be resolved
given one’s inclination toward comprehensive
collections. The performances themselves
are famously enshrined in recorded
history. A frequent collaborator
on disc was Herbert Menges, piano-playing
brother of the violinist Isolde.
He was an adept, underrated musician
who directs authoritatively. Solomon
had earlier recorded the C minor
Concerto on 78s with Boult; here,
with Menges, he’s just as persuasive.
He eschews the galvanic and declamatory
in favour of an aristocratic explication
of the solo line whereas in the
Emperor this profile works even
better. Here he is at something
like his finest, vesting the slow
movement with time-numbing beauty,
refraining from externalised show
in the outer movements, directing
things inward with no less of force
or weight. .
The Grieg-Schumann
pairing is the piano equivalent
of the violinist’s Bruch-Mendelssohn.
In both cases mere routine will
not do but neither will gaucherie
and striving for effect. Here we
find nobility in profusion. In truth
the Grieg reflects Solomon’s reserve
rather more than some may like but
his avoidance of the flamboyant
and the gestural preserves a reading
of aquiline self-abnegation and
poetic refinement. The Schumann
was a favourite of his and his lineage
via Mathilde Verne, a pupil of Clara
Schumann, was always seen to offer
a particular slant on the repertoire
– though his time with Verne was
wretched. His playing is unselfconscious,
relatively straightforward but illuminated
by tonal beauty and poetic phrasing.
The Philharmonia winds distinguish
themselves throughout.
The third and fourth
discs are given over to "named"
Beethoven sonatas, amongst Solomon’s
most revered recordings. Olympian
grandeur suffuses the Pathetique
the slow movement of which has absolute
refinement of spirit and lyricism.
The Moonlight reminds one
that his famously slow tempo for
the opening movement was balanced
by fearsomely animated drive in
the finale. Clarity of articulation
elevates the Waldstein to
elite status whilst Les Adieux
is as fine an example of his sonata
playing as you will find, notwithstanding
the perhaps greater reputation of
the Hammerklavier and Appassionata.
Both these last two are contained
in the indispensable fourth CD.
These are performances of measured
gravity and colossal architectural
and tonal perception. The extraordinary
tempo sustenance of the Adagio
sostenuto, so emblematic a feature
of Solomon’s art, is simply one
example of his transcendent control
in this repertoire.
Moving on to the
Brahms B flat Concerto with Dobrowen
we find myriad subtleties of balance
and colouration, generated through
intellectual probity of the highest
order. Dobrowen was a first class
accompanist and a Brahmsian of distinction
and the performance is just as fine
as Solo’s First Concerto with Kubelík.
The Tchaikovsky – again with Dobrowen
- is badly balanced with over prominent
winds to get a doubtfully big perspective.
Demerits here to the Walter Legge-Arthur
Clarke team. Nevertheless the performance
reprises Solomon’s Harty-led triumph
back in the days of recorded yore,
one that’s seen the reissue rounds
over the years. For those who consider
Solomon over cautious and cerebral
the virtuosic flourishes here should
put them right.
The sixth disc
gives us a zestful Scarlatti sonata
and a rather lugubrious Bach-Busoni
Wachet auf. The two Mozart
sonatas confirm Solomon’s reputation
as an interpreter of the highest
refinement and the single concerto
by the composer enshrined in this
box, the C minor K491, is an emotively
multifaceted and lyrically inspired
reading, once more with the Philharmonia.
Those for whom his Mozart was not
tensile or muscular enough should
note Solomon’s playing of the Saint-Saëns’
first movement cadenza and the rapt
simplicity - the inescapable phrasal
rightness – of his custodianship
of the Larghetto.
There are certainly
fireworks in the Liszt Hungarian
Fantasia - dramatic and dark-hued
- and the final two items are both
powerful concerto statements; the
Scriabin Concerto in F sharp minor
and the concerto written for Solomon
by Bliss. You’ll find the world
première performance of the
Englishman’s Concerto - in New York
– on APR. This EMI traversal is
the first commercial recording given
with the Liverpool Philharmonic
then – in wartime – Britain’s leading
orchestra. Bliss’s romantic extroversion
and the touching depth of his concerto’s
central movement received a perfect
exponent in Solomon. The Scriabin
was not issued at the time of its
recording, 1949. The piano is backwardly
balanced – another Legge/Clarke
mistake. But just listen to the
poetic delicacy of the second movement
theme before the unleashing of the
variations.
So a strong, solid
conspectus of Solomon’s art. Strong
on Beethoven of course, with a representative
concerto arsenal; good representative
Mozart; a serious-minded collection
in fact, befitting Solo’s Olympian
disposition and reportorial choices.
At the price it’s a steal and is
sure to encourage further investigation
of his art not covered here – the
miraculous wartime Chopin sides;
the remainder of the Beethoven sonatas
set down before his stroke; the
Archduke Trio with Pini and Holst;
his Schubert; the Brahms concerto
with Kubelík and the Op.5
sonata; the Cluytens-directed Beethoven
concertos; Carnaval. So many
more. Try Testament for those.
It must be noted
that some of the original recordings
were not brilliantly engineered
in the first place and remastering
hasn’t been able to alleviate congestion,
faulty balances and spotlighting.
That’s a small matter however when
put against such noble, characterful
and poetic musicianship such as
Solomon displays throughout this
set.
Jonathan
Woolf
Solomon (piano) 
