The conductor Leo Blech and the pianist Julian von Károlyi, whose live performance of the Chopin Second Piano Concerto given at the Berlin Titania Palast in 1950 is documented on this CD, are nowadays ranked amongst the greatest but unjustly forgotten interpreters of the 20th century.

Blech, whose sophisticated, mature reading of Schubert’s Symphony in C major, The Great can also be admired on this recording, had been a leading German conductor since 1908 until he was pushed out of his post by the Nazis in 1937, due to his Jewish faith, and was forced to emigrate.

Károlyi, a leading pianist of his generation in the 1950s, was later accused of being routine-driven. His masterful Chopin interpretation demonstrates, however, that his ability to combine musicianship and virtuosity is exemplary, even today.

Live recording, Berlin 1950.