Małcużyński and Susskind in Liszt and Borodin

Małcużyński and Susskind smoke and stare

My friend Jean ("Centuri") asked if I could post the other side of a US Columbia LP I recently offered that contained Cyril Smith's 1944 recording of Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Theme. Jean was seeking a 1947 performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Witold Małcużyński and the Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor Walter Susskind.

I am happy to post that recording - and am adding to it the same team's 1953 remake of the concerto, along with Małcużyński's recording of Liszt's Sonata in B minor.

Jean, a conductor himself, is particularly interested in Walter Susskind's work. So I am also adding an LP of Borodin's music that Susskind and the Philharmonia set down in 1952.

Details on these recordings are below.

Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 2 (1947 recording), Chopin - Étude, Op. 25, No. 7

Witold Małcużyński (1914-77) was a Polish pianist who escaped to Portugal from France when that country capitulated to the Germans. He then moved to Argentina, the US, and, after the war, Switzerland.

The pianist specialized in the Romantic repertoire, particularly Chopin. Here we have his first recorded venture into the music of Franz Liszt.

Not surprisingly, views of Małcużyński's pianism diverged. Some critics, such as a writer in the American Record Guide, were impressed:

"With the sympathetic assistance of Susskind, who is developing rapidly as a conductor, he delivers a stunning performance that makes the most of the many opportunities for dramatic effectiveness and virtuosic brilliance, yet thankfully does not indulge in the 'interpretative' orgies that have often been the feature of this work's appearance in local concert halls."

The other reviews were equally kind both to pianist and conductor.

This transfer is from LP; the original 78 album included the Chopin Étude in C sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 7, so I've appended that recording to the download as well.

The Gramophone, May 1948

Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 2 (1953 recording), Sonata in B minor

As it did with Cyril Smith's 1940's recording of the Dohnányi, UK Columbia waited only a few years before getting the pianist and conductor back for a remake of the Liszt concerto - presumably warranted by the success of the earlier recording.

As before, the orchestra was the Philharmonia, and again the site was Abbey Road for these March 1953 recordings. This time, the fill-up was more substantial - Liszt's Sonata in B minor.

This time, not all the critics were impressed, at least by the pianist. Andrew Porter wrote in The Gramophone, "Małcużyński seems to me to be an odd pianist - sometimes very poetical in his treatment of a singing phrase; then suddenly brash and harsh." The New York Times' Harold C. Schonberg concurred: "He sentimentalizes, he breaks rhythm; his playing tends to be disconnected...And yet, every once in a while a potentially great pianist is at work."

Borodin - Orchestral Music from Prince Igor

Walter Susskind (1913-80) made quite a number of recordings for EMI in the postwar years, almost all of them as accompanist. Much later he had a chance to record a wider repertoire with his St. Louis Symphony, and via other discs for various labels. Today we have one of his few orchestral outings for EMI, a 10-inch disc done for EMI's Parlophone marque in 1952.

Susskind was a Czech-born British conductor who left his native land in 1939 upon the Nazi invasion. In 1942 he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and his first recording was soon thereafter in support of that company's Joan Hammond. This set him on the path of being one of UK Columbia's most prolific orchestral accompanists.

Walter Susskind

When the Borodin recording was made, he was the music director of the Scottish National Orchestra; soon he would move to Australia to lead the Melbourne Symphony, followed by seven years in Toronto, and a productive spell in St. Louis. He concluded his career with a few years as artistic advisor to the Cincinnati Symphony.

Parlophone advertises the music as an "Orchestral Suite" from Prince Igor, but it is that true only in retrospect. This is actually the orchestral excerpts from the opera - the Overture, "Polovtsian March" and the famous "Polovtsian Dances." Borodin himself never finished the opera. After his death, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov arranged and orchestrated a performing edition of the work. The Polovtsian music was orchestrated by Rimsky. Glazunov is credited with arranging the Overture, but he did more, drafting it himself using Borodin's opera themes "roughly according to Borodin's plan," as he explained.

Regardless of the patchwork nature of the performing edition, the orchestral works are highly enjoyable. The Philharmonia played well for Susskind, and the critics were generally kind.

The Borodin comes from my collection; the other works were remastered from needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is very good in all cases. In addition to the usual reviews and scans, the Borodin download includes a 1972 Gramophone article on Susskind.

More from Philadelphia, with Ormandy and Stokowski Conducting, Plus Reups

Many people said they enjoyed therecent upload of mono recordings from Philadelphia led by Eugene Ormandy. So here is a new selection, with the notable bonus of two pieces led by Ormandy's predecessor in Philadelphia, Leopold Stokowski.

The source for these materials is the unprepossessing LP you see above, issued by RCA Victor's budget subsidiary Camden in the mid-1950s and ascribed to the spurious "Warwick Symphony Orchestra" for reasons known only to the RCA marketing wizards of the time. The "Warwick" is the Philadelphia Orchestra, I assure you.

One side of the program is devoted to the warhorse that inspired hundreds of B-movie soundtracks, Liszt's "Les Preludes." The other contains contemporary American music associated with the orchestra's home city, all in first recordings - works by Samuel Barber, Gian Carlo Menotti and Harl McDonald.

I also am reuploading two additional works by Harl McDonald and one by Max Brand, also from Philadelphia, that appeared here a decade ago. These have been remastered, and in one case newly transferred.

Liszt - Les Preludes

This 1937 recording was Ormandy's first shot at "Les Preludes"; he was to return to it in 1946 for the Columbia label. It is a straightforward reading, beautifully played by the orchestra. As with all these pieces, the recording quality is quite good. The 1950s transfer and pressing are much better than the cheap-looking cover would lead you to expect.

