Rachmaninoff, Rafael Orozco, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra*, Edo de Waart ‎– Piano Concerto No.2 / Paganini Rhapsody

This is my post from this week's Tuesday Blog.

This week's Vinyl's Revenge is a bit of a detective story...

Several months ago I was strolling at the local shopping center, and I stepped into the record store there. Formerly, the merchant that occupied this space was a branch of HMV, and since then has passed into the hands of an independent merchant. I was pleasantly surprised with the (modest) quality of "classical" titles. There were a few titles from Universal's VIRTUOSO discount reissue series that attracyed my attention, in particular a Rachmaninos coupling Rafael Orozco and Edo de Waart / Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In my vinyl collection, I have the same coupling with the same artists but with a different orchestra (The Royal Philharmonic, Philips FESTIVO series). According to the Discogs website, Orozco and Waart recorded the complete Rachmaninoff concerti in 1973 with the Royal Philharmionic and my record is an excerpt from this set.

These Rachmaninov recordings were extensively recycled - among others, in a 1993 double-compact ("The Best Of Rachmaninoff") with as filler a recording by Waart with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra of the second symphony and the symphonic poem "The Isle of the Dead. Another double-compact of the same series features the 1973 full digital format.

Today's YouTube playlist (featuring clips from Universal International Music B.V.) announces the Rotterdam Orchestra with copyright "℗ ℗ 1973". In addition, the cover is the same as that of the 1993 reissue that identifies the orchestra as the Royal Philharmonic.

So what is the orchestra: Rotterdam or Royal Philharmonic? Two possibilities: either that the original edition of 1973 proposes Royal Philharmonic as a pseudonym for the orchestra of Rotterdam, or (my theory) it was blundered.

Take note of the orchestral attribution for sharing this week.

Happy listening!

Sergei Vasilyevich RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No.2 In C Minor, Op. 18
Rhapsody On A Theme by Paganini, Op. 43

Rafael Orozco, piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Edo De Waart, conducting

Label: Philips ‎– 6570 046
Series: Festivo Series –
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Canada
Released: 1973
DETAILS - https://www.discogs.com/Rachmaninoff...elease/8376298

Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/1104RachmaninovRhapsodyOnAThe 

Project 366 - Mozart’s 27 Piano Concertos

Project 366 continues in 2019 with "The Classical Collectionss - A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire". Read more here.

To begin our Classical Collection survey, I thought I’d start with the corpus of 27 “numbered” piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

For a long time relatively neglected, Mozart wrote 23 original concertos for piano and orchestra – the first four “numbered” concerti are generally viewed as learning exercises, where Mozart adapted piano sonatas by contemporary composers popular in the day for piano with orchestral accompaniment. Three more concertos (K.107/1, 2 and 3), which are not numbered, are arrangements of piano sonatas by J.C. Bach (Op 5. Nos. 2, 3, and 4, all composed by 1766).

Starting with the Piano Concerto no. 5, scholars agree that the works are indeed original, many of which Mozart composed for himself to play in the Vienna concert series of 1784–86, held special importance for him. They are recognised as among his greatest achievements.

Our Collection survey considers only the 27 “numbered” piano concertos; concerto no. 7 is for three (or two) pianos and orchestra, and no. 10 is for two pianos and orchestra. Here is the list, with references to pas Listener Guides (hyperlinked) and forward-references to the ten new guides proposed in this installment.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F, K. 37                                                                 [Guide # 245]

Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb, K. 39                                                              [Guide # 155]

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D, K. 40                                                                [Guide # 246]

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, K. 41                                                                [Guide # 156]

Piano Concerto No. 5 in D, K. 175                                                              [Guide # 155]

Piano Concerto No. 6 in Bb, K. 238                                                            [Guide # 155]

Piano Concerto No. 7 in F, for 3 pianos, K. 242 ('Lodron')(*)                    [Guide # 247]

Piano Concerto No. 8 in C ('Lützow') K. 246                                             [Guide # 157]

Piano Concerto No. 9 in Eb, K. 271 ('Jeunehomme')                                 [Guide # 248]

Piano Concerto No. 10 in Eb, for 2 pianos, K. 365                                    [Guide # 249]

Piano Concerto No. 11 in F, K. 413                                                            [Guide # 155]

Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414                                                           [Guide # 247]

Piano Concerto No. 13 in C, K. 415                                                           [Guide # 248]

Piano Concerto No. 14 in Eb, K. 449                                                         [Guide # 248]

