Simon Barere and Witold Maluczynski perform Liszt, Chopin & Franck

 

Genius. Listen to Simon Barere play Liszt's arrangement of the Waltz from Faust of Gounod. Genius.

 

I was absolutely overjoyed that this beat to hell Remington lp cleaned up as well as it did. It is magnificent. Why? Because Simon Barere combines the technical virtuosity of a Richter with the pure musicianship of a Schnabel. Plain and simple. I can't really say anything more.

 

I have included in this download the contents of a Columbia Entre lp featuring the fine pianist Witold Maluczynski. The album features two works: Chopin's second sonata and the Franck Prelude, Chorale and Fugue. Maluczynski was especially reknowned as an interpreter of his countryman's works and the sonata comes off quite winningly in his hands.

 

But, in the end, you will want this download for Barere and you will treasure his artistry.

 

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Simon Barere "Farewell" Recital from Carnegie Hall

Here is a special and rather unique find performed by a truly gifted artist. Simon Barere was coming into his own when fate struck him down at age 54. Born and raised in Russia, a pupil of Glazunov and Blumenfeld, Barere's career was in part hampered by developments in Soviet Russia and the tumult of the war years. As the 1950's dawned, a promising future held forth for this somewhat reserved, serious, and modest artist.

Barere was quite a coup for the new Remington label and its ambitious founder Don Gabor. The latter had snagged the talented Edward Kilyeni and the pianist Kilyeni had a friendship with Barere which lead to a recording contract with Remington. A number of discs were made, both live and in the studio, and this one from Carmegie Hall (199-141) was billed as the "Farewell Recital." The disc features brilliant performances of music by Schumann, Balakirev, Liszt, Blumenfeld, and Rachmaninoff. I will point out that the highlight of this disc is the stunning, quite idiomatic, traversal of Liszt's Rhapsodie Espagnole.

As my friend Buster at Big Ten Inch has pointed out, the Remington pressings are quite a challenge to deal with. However, this particular record was very clean and the results are good. I have another Remington with Alexander Jenner playing a wonderful Moonlight Sonata but there are defects that mar the first movement terribly. Oh well...

Enjoy the artistry of Simon Barere, a man of incomparable stature at the keyboard.

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