From Boston to Minneapolis via Bonn
This month’s round-up also features a cello hero and a keyboard queen
Legendary Catalan cellist Pablo Casals poured his heart and soul into his music-making, even in his twilight years. The Philips Legacy (Eloquence 484 2348) brings together live recordings from the late 1950s and early ’60s, when Casals was in his eighties. The festival recordings from Bonn and Prades feature a bounty of Beethoven, including two takes on Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Piano Trio, plus a Schubert Quintet among other notable items. Performing partners include Sándor Végh, Karl Engel, Wilhelm Kempff and Mieczysław Horszowski. Treasurable.
Beethoven and Schubert make an appearance in Boston Symphony Chamber Players – The Complete RCA Album Collection (Sony Classical 19439946802), though these 1960s recordings show just how versatile this crack team of the BSO’S best really was. This ten-disc set, recorded 1964-68 at Boston’s Symphony Hall, features performances of everything from Brahms to Barber. It’s a topdrawer collection, making an appearance on CD for the very first time.
Thirty years before those Boston players sat before the microphones for RCA, conductor Eugene Ormandy was doing the same (albeit standing) with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Their Complete
RCA Album Collection (Sony 19439952392) is an 11-disc set recorded in two batches in 1934 and ’35 and features some rare recordings. The breadth of material here is staggering, some of it on CD for the first time. Highlights include Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony and what were then world premiere recordings of works by Kodály, Schoenberg and Honegger.
Elisabeth Leonskaja remains a force to be reckoned with at the keyboard and any release showcasing her pianistic prowess is more than welcome. Schubert – The Complete Piano Sonatas (Warner Classics 9029628785) gathers her acclaimed 2015/17 recordings of this repertoire for the first time on Warner and presents them in a wallet-friendly set. If you didn’t encounter these the first time round, make sure you bask in their glorious glow now.
These 1960s recordings show just how versatile this crack team was