Litolff: From Concerto symphonique, No. 4 Op. 102: Scherzo

IRENE SCHARRER, though perhaps the least remembered of the major Matthay pupils, was the earliest to record, beginning in 1909 at the age of 21.That in itself is a credit to her early fame, which she established through an extrovert, but always musical, virtuosity.

She excelled in such works as the Chopin Etudes, nine of which she recorded, and in other brilliant pieces such as those here by Scarlatti and Liszt, but the poise and refinement of her Chopin nocture or the slow movement of the Mozart sonata reveal another side to her playing that is sadly underrepresented on disc. Her final recording, of the Litolff Scherzo, was also her most famous; in its day it was a best seller and was responsible for putting that work on the musical map. This set reissues for the first time all Scharrer’s electrical recordings and also an example of every work she recorded in the acoustic era (pre 1925) that was not later remade as an electrical recording. For completeness, a discography of all her other acoustic recordings is also included.

John Ogdon was born on 27th January, 1937 in Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire and died on 1st August, 1989 in London. His first serious study of the piano was at the Royal Manchester College of Music where his contemporaries were Alexander Goehr, Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies; he also studied composition with Richard Hall, all of whom have music recorded in this collection. His prowess was noticed when he replaced an indisposed soloist in Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto in Liverpool and played almost at sight. At the age of 21 he made his London debut at the Proms in 1958 with Busoni’s Concerto (which he recorded in 1967).

In 1961 he was awarded the Liszt Prize in Budapest and the following year shared the coveted first prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky competition with Vladimir Ashkenazy; this achievement launched his international career. His recordings from this time not only attest to his remarkable virtuosity and intense musicianship but also his determination to explore both rarer and modern repertoire and give them the performances that show them to their best advantage.

This collection therefore contains not merely the classics – concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Schumann and Grieg and solos by Liszt and Chopin – but rarer concertos by Mendelssohn, Glazunov Bartók as well as the aforementioned Busoni. The major contribution to the catalogue of recorded music must be the solo piano works by the 20th century composers: Sir Michael Tippett, Alan Rawsthorne, Alun Hoddinott, Christopher Headington, David Blake, Robert Sherlaw Johnson and his teacher and colleagues from his days in Mancheser: Richard Hall and the previously mentioned Goehr, Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies as well as works by himself. One further work requires especial mention: Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH, the composer’s tribute to Dmitri Shostakovich.

At over 85 minutes duration it has to be split across two CDs and the work together with Ogdon’s support of it yielded the highest praise.

It is 30 years since legendary British pianist Clifford Curzon died (1 September 1982). Over the course of his career, during a long and almost exclusive association with Decca, Clifford Curzon established a pre-eminence unrivalled by any other British pianist of his generation.

For the first time this collection brings together absolutely every recording he ever made for Decca which has survived [in the days of fragile 78rpm shellac discs one or two items were given to the artist as unique-copy test-pressings and these have not survived], including several which have never been published on CD ( or even LP) by Decca [Falla: Noches en los jardines de España (recorded in September 1945); Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1 and Liebestraum No.3 – recorded in September 1947, Liszt: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca recorded in1942].

Published for the first-time ever in any format are 8 pieces including a Medtner Fairy Tale, Chopin C sharp minor nocturne, Beethoven’s “Rage over a lost penny”, and 5 pieces by Brahms. These recordings survived as 78rpm test-pressings in Clifford Curzon’s private collection and have been made available for publication through his family.

Also herewith alongside 23 CDs is a famous DVD programme made by the BBC. It includes Curzon performing solo works by Schumann and Brahms [filmed in 1959, black & white] and Schubert – including a complete performance of the Piano Sonata in B flat, D960, filmed in 1968 [colour].