Rudolf Firkusny Edition
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MUSSORGSKY / RAVEL / BRAHMS / BEETHOVEN / JANÁČEK / FRANCK / etc
Rudolf Firkusny Edition
Rudolf Firkušný (piano), with Erica Morini (violin) & Pierre Fournier (cello)
[ Deutsche Grammophon / Eloquence / 12 CD Box Set ]
Release Date: Friday 5 July 2024
From a landmark Janáček album to a previously unpublished Schubert/Mozart recording, this collection presents the Deutsche Grammophon, British and American Decca, and Westminster legacy of Rudolf Firkušný (1912-1994), acclaimed by Stereo Review as 'the outstanding champion of Czech piano music on the international circuit'.
LIMITED EDITION. SINGLE PRESSING ONLY.
30 years after his death (on 19 July 1994), there are still works in the piano repertoire that have become indelibly associated with the artistry of Rudolf Firkušný: most of all, the piano works of Leoš Janáček, whom Firkušný knew as a young student in Prague. The pianist went on to make his US debut in 1941, when he played not a repertoire warhorse but the neglected Piano Concerto by Dvořák, under Sir Thomas Beecham. Firkušný made six recordings of the Concerto across the course of a long career; the Westminster version newly remastered here was made in 1963 and conducted by Lázsló Somogyi, and has often since been placed at the head of the work's discography along with the version recorded Sviatoslav Richter and Carlos Kleiber.
Firkušný's 1960 version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition also attracted favourable comparison with Richter for its plain-spoken virtuosity. It seemed to listeners at the time that the pianist's patrician technique and finely-wrought musicality had been rounded out by a new passion to his playing in what became the middle of his career. Although record labels tended to pigeonhole Firkušný in Czech repertoire, his sympathies were wide, as the span of this set suggests. His 1973 recording of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto on Decca (with the New Philharmonia under Uri Segal) has been forgotten, though reviewers at the time thought it was finer than the more familiar Capitol recording with William Steinberg.
A 1974 album of sonatas further underlines his Beethovenian credentials, though he had already established them on Decca in a partnership with the violinist Erica Morini which yielded four albums. As well as four Beethoven sonatas, they made enduringly elegant recordings of sonatas by Mozart, Brahms and Franck. By ranging in this way across Firkušný's remarkably sensitive reflexes as a concerto, chamber and solo pianist, this Eloquence set demonstrates the truth of Tully Potter's verdict: 'Of all the notable 20th-century Czech pianists, Firkušný was surely the greatest'.
Perhaps most valuable of all is the inclusion of previously unreleased recordings of Mozart's Dupont Variations and Schubert's final Piano Sonata in B flat D.960. These were made in January 1963 for the American branch of Decca, but then shelved for reasons unknown. They present Firkušný at the peak of his powers, his phrasing typically natural and unostentatious. An essay by Jed Distler surveys Firkušný's life and career in the context of the albums newly remastered within this Original Jackets collection.
The first edition collecting Rudolf Firkušný's recordings made between 1960 and 1975 for Deutsche Grammophon, Westminster and both British and American Decca
Released to mark the 30th anniversary of his passing (19 July)
Regarded by Tully Potter as the greatest of all the notable 20th-century Czech pianists
Includes his two Beethoven recordings for (British) Decca released internationally on CD and digitally for the first time
Includes all the recordings he made with Erica Morini. High Fidelity magazine described him as the 'most sensitive - even psychic - of collaborators'.
