Every nation, that has existed for a significant time in history has been called under more than one name. For example, German, Allemand, Tedesci, Német, Deutsch were and are all used to describe Germans. The difference between them is who is making the identification. We use German, the French use Allemand, Italians use Tedesci, Hungarians use Német, and not the least, the Germans call themselves Deutsch.
Similarly, while most nations have called Hungarians as Huns, or Hungarians / Hongrois / Vengercki /Ungarisch (all of them basically different spelling versions of Hungarian), the Hungarians call themselves Magyar. As it's virtually impossible to pronounce "Magyar" for a non-Hungarian, no wonder Western European texts started to call them from the middle ages on something much easier to pronounce: Huns / Hungarians. The only exception is the Arabic world, which has called it Magyaristan, (country of Magyars), and not after Hun.
Historically, the Hun empire reached from Western Europe to Northern China. A good part of present day Northern China used to be part of the Hun empire, and 30% of China's present day population are the descendants of the people in the Eastern part of the Hun empire. The Hun empire lasted much longer (1700 years) than the Roman empire, and was larger than the Roman Empire at its peak. It had two centres: one Eastern and one Western, and the empire stretched between them. The Western center was the Carpathian basin, which is today Hungary. The Eastern center was in the Tarim basin, which played a key part of the Silk Road. Well, this lush center does not exist anymore. It has turned into what we call today as the Takla Maklan desert, in Northwest China. These secure basins were the key to the long lasting Hun era, as they offered protection against onslaughts from wandering tribes. Once the Tarim basin started turning into a desert, the Eastern center perished, the empire could hold no longer. Of note, the Carpatian basin has also started to turn into a desert in our days, so the days of the last Huns seem to be numbered, unless drastic measures will be taken to halt the collapse of the ecosystem. (None so far.) This process was initiated by regulating the Danube and the Tisza, the two large rivers of Hungary. As a result of regulation in the early XIXth century, water commerce was made possible. However, as water drains much faster, the rivers carve their beds deeper, and the water table is dropping significantly. As Mesopotamia was fed by he two rivers Tigris and Eufrates, the Carpathian basin is fed by the Danube and the Tisza. These two rivers supply the basin with enough water, as there is not enough rainfall to sustain a lush vegetation. Unless the process is reversed, one or two centuries from now, the Carpathian basin will also be another desert. Just like the Takla Maklan, Mesopotamia, and the Sahara - all of which were once fertile, lush lands and forests, centres of civilization which are now long forgotten, and barely remembered.
As Hungary has been under massive onslaughts for the past 1000 years by Mongols, Turks, world wars, Russia, and first and foremost by Western Europe, most of its written historic heritage has been intentionally destroyed by these wars. There were less and less opportunities for music and arts to flourish. As such, the Hungarian musical heritage has been preserved through the oral tradition, there was no opportunity to preserve large scale musical works as the wars erased them. So far, the singing Hungarian musical heritage is the richest tradition described on Earth. However, with the industrial revolution, everything has started to change, and people knew less and less of their tradition. Two centuries ago an average Hungarian knew 5-10.000 folk songs. By now, if an average Hungarian knows 10 folk songs, that is quite an achievement. I was fortunate enough to have a grandfather who was an exceptional musician, and he knew a vast number of songs from the Somogy county. About 10,000 songs. Sadly, I know maybe 2 of them....
The last bastions of the Hungarian musical brilliance shined at the first half of the XXth century: Kodály, Bartók, Dohnányi. They were educators, and all of them came to great renown in the Western musical tradition as significant composers. However, lesser is known that they played a key role in saving as much of the massive folk world heritage as they could. They translated part of their research into their music, and also created music teaching methodologies (Kodály method). Their largely unseen heritage is the largest folk song collection in the world. Today Hungary's collected folk songs number over one million. This will prove an absolute treasure, as folk singing has all but disappeared due to the modern lifestyle. Western Europe has lost most of their heritage by the time they have seen the example of Kodály and Bartók: the Western folklorists following in Bartok's footsteps were late, and could save only a few thousand songs form Germany and France. Kodály and Bartók acted while the songs were still alive in Hungary, and they traveled the country together and recorded many thousands of songs. However, they did not stop at Hungary, they traveled throughout Europe and even got to Africa to collect folk songs! Their own works take inspiration from these fertile trips, and they injected the melodies from the world's folk heritage into classical music. Also, importantly, they inspired Western European musicians and others to also start collecting their own heritage.
