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Legendary Performances of Chopin

Peter Dietrich | Boston, MA United States | 10/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Legendary Performances of Chopin
Piano Concertos performed by Alexander Brailowsky
Written by Peter Dietrich
President, Chopin Society of New EnglandAs I wrote in my previous review Brailowsky plays Chopin - BMG 2 Disc set this now legendary pianist first caught my attention in 1952. The Chopin e-minor concerto with Alexander Brailowsky the first of two recordings of this concerto I purchased the same year. The other recording on the Remington label was that with Edward Kilenyi (1910-2000) an American born pianist, one of the great masters now almost completely forgotten, whom I shall discuss in my future reviews.
I fell in love with both recordings and have played them alternately almost every second day until I purchased a third recording in 1954 with Arthur Rubinstein (his second of this concerto), recorded with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra with Alfred Wallenstein RCA Victor LM-1810, (which I also have on CD, vol. 17 in the complete 94 disc set purchased as soon as it was released by BMG Classic in 1999). The Rubinstein gigantic set I hope to discuss in the future, which is very fascinating indeed.
The BMG CD release of Chopin's both piano concertos with Alexander Brailowsky is his second version of the three recordings of the E-minor concerto by the pianist. The first recording presently available on Enterprise PL248 is the first recording of the E-minor concerto ever in 1928 with Julius Pruwer and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The third recording of this concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra was made in the early 60s in stereophonic sound, not yet available on CD. The performances of both piano concertos are truly legendary because they have stood the test of time and are true classics. Their super qualities are complete control of the technical difficulties, beautiful tone quality, impeccable phrasing and above all complete involvement by the artist. The Nocturne Op. 27, No. 2 and the Waltz in E-minor are masterpieces in miniature and are performed on the same artistic level. Highly recommended and a great buy. It is very disappointing to see that so many great recordings by Alexander Brailowsky are no longer available or were available for a very short time, while at the same time many so-so recordings by much lesser artists are always readily available. It would be profitable if BMG Classics, formerly RCA with whom Aleksander Brailowsky in the 40s and 50s has recorded quite a large number of works by many composers, including Chopin and Liszt, could be persuaded and issue the Brailowsky recordings that they have in their archives."