A prize discovery is his recordings of Schubert's great B-flat Piano Sonata D.960 and the Mozart Duport Variations, recorded for American Decca in 1963 but never previously published
Original jacket collection with insightful notes by Jed Distler
Limited Edition
"Firkušný is a sensitive, intellectual pianist, and his refined musical playing falls very pleasantly on the ear. He plays [Pictures] remarkably well … The Ravel pieces are beautifully done too, and as the recording quality is quite outstandingly good, this would seem to be a disc to recommend unreservedly." Gramophone, August 1961 (Mussorgsky, Ravel)
"This rendering of the Pictures is conceived on a large canvas, broad and unhurried throughout … And while the dimensions of Firkušný's reading are unquestionably large throughout, he brings a certain salon-like lucidity to bear on the writing … The Jeux d'eau and Miroirs excerpt are lucid and shimmering." High Fidelity, September 1961 (Mussorgsky, Ravel)
"Erica Morini and Rudolf Firkušný make an ideal sonata team, and the combination of their strong individual personalities results in music making of the highest order." Stereo Review, November 1961 (Mozart & Franck: Violin Sonatas)
"Morini and Firkušný are a nicely balanced duo for this literature. They seem to be agreed on matters of style and approach, and their performances have a very pleasing lightness and vivacity." High Fidelity, July 1962 (Beethoven: Violin Sonatas)
"Firkušný is always the most sensitive - even psychic - of collaborators. These are joint performances in every sense." High Fidelity, May 1963 (Beethoven & Brahms: Violin Sonatas)
"Firkušný's playing is architecturally lucid, technically brilliant, richly expressive … the Viennese players have a lovely expressive style here, and they are energetically conducted by Somogyi. Westminster's reproduction is brilliant in detail." High Fidelity, January 1964 (Dvořák: Piano Concerto)
"Any example of Firkušný's artistry, sadly under-represented on the gramophone, is to be cherished." Gramophone, May 1967 (Dvořák: Piano Concerto)
"Another in the superb series of collaborations by these two sterling artists. Both Sonatas receive bracing performances, full of bite and brio … A phenomenal tour de force for everyone concerned." High Fidelity, October 1964 (Mozart & Beethoven: Violin Sonatas)
"These are acts of musical communication utterly selfless and wholly concentrated on the music and its essence … We have here music-making at its purest and most joyful." Stereo Review, December 1964 (Mozart & Beethoven: Violin Sonatas)
"Exemplary Brahms … I have little difficulty in opting for this superbly lean, radiantly secure, strongly balanced partnership as the best reading yet of this music." High Fidelity, May 1967 (Brahms: Cello Sonatas)
"A quiet, precise sensibility and musicianship which I find illuminating as well as impressive … Fournier also has the immensely able and intelligent assistance of Rudolf Firkušný." Stereo Review, June 1967 (Brahms: Cello Sonatas)
"Again and again in these recordings, Firkušný's easy control of the keyboard lets him make points that others can only hint at. The screeching owls, the falling leaves, the grumpy hedgehogs, the bickering squirrels, and the other outdoor sounds that permeate Janacek's music are caught brilliantly, with never a slide into Disneyland cuteness." High Fidelity, May 1972 (Janáček)
"Firkušný plays Janáček's music as if it were his own. One is seldom even aware of him as an interpreter, so naturally does everything flow under his incredibly precise fingers … It is strong, idiomatic playing, affectionate but never sentimental, sturdy but not rough, expressive but not mannered." High Fidelity, June 1972 (Janáček)
"Rudolf Firkušný … produces seamless legato lines, hammerless tone and rapt atmosphere" Penguin Guide
"This intense and alert performance, remarkable not only for energy and drive but for jewelled clarity of finger-work … Uri Segal, developing rapidly as a sensitive concerto conductor is plainly the most sympathetic of accompanists." Gramophone, June 1974 (Beethoven: Concerto No. 5)
"No one brings more authority to this music than Firkušný … supremely assured, unaffectedly communicative in its unlaboured blend of grandeur, dignity, tension and poetry … An uncommonly satisfying account in every respect." Stereo Review, July 1974 (Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5)
"Firkušný is subtle and seeks out the lyricism in these scores." Stereo Review, March 1976 (Janáček)
"The 'Pathétique'... fairly explodes into its reprise. Superbly urgent, too, is his treatment of the opening movement of the 'Appassionata', and his emphasis of contrast in expression and dynamics throughout lingers in the mind long after hearing." Stereo Review, February 1977 (Beethoven: Sonatas)
Tracks:
CD 1
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition
RAVEL Jeux d'eau; Alborada del gracioso; La Vallée des cloches
CD 2
BRAHMS Cello Sonatas
Pierre Fournier
CD 3
JANÁČEK Tema con variazioni; On the Overgrown Path; Reminiscence
CD 4
JANÁČEK Piano Sonata '1.X.1905'; In the Mists; Concertino; Capriccio
Rafael Kubelík
CD 5
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5
Uri Segal
FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD
CD 6
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 14, 8 & 21
FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD
CD 7
DVOŘÁK Piano Concerto
László Somogyi
CD 8
FRANCK Violin Sonata
MOZART Violin Sonata, K. 481
Erica Morini
CD 9
MOZART Violin Sonata, K. 296
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 3
Erica Morini
CD 10
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas Nos. 5 & 7
Erica Morini
CD 11
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 8
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 3
Erica Morini
CD 12
MOZART Duport Variations, K. 573
SCHUBERT Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D.960
PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED RECORDINGS