Bartók emigrated to the US, and Kodály stayed in Hungary. Of the two, Kodály was the more talented, but Bartók gained much wider international acclaim, as he experimented with wild ideas and excesses while Kodaly was more conservative and much truer to the traditional melodies. Sadly, Kodály is very little known outside Hungary, even to Bartók enthusiasts.
Bartók Béla: Bluebeard's Castle
Doráti, LSO, MLP 35mm. SR90311. Bluebeard: Székely Mihály. Judith: Szőnyi Olga. 3 copies: all very similar quality, pretty good!
Sawallisch / Dieskau / Várady Júlia DG 2531 172 Wow, Dieskau learned the Hungarian lyrics!! And it's perfectly intelligible. In fact, can understand more than Júlia's soprano bravur arias, where singing technique overtakes intelligibility. On the other hand, Szőnyis's rendering has perfect intelligibility, so if you want to follow the lyrics, then the Doráti version is for you. This is a better recording, instruments shine better, it's more dynamic. However, vocals are recorded better on the MLP. Intelligibility is also compromised here by inferior miking compared to MLP. Wow, the forte with timpani is very impressive!
Susskind, New Symphony Orchestra of London. Koreh Endre, Hellwigh Judith. Bartók records #BR310,BR311. Set of 2 records. Has an introduction that the others do not have. Koreh Endre is astounding! Such full, substantial voice! The power, presence! Unlike any bassist I have heard so far. The heft and dynamics of this recording trounces the other two by a large margin.
Solti / London PO / Kováts Kolos, Sass Szilvia. London FFRR OSA-1174. Superb recording, deep and majestic as the BR, but much quieter noise floor. Orchestra probably best recorded of all. The soloists walk around on stage, super nice touch. Also has the Hungarian introduction in the beginning.
Overall, all f them are fine, fantastic recordings! Doráti's has the best intelligibility for speech, Dieskau has superbly highlighted orchestra, Solti has very natural sound as a live performance, and Susskind has the most stunning bassist ever. Gosh, Koreh Endre is phenomenal! Just about the best basso I ever heard. - Reviewed June 24, 2020.
Bartók Béla: The Miraculous Mandarin rev. June 26, 2020.
This appears to be the most recorded work of Bartók, there seem to be even more of them than Bluebeards. Here we go with the ones I have:
Martinon, Chicago Symphony, LSC-3004 Dynagroove. Miraculous Mandarin & Hindemith. White Red Seal label, First pressing.
Martinon, Chicago Symphony, LSC-3004 Dynagroove. Miraculous Mandarin & Hindemith. White Dog label, First pressing. Woodwinds have more energy. Recording has more power and more focus. Better dimensionality. However, Red Seal is more relaxed, easier on the ear. This has a strain on the ear the other does not have. Drums sound more powerful on the Red Seal.
Doráti, Chicago SO. Olypian MG-50038. Mono. Sounds too busy in mono..... pretty crazy cavalcade of action. Conducting very similar to Martinon's.
Doráti, BBC SO. Olypian MG-50416. Mono. Does not sound busy nor overcramped. Much, much better sound than the 2 copies of Chicago SO. Much bigger heft, and dynamics.
Doráti, BBC SO. Olypian SR-90416. Same thing, stereo edition. Sounds almost exactly as the mono - actually, mono's imaging is so good that they both had very similar image, both sounded "stereo". The mono had slightly better low end and heft - winner of the two in all aspects.
Doráti, Chicago SO. Olympian MG-50141. Mono. Quieter than the previous one, but sounds very much like the MG-50416.
Doráti, BBC SO. Mercury golden imports, Stereo SRI-75030. Best stereo version so far. Quietest, very dynamic, hefty. Not cramped.
Ormandy, Philadelphia O. Angel SZ-37608. Very quiet for Angels! Better imaging than all of the stereo Mercurys! About the same dynamics. Also, Ormandy's style is similar to Doráti's. Loren must be playing flute on this recording, it's 1979. I have to ask him!
