Reviews for
GHCD 2323 -
Witold Malcuzynski London 20 November 1946
AUDIOPHILE AUDITION THURSDAY JULY 12 2007
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21; RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No.
3 in D Minor, Op. 30 - Witold Malcuzynski, piano/ Philharmonia Orchestra/ Paul
Kletzki - Guild
1949-vintage recordings by a world-class Polish pianist
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21; RACHMANINOV: Piano
Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 - Witold Malcuzynski, piano/ Philharmonia
Orchestra/ Paul Kletzki
Guild GHCD 2323, 65:11 (Distrib. Albany) ****:
The Chopin F Minor Concerto (20 November 1946) marked the first collaborative
inscription from Polish piano virtuoso Witold Malcuzynski (1914-1977), who had
established himself as a world-class artist in 1937, at the third international
Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Malcuzynski brought a distinct pearly play to his
naturally expansive, bravura style, and his repertory embraced music from Bach
to Rachmaninov, Brahms to Szymanowski. The antiquity of tradition is present in
both the Chopin Concerto and the Rachmaninov Third (26-27 April 1949), in that
Kletzki takes significant orchestral cuts made in the scores that were fairly
conventional at the time. The Chopin Concerto finds Malcuzynski in splendid,
fluent form, easily rivaling his compatriot Rubinstein in seamless execution and
polished, rounded phrases. The brittle Columbia shellacs of the period have been
restored in good sound, but side breaks are a bit too noticeable. Besides the
delicacy of touch and idiosyncratic rubato applied by Malcuzynski, what sells
the performance is the stunning orchestral tremolandi in the Larghetto
movement, as an anxious storm of emotion passes by the poet's songlike
recitative. The movement dances and ebbs as required, the London Times having
called Malcuzynski "a masterly expositor of Chopin's lyrical spirit."
CBS at one time offered distinct performances of the Rachmaninov Third on
record; along with Malcuzynski's version, a competent realization existed with
Cyril Smith. Here, Malcuzynski takes cuts which the composer authorized. Kletzki
and Malcuzynski set a quick pace for the first movement, the horns and the
pianist urging each other to swift runs and impressionistic color mixes. The CBS
sound is distant, so we have blurred timbre in the woodwinds. The big line in
the strings comes through, however, a taste of what Kletzki might have done with
the composer's E Minor Symphony. Lovely, suave legato passages from
Malcuzynski, the sort of empressement that balances vigor with a light
heart. The militant passages receive the Horowitz treatment, big spans and bold
fioritura, with a liquid, forceful cadenza. Sweet harmonies for the
Intermezzo, then a steady semi-martial pace for the Alla breve, runs,
ornaments, and repeated notes in agile abundance, all synchronized tastefully
with the veteran Kletzki. Restoration of the Rachmaninov suffers no unseemly
joins. Gary Lemco
MUSICWEB MONDAY JUNE 04 2007
Fryderyk CHOPIN
(1810-1849)
Piano Concerto
No.2 in F minor Op.21 (1829) [29:32]
Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor Op.30 (1909) [35:22]
 Witold
Malcuzynski (piano)
Philharmonia
Orchestra/Paul Kletzki
rec.
November 1946 (Chopin); April 1949 (Rachmaninov)
GUILD
GHCD 2323 [65:11]
Malcuzynski
died in 1977 but it seems longer ago. He was one of the more glamorous and
popular artists on the circuit but he doesn’t seem to have fostered much
posthumous enthusiasm even from the serried ranks of pianophiles. Certainly
reissues continue to appear but there’s been nothing that has really sought to
get to grips with his legacy in a comprehensive way.
Guild has
thought to conjoin the Chopin Second and Rachmaninov Third Concertos. It’s not a
bad move as far as programming is concerned. The Chopin is a good performance
made better still by virtue of Kletzki’s truly first class accompaniment. This
is not some prosaic skeleton or apologetic collaboration – on the contrary.
Kletzki generates some marvellously effective and assertive orchestral
marshalling; fine colours, taut rhythms, sympathetic control in the slow
movement. The tuttis in the first movement are cut. Malcuzynski’s playing is
cultured if not quite the final word in delicacy. Unfortunately the issue is
blighted by transfer problems. Firstly it is over-processed and consequently
opaque. Maybe you could do what Mortimer Frank is always suggesting in another
critical forum and re-equalise (if you can). But you’d still have to contend
with a couple of first movement side-joins that really won’t do and with which
you can do nothing. The second of them, at 6:05-6:08, is a real dog’s dinner.
Pearl 0095 is noisier but better in this respect – though the companion works
are entirely different; more Chopin, Szymanowski and Liszt’s Second Concerto.
In respect of
side joins the Rachmaninov is better though it still suffers from noise
reduction that blunts the frequencies. To my ears this should be a much more
open sound and given that the Rachmaninov was recorded in 1949 there’s
absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be. The performance seems to have divided
auditors down the years. Some have found it too fast and frivolous, others have
found it “overbearing” whilst adherents admire its fluency, virtuosity and
intense drama. As with the Chopin – where he was partnered by Susskind in the
stereo era – the pianist set down other performances; among them a Warsaw
traversal with Rowicki in 1964 and a live Mitropoulos from 1956. I happen to
enjoy this Kletzki-conducted performance. The first movement is very fast but
the cadenza is finely controlled and the virtuoso and expressive demands of the
concerto seem to me to be well accommodated – and notably well balanced.
Certainly few could deny Malcuzynski’s driving eloquence in even the thorniest
passages.
So a rather
unbalanced disc. The performances are generally very recommendable as examples
of Malcuzynski’s immediate post-war way with both concertos. Any soloistic
limitations are compensated for by conductorial excellence in the Chopin; the
driving tension of the Rachmaninov is deepened by the pianist’s probing romantic
affiliations in the slow movement. I just wish the transfers were
better.
Jonathan Woolf
Witold Malcuzynski Plays
Historical Recordings from the Collections of the
Zentralbibliothek Zürich
·
Frédéric François Chopin:
Piano Concerto #2 in F minor, Op. 21
·
Sergei Rachmaninoff:
Piano Concerto #3 in D minor, Op. 30
Witold Malcuzynski, piano
Philharmonia Orchestra/Paul Kletzki
Guild GHCD2323 65m AAD Rec 1946
These recordings although
filling a void in Paul Kletzki's and Witold Malcuzynski's recorded legacy are
rather staid without much to contribute to the historical reissue debate.
Although one can admire the high technical standard of these recordings, the
rather dull 1946 sound tends to dampen proceedings a bit especially with the
orchestra rather too recessed.
The composer's own magnificent
recording of the 3rd
concerto is in a league of its own and Malcuzysnki does play the music with
passion and verve but there is that last ounce of involvement that is distinctly
lacking. The same goes for Chopin's concerto although here, the music is of a
rather unremarkable quality in itself and quite difficult to bring off.
Still, according to the
excellent notes, the Polish pianist was an authority in Chopin and one really
cannot question this.
One can only praise Guild for
raiding the exceptionally rich Central Bibliothek Archive in Zürich and one can
only hope for further recordings from this source especially from artists who
have been overlooked or neglected in this great historical revival.
© 2007 by Gerald Fenech
Page revised Wednesday August 08 2007
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