BBC Legends: BBCL42302
Mieczylsaw Horszowski Recital
Casals: Prelude
Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor Op.58 / Mazurka in B flat minor Op.24 No.4 / Mazurka in C Op.56 No.2
Mozart: Piano Sonata in F K.332
Villa-Lobos: A Mare Encheu / Passa, Passa Gaviao
Mendelssohn: Song Without Words in C Op.67 No.4
Our Price: £10.95 (£9.32 ex VAT)
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Instrumental
Artist(s): Mieczylsaw Horszowski (piano)
Release Date: 3rd March 2008
More Details on Mieczylsaw Horszowski Recital
The Polish pianist Mieczylsaw Horszowski (1892 – 1993) has been a consistent feature on BBC Legends, with outstanding reviews for his Aldeburgh Festival and Wigmore Hall recitals (BBCL 4122-2, BBCL 4171-2, BBCL 4203-2).
This CD contains two recitals drawn from the 1984 and 1987 Aldeburgh Festivals. Here, his programme is even more wide-ranging than his previous recitals on BBC Legends, including tributes to his friends Casals and Villa Lobos, as well as music by Chopin, Bach (arr. Liszt), Mozart and Mendelssohn, all very much associated with Horszowski.
Bryce Morrison, the critic and booklet writer for this compilation, makes the following observations: “Chopin’s Third Sonata is a startling choice for so venerable a pianist, yet even here Horszowski’s nobility shines through…the Bach-Liszt is touched with grandeur (try the final fugue) and if the flesh is occasionally weak in the Mozart Sonata, the spirit is so much more than willing…the two Chopin Mazurkas are alternately reflective and rumbustious. Lastly, Mendelssohn’s ‘Bee’s Wedding’ Song Without Words is a reminder that if the music profession can at times seen punitive, music itself is forever life-enhancing and an ultimate mirror of human feeling and experience…he was, to quote yet another critic and admirer, ‘somewhat of a miracle’”.
Horszowski spent much of his time in the US playing with Casals and Szigeti and was hugely admired by Toscanini and Artur Rubinstein, a life-long friend who wrote to him saying ‘I gather you will be in the audience at my concert tomorrow and so I am practising with particular care and attention’.
Excellent BBC Recordings in stereo.
Recorded: Aldeburgh, 9 June 1984 (Casals, Chopin Sonata); 21 June 1987 (Bach, Mozart, Villa Lobos, Mendelsson, Chopin Mazurkas).
This CD contains two recitals drawn from the 1984 and 1987 Aldeburgh Festivals. Here, his programme is even more wide-ranging than his previous recitals on BBC Legends, including tributes to his friends Casals and Villa Lobos, as well as music by Chopin, Bach (arr. Liszt), Mozart and Mendelssohn, all very much associated with Horszowski.
Bryce Morrison, the critic and booklet writer for this compilation, makes the following observations: “Chopin’s Third Sonata is a startling choice for so venerable a pianist, yet even here Horszowski’s nobility shines through…the Bach-Liszt is touched with grandeur (try the final fugue) and if the flesh is occasionally weak in the Mozart Sonata, the spirit is so much more than willing…the two Chopin Mazurkas are alternately reflective and rumbustious. Lastly, Mendelssohn’s ‘Bee’s Wedding’ Song Without Words is a reminder that if the music profession can at times seen punitive, music itself is forever life-enhancing and an ultimate mirror of human feeling and experience…he was, to quote yet another critic and admirer, ‘somewhat of a miracle’”.
Horszowski spent much of his time in the US playing with Casals and Szigeti and was hugely admired by Toscanini and Artur Rubinstein, a life-long friend who wrote to him saying ‘I gather you will be in the audience at my concert tomorrow and so I am practising with particular care and attention’.
Excellent BBC Recordings in stereo.
Recorded: Aldeburgh, 9 June 1984 (Casals, Chopin Sonata); 21 June 1987 (Bach, Mozart, Villa Lobos, Mendelsson, Chopin Mazurkas).