Solti / LSO CS-6783 FFRR: most interactive and informative. Allows seeing / hearing into the action. Most natural image so far. Sometimes sounds a little dull, might have a pressing error (labels are poorly as well on both sides as if pressing error, and record seems too smooth.)
Ferencsik / Budapest Philharmonic. Qualiton Budapest recording, DG red Stereo label 138-873 SLPM. Huge jaw-drop. The interpretation is day and night from the Western versions. This is majestic, and sounds musical. The UK/US interpretations (Solti, Doráti, Martinon, Ormandy) rush, sound as a sonic cavalcade, and have elicited the "fuck that!" exclamation from a fellow Hungarian. If you happen to dislike the piece fervently, then listen to Ferencsik's interpretation and he will shed a very, very different light on the same piece. Who is more authetic? Well, Solti worked with Bartók, so his conducting is surely not against Bartók's wishes. Although I have to say that Solti's interprtation is the most relaxed of the US/UK interpretations. Bartók knew that he had to perform to American tastes and satisfy Western needs, so we can assume that had he stayed in Hungary or continental Europe, he would have had it conducted quite differently. Ferencsik gives us that missing, much more authentic perspective, that does not need to conform to hype.
Sándor János / Budapest PO, Hungaroton LPX11319. 1969. Grand prize of Academie du Disque Francais. Conducting is similar to Ferencsik's. The French apparently also gave their vote to this style of conducting, which is more akin to conducting music, versus the acid trips of Doráti et al which has taken US/UK by a storm. The miking here is very different from any other labels. RCA miking, London/Decca, EMI -all have their particular soundscape. Hungaroton has their own as well, and to me it creates the closest illusion of sitting among the audience in the concert hall. EMI / RCA , etc, they have different priorities for the recording process: makes the end result more technically correct, but less natural.
Lehel György / Budapest SO. Hungaroton SLPX 1301. Again, Grand prize of Academie du Disque Francais. This is between the previous one and Solti's interpretation. The LPX11319 has a little better sound quality as well.
Bartók Béla: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta June 30, 2020.
A very odd piece. The first movement is super slow and very quiet. It's a kind of music for quiet listening. The second movement is a banging of instruments, that sounds similar to players tuning vigorously and warming up before a performance. The only good thing about it is the recording quality. Photography analogy: 200 megapixel shot of a dunk man projectile vomiting. Spectacular, but your tastes have to be skewed to tolerate it. Like it? Dude, what a question. I understand that this sort of thing was chique at the time Bartok wrote it. I guess this work also kick stared the music scores that go under Hichcock movies and meat-grinder movies. I applaud it for offering an indispensable tool to birth musical genre for the movie industry's horror and B movies categories. However, to register it among musical pieces? I would not commit such a leap of faith as of yet.
Lehel György / Budapest Radio Orchestra, B.R. Choir. WS-198 Stereo on the back, MS-198 Music guild ABC records on the front. Very nice recording, already a reissue. Very low noise floor, super quiet low background. Dynamic, and spacious. This record also contains on side A : Three Village Scenes. If you are curious about Hungarian folk music, please do not get any ideas after listening to this monstrosity. This is not Hungarian folk music. This is Hungarian folk music through the lens of the bad acid trip, which was Bartók's reality at that time (World war II). . Hungarian folk lore is about rooting yourself to the ageless aspects of life: happiness, sadness, sorrow, etc. There is archeological evidence that Hungarian folk songs go back to the stone age, and form a continuous link from ten thousand years ago to the present. We are anchored to our deepest roots, and the key in all songs is modesty and balance. Bartók rips out the roots, and anchors them into extravaganza, exuberance, discontinuity and madness. Or, as I would say, he portrays the total uprooting and destruction of Hungarian heritage, which came to nailing the last nails in the coffin of the Hungarian continuity to the past at the communist regime, following world war II. While I understand that this is an accurate portrayal of the madness that characterized the era (second world war), but pushing people's head deeper into the shit does not help mankind. Would I have written these scores, I would have presented the balanced, eternal version. However, mankind of the era was living int that nightmarish noise, and the balanced listeners were no more. The question for our age: have we risen above this turmoil, or do we still crave madness? This is music for deep introspection, does not serve any form of enjoyment.
