Reading the notes from
Géza Anda's second DG recording of the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto was quite interesting. Apparently, Brahms' metronome markings for the first movement would have it clock in at about 14-15 minutes. Anda was no dawdler and he took under 18 minutes (about the same as Pollini). Apparently, in 1968 (when this album was released), his reading would be considered 'slow'. I have Sviatoslav Richter's RCA recording and he takes almost 3 minutes less than Anda for the whole concerto. Nowadays, Géza Anda's tempi would be considered relatively fast. How times have changed. What is the truth though?
Also found out that a 17 CD Clara Haskil Edition is being released in November 2010 to commemorate 50 years since her untimely death from a fall at the Brussels train station in December 1960. This includes everything from the Philips Original Masters 7 CD set and 10 more CDs. From what I've read about
Clara Haskil, she's one of the once in a century naturals. How lucky classical music collectors are now that these huge boxed sets are being released at bargain prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment