Gramophone – September 2019

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONESEPTEMBER 2019117

H

avingagenerousneighbourwith

apianocertainlyhelpsifyou’re

anaspiringyoungplayerwith

noinstrumentofyourown.Suchwasthe

fortuneoftheBelgian-Americanpianist

TeddJoselson,wholivedclosetoAmerica’s

legendaryconcertmanagerArthurJudson.

Progresswasswift;andfurtheralongthe

line,recordingswithEugeneOrmandy

andthePhiladelphiaOrchestra,included

inRCA’sset–alltherecordingsdate

fromthe1970s–confirmedJoselson’s

reputationasatalenttowatch.The

evidenceisimpressivewhilerarelyraising

theroof,withwell-consideredrenditions

ofTchaikovsky’sBflatandProkofiev’s

Second,andRavel’sGmajorcoupledwith

Prokofiev’sThird(bothwithEduardo

MataandtheDallasSymphony).When

Joselsonisonform,he’sbrilliant:inthe

super-swiftfinaleofProkofiev’sSeventh

Sonata,forexample,andvirtuallythe

wholeoftheNinth,whereinadditionto

tacklingthenoteswithimpressivedexterity

(witnessthesecondmovement)hecaptures

thework’sessentiallywistfulspirit.Sonatas

byLisztandChopin(hisSecond),though

polished,soundratherordinary,and‘Baba

Yaga’fromMussorgsky’sPicturesatan

Exhibitionisunderpowered.I’dsaythat

ProkofievwasdefinitelyJoselson’sbagand

thehighlightsofthiscollectionarethe

featuredsonatas–Nos2,6,7, 8 and 9 –

andvariouspiecesfromthecomplete

Visionsfugitives.

I’mwritingthiscolumnmerelya

fortnightbeforethe70thbirthdayof

thefineAmericanpianistEmanuelAx,

aformidablemusicianwhosesizeable

discographyforwhatisnowtheSony

Classicalgroupisamodelofartistic

consistency.Ax’syoungercontemporary

andfrequentchambermusiccollaborator,

thecellistYo -YoMa,providesthe

othermainpromptforSony’s21-CD

‘Celebration’,whichbringstogetherdigital

recordingsdatingfromthe1980sand’90s,

ofteninvolving,asthekeyviolinist,Isaac

Stern,theninhissixtiesandseventies

andsoundingratherlessrobustthanhe

haddone 30 orsoyearsearlierwiththe

cellistLeonardRoseandpianistEugene

Istomin.Buttheartisticintegrityondisplay

isimpressive,withnotableversionsofthe

Beethovencellosonatasandvariations,as

wellassonatasbyBrahms,Britten,Chopin,

Prokofiev,Rachmaninov,Shostakovichand

totheexcellentKláraWürtztoplayRavel’s

Gmajor(underTheodoreKuchar)rather

moreseductivelythanTeddJoselson,and

infactanexceptionalperformancebymost

standards,whileFrançois-JoëlThiollier

iscompellingintheLeftHandConcerto

withAntoniWitconducting.Healso

performsFauré’sBalladeinFsharpunder

AntoniodeAlmeida.Theoldestitem

findsReynaldoHahnconductinghisown

characterfulPianoConcertoinE:Magda

Tagliaferroisthesoloistinarecording

from1937.Otherworksprogrammedare

byNadiaBoulanger,CécileChaminade,

Debussy,JeanFrançaix,CésarFranck,

ÉdouardLalo,FrancisPoulenc,Albert

RousselandGermaineTailleferre.

Altogetheramoststimulatingcollection.

MentionofTheodoreKucharbrings

metoacollectionofhispurely

orchestralrecordingswiththeJaná∂ek

PhilharmonicandNationalSymphony

OrchestraoftheUkraine.The

repertorycoversworksbyDvo∑ákand

Smetana(includingnumerousrarities

andoneofthemostdramaticsetsof

thelatter’s‘Swedish’tonepoemsthat

Ihaveeverencountered),Shostakovich,

andamemorablesetoftheNielsen

symphonies.Thecollectioniscompleted

withaLatinAmericanprogrammeof

Moncayo,Romero,Ginastera,Revueltas

andsoon,allthrillinglyperformed.

Acollectionthathascertainlyalerted

metoKuchar’sformidablegifts.

THE RECORDINGS

Tedd Joselson

The Complete RCA Album Collection

Sony Classical B f 19075 903272

Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax A Celebration

Sony Classical B (21 discs) 19075 929282

Beethoven. Fauré. Franck, etc Violin Sonatas

Francescatti, Casadesus

Proil B d PH19029

French Piano Concertos

Brilliant Classics S l 95899

Dvořák. Nielsen. Smetana, etc

Orchestral Works Kuchar

Brilliant Classics S m 95932

Strauss, and chamber works by Dvo∑ák,

Fauré, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schumann

and Shostakovich. Other collaborators

include the violinists Itzhak Perlman and

Pamela Frank, Jaime Laredo playing the

viola and clarinettist Richard Stoltzman.

What we have here is, in effect, a plethora

of masterpieces, handsomely presented

and well worth visiting, even if your

absolute favourite recordings of individual

works reside elsewhere. The sound is

invariably excellent.

Talking of ‘favourite recordings’

brings me to the duo sonatas that the

violinist Zino Francescatti and pianist

Robert Casadesus set down for Columbia

between 1947 and 1961, many of the

Beethoven sonatas represented twice.

Only the complete cycle from 1958-61

was recorded in stereo, and those are the

recordings chosen for reissue by Profil.

The performances represent a delicious

combination of vibrant violin-playing

and finely chiselled pianism, intensely

intelligent and often fiery (ie the A minor

Sonata, Op 23). The fourth disc, featuring

sonatas by Franck, Fauré and Debussy (the

latter in excerpt and recorded live), is in

mono; and while readers who have already

invested in Sony’s multi-CD Casadesus

collection, or are likely to gravitate towards

their forthcoming Francescatti box-set, will

have virtually everything that’s on offer

here, Profil provides good transfers of some

exceptional performances.

More French artistry arrives courtesy

of Brilliant Classics, which has gathered

together a 12-CD collection of French

Piano Concertos, many of them unfamiliar.

The Milhaud trawl includes his Concertos

Nos 1-5, recordings from 2005-06 by

Michael Korstick under Alun Francis.

Gabriel Tacchino’s set of the Saint-Saëns

concertos dates from the 1970s and has

the benefit of excellent support from the

Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg under

Louis de Froment. Though not as polished

as either Stephen Hough (Hyperion) or the

vintage Jean-Marie Darré (EMI), they’re

spirited readings well worth hearing. It falls

BOX-SETound-up

Rob Cowan oers a personal round-up of some worthwhile CD bargains