Lehel György / Budapest Radio Orchestra, B.R. Choir. HMV Stereo, CSD1532, WST-17004, EMI England. This cover looks as if they collected every label around the world and put them all on.... the Music guild pressing is much better sound qualitt (clarity, dynamics.)
LSC-2374 Reiner / Chicago Symphony. This is truly odd! Two copies: Shaded dog 1S/1S first pressing Indiana promotional copy, and Red Seal plain copy. The Red Seal has much better sound!!!! Much lower noise floor, and better detail level by a good margin. However, timpani is better on the promo. Music guild version is better in both sound quality and interpretation than any of the Reiners.
Doráti, Philharmonia Hungarica. Dutch Philips 6500-931. Even better sound than Music Guild - better timpani, and better bottom end in general. Interpretation is the most musical! This is actually somewhat listenable. My apologies, maestro Bartók.
Several more versions... but I cannot listen to this piece any longer, and I want to keep my sanity. Keeping the Doráti Philips, getting rid of the rest. Peace out. Resting my nerves...
Bartók Béla: Concerto for Orchestra
This particular music is very evocative, moved my imagination. It sounds like a sci fi soundtrack for a moon landing on the Aldebaran system: the calmness of the space, the excitement of the landing, and making first contact with the lizard people.... the saga goes on. This is the story of Solti's version (that I got while listening to it - dont; know what Bartok thought....). What stories do others tell?
Solti / LSO. London FFRR Stereophonic, London Stereo CS.6784. Absolutely fantastic recording, superb sound, feel of a real orchestra. Superb interpretation, objective and precise conducting. Reference quality material! June 26, 2020.
Leinsdorf, LSC-2643 White dog. Nice, big, relaxed sound. A little closed in, no top end extension. (Record wear?) Very nice, delicate conducting with more feeling than Solti's. Fortes are not as offensive as in Solti's interpretation, but they are not as dynamic either. This interpretation does not evoke of a space exploration, it feels as if it was a Moussorgsky piece, Pictures at an Exhibition: the Second Exhibition. Cannot tell its the same piece as Solti's, sounds so different! June 26, 2020.
Joó Árpád, Budapest Symphony Orchestra. SEFD-5009. 1980. Recorded by Hungaroton, mastered by Sefel records. Digital 48K recording. For a digital recording, bravo! One of the best digital recordings so far! I correct - the best digital LP so far, that I have heard! Dynamic, very good soundstage, strings sound like strings, no digital whine nor screech. It sounds as a CD, albeit a very high quality CD recording. The strings have less harmonic overtones than analogue recordings. The conducting is very similar to Solti's, and yet a little more intricate. June 29, 2020.
Doráti Antal, London Symphony. 35mm MLP SR-90378. Hitchcock style interpretation, someone is getting murdered on the scene. June 29, 2020.
Doráti Antal / Hungarian State Orchestra. Hungaroton LPX11437. Interpretation is a little more controlled than with LS, no mass nor psycho murders, but we still have tragic deaths. Soundstage and miking better than MLPs. And a French grand prize for the recording! Well done. June 29, 2020.
Karajan, The Philharmonia Orchestra. Angel, ANG-35003. Hitchcock returns! Did not listen much, as record is very dirty. Very different imaging from the others, not bad at all, quite dynamic. If I liked the murder-style interpretation, this would be top bananas. However, listened only a little bit, maybe in general its not so high strung.... well, someone might report back on it, I'm moving on. June 29, 2020.
Reiner, CSO. LM-1934. 10S/14S. Finally, The big boy! - apparently this is renowned as one of the best recordings ever, in the history of recorded music. The top bananas, the Crowned King of audiophile recordings!!! This is a middle pressing of its mono version. Very majestic introduction! I am intrigued. The tone is not nearly as good as the Hungaroton version, or the London, as a matter of fact. Has tons of drive, presence and power, that most early pressings would envy. However, the majestic beginning collapses into a gross, macabre parade of extremes. Yes, it's very dynamic, tour de force, but MAN! What the ostentatious fuck??! I've never been so disappointed with interpretations. (Well, the infamous Metha is still one step ahead, but this comes in the ballpark.) Sigh. I will not bother with the victrola version... As far as I'm concerned, the Solti London FFRR is a much better version, with way better conducting and a much more balanced recording. Indeed, this is a recording of astonishing extremes - if this is so big and dynamic, how exorbitant the 45RPM could be? Yet, quantity does not equal quality, the Titanic sank just the same. June 29, 2020.
