Recordings of the composer as performer

[cavatina]

More Youtube videos for you...enjoy!

Sorabji plays Sorabji

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOs2wtmqdo

Gershwin plays Gershwin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc

Mompou plays Mompou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CzRGlpUWh8

Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTRm_N6MHz4

Strauss conducts Strauss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItepGSxpg3M

Holst conducts Holst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8nTxOVwiFQ

Bridge conducts Bridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZc4rSIqidM

Milhaud conducts Milhaud

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4HO0e_c2jg

Walton conducts Walton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDDcwuJhzZg

Elgar conducts Elgar (video of the composer!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrzApHZUUF0

Poulenc plays Poulenc (video of the composer!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7QTyUaH2OE

[makropulos]

Another one to add to cavatina's splendid collection.
There's very little of Kodály conducting on film, but here's one clip of him conducting the Te Deum filmed in 1943 and preserved in the archives of Hungarian TV:

http://filmhiradok.nava.hu/watch.php?id=5022

[aeolium]

Lots of interesting suggestions and extracts there. I'd also add Busoni, though the nearest he came to playing his own music was the recordings he made of some Bach transcriptions (including the Chaconne), and Hindemith both as conductor and viola player in his own music.

But there have been few comments, if any, about recordings of composers playing/conducting their own work which perhaps have been less than persuasive, and where MBers have preferred later recordings by others. Is that because of a feeling that where someone performs their own work it is such an inimitable authorial statement that it is almost beyond question or comparison (except on BaL )?

I am always interested in hearing performances by composers whether as soloist or conductor, but I don't feel any qualms about preferring other recordings of their works. Someone can be a fine composer without being an exceptional conductor or soloist (Schubert didn't think he could play his own Wanderer Fantasy) though of course there have been plenty who have been exceptional conductors or soloists, such as Rachmaninov and Britten. But there's also the point that a composition has a life independent of its composer and others may find qualities in it that the composer had not intended or noticed (such as the Vickers interpretation of Grimes, perhaps). And there's also the fact - that has puzzled some BaL reviewers - that on occasion composers do not in performance pay complete attention to their own score markings.

So are there any composers' recordings that have especially disappointed anyone? (I mean by the performance, not the sound quality or indeed the music)

[PJPJ]

Dohnanyi recorded the second PC with Sir Adrian Boult - perhaps its non-appearance on CD reflects its imperfect piano playing? Has there been a CD release or even LP reissue I've missed?

[makropulos]

Dohnanyi recorded the second PC with Sir Adrian Boult - perhaps its non-appearance on CD reflects its imperfect piano playing? Has there been a CD release or even LP reissue I've missed?

A bit surprisingly, it was reissued on Praga Digitals:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dohnanyi-Variations-Konsertstuck-Philharmonia-Orchestra/dp/B0017TZ8ZK

[PJPJ]

A bit surprisingly, it was reissued on Praga Digitals:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dohnanyi-Var.../dp/B0017TZ8ZK

I'm losing the plot.... I did have this release and sold it on. Disappointingly, it's a very obvious noisy transfer from LP, using mono originals for some of the works. I managed to get the Konsertstuck in stereo on an EMI Artists Profile release and the concerto transcribed from a stereo LP.

[Ferretfancy]

Re Dohnanyi, I have an EMI Studio CD of his performance of the Nursery Variations with Boult and the RPO, coupled with Sargent's excellent performance of the Suite for Orchestra. Was this originally on LP with the second PC? The playing is a bit shaky, but it dates from 1957 only two years before Dohnanyi died. The stereo is quite good, but it can't compare as a performance with Julius Katchen, also conducted by Boult. I imagine that this CD is long since deleted.

[PJPJ]

Long deleted, I'm sorry to say. The HMV recordings seem to be from 1956, and there's an informative article about all the sessions here:

http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no175/14.html

[makropulos]

But Dohnányi's much earlier (and much better) recording of the Nursery Variations with Collingwood in 1931 is readily available. It's in the Composers in Person big box set, and also as a separate disc:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Composers-Person-Bartok-Dohnanyi-Bela/dp/B000007O0Z

[Pabmusic]

There were just a few recordings of the Czech Quartet playing Smetana and Dvorak, together with Suk's first quartet. Josef Suk was for nearly 40 years the Czech Quartet's second violin, as well as being Dvorak's son-in-law and a fine composer. These works were recorded between 1928 and 1933, and were last (briefly) available on Biddulph 09192. Luckily, I got one.

[Don Petter]

We have George Lloyd conducting many of his works on Albany/Conifer. (I'm reminded by picking up another three of these at a boot fair this morning.)

I don't think we've mentioned Enescu, both conducting his Dixtuor and two Roumanian Rhapsodies on Remington, and accompanying Céliny Chailley-Richez in his Violin Sonata No.3 on 1948 Columbia 78s. All of these are, or have been, available for free download thanks to blog-spotters.

There is also Casadesus playing Casadesus. He can be heard as one of the soloists in his Concerto for Three Pianos, Op.65, and playing his 3 Danses Mediterraneenes, on two different Sony CDs.

[Ferretfancy]

PJPJ

Thanks for that fascinating link. I must have another listen to the Nursery Variations and was interested to see that at the original sessions only the mono version was completed. As far as I remember the CD of the Variations is certainly in stereo, maybe the difficulties arose when recording the concerto, which would possibly account for the failure to issue it on CD. There seemed to be all sorts of problems at EMI in the early days of stereo, no doubt you recall the interesting comments on battles with Walter Legge at the sessions for the Karajan Der Rosenkavalier. Thanks again.
Ferret

[makropulos]

We have George Lloyd conducting many of his works on Albany/Conifer. (I'm reminded by picking up another three of these at a boot fair this morning.)

I don't think we've mentioned Enescu, both conducting his Dixtuor and two Roumanian Rhapsodies on Remington, and accompanying Céliny Chailley-Richez in his Violin Sonata No.3 on 1948 Columbia 78s. All of these are, or have been, available for free download thanks to blog-spotters.

There is also Casadesus playing Casadesus. He can be heard as one of the soloists in his Concerto for Three Pianos, Op.65, and playing his 3 Danses Mediterraneenes, on two different Sony CDs.

Lots of composers who recorded their own works haven't been mentioned much yet - but this could get very unwieldy. Just to take a few British composers: Arnold, Arnell, Alwyn, Bliss, Berkeley, Frankel, Hoddinott, Ireland, Knussen, Mathias, Maxwell Davies, McCabe, Panufnik, Rawsthorne, Rubbra, Williamson.

[mikealdren]

Kreisler playing lots of his his own works as well as his fantastic cadenzas for the Beethoven concerto and the Tartini Devils Trill. (sorry if I've missed an earlier reference)

Mike

[Chris Newman]

Many years ago at Dorking Halls I heard Constantin Silvestri conduct his Three Pieces for Strings. I discover they are on a two CD Nimbus/BBC recording of Silvestri and the BSO. A tantalizing snippet can be heard here:

http://www.wyastone.co.uk/constantin-silvestri-conducts-the-bournemouth-symphony-orchestra.html