Piano Concerto No. 15 in Bb, K. 450                                                         [Guide # 247]

Piano Concerto No. 16 in D major, K. 451                                                [Guide # 250]

Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453                                                [Guide # 118]

Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major ('Paradis'), K. 456                         [Guide # 250]

Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459                                                 [Guide # 250]

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466                                                [Guide # 251]

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467                                                 [Guide # 252]

Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482                                          [Guide # 253]

Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488                                                [Guide # 253]

Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491                                                [Guide # 251]

Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503                                                [Guide # 253]

Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, "Coronation", K. 537                        [Guide # 254]

Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595                                         [Guide # 251]

(*) Version for 2 pianos

Your Listener Guides

Listener Guide # 245 – Mozart “Number One” Montage

[Concerto #1] For Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “number one” montage we have combined the first symphony, first violin and piano concerti, first piano sonata and first divertimento for strings (ITYWLTMT Montage # 26 – 14 October 2011)

Listener Guide # 246 – More Mozart “2-3-4”

[Concerto #3] This 2-3-4 sequence of Mozart concerti sees  the « 3 » spot occupied by one of Mozart’s four « student » concerti. It is believed these works adapt movements (in order) by Leontzi Honauer, Johann Gottfried Eckard and Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 288 – 24 August 2018)

Listener Guide # 247 – Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia & Mozart

[Concerti #7, 12 & 15] In 1776, Mozart composed three piano concertos, one of which was the Concerto in F for Three Pianos and Orchestra. The concerto is often nicknamed "Lodron" because it was commissioned by Countess Antonia Lodron to be played with her two daughters Aloysia and Giuseppa. When he eventually revised it for himself and another pianist in 1780 in Salzburg, he rearranged it for two pianos, and that is how the piece is performed here. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 207 – 7 August 2015)

Listener Guide # 248 – Mitsuko Uchida & Mozart

[Concerti #9, 13 & 14] Born in Atami, a seaside town close to Tokyo, Mitsuko Uchida moved to Vienna, with her diplomat parents when she was 12 years old, after her father was named the Japanese ambassador to Austria. She enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music to study with Richard Hauser, and later Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase, and remained in Vienna to study when her father was transferred back to Japan after five years. She gave her first Viennese recital at the age of 14 at the Vienna Musikverein. She also studied with Maria Curcio, the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 205 – 10 July 2015)

Listener Guide # 249 – Double Play/ Double Jeu: Mozart & Mendelssohn

[Concerto #10] We sample three double concerti: Mozart’s Flute and Harp concerto, Mozart's concerto for two pianos, and Mendelssohn’s early concerto for piano and violin with strings. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 71 – 14 Sept. 2012)

Listener Guide # 250 – Géza Anda & Mozart

[Concerti #16, 18 & 19] Mozart composed the Concerto No. 16 for performance at a series of concerts at the Vienna venues of the Trattnerhof and the Burgtheater in the first quarter of 1784, where he was himself the soloist. No. 18 is nicknamed “Paradis” in reference to Maria Theresia Paradis (1759 –1824), an Austrian pianist and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom Mozart may have written this Piano Concerto. As was the case for the “Jeune Homme” concerto we sampled earlier, Mozart’s personal papers lead some scholars to attribute this to unsubstantiated folklore. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 208 – 21 August 2015)

Listener Guide # 251 – Clara Haskil& Mozart

[Concerti #20, 24 & 27] A celebrated interpreter of classical and early romantic repertoire, Clara Haskil was particularly noted for her performances and recordings of W.A. Mozart. Many considered her the foremost interpreter of W.A. Mozart in her time. One of her most prominent performances as a soloist with an orchestra is a recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 24 in November 1960 with Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux conducted by Igor Markevitch; this recording features an unusually slow, pensive performance of K.466's third movement and a very subtle, highly lyrical and yet, in some way, vigorous playing of K.491's second movement. The montage is completed with a performance of the concerto no. 27.. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 206 – 24 July 2015)

Listener Guide # 252 – Mozart & Bartók

[Concerto #21] Although he played very little Mozart in his early career, Géza Andabecame the first pianist to record the full cycle of Mozart's piano concerti (recorded between 1961 and 1969, with himself conducting from the keyboard). His recording of Mozart’s K. 467 concerto on the soundtrack of the 1967 film Elvira Madigan led to the epithet "Elvira Madigan" often being applied to the concerto. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 40 – 27 January 2012)

