All the recordings here come from various live John Browning recitals that took place between 1950 and 1964. Despite inevitable variation in sound quality from one source to the next, the selections are well programmed for contrast and flow. The disc opens and closes with two selections dating from a 1950 concert, where the 17-year-old Browning turns in a no-holds-barred account of Chopin’s Op. 25 C minor Etude and revels in the Francis Hendriks Etude’s faux-Romantic vulgarity (Liszt rewriting Korngold running amok in the Liberace museum).
Browning prefaces his splendidly secure and tersely delivered Barber Sonata with opening remarks in lieu of program notes. Browning always interpreted Barber’s music with commitment and authority, and it’s good to have this performance, given that his two excellent studio recordings (on Desto and MusicMasters) are not easy to find. I’m less appreciative of Browning’s accomplished yet monochrome Rachmaninov selections, his overly studied rubatos in the Chopin Nocturne, and his aggressive, unsexy way with Spanish music. Yet the steel-edged dexterity he brings to Debussy’s Feux D’Artifice befits the music’s abstract glitter. Despite this collection’s artistic unevenness, John Browning’s pianistic integrity is beyond cavil.
