Solomon

[Barbirollians]

After a long and hard week listening to that testament Chopin record again tonight . It is utterly spellbinding - the music speaks for itself - works such as Etude Op 10 no 3 , Nocturne Op9 No2 come up as newly minted ,

[salymap]

My link to Alf Prufrock earlier disappeared. I was trying to say that I agreed that Clifford Curzon, at his best, had an edge to his playing that Solomon lacked to me.

Solomon {Mr Cutner??} had a wonderful serenity and safeness and his playing lacked only an excitement for me that Curzon or someone like Artur Rubinstein had.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...le MartinPecheur ... my dad had a 10" lp of Solomon, the Moonlight in the radiogram .... indelible memory after the seduction of the first movement i recall being entranced by the development of the whole piece ... Solomon was a critical figure in my music awareness... sadly only have the Testament CD ....

[Barbirollians]

My link to Alf Prufrock earlier disappeared. I was trying to say that I agreed that Clifford Curzon, at his best, had an edge to his playing that Solomon lacked to me.

Solomon {Mr Cutner??} had a wonderful serenity and safeness and his playing lacked only an excitement for me that Curzon or someone like Artur Rubinstein had.

Try to hear his recording of Carnaval - salymap - safe it isn't !

[makropulos]

It's worth remembering that the superb collaboration between Solomon and the Philharmonia was achieved by that little dynamo of a conductor Issay Dobrowen, who died tragically young. He was also a pianist and composer of distinction.

It's also worth remembering that there are at least *three* Solomon performances of Tchaik 1. There's an earlier one with Harty and the Hallé (it's on Naxos Historical) which is noticeably quicker in the first movement than the remake with the excellent Dobrowen. There's also a wild and somwhat bonkers one on APR - a live performance with the not-very-good Kansas City SO. Solomon's response is to set the whole performance alight from the keyboard - it's quite amazing.

[amateur51]

Try to hear his recording of Carnaval - salymap - safe it isn't !

I admire Solomon's Carnaval very much and it makes me sad on this evidence that he did not record the other keyboard masterpieces by Schumann. However he belonged to an age where 'completism' had not yet taken hold and I must be grateful for the Carnaval

As to Curzon's 'edge', I feel that that he & Solomon are incomparable but having seen Curzon 'live' several times, I know that sometimes any 'edge' was a result of impending disaster, frequently through nervousness.

[amateur51]

It's also worth remembering that there are at least *three* Solomon performances of Tchaik 1. There's an earlier one with Harty and the Hallé (it's on Naxos Historical) which is noticeably quicker in the first movement than the remake with the excellent Dobrowen. There's also a wild and somwhat bonkers one on APR - a live performance with the not-very-good Kansas City SO. Solomon's response is to set the whole performance alight from the keyboard - it's quite amazing.

I heartily agree makropulos - I've just bought the APR Kansas performance and it is quite hair-raising at times, terrific stuff

[Barbirollians]

That is a fantastic performance ! and the Beethoven 3 is pretty good too !

[aeolium]

As to Curzon's 'edge', I feel that that he & Solomon are incomparable but having seen Curzon 'live' several times, I know that sometimes any 'edge' was a result of impending disaster, frequently through nervousness.

I agree, am51. I did not see Solomon but saw Curzon quite a few times in the 1970s. He could be wonderful but there could be wrong notes aplenty - I think many in the audience were as nervous as he was! I get the impression his technique was not as secure as Solomon's and perhaps that was one reason he disliked recording. On the other hand there are recordings of his I treasure as much as any other I have - the last Schubert sonata, the Brahms 3rd sonata, the Mozart piano concertos with Kertesz.

I never thought of Solomon as being a 'safe' pianist - it was just that so often in his hands the music had an inevitable 'rightness' about the interpretation, especially in that B flat Mozart piano concerto K450.

[amateur51]

I agree, am51. I did not see Solomon but saw Curzon quite a few times in the 1970s. He could be wonderful but there could be wrong notes aplenty - I think many in the audience were as nervous as he was! I get the impression his technique was not as secure as Solomon's and perhaps that was one reason he disliked recording. On the other hand there are recordings of his I treasure as much as any other I have - the last Schubert sonata, the Brahms 3rd sonata, the Mozart piano concertos with Kertesz.

I never thought of Solomon as being a 'safe' pianist - it was just that so often in his hands the music had an inevitable 'rightness' about the interpretation, especially in that B flat Mozart piano concerto K450.

Here's Clifford Curzon 'live' in 1961 playing Liszt's B minor sonata - some wonderful stuff but the man with the dustpan & brush sweeping up the wrong notes must have been busy after the concert. To be fair, once Curzon had got the opening section out of the way, he was much less accident-prone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-9nVPAB-Yo&feature=fvst

[Nick Armstrong]

Here's Clifford Curzon 'live' in 1961 playing Liszt's B minor sonata - some wonderful stuff but the man with the dustpan & brush sweeping up the wrong notes must have been busy after the concert. To be fair, once Curzon had got the opening section out of the way, he was much less accident-prone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-9nVPAB-Yo&feature=fvst

The Solomon "Carnaval" assumed almost mythical status in our house when I was growing up as my mother frequently talked about his performance having I think either heard him play it live or heard his recording - her comment I remember was that no one she had heard conveyed both the colour and excitement but also the overall architecture of the piece. She really wanted to find the LP, and we scoured shops etc without success as sadly it proved impossible to find until she died - hence its mythic status. If only we had had the resources allowed by the internet today for such searches - it seems that the performance tho recorded in 1952 was released in 1967 (so there must have been copies knocking around by the early 70s which is the period I'm talking about): good review in Gramophone http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page...3%2C+Waldstein.

When it finally came out on CD, I acquired a copy immediately in tribute, and indeed Ammy it's pretty electrifying.

Re Sir Clifford C, I came across this page about his Desert Island Discs choices

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/e4e5a4c5

What an intricately-prepared archive that is, with all its searchability etc

[Elion]

Sorry if this is off topic re the Solomon recordings recently discussed, but does anyone know of better sources sound wise for Solomon's Chopin recordings other than the Testament and Pearl CDs? Both of these have dim, diffuse sound. I suppose the masters were lost by EMI and these were taken from relatively poor 78rpm pressings. (Can anyone offer a comparison with the Chopin on the Audite 2-CD set?)

Elion

[clive heath]

The Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Haydn by Solomon were a favourite of my teenage years and I have recently uploaded my restoration of my father's 78s to the site

https://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk

For me, the performance is as varied as you could wish for including a "Cathedrale Engloutie" type variation with the pedal held down longer than usual. Some variations are muscular, dynamic whereas others are smooth and subtle. It makes for a satisfying whole and even the fugue doesn't pall.

[Barbirollians]

Picked up the Naxos CD of Beethoven 3 with Boult and the Bliss Concerto today for a song. The Beethoven is magical and the Clara Schumann cadenza charming - and if anyone could play the Bliss like that nowadays it would be well worth an outing at the Proms.

I like the look of that Audite 2CD set. Anyone heard it ?

[Barbirollians]

The Solomon Chopin disc never palls . Listening to it again tonight- always cheers me up no end .