Listener Guide # 253 – Vladimir Ashkenazy & Mozart

[Concerti #22, 23 & 25] The Piano Concerto No. 22 in E♭ major, K. 482, composed in December 1785, is the first piano concerto of Mozart's to include clarinets in its scoring. The Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488) was finished, according to Mozart's own catalogue, on March 2, 1786, two months prior to the premiere of his opera, Le nozze di Figaro. The Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503 is widely recognized as "one of Mozart's greatest masterpieces in the concerto genre." (ITYWLTMT Montage # 300 – 4 January 2019)

Listener Guide # 254 – The Crown

[Concerto #26] Mozart's coronation concerto wasn't commissioned for a coronation ceremony - rather, the nickname comes from his playing the work at the time of the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor in October 1790. (ITYWLTMT Montage # 55 – 18 May 2012)

Project 366 - The Classical Collections

For Part One of Project 366, click here.
For Part Two of Project 366, click here.

Part Three - The Classical Collections

A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire

Project 366 enters a short third phase this month, consisting of 56 new Listener Guides (nos. 245 to 300). In the spirit of our past two phases, there is a unifying “vision” to this tranche of the project.

When I started the Project in 2016, I asked the question: “What constitutes the basic repertoire?”

As I said then, there is no one-size-first-all answer to the question, as personal taste has a lot to do with it. The works one may think are “must haves” in one’s music collection (reflective of one’s conception of the repertoire) is very dependent on the kinds of music (composers, settings, eras) that resonate most with us. One of the aims of the Project was to propose a series of listener guides to not only try and cater to different tastes, but also to expose areas (maybe) less frequented.

In the course of that exploration (244 guides to date), we have sampled “collections” or “cycles” of works by one composer – think of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies, or Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues for keyboard. Wouldn’t it be interesting to look at our past guides in the context of “complete collections”?

Again – in doing so, we are somewhat arbitrary in our choices as these are mainly “targets of opportunity”. Some collections we will consider in this tranche of the Project may not be among your favourites or make your must-have list. But the fun part is that it allows you (and me in the future) to continue the exploration and build more collections!

Mozart’s 27 Piano Concertos	245-254
German Symphony Collections	255-263
The Mahler Symphonies	264-270
Piano Concerto Collections	271-279
Tchaikovsky and Nielsen Collections	280-287
Five "odd" collections	288-300

Your Yellow Pages:

Claudio Arrau (1903–1991)

No. 302 of the ongoing ITYWLTMT series of audio montages, which can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast302

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My wife and I are leaving tomorrow for a week-long getaway in the Sun, and I wanted to reschedule my quarterly “fifth Tuesday” share to the fourth Tuesday this time around. I hope you won’t mind…

My shares here on the Tuesday Blog and on my Friday series in January have been focused on music for piano (Ashkenazy playing Mozart concertos, Alicia de Larrocha playing music by Albeniz and Mozart and the next two shares (this week and next) exploring mainly romantic and neo-romantic piano works in solo and concertante settings.

This week’s featured artist, Claudio Arrau León was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.

Arrau was an intellectual and a deeply reflective interpreter. He read widely while travelling, and he learned English, Italian, German, and French in addition to his native Spanish. Arrau's attitude toward music was very serious. He preached fidelity to the score, but also the use of imagination. Although he often played with slower and more deliberate tempi from his middle age onward, he had a reputation as a fabulous virtuoso earlier in his career, a reputation supported by recordings he made at this time, such as Balakirev's Islamey (opening today’s montage) and Liszt's Paganini études. However, even late in his career, he often tended to play with less restraint in live concerts than in studio recordings.

The montage proposes Arrau at different phases of his career – playing the difficult Islamey on a shellac recording from 1928, Debussy in the 1950’s, and Liszt in the 1970’s; Arrau was a pupil of Martin Krause, who was a student of Franz Liszt.

Chopin and Mozart complete the montage – Mozart’s forward-looking Fantady K. 475 and a pair of Chopin nocturnes. Further, Chopin and Mozart have an intriguing point of intersection in our montage – his variations on "Là ci darem la mano" for piano and orchestra, Op. 2, written in 1827, when he was aged 17. "Là ci darem la mano" is a duet sung by Don Giovanni and Zerlina in Act I of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

The Variations were Chopin's first work for piano with orchestra; Chopin often played the variations without accompaniment, and he later abandoned the orchestra almost entirely in his compositions. In his early career he wrote two concertos and three other concertante pieces, but always remained relatively indifferent to the orchestral elements of these works, often using the orchestra as a mere accompaniment to the much more brilliant piano part.

I think you will love this music too.