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PAUL BADURA-SKODA: A MAN AND HIS MUSIC

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Paul Badura-Skoda’s long career covers more musical ground than he’s usually given credit for, as this seven-disc collection of previously unreleased live and archival recordings selected by the maestro himself proudly bears out. Working backward, Volume 7 presents the pianist on rare form in his 75th birthday concert in Vienna, November 6, 2002. Lyric breadth and rough-hewn tension valiantly tangle in inspired readings of Schubert’s A minor Sonata D. 845 (far superior to his earlier studio recordings), Brahms’ Op. 118 Klavierstücke, and a more imaginatively nuanced Ravel Gaspard de la nuit than his very fine studio version issued by Musical Heritage Society on LP only. The sound of the pianist’s very own 1923 Bösendorfer Imperial Grand is not to be believed, with bass notes that resonate from here to eternity.

Volume 6 also is a winner, once you get past earnest, slightly unsettled readings of four contrapuncti from Bach’s The Art of Fugue. Knowing that Badura-Skoda is an unabashed Alfred Cortot admirer, you knowingly smile at his rolled chords and smoldering accents in Chopin’s Fourth Ballade. Frank Martin’s wonderful flamenco-inspired three-movement Fantasie, written for Badura-Skoda, follows an intense, heated Berg Sonata. The pianist claims that the 1983 Liszt Second Hungarian Rhapsody presented here was preserved on an “inadequate tape recorder back in row 20”, but to my ears it sounds like a decent professional recording dubbed from a slightly scratchy vinyl disc.

Disc 5 showcases Badura-Skoda as pianist/conductor in a joyous Mozart K. 175 concerto from 1956 and a solid, regulation performance of Beethoven’s Second Symphony with the Brisbane Philharmonic. A poorly recorded Schubert concerto represents Badura-Skoda’s more than half-century duo-piano relationship with Jörg Demus (contrary to popular belief, they are not one and the same pianist!), while Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata and Chopin’s A-flat Polonaise provide the most convincing examples I’ve heard of the computer-controlled reproducing Bösendorfer grand piano, notwithstanding a smaller range of dynamics than Badura-Skoda usually produces in these works.

The pianist’s scholarly bent and deep interest in authentic instruments dominates Disc 3, devoted to Mozart, Haydn, and Scarlatti. A live Mozart K. 333 sonata from 1975 proves more fluent and relaxed than Badura-Skoda’s subsequent modern (Eurodisc) and period (Naïve) studio traversals. While the Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue and Mozart F major sonata K. 533/494 opening Disc 2 are somewhat sober and square-toed, the Chopin Op. 25 Etudes from Badura-Skoda’s 1965 Carnegie Hall debut let loose like a puppy cut from his leash for the first time, as do the three Op. 10 encores. (Incidentally, Badura-Skoda’s early-1950s Westminster recording of the Chopin Etudes is one of the most overlooked and underrated in recorded history, and deserves to be reissued.)

Disc 1 is entirely devoted to private recordings made by Badura-Skoda in his teens. How natural and easily Bach’s C-sharp minor Prelude and Fugue (The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1) flows from his hands (more so than the aforementioned “mature” Art of Fugue selections), while innate musicality overrides his speedy, impetuous fingers in the Chopin Barcarolle, F minor Fantasy, and first movement of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata. However, the pianist’s flashy fingers and rhythmic verve enliven Gershwin-esque knock-offs by Staeps, Gruenberg, Verbena, and Mittman.

The disc’s final four selections feature Badura-Skoda’s youthful prowess as one of the musicianliest virtuosos who ever touched an accordion. The elegance and aristocratic flair he brings to his dazzling note-for-note transcription of Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra Overture, for example, will truly astonish you. Each disc concludes with interview snippets where Badura-Skoda discusses the performances from anecdotal and musical vantagepoints. Aside from the Waldstein movement being pitched nearly a half-step sharp, transfers seem well effected (the booklet lists no engineering or transfer agent credits), although a fuller discographical accounting would have been appreciated. In sum, a fascinating and often illuminating collection.


Recording Details:

Album Title: PAUL BADURA-SKODA: A MAN AND HIS MUSIC
Reference Recording: None for this collection

Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Ravel, Brahms, others -

  • Record Label: Kleos - 5117
  • Medium: CD

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