Search - George Frederick Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Evaristo Dall'Abaco :: Edwin Fischer, Piano

A GARDEN OF (historical) DELIGHTS!

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"[Two caveats: First, Edwin Fischer is one of my pianistic gods. Second, this set is in historical sound and surface noise is a constant, although not annoying, presence.] I may have been imprinted as a youngster on some of Fischer's playing, but even now some fifty-plus years later I still love the SOUND of his playing, even when the sound is ancient, as it is in all of the recordings presented in this 4CD set. I remember that it was his touch, the velvety pianissimi--and was there ever a pianist who had so many gradations of pianissimo?--the legato, the dynamic control, the natural phrasing of a great singer that initially drew me to his playing, and still does. I enjoyed almost every moment of the five hours of music-making on these discs. It would probably be easier for me to comment on the performances I didn't particularly like, but I'll save that for later. First let me enthuse about what is wonderful here.



Fischer, of course, was the first of the great pianists to make a practice of playing Bach on the piano--not transcribed or arranged as Busoni or others did, but as Bach wrote it. Well, yes, he occasionally played bass octaves where Bach had written a single line, but he never changed anything else. His 'Well-Tempered Clavier' (not included here, but available on wonderful Naxos and EMI transfers) was the first ever recording of those masterpieces. CD1 is practically all Bach: The D Minor Concerto, BWV 1052, the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor [the fugue is one of the marvels of this set, done primarily in all those gradations of pp], a solo piano arrangement by Marcello of the middle movement of the other D Minor Concerto, BWV 974, and a particular delight, the Concerto for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064 , recorded in 1950 with two other pianists who went on to their own kind of fame: the recently deceased Ronald Smith, who was an early champion of the piano music of Charles-Henri-Valentin Alkan, and Dennis Matthews, who was a prominent pianist until his death in the 1980s. Also on CD1 is the G Major Chaconne, HWV 435/II by Handel, given a sparkling performance. Also, and one of my least favorite selections, is Fischer conducting his own chamber orchestra in the 'Concerto a quattro chiesa' in B flat, Op. 2, No. 9 by the early baroque composer, Evaristo Dall'Abaco. It's the music I'm not particularly drawn to, not the performance, although that seems a bit gray.



CD2 is primarily given over to Mozart, although it starts with the sprightly Haydn Concerto in D Major, Hob. SVIII:11. Then follows an absolutely lovely Mozart Piano Sonata No. 11 in A, the 'alla Turca' sonata. Recorded in 1933, it nonetheless shows off Fischer's incredible dynamic range and that ravishing pianissimo. His performance may be a bit romantic, but that's not a criticism from my point of view. This is followed by an even better C Minor Fantasia, K. 396. How I wish that had been coupled with the D Minor Fantasia, but we can't have everything, I guess. Then there is the only Mozart piano concerto in this set, the C Minor, K. 491, a dynamic performance that features Fischer's own rather over-the-top cadenzas. (I loved them, but they would certainly make the HIP crowd sniff. Come to think of it, the use of the full complement of the London Philharmonic would get up their noses, too.) This CD is rounded off by a charming arrangement by Fischer of a piece Mozart wrote when he was only five: Minuet in G, K. 1 - yes, K. 1!



CD3 is rather heavier fare from the core of Austro-German Romantic repertoire. First an impassioned 'Appassionata.' The Andante is particularly silken. Again, we have the opportunity to hear Fischer's great control of dynamics and phrasing. There are dropped notes here and there--as always with Fischer--but in the heat of the moment this is as nothing compared to the sweep of the playing. Then comes a dramatic Third Sonata of Brahms, in a dramatic reading. This is one of the three greatest readings of this sonata that I know--the others are those by Katchen and Solomon. The sonata is followed by the Rhapsody in G Minor, Op. 79, No. 2 and the G Minor Ballade, Op. 118, No. 3. I'm less taken with the Rhapsody than I'd hoped, but the Ballade is superb! Finally, with Fischer wielding the baton, is Felix Weingartner's well-known arrangement for string orchestra of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, Op. 133. As much as I detest the string orchestra arrangement of the Op. 131 Quartet (even in Bernstein's lauded recording with the VPO), I love this Weingartner arrangement. Fischer's account is good but I like Weingartner's own recording of it even better; alas, that does not seem to be currently easily available.



CD4 is all Schubert and for me the highlight of this entire set. As much as I love Schnabel in this repertoire--and others, too, like Perahia, Schiff and Fischer's own student, Alfred Brendel--I love these performances best. We get an absolutely incandescent 'Wanderer-Fantasie' and then eight Impromptus (D. 899 & 935) in meltingly gorgeous readings. The Impromptus in G Flat and in A Flat from the first set alone are worth the price of admission. They show off another characteristic of Fischer's playing that I hadn't mentioned: the ability of his left hand to float a gossamer accompaniment quite unlike anyone else I can think of. In the Mozart, for instance, he can make an Alberti bass sound like magic. Who else can do that?



Bottom line: This set is not for everyone. It is for those who don't mind a little surface noise--although I have to say the sound of the piano per se is really quite rich and warm and brings out, even in the oldest recordings (from 1931) the subtleties of Fischer's playing. It is also for those who don't mind a little cholesterol in their Baroque music, and who don't mind Bach on the piano. [Frankly, I'm not terribly fond of any three-piano version of the Three Harpsichord Concerto in any other recording I've ever heard, but here it works, at least for me.] And it does cost a chunk of change, this set. Still, for those who love Fischer's playing--and surely there are still a few of us, right?--this is worth it.



Strongly recommended to the right audience. You know who you are.



4CDs: TT=ca 5 hrs



Scott Morrison"