July 3, 2015

  • Important Historical Release of Early Geza Anda

     

    Geza Anda: The Telefunken Recordings
    Geza Anda, piano
    Audite 95.720
    Total Time:  87:21
    Recording:   (*)***/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Geza Anda was one of the great pianists of the 20th Century.  Among many notable recordings were the first complete set of Mozart piano concerti for Deutsche Grammophon which he directed from the keyboard.  That touchstone series of recordings was just one of many Anda made throughout his career.  The significance of this release is that it captures a transitional period in the artist’s interpretative approach to music.  Anda’s technical ability is certainly not to be denied here, but it is in the sophistication of his playing, coupled with a more cerebral understanding of the music’s shape, which makes this release important.

    Telefunken was an important recording company founded in Berlin as early as 1903.  World War II, and the Nazi era did some damage to its catalogue, but it managed to create a fascinating series of recordings even in the midst of the war, though by the late 1940s most recording sites had been destroyed.  It regrouped again in the 1950s, a period of important technological advances moving from the shellac recordings to vinyl and the ability to record to 45 and 33 rpm.  The present recordings were made in the midst of these latter changes and bridge the transition being originally released on shellac discs and later re-issued on vinyl.  All but the Bach were taken from the vinyl re-issues for this Audite release.

    First up on this massive single disc are two historic performances of music by Robert Schumann.  The Carnival, Op. 9 music was first released in 1951 on 3 shellac discs (one of which is wonderfully produced as the back of the interior CD casing.  This would be re-issued on vinyl in 1954.  The same is true of the Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13.  These are fascinating performances with engaging interpretations and virtuosic displays.  The sound is surprisingly fresh with only the outer edges of the piano seeming to challenge the original sound parameters.  There is some “distortion” in the latter work, but not really all that distracting with such a compelling, and often sublime, performance to follow.

    Of great historic value is the first ever release of Anda’s performance of the second Bach partita (BWV 826).  For whatever reason, this performance was not reissued on vinyl.  Additional interest lies in the only known existing recording of his performance of the last Mozart piano sonata (K. 576).  This work closes the album, preceded by the Piano Sonata in F, Hob. XVI:23 by Haydn.  These were recorded sometime in 1951.  Throughout these performances, we here the beginning of a new aesthetic approach that returns to a more clear textural presentation of this music, devoid of some of the more romantic excesses that had cropped up over the past 100 years.

    This CD presents these recordings re-mastered for the first time on CD.  For fans of Geza Anda, it fills in the gap of his earlier recordings with those he would then turn to in the 1950s.  It also lies at the start of a new, more sophisticated performance style that allows for interpretation within a more period approach.  This nuance may be lost to those less familiar with early 20th Century virtuoso style, but in one respect this recording bridges the gap toward the deeper appreciation of period style performance that would finally come into its own after Anda’s death in 1976.  At any rate, the repertoire choices are certainly worth anyone’s music library.  The package has good notes on the recordings, not much on the music itself.  The blend of cardboard with the plastic CD insert is fine with some historic photos of the original albums used sparingly to add flavor.