Customer Reviews

Friedrich Gulda I: Great Pianists of the 20th Century, Vol. 40

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The great pianist Friedrich Gulda recently passed away in Austria. Having had this disc set for some time, the news of his passing caused me to pull out the discs and give them a spin.

Gulda was a Viennese trained pianist, having studied there in the last 30's and early '40's. By the latter half of the 1940's and early 50's he had matured into a technically very assured player whose repetoire remained in the mainstream of the Romantic tradition. But as the Cd notes make clear, Gulda found this role too restricting and after the 50's formally broke with his roots to establish a career as a jazz musician, only to return years later in an attempt to make himself somewhat of a cross-over bridge between two musical worlds.

As such, these recordings of the French Impressionists early in his career make for very interesting hearing. Gulda is very objective in much of his playing, particularly the Preludes. He tends to make small adjustments here and there, but is surely not yet the free-spirited, subjective jazz player he would become. One can here an occassional germ of idiosyncrasy that lends itself to a feeling of jazzyness or improvisation, but these are by and large straight-forward, musicianly performances that many pianists would be happy to have produced on disc. Gulda's best playing clearly rests with the 2nd disc in the Ravel pieces.

The mono recordings from the West London Decca studios were made in the late 50's, but the transfers are first-rate and one can not complain about the sound given their age. Recommended!

This collection has one disk devoted to Debussy and the other to Ravel. I bought it for the Ravel. I was looking for alternative versions of the Valses nobles et sentimentales. This interpretation is quite nice. The Gaspard de la nuit is terrific. I still cannot bring myself to attempt those three pieces. Maybe someday. Gulda has complete mastery and the soul to match.

The complete Debussy Preludes take up most of disk one and are also very special. Gulda conceives them quite differently from the Michelangeli recordings (which I also love dearly), but convincing and something to keep in one's mind and heart.

Very, very nice.

These are marvelous performances by Gulda because he gets himself out of the way and lets the music speak for itself. I did, however, find noticeable tap hiss in the transfer and felt that the engineers could have done a much better job in somehow reducing it. My rating is 5 stars for the performance and 3 stars for the less than desirable engineering.