Pianist Moiseiwitsch on 19 CDs (Scribendum)

[Lance]

Having long been a fan of BENNO MOISEIWITSCH (1890-1963), one of Theodore Leschetizky's finest pupils (among many others), I pounced a new 19-CD set from Scribendum [837]. The recordings have been allegedly digitally remastered. While there are no notes about the pianist, there is a leaflet enclosed giving times and dates of performances or recordings. As good as Scribendum is (with these relatively large and reasonably-priced boxed sets), their editing and accuracy of information is often questionable. To cite one example, Anton Rubinstein's Barcarolle #1 in F Minor, Op. 30/1 is attributed to Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982). ANTON Rubinstein lived between 1829 and 1894. (Where is the editor who did not catch this?)

So, over the years of collecting as many of Moisewitsch's recordings as possible, this prompted me to try to complete a discography of all his recordings in my collection. At this point, today, my personal catalogue contains 497 listings. One line is dedicated for each composition no matter how many times that particular piece was issued on CD. I am still in the process of completing this time-consuming (but fun) project. What is most amazing, to see it thus far, is that it makes the Moiseiwitsch discography look huge. It actually isn't. To cite another example, my discography shows ten [10] recordings of Beethoven's Andante favori in F, WoO 57 recorded on several occasions. Moiseiwitsch's recording of Beeethoven's "Emperor" concerto shows up eight [8] times with various conductors (live and studio) made on several dates with Sargent conducting the most, Krips, Szell and Boult conducting others. There are six [6] recordings of the Beethoven Violin Sonata #9 [Kreutzer] with Heifetz as violinist in all. Only one of them is an alternate recording never previously issued while the other five [5] are all dated the same.

An odd find in the Scribendum set is of Brahms Rhapsody in E-flat, Op. 119 No. 4 allegedly recorded on 78-rpm discs on March 2nd, 1928. This is the ONLY set where this particular piece is represented on all recordings I have. Either this is an error or Scribendum found a recording somewhere of the piece. [Can anyone clue me in on this Brahms piece?]

In my collection, Moiseiwitsch is represented on the following CD labels:
EMI, Appian, Scribendum, Philips, Naxos Historical, Testament [EMI product], Pearl, Avid (stereoized), Royal Classics [EMI product], DGG (American stereo Deccas), Andante, BBC Legends, Dante, IMP/BBC, Guild Historical, Arbiter, Koch, VAI.

The finest transfers from all this I have found so far, Naxos Historical, EMI, Testament, Appian and all those recordings were transferred from the HMV/EMI masters by world-known restoration artists. EMI used their original sources when issued on their own label. DGG did Moiseiwitsch a great service by reissuing his last recordings in true stereo, performed on a Baldwin piano and recorded in NYC in the early 1960s prior to the pianist's passing. All his other recordings, to my knowledge, were recorded on Steinway pianos. My personal Moiseiwitsch catalogue also contains some live performances (Pearl, Arbiter and I believe Scribendum claims some live performance recordings.

In the final analysis (so far), Moiseiwitsch didn't record as much as the number of issues and reissues would have us believe. With Beethoven sonatas, he only recorded #8 (Pathetique), #14 (Moonlight), #21 (Waldstein), #26 (Les Adieux, only once for American Decca).

The composers represented in the Moiseiwitsch discography include:
Beethoven, Brahms, Chasins, Chopin, Daquin, Debussy, Delibes, Godowsky, Granados, Grieg, Henselt, Hummel, Ibert, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Leschetizky, Liszt, Medtner, Mendelssohn, Moszkowski, Mussorgsky, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rameau, Ravel, Anton Rubinstein, Saint-Saens, D. Scarlatti, Schubert/Liszt, Schumann, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, John Vallier, Wagner/Liszt, von Weber. Other "transcribers" include Oscar Levant, Carl Tausig, and Franz Liszt. In the cases of many of the above-listed composers, there may be only one or two recordings of short works made during the days of 78-rpm discs. The composers mostly represented include Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Schumann and Liszt. It should also be mentioned that Moiseiwitsch's recordings of the music of Schumann remain exemplary (Fantasie, Concerto, Kreisleriana, Fantasiestucke, Kinderszenen, Carnaval, Romance. If you have the Appian, EMI, Naxos Historical, Testament and DGG, you most likely won't need to invest in the Scribendum 19-CD boxed set. If you don't have any of those, your $$$ spent on Scribendum will be well spent. ♫

[maestrob]

Thank-you Lance for the alert! This Scribendum box is right up my alley.

[Papaloupas]

Speaking of Moiseiwitsch (in a more recently active thread than this one), in the last few months I've been really savoring parts of the large Naxos Hisorical set of his recordings. In the past couple of days I've gone back to his Waldstein in particular, with the passionate way he makes the slow movement's left-hand melody sing; and the combination of freedom and structural clarity he brings to the third movement.

Lance, I've been meaning to ask you, when you refer to Moiseiwitsch releases on DGG/American Decca, what are those and do you have any pointers on finding them these days? This piqued my interest but I'm not locating anything like them in the usual ways, on CD at least. (More generally I'd be happy to learn of anything that a person with the Naxos set and the Testaments might be missing. To be sure, if I have to buy the Scribendum I'll readily do so! But it'd be nice to fill the holes in a more tailored way.)

[Lance]

Hello! Glad to find you here on CMG.

You should look for a 10 CD set issued by DGG [477 9527] called "The Liszt Legacy." This marvelous set, issued in 2012, includes all of Benno Moiseiwitsch's American Decca recordings originally issued on American Decca and Westminster. The set also includes rare, first-time-to-CD (in most cases), the Decca and other label recordings by: Raymond Lewenthal, Egon Petri, Claudio Arrau, and Alicia de Larrocha. It was a must for me since I am interested in all those artists included. When I first heard about this release, my heart skipped a beat. It has been available online through Amazon and other places. The price ranges from $100-$200 for the set now, considerably more than when first issued. I believe the item is out of print now from DGG. I can tell you that it is definitely worth owning!

Please let me know you have found or acquired it. By the way, the Scribendum box is a jewel to have so much Moiseiwitsch in one place. Transfers were very good. These are the kinds of sets that have a way of disappearing swiftly. If the price is decent and affordable for one, I count it as a good investment. And yes, any of the Naxos discs were a splendid tribute to the great pianist. Naxos has also done a great service for pianophiles by issuing this discs. The Testament issues are outstanding with music coming from the original masters, and their presentations are first-class. ANY Moiseiwitsch you have will be musically rewarding!