Vlado Perlemuter's Chopin
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 8:41 pm
Those of you who know most of the late Vlado Perlemuter's pianistic art from his Nimbus recordings are, in my opinion, not getting the full and true picture of his pianism. Like most of Nimbus's piano recordings made at their "castle" in England, the acoustics weren't too kind nor realistic for the piano. The sound simply didn't breathe. Even Cherkassky's many recordings are deficient in the kind of piano tone he produced.
Comes now this fairly new Scribendum 2-CD set [SC-015] featuring Chopin's 14 Waltzes, and 15 Preludes from Chopin's Op. 28. All the recordings on this disc are "The Concert Hall Recordings," much loved and enjoyed when issued on LPs. This is the Perlemuter sound that I cherish. The Preludes, recorded by Radio Suisse Romande in Geneva in 1960, are absolutely exquisite. Feast your ears on the Prelude No. 13 in F# Minor (Lento). This is some of the most liquid and refined playing I've heard from Perlemuter. All of the Preludes and Waltzes have something special to offer. The pianist was 56 years of age at the time this recording was made. He was at the peak of his interpretive powers.
Annotator Jon Page writes: "[Perlemuter's] Chopin performances seemed unique; there were simple and conceived structurally. Despite a concentration on the larger pattern, the details were not lost; they simply gained from the imporant things being put first. These details gradually came to seem natual and inevitable and it is this uniqueness that enables one to listen again and again."
Ovation magazine said of Perlemuter: "[He] plays with such depth that something new about Chopin's music seems to be revealed on each listening."
Disc two includes Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto recorded in Vienna in 1960 with the Vienna Festival Orchestra conducted by Christian Vöchting.
For those that may not know, Vlado Perlemuter passed away at the age of 98 in September 2002.
Comes now this fairly new Scribendum 2-CD set [SC-015] featuring Chopin's 14 Waltzes, and 15 Preludes from Chopin's Op. 28. All the recordings on this disc are "The Concert Hall Recordings," much loved and enjoyed when issued on LPs. This is the Perlemuter sound that I cherish. The Preludes, recorded by Radio Suisse Romande in Geneva in 1960, are absolutely exquisite. Feast your ears on the Prelude No. 13 in F# Minor (Lento). This is some of the most liquid and refined playing I've heard from Perlemuter. All of the Preludes and Waltzes have something special to offer. The pianist was 56 years of age at the time this recording was made. He was at the peak of his interpretive powers.
Annotator Jon Page writes: "[Perlemuter's] Chopin performances seemed unique; there were simple and conceived structurally. Despite a concentration on the larger pattern, the details were not lost; they simply gained from the imporant things being put first. These details gradually came to seem natual and inevitable and it is this uniqueness that enables one to listen again and again."
Ovation magazine said of Perlemuter: "[He] plays with such depth that something new about Chopin's music seems to be revealed on each listening."
Disc two includes Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto recorded in Vienna in 1960 with the Vienna Festival Orchestra conducted by Christian Vöchting.
For those that may not know, Vlado Perlemuter passed away at the age of 98 in September 2002.