Reiner, CSO, VICS-1110. Stereo, Victrola 1965. Sealed copy went for 50$ in 2018. Probably pretty well recorded... will listen to it some day. 1S/1S, FIRST PRESSING!!
Bartók's Other works:
Second suite: well, was kind of boring and then not much happened in the story. The records are not seeked out, except for the MLP Doráti which fetches good money (FR-1 early stamper NMs going for 120-170$) with the aficionado record mongers.
Sring Quartets: have you tried to saw through the violin with a bow? If not yet, and you are curious how it sounds, then try Bartók's string quartets.
Dance suite: Geez. This is yet another musically inaccessible work.
Hungarian sketches, Romanian dances: very highly recommended, superb works. They are organic extensions of folk music. These are some of the very few Bartok works that Hungarians actually listen to. Contrary to assumption, Hungarians in general do not listen to Bartok. Parents usually use Bartok's music as a tool of punishment for bad behavior or as threats for bringing home bad grades in school... and that's telling something.
Bartók's Violin Concerto #1:
Varga Tibor / Berlin Pilharmonic Orchestra / Fricsay Ferenc. Decca gold label series, DL-9545. Recorded: 1938, mono, acetate LP. The violin playing is amazing, he plays in the Hungarian tradition, with all the intricate colorations that even the trained Western master violinists cannot play. Record would need a good cleaning.
Isaac Stern, NY Philharmonic, Bernstein. Columbia Masterworks, ML-5283. EQ3. Orchestra is larger scale, more dynamic. Violin playing is masterful, but one dimensional compared to Varga Tibors intricately textured playing, which resembles birdsong more than a plain violin score. In itself, it's a beautiful piece.
Menuhin / Furtwangler. LHMV-3, His Masters Voice, "The Hallmark of Quality". Recorded at Abbey Road Studio, London, in Sept 12-13, 1953. This tape had a lot of transfers: RCA, EMI, Toshiba, Angel on LP, and these and Naxos on CD. This is a single record in a very nice box set. The recording quality is Superb! No wonder so many pressing been made from the master. However, the playing style is really, really off! Menuhin does his thing, but it's as far from Bartók as an apple from a dairy farm. Sigh. Varga Tibor and the interpretation spot on. Isaac Stern was not, but it was not bad at all.
Menuhin / Doráti / Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Olympian Living Presence, MG-50140
Menuhin / Doráti / Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. MLP blue sash, SR-90003.
Philips Italy, 6998015 Michele Campanella. Foreword: this is 100% Campanella. Hard to recognize any Liszt in it at all. Cabaré style, virtuoso soirée with the maestro, who is in total control of the instrument. And who possibly never heard a Liszt interpretation before, or just does not care about them at all. He gives himself to the audience. Actually, the recording engineers did a huge favor, and produced a stellar recording. As fine piano as you can get! Actually I’m keeping it, even though I generally abhor when people ignore the composer. It sounds so good, that I forget not just the stereo, but my fixation on proper interpretation. We are in the domain of gorgeous piano-feast. Dynamic range, frequency extension looses meaning. (Actually, they are both stellar.) Absolute thrill! EQ1.
DG 2709076 Lazar Berman: Liszt Les Années de Pèlegrimage. EQ2. Whoa! Another stunner piano recording. More holographic than Campanella’s. Berman actually plays Liszt! Halleluya. What a gorgeous piano. It’s so amazing that pianos have hammers hitting strings. Indeed, the hammers come through on this recording. Holy rap, the speed and intensity and sheer attack of the keys is divine. The recording boasts a Magnificent piano, and a maestro who is in control of dynamics - uses a very wide dynamic range in his play, and the recording keeps up with his amazing instrument. Not a hint of c9mpression anywhere. Both of these Liszts are stellar piano demos. If you want to know what your stereo can do, then give these a spin! Their eq are different, so unless you can select the playback curve on your phone stage, only one will sound stellar. This recording sounds light, thin and bright on eq1. On eq2 it becomes holographic, jumps out into space, looses the brightness, and gets weight and substance. What Thrill to listen to! Also, very educational to switch the eq settings.