Barber - Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12

Samuel Barber and Eugene Ormandy

Samuel Barber was one of the twin wunderkinder who had been in residence at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute in the 1920s and who achieved fame shortly thereafter. The other was Gian Carlo Menotti, who we will encounter in a moment.

Barber's initial brush with fame was for his 1931 work, the brilliant "School for Scandal Overture," introduced by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Alexander Smallens. By 1938 he had been taken up by Arturo Toscanini, who premiered both the Adagio for Strings and the Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12 on the same NBC Orchestra program. On this disc we hear the Essay, usually called the "First Essay" these days, in Ormandy's 1940 recording, the first of any Barber composition. 

The conductor was to return to the composer's music just a few times in the recording studio, setting down the Adagio and the "Toccata Festiva" in the stereo era.

Menotti - Amelia Goes to the Ball Overture

Eugene Ormandy, Gian Carlo Menotti, Efrem Zimbalist

Menotti composed his first opera, Amelia Goes to the Ball, to his own libretto, written as Amelia al Ballo in his native Italian tongue. The work acquired its English name and translation before its 1937 premiere at Curtis, which was conducted by Fritz Reiner. 

The Ormandy recording of the overture dates from 1939, its first recording and apparently the first of any of Menotti's orchestral works. As with Barber, Ormandy was not often to return to Menotti's compositions on record; the only other example I have found is an excerpt from the ballet Sebastian.

Works by Harl McDonald

Harl McDonald and Eugene Ormandy

The composer Harl McDonald had close ties to both Philadelphia and its orchestra. A professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he also served on the orchestra's board and later as its manager. McDonald was a well-regarded composer whose work was recorded not just by Ormandy and Stokowski, but by Serge Koussevitzky of the rival Boston clan.

The three works here are apportioned out two to Stokowski and one to Ormandy. Stokowski chose "The Legend of the Arkansas Traveler" and the "Rhumba" movement from McDonald's Symphony No. 4. 

Leopold Stokowski in 1940

"Arkansas Traveler" was and is a familiar quasi-folk lick that dates back as least as far as 1847. McDonald's portentous opening could hardly be farther away from the familiar down-home squawk of Eck Robertson's famous 1922 fiddle recording. But soon enough the composer settles into a witty digression on the tune at hand, aided by concertmaster Alexander Hilsberg's masterful playing. Stokowski's approach is perfectly judged in this 1940 recording.

McDonald's "Rhumba" was presumably inspired by the dance that had become increasingly popular throughout the 1930s. The composer was a talented orchestrator, and his skills are shown to great effect in this superb 1935 rendering by Stokowski and the orchestra.

Ormandy is hardly less successful in his 1938 recording of a "Cakewalk" that forms the Scherzo movement of McDonald's Symphony No. 4. His orchestra could not be better in this piece, which again takes its cue from a popular dance form.

Reuploads

Today's reuploads also come from Philadelphia, involving Harl McDonald conducting his own work and Ormandy leading a piece by the little-known Max Brand. These come from two Columbia 10-inch LPs, both of which include the same recording of McDonald's Children's Symphony. The headers below take you to the original posts.

Music of McDonald and Brand

This 1950 10-inch LP couples McDonald's Children's Symphony with "The Legend of the One-Hoss Shay" by the little-remembered German-American composer Max Brand. The Philadelphia Orchestra is led by McDonald in his piece and by Ormandy in Brand's composition.

I wasn't crazy about the McDonald symphony either of the times I posted it. It's pleasant enough and very well presented, but when you put it up against such remarkable children's works as Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," you are matching skill against genius.

Brand's piece has something to do with a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. That aside, it's an enjoyable work.

McDonald's "Builders of America" (and Children's Symphony, Again)

Columbia decided to record McDonald's cantata "Builders of America" in 1953, using the 1950 recording of the Children's Symphony as a disc mate.

The "Builders of America" is a sort of lesser "Lincoln Portrait," profiling both that President and George Washington. Edward Shenton, a well-known illustrator, provided the text, which is plain awful in parts. But the music is good, and narrator Claude Rains is fine. McDonald conducted the Columbia Chamber Orchestra, which was almost certainly composed of Philadelphia Orchestra members.

Levant Plays Rubinstein and Liszt

There has been a revival of interest in Oscar Levant's recordings on the music blogs and sharing sites lately, and I've done my part with a number of posts already. Today that continues with Levant's rendition of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4.

The Rubinstein work has the dubious distinction of being of being perhaps the best-known of the "forgotten" Romantic war-horse concertos. Seldom if ever performed live, it has nonetheless been the subject of at least 10 commercial recordings, beginning with this  March 1952 date with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New Yorkers. It was followed in just a few months by a Friedrich Wührer session in Vienna for Vox.

Caricature by David Levine

In truth, the concerto does deserve its semi-renown. It boasts a number of memorable themes, which the composer give a vigorous if not rigorous workout. Levant is just the right keyboard athlete for the task, betraying not a hint of the irony that was integral to his public personality on the radio or in films.

As a bonus I've included two pieces from the pianist's 1955 Liszt collection - the Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104 and the Valse Oubliée No. 1 in F-sharp Minor. My transfer comes from the 1960s Odyssey reissue of the Rubinstein concerto, where they were included as filler. (The 1955 LP, which I do not own, also included a selection of Hungarian Rhapsodies.)

For the Rubinstein, I transferred the first two movements from the original pressing, and switched to the reissue for the third movement because of groove damage on the earlier disc. The first issue is marginally more present in sound, but there isn't much difference, and overall the sonics are excellent, as is often the case with recordings from Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York.