Ripe For Reissue: Jorge Bolet's Complete RCA and Sony Recordings
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- This 10 CD set is currently (6/23) selling on Amazon for $396!!! Is that nuts or what? I mean, if it's really that good, why couldn't RCA just leave the bloody thing in print at the original (reasonable) price? I know, I know. Just askin'.
Jorge Bolet,my hero! My first real pianist and that's why I'm a pianist too! 🤗
One of my favourite Chopin’s scherzos ever are those performed by him issued by indipendent label APR! He was able to transcend the technical challenges and bring out the music despite the complexity. Everything was under complete control, the melodic line was always apparent, and the sound was so rich and lush. Sheer beauty! Bolet was surely one of the finest musicians of his generation, having been hailed as the greatest pianist in America by Emil Gilels..
Your connection between Bolet and Wild is a shrewd one, both of them having been trained and nurtured in the older virtuoso repertoire that featured those extravagant transcriptions and compositions from Shulz-Evler, Liszt, and Tausig or the spectacularly difficult bon-bons from the likes of Moszkowski and Godowski. Among Bolet's teachers were Rosenthal, Hofmann, and especially David Saperton (Godowski's son-in-law and a technician of stupendous ability) whom Bolet credited with passing down both the skills and the stylistic sensibility for this Romantic repertoire. Unfortunately, it was a repertoire that by the post WWII years was out of fashion, seen as too frivolous, too superficial--i.e., not Beethoven. When Bolet was at the height of his powers there were few venues open to him for this repertoire, though a good number of pirate recordings are now available of performances from the '50s and '60s and they're sensational. Happily, he was still in prime estate by the time of that famous Carnegie Hall recital, which (along with the terrific RCA live recording) brought his name before the wider public again and he could cut back on his Curtis teaching and begin his late-career concertizing. My vote for one of his best late Decca recordings is the disc of Schubert song transcriptions, where he can deploy his entire range of colors and touches to great poetic effect. It's poised and elegant playing with a gorgeous singing line throughout. But for Bolet in his white-hot technique-to-burn phase, it's hard to beat that Carnegie Hall Tannhauser Overture or the Blue Danube Arabesques. The sheer elan still gets to me. And I'm an Arrau fan, a pianist from a different universe!
Yes, that Schubert / Liszt disc is one of his best.
The Carnegie Hall recital is one of the greatest performances ever captured on disc. The Wagner Tannhauser is just amazing.
We ought to be grateful for what Decca did for Jorge Bolet. Through the dedication of producer Peter Wadland, a large portion of his repertoire was set down in superb sound, far better than previously (and on superbly tuned and voiced Bechsteins/Baldwins). Suddenly - as JB himself admitted - he was wanted everywhere (he properly "broke into France" for the first time!) He was also able to retire from teaching, something he'd done (or had to do) since 1968 at Indiana and then at Curtis, Philadelphia to gain some security and a fixed income. If those late recordings don't necessarily always display him at his best, they happen to be how I got to know of him in the first place. I have admired his playing for 40 years, and that happened because of those Decca records. Yes, there are this RCA set, an excellent Marston Records 5-CD set and numerous very fine live performances of him in his prime now at last appearing on RUclips. But I return to the point that my lifelong interest in this pianist stemmed from hearing that first volume of Decca in 1983, so there must have been something there. He wasn't, as you say, an "intellectual" pianist, but he was not just a virtuoso. In reviewing a concert from 1986, one critic wrote of Liszt's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude: "This piece, as interpreted [by Bolet] last night, touched levels of visionary contemplation usually associated with late Beethoven." It would certainly be the piece by Bolet that I'd take to that proverbial BBC Radio 4 Desert Island.
Your experience mirrors mine. Couldn't agree more! Those 1980's Decca recordings were a revelation for me after feeding myself the brilliantly played, but rather dry and flat Earl Wild recordings on the Quintessence label.
I paid $32.00 for my Bolet/RCA in 2014. One of my top five pianists. 1974 concert performance was phenomenal. I enjoyed his early 1960's as well as his 1980's performances.
Thanks to all parties for putting an outstanding artist back on the radar. In the flush of modern pianistic bombast, many of yesteryear's greats are fading from the collective memory. I hope it sells well.
