APR’s second volume devoted to Cor de Groot’s early recordings unearths some real rarities. A 1937 Beethoven Appassionata, for example, stems from a privately made session undertaken by the young pianist, who had not yet recorded and wanted to hear what he sounded like “from the outside”, so to speak. Though it never was intended for release, and suffers from poor sound and excessive surface scratch, the performance is not uninteresting. De Groot treats the first two movements like a rhapsodic canvas, employing a great deal of tempo fluctuation and salon-like ritards at phrase endings. By contrast, the finale is steady and mercilessly (though excitingly) driven, highlighted by a strong, rhythmically assertive left hand and a lightning-quick coda that will remind listeners of Richter’s demonic readings. Likewise, de Groot’s grand manner approach to the Emperor concerto boasts salient features that will appeal to some tastes but not others, from his rhetorical adjustments in the opening cadenza and otherworldly B major episode in the first movement to his fondness for sudden pianissimos within long trills.
As often happens with Mengelberg’s Beethoven, striking details (the punchy woodwind ensemble work and expertly highlighted flourishes in the first-movement development, for example) go hand in hand with sugary moments, such as the cloying string vibrato that poisons the slow movement’s introductory measures. De Groot’s 1942 Odeon recording of Schumann’s Papillons encompasses a relatively refined and small-scaled interpretation lacking the dramatic contrasts and feverish poetry suggested via Alfred Cortot’s better known and better engineered EMI version. In sum, this is a release for specialists within specialists.
