Benno Moiseiwitsch recorded his good friend Sergei Rachmaninov’s C minor concerto twice: once on 78s, and a mono LP remake in 1955 with Hugo Rignold and the Philharmonia Orchestra. By the 1950s, Moiseiwitsch’s technique had lost its dazzling edge, but his golden, singing tone and response to Rachmaninov’s aristocratic lyricism remained intact as ever. A live August 6, 1956 Royal Albert Hall broadcast issued here for the first time essentially duplicates Moiseiwitsch’s 1955 studio interpretation, even down to the piano’s slightly-too-distant miking. But Malcolm Sargent provides more fluent and incisive podium leadership than Rignold, with greater clarity from the woodwinds in the third movement.
In Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto Sargent projects a tighter, more differentiated orchestral framework for Moiseiwitsch than he did six years earlier for Myra Hess with the same orchestra in another live version issued by BBC Legends. Despite more than a few muddled passages and wrong notes, Moiseiwitsch’s relaxed pianism suffuses with inner strength and authority. Some listeners might find the pianist’s reverse accents and tapered phrasings more appropriate to Chopin than Beethoven, but the music can take them in stride. If anything, this “Emperor” communicates a degree of immediacy and sweep not always evident in Moiseiwitsch’s relatively formal 78 rpm traversal with George Szell, and the sound improves over previous unauthorized editions. An imperfect yet treasurable memento of a pianist who still had much to offer past his best years.