IPA111 (international piano archives). Produced by Gregor Benko. Nyiregyhazi (b 1903) plays Liszt. Recorded in LA, 1974. Eq2, but eq1 also works. Loud tape hiss. Not as stellar as the previous two recordings. Yet, you get a credible piano, a darker sounding brooding instrument. Nyiregyhazi is on a different plane than the previous two interpreters. Extremely deep, evocative. Touches your very soul. (Campanella got me excited, Berman got me thinking, and Nyiregyhazi takes me on a spiritual journey with healing power.) my hunger for more, more and more music is gone. I am content. Tears in my eyes. It’s so deep. There’s a gentle compression on dynamic peaks, the strings do not keep their identities, but who cares. It does not touch me, the music is so much more potent than letting such a minor nuisance bother me. Arnold Schoenberg thought the world of Nyiregyhazi. Maestro, I’m glad that I can hear on a record what you have heard. I’m just so thankful at this moment that there are records that carry on mankind’s legacy. Fellow music lovers, you are guardians of treasures that will connect our roots to the future generations. Please take good care of your records, your collections. You might never know, 200 years from now your records might be the ones that change the world. where All that we have now and take for granted will be just a distant dream, learned through skewed perspectives from the history books. Digital is fleeting, fragile. Some records will survive into a millennium from now. One of those might be one album in your collection. Take good care.
Liszt Ferenc (Franz Liszt) July 21, 2020.
DG 139 037 SLPM. Karajan / Berliner Ph. Preludes, Hun Rhapsodie No 2. The record has a very nice cover portraying a traditional Hungarian tanya: ancient houses, built the same way as the houses excavated from 4000 years ago. My grandmother's house was built the same way. Ironically, that's the last generation which built the ancient kind of houses. In a generation, the link to 4000 years is gone in a blink. Probably in a few generations the knowledge how to build one will be lost. What a pity. These were organic houses, built from simple resources, and they provided extremely comfortable internal temperature: cool in the summer, and easy to heat in the winters. The comfort of the modern city houses is a MAJOR setback. Would you have imagined, today we live in less comfort than what was the norm 4000 years ago? Well, the record cover is the best attribute of this recording.
CSC-302, Living stereo, Liszt Piano extravaganzas on operatic themes / Earl Wild. Good sound, hectic works. Pass on.
Conoisseur Society / Pahte Marconi recording / EMI. Cziffra plays Liszt. Todentanz, La campanella, etc. Superb sound. Immediate and impactful, very dynamic. Big channel imbalance though. Fills from one side to the center, but sometimes all the action is restricted to one side. What a pity! The works are pretty good, enjoyable from Liszt.
LM-1905 Rubinstein plays Liszt. Very good sound, EQ3, gravitas. Little too hectic content.
DG LPM 18 647/48. Ferencsik and Fricsay. Eine Faust Sinfonie, Les Preludes. Very good recording quality. Much better sound than Columbia / cond William Jonson version. Here, the noise floor is super low, as if it was a digital recording. Then I checked, and it's an ancient mono! WTF. The Faust symphony is a little hectic, but relatively listenable. I'll give it a deeper listening later on, for Maestro Ferencsik's sake.
Hungaroton Liszt choral works series: the constant among them is Lehtoka Gabor (organ). Very low noise floor, fantastic recordings. Superb choral works. These are the best yet of the Liszt recordings - both in interpretation, accessibility and musicality. SPLX12-234 (Vol VII)
VOX box, SVBX 5489. Liszt piano music vol V. Jerome Rose. Superb recording quality, very virtuoso playing.
French EMI / Melodiya 2C167-52490/2. Lazare Berman. Recorded in Moscow between 1963-75. More dynamic than Vox/Rose. More spacious soundstage. Low level details better on the Vox. Vox is a more balanced recording. Still, both are stunners.
LM-6038, Brailowsky Liszt 15 Hun Rhapsodies. Better, more coherent piano image than the Melodiya stereo. Lower recording level. Very nice! Interpretation - Mediterranean feel to it, nice and smooth. So, how Hungarian are these rhapsodies? They are about as Hungarian, as the goulash recipee in the Larousse Gastronomique: they got half the ingredients right, and nothing is right about the method of preparation. Same here - the music is composed of notes, and has the word "Hungarian" in the title.
