While Benno Moiseiwitsch had passed his prime by the mid-1950s and early 1960s, he could still rise to the occasion, as these previously unpublished live performances and broadcasts sometimes prove. The pianist is on excellent technical form in a 1958 BBC Beethoven “Waldstein” sonata broadcast, where his fingers fly with assurance and not even a tiny hesitation. Listeners familiar with Moiseiwitsch’s earlier HMV shellac version will find essentially the same “old school” interpretation: no exposition repeat, italicized phrasings, dynamic alternations, and lyrical warmth.
A 1961 broadcast of Schumann’s Kreisleriana reveals slightly more confident and animated faster movements in comparison with the pianist’s studio recordings from that year. The same broadcast also included Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. As in his better-played 1945 and 1961 studio versions, Moiseiwitsch prettifies the music’s stark qualities, transposes passages up an octave at will (The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, for example), and makes cuts in The Old Castle and The Great Gate at Kiev.
Close miking underlines the rough and ready quality of a 1961 Beethoven “Emperor” concerto, recorded during an outdoor concert at Lewisohn Stadium. Here Moiseiwitsch’s work is a little more accurate and energetic compared to the 1963 live “Emperor” with Malcolm Sargent released on BBC Legends. It remains patently inferior to the 1938 studio recording with George Szell, and that wasn’t even the 78-era’s best “Emperor”.
A well restored yet nonetheless sonically dodgy 1946 BBC aircheck preserves Moiseiwitsch’s most fiery and incisive performance extant of the Rachmaninov Paganini Rhapsody, diffidently accompanied by Adrian Boult.
The last of the collection’s three discs contains various radio interviews, where Moiseiwitsch graciously holds forth in the face of many predictable questions. At the end of one brief interview the pianist launches into an effortless and relaxed rendition of Chopin’s Third Ballade in dedication to Sir Winston and Lady Churchill on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary.
Not an essential purchase, by any means, but it will attract specialist collectors with an interest in Moiseiwitsch. However, if you’ve never heard this pianist at his glorious best, start with his extraordinary HMV Liszt 78s and equally compelling Chopin Preludes, both reissued by Naxos and other labels.
