Description

Vienna State Opera Orchestra cond. Artur Rodzinski Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in E-minor, Op. 11; Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra in F-minor, Op. 21 Recorded in the Konzerthaus, Vienna, June 27 – July 11 1954; originally issued on Westminster LP ML 5308. Disc to digital transfer by Wolfgang Neubacher; audio restoration by Aaron Z. Snyder (2007). Notes in English and German. AAD. Total: 62:57 UPC# 017685 120626

BUZZ: Paul Badura-Skoda has earned a richly deserved reputation as one of the great classicists of his generation. It is a profile solidified by multiple recordings of the masterpieces of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as pioneering period instrument performances and important scholarship. The average piano music fancier, especially in America, would be forgiven, then, to be unaware of his tremendous enthusiasm for the music of Frederic Chopin, as reflected in his Westminster recordings of the Polish composer's Concertos and Etudes. Chopin has never left the repertoire of Badura-Skoda. The Etudes, which he plays with extraordinary passion and vigor, are nearly as important to his career as a performing musi­cian in Europe, as are the Beethoven sonatas. He is very proud to have been asked to judge at Chopin competitions, and believes that his reputation as an artist in Poland has been made more as a Chopin player than as a master of the Viennese classics. Here is his celebrated Westminster recording of the two Concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic (playing under a different name for contractual reasons), lovingly refurbished using the revolutionary new harmonic balancing system.