Telefunken/Teldec 6.42829 AW, Western Germany, 1980. Cyprien Katsaris. Mefisto Walzes, etc. Melodic, beautiful pieces. Very good interpretation. Recording quality: no problems, but not much low level detail, less dynamic than Vox or Melodiya. Okay recording quality.
Water Lily Acoustics WLA-WS-03. Teddy Teirup. Well, I'm a little disappointed. Not much low level detail, and not much harmonic content. Similar in recording quality to the Telefunken Katsaris. Little more dynamic, though. Although I feel that the piano used has a dark, non-resonant character, the recording quality also hinged a lot on the piano used (being not that good - that's just my hunch.) WLA generally makes superb recordings. This is their poorest recording I ever heard. Yet, it's not bad, but far from my expectations. Also, first play of the record! Second copy: day and night! details are here, more weight, and it's what I expected from WLA. The first copy was probably end of the run...
Liszt Sonata in B minor July 21, 2020.
Considered as the master work of Liszt. Indeed, has a lot of potential.
Westminster XWN-18621 "Natural Balance". Farnadi Edith, Sonata in B minor. Wow!!! Piano in your room quality. Goosebumps. This old mono recording trounces all the previous Liszt piano recordings by a large margin. Best recording. Wow. Spiritual experience. Recording quality and content - both top notch. Hall of Eternal Fame. This copy was withdrawn from UH Library...
LSC-2871 Stereo, Dynagroove, 11S. Rubinstein. Very nice recording, but not as good as the Farnadi. It lacks in every aspect (including "stereo image") compared to the Farnadi mono. Yet, superb recording.
LM-2871 mono Dynagroove, 1S first pressing Rubinstein. The mono version, first pressing. Wow. Much better stereoimage, dynamics, speed,... a superb recording, but still second to Farnadis. Farnadis interpretation and technique is just otherwordly, has unparalleled STRENGTH. It reminds me of the impact and strength that Liszt himself must have had. Rubinstein's is a superb performance, superbly recorded. Farnadis is a masterwork - interpretation is transcendent, recording quality on par.
Liszt Piano concertos July 21, 2020.
Byron Jannis, Rozhdestvensky, Moscow Radio Symphony. Mercury Living Presence Stereo, 35MM. SR90329 Very full, big, lush sound. Very high recording level, yet no compression. Beautiful recording, piano / orchestra balance very good. Superb piano. Very highly recommended, superb performance! I used to listen to a lot of Byron Jannis 15 years ago, and this recording reminds me why. If you want to bask in the sound of the piano, then here you go! This recording has the majestic feel of a live performance, I suspect that it has very low frequency material that most recordings do not have, as the presentation is much more solid, grand and real than most orchestral recordings. RFR4/RFR4. So, it's not an early pressing.
Philips 35MM stereo PHS900-000. Actually, made by Mercury's top team in London: Wilma Cozart, Robert Fine, George Piros... Richter, Kondarashin, London SO. No audience present at the recording sessions. Presentation is much higher and not as deep as the MLP Jannis. It's another superb recording, big and dynamic. Yet, the MLP Jannis has more natural image, this is more "anxious", not as relaxed. Also, its not as defined. Performance is not as good, the interplay between orchestra and pianist is not as organic. Piano playing style is very different, so I do recommend both interpretations as they give different perspectives. Two copies of: FR1/RFR2, A2/A2, P17. Identical pressings. Second copy is less worn: much more inner detail, shine and beauty. The soundstage in fuller and more organic. Beautiful, this copy is on par with the Byron Jannis recording. OBFR1/C7FR3: not George Piros: thinner, much less decay, compresses and thins in forte. Still, not a bad recording, but in comparison to the George Piros mastering, it is found lacking.
Philips Holland pressing Stereo 835-474 LY. Same recording as the Philips 35MM, just different pressing. More gravitas, brutal energy, more feelings and finally the feel of live performance as with the MLP Jannis. This goes for silly prices, 120-170$ on popsike versus the measly 30-45$ for the 35MM PHS900-000 version.