I've been listening to some discs that have been sitting un played in my collection for a while that are wonderful and realizing that they have some common features: They were released on budget labels and their artists never seem to have the kind of careers that their talent seems to warrant.
First up are the Debussy Piano Music recordings made for Vox in the early 1960s by Peter Frankl. Listening to them recently I was very impressed by his touch, his coloring, and his general feel for the Debussy idiom. I had spent the last several years listening to Michelangeli and Zimmerman in the Preludes and Uchida in the Etudes and would trot the Frankl out for the occasional listen to the composer's earlier Piano Music but after listening to Frankl in these works I believe his artistry is at least the equal of his more famous counterparts. I see that Frankl has many videos on You Tube and continued to make recordings in succeeding decades, but on these shores at least if it weren't for his Vox recordings he would be a complete unknown. I also wonder that if these recordings had been released on a label such as RCA and accompanied by a PR budget if he would not be better known and regarded presently.
Next up is a coupling of the Schumann and Brahms Piano Quintets with Jeno Jando and the Kodaly Quartet. These are great recordings that have given me more pleasure than many more famous versions. Again, these artists recorded for Naxos, and quite voluminously as well. Perhaps their sheer fecundity on records blinds us to the occasional nuggets of gold that pop up amongst the silt.
Also on Naxos, Bernd Glemserin Schumann Symphonic Etudes. Marvelous stuff, probably the best of many versions in my collection. I also enjoy his Tchaikovsky. Why is Glemser not better known?
Outside of Alfred Brendel, I can't think of many artists that became known through budget recordings and then gained the respect that they merited. Some Vox Artists were great Conductors making comebacks after World War II, such as Klemperer and Horenstein. Sir Adrian Boult and Pierre Monteux also turned to budget labels when the majors treated them as over the hill, and resurrected their recording careers as a result. I wonder if the ubiquity of the budget labels (Vox and Naxos had been sold in Supermarket checkout lines in the States) tends to prejudice us against appreciating some of the performers
First up are the Debussy Piano Music recordings made for Vox in the early 1960s by Peter Frankl. Listening to them recently I was very impressed by his touch, his coloring, and his general feel for the Debussy idiom. I had spent the last several years listening to Michelangeli and Zimmerman in the Preludes and Uchida in the Etudes and would trot the Frankl out for the occasional listen to the composer's earlier Piano Music but after listening to Frankl in these works I believe his artistry is at least the equal of his more famous counterparts. I see that Frankl has many videos on You Tube and continued to make recordings in succeeding decades, but on these shores at least if it weren't for his Vox recordings he would be a complete unknown. I also wonder that if these recordings had been released on a label such as RCA and accompanied by a PR budget if he would not be better known and regarded presently.
Next up is a coupling of the Schumann and Brahms Piano Quintets with Jeno Jando and the Kodaly Quartet. These are great recordings that have given me more pleasure than many more famous versions. Again, these artists recorded for Naxos, and quite voluminously as well. Perhaps their sheer fecundity on records blinds us to the occasional nuggets of gold that pop up amongst the silt.
Also on Naxos, Bernd Glemserin Schumann Symphonic Etudes. Marvelous stuff, probably the best of many versions in my collection. I also enjoy his Tchaikovsky. Why is Glemser not better known?
Outside of Alfred Brendel, I can't think of many artists that became known through budget recordings and then gained the respect that they merited. Some Vox Artists were great Conductors making comebacks after World War II, such as Klemperer and Horenstein. Sir Adrian Boult and Pierre Monteux also turned to budget labels when the majors treated them as over the hill, and resurrected their recording careers as a result. I wonder if the ubiquity of the budget labels (Vox and Naxos had been sold in Supermarket checkout lines in the States) tends to prejudice us against appreciating some of the performers
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