Clifford Curzon,
piano; George Szell, London Symphony Orchestra. HDTT HDCD337.
Here is another absolute, genuine, certifiable,dyed-in-the-wool classic from HDTT (High Definition Tape Transfers). English
pianist Sir Clifford Curzon made the recording with George Szell and the London
Symphony Orchestra over half a century ago, and no one has yet to surpass it.
Now remastered to near-audiophile standards, it’s hard to see how any new
contender will equal it.
Curzon (1907-1982) made a ton of recordings in his
lifetime, yet he left us with only a relative few. That’s largely because he
was a notoriously fussy perfectionist when it came to what he wanted the public
to hear and refused to allow record companies (mainly Decca, with whom he
recorded almost exclusively) to release any number of his recordings he didn’t
think were up to his standards. He just didn’t feel satisfied with them.
Fortunately, the Brahms was among the few things to get through and remain in
the catalogue.
As I’m sure you’re aware, Brahms wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1858 while he
was still a fairly young man. I continue to see the work as all craggy and
monumental in scope, and Curzon’s potent interpretation (one of the first I
remember hearing) is a chief reason for how I think of the Brahms today. The
work also abounds in energy and vitality, perhaps the energy of youth, and here
I think of Curzon as well, even if he was in his mid fifties when he recorded
it.
Anyway, after a lengthy and properly regal orchestral
introduction from Szell and the LSO to set the tone, Curzon enters with elegant
power. While the First Piano Concerto
may be a youthful work, Curzon does not overemphasize the fact with any
excessive playfulness. Indeed, his is a mature, patrician account, frank and
straightforward, and all the better for it. Yet it is also a kind of cozy
account, especially in terms of the interplay between soloist and orchestra.
Everyone sounds comfortably together, from the grandest gestures to the most
intimate moments. Curzon glides through the first-movement Maestoso with the appropriate measure of majesty, yet with a
delicate lyricism as well, and Szell seems perfectly attuned to the pianist's
every mood and need.
In the second-movement AdagioCurzon again finds his range, although his pace is a tad more leisurely than
other pianists of my experience. However, his step is never loose or slack,
merely relaxed. The playing is quite lovely, the movement said to be an elegiac
tribute to Brahms’s late mentor, Robert Schumann. Then, Curzon and company go
out on a agreeably jubilant note in the finale, a spirited peasant dance with
variations that sparkles with good cheer.
The crack Decca production team of producer John Culshaw
and engineer Kenneth Wilkinson recorded the concerto at Kingsway Hall, London,
in May 1962. HDTT transferred it from a 4-track in 2014. The orchestral support
sounds big and bold, with plenty of dynamic range, impact, warmth, and clarity.
In their own remastering Decca had already minimized much of the hard
glassiness of their previous CD, and here HDTT does them one better. The HDTT
sound is quite smooth for the most part, with a good degree of naturalness.
Still, the recording itself is somewhat flat and one-dimensional, but that's
apparently the way Decca recorded it. The piano sounds realistically well
balanced with the orchestra, out front but not over prominently so. It sounds
about the way a piano would appear if you were sitting at a moderate distance
at a live concert. In short, the HDTT remastering and transfer are excellent
and make a good thing better.
For further information on HDTT discs and downloads, you
can check out their Web site at http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
