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             


 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

Avalability
CD: Atoll


Richard Farrell - Complete Recordings Volume 1
CD 1
Edvard GRIEG (1943-1907)
Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16 (1869) [31:05]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Ballades Op.10 (1854)
Andante - D minor [4:30]
Andante - D major [6:24]
Intermezzo; Allegro - B minor [3:57]
Andante con moto - B major [7:24]
Sixteen Waltzes Op.39 (1867) [21:20]
CD 2
Edvard GRIEG (1943-1907)
Ballade in G minor Op.24 (1876) [20:14]
Popular Norwegian Melodies Op.66 (1896); No. 14 Im Ola-Thal, Im Ola-See [2:55]
No.17 Gedanken Voll ich Wandere [5:20]
Nine Lyric Pieces (1867-1901)
Arietta Op.12 No.1 [1:22]; Butterfly Op.43 No.1 [1:53]; In My Native Country Op.43 No.3 [2;33]; To The Spring Op.43 No.6 [2;27]; Valse-Impromptu Op.47 No.1 [3:16]; Melodie Op.47 No.3 [4:00]; Niels W.Gade Op.57 No.2 [3:57]; Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Op.65 No.6 [5:20]; Remembrances Op.71 No.7 [2;18]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat S.124 (1848 rev. 1853) [19:42]
Richard Farrell (piano)
Halle Orchestra/George Weldon
rec. 1956-58
ATOLL ACD208 [74:50 + 75:30]
Experience Classicsonline

Richard Farrell (1926-58) was a New Zealander who, like a number of pianistic confrères - Lipatti, Kapell, Mewton-Wood being just three - died tragically young. As with another casualty, Dennis Brain, Farrell died in a car crash on an English road. He was only in his early thirties. There’s a good biography of him on this site. He did however leave behind a corpus of recordings of which this is the first volume. Fittingly it’s published by Atoll which has long been active in promoting New Zealand’s musical heritage.

There are two concertos, the Liszt E flat and the Grieg. Both these appeared on a rather short lived re-release on EMI Phoenixa CDM 7637782 back in 1990. The two concertos were there coupled with the Lyric Pieces. Comparing the two transfers reveals very little difference. If you have that Phoenixa - it wasn’t a Phoenix for very long unfortunately - then you needn’t investigate this release with one important proviso; we also have some of Farrell’s Brahms recordings, as well as some of Grieg’s Popular Norwegian Melodies and the G minor Ballade. This should tip the scales especially as the booklet is so attractive and the repertoire broad.

The Grieg concerto has clarity and an intelligent unmannered approach to rubato. Weldon was always a fine musician, often more, and he accompanies well. Sometimes ensemble is not perfect, it’s true, but the playing itself is malleable and committed. Weldon avoids stodgy string pointing in the slow movement. Altogether there’s a patrician air to proceedings which wears well. The Liszt has a fine admixture of bravura and brains, as well as considerable poetic expression. Again the rapport with Weldon is a good one.

The Op.10 Brahms Ballades are here. It’s noticeable how much lighter and more reserved he is than, say, Backhaus whose famous old recordings, made pre war of some of these works, evince a titanic and gaunter profile. The waltzes Op.39 are a genial example of Farrell’s playing - he plays them perhaps with just a hint of the puckish and is nowhere near as visceral as old Backhaus. The Lyric Pieces were rather drily recorded and show Farrell’s manly, somewhat no-nonsense approach to this repertoire. Neither he nor the recording quite colour the music to its optimum advantage but once again it’s a valuable souvenir of his way with the repertoire. The Ballade has had few really satisfactory recordings over the years; the last one I heard was that by Andsnes. This one is highly proficient though it perhaps misses the reflective core of the music a little.

These minor stylistic or interpretative quibbles aside, this is a fine reclamation. The recordings were not really front rank even at the time but they sound perfectly decent. LP covers and booklet notes have been reprinted and there are photographs and a small biography of Farrell in the fine looking booklet. The two discs fit into a single CD jewel case, one on top of the other. The second volume should be worth waiting for and let’s hope some broadcasts may turn up as well.

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

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




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.