I picked up a Bolet Liszt CD on Decca for a buck a few weeks back, to add to the mish-mash collection of Bolets I have. I still see them around a lot in the used bins at the bookstore.
I have a soft spot for the Decca Liszt recordings, which were done when the choices were few & Liszt grossly underrated. They were something of an antidote to Berman's sheer brilliance & Howard's more variable schlepp. A gentler more thoughtful 'singing' approach. The Decca engineers also did a good job capturing Bolet's tone & the quality of the Bechstein instrument he used for (most?) of the recordings. By the late 70s recording a Bechstein was already a rarity...
I agree, but we're in a minority. Interestingly, if you read reviews at the time the Decca LPs were first issued, they're very enthusiastic.
I never get tired of his playing of the Liszt on the Decca recordings. The Benediction and the concert etudes are magnificent, and the Schubert-Liszt transcriptions are unparalleled...as is that beautiful Bechstein he used for the recordings. That instrument has incredible clarity throughout all registers, especially in the bass - where most modern Steinways are swamped in a mass of muddled overtones. Whoever voiced the hammers really knew what they were doing.
I guess a lot of French music used to be closer to standard fare a long time ago. The Chausson was recorded by Heifetz with Sanroma and the Musical Art Quartet on Victor in the 78rpm days, ca. 1941. I agree, its a wonderful work and should be heard much more often.
Thanks for the Bolet overview. In summer of 1978, I heard him play the Brahms Second Concert with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow conducting, at the Blossom Music festival. It was sublime...no other word to describe it. Yes, noble, grand, mellow, introspective, UNDERSTATED, lyrical..all the things you would NOT expect from Bolet, and pretty damn' well note perfect (though Bolet's Baldwin was a tad too bright). A very knowledgeable musician friend of mine and I were simply.... literally left speechless.
The following night, I ran into the Cleveland Plain Dealer's long-time music critic Robert Finn at the festival; I asked him what he thought of Bolet's Brahms 2nd the night before. He scrunched up his face and said "Well....not exactly the DUEL between piano and orchestra you expect in this piece."
In the face of such wisdom and insight, what could I possibly say? LR
That Blossom performance can be found on RUclips.
@@poturbg8698 Thanks for the heads-up! LR
in the piano hall of fame. Don't have much but proud of what I have!
This box is extremely useful as it gathers a good deal of Bolet's scattered pre-Decca discography.
NOT going to pay $396 for this! Thank goodness I bought this at the normal price when it was first released. Grabbed this without a further thought, and did the same with the Earl Wild box. These boxes must never be deleted!
Dave, I couldn’t find a repertoire video from you on Les Troyens by Berlioz. If you haven’t would you consider doing one? I was looking at newer recordings (like Nelson’s) and upcoming performances by Gardiner wondering about your thoughts. Thanks.
I'll think about it. Thanks for the suggestion.
If you're struggling to find this at a decent price, you can instead check out the Audite series of RIAS recordings recently issued- contains a terrific performance of the Wagner-Liszt Tannhauser Overture and lots of usual Bolet fare!
Although these RCA/Sony recordings are much better than the too-late Deccas for the most part, Bolet really shone in concert. There are many in-concert recordings on RUclips and elsewhere that show him at his best.
I've heard some of Jorge Bolet's late recordings on Decca, which I found rather boring, and I've also heard a Diamant Records reissue of Bolet's Remington recording of Prokofieff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a competent and workmanlike performance of a work that was hardly in the standard repertory then. It's occurred to me that I might have been unfair to Bolet and I'd like to be able to get this RCA/Sony box to find out - but not at nearly $400!
Same here, I have always found his playing rather dull (and I have heard some of his earlier recordings). I also saw him live twice. Very good, very workman-like but not much more.
Bolet was best live.
Plenty of fantastic playing on RUclips.
Gilels rated Bolet as the heir to the Russian tradition. The Prokofiev 2 recording was highly thought of in Russia.
The price is now $449 used.
I have a scoop: GERGIEV IS BACK! There's a 2023's video of him on you tube. He conducts Tchaikovsky's 5 in...CHINA! Next step: NORTH KOREA!
They can have him, along with his stupid toothpick.
haha :D
A Rogue Nation Tour! Let us know when he adds Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan. Perhaps Nigeria can be an add on.