Solomon - Mozart Concertos and Sonatas

We have heard a great deal from Solomon in recent months, and for good reason - he was an exceptional pianist who played the classical and Romantic repertoire superbly.

Today we look into his 1952-55 Mozart discs, encompassing three familiar concertos and two sonatas. These are the entirety of his recordings of this composer, save for a 1943 sonata disc that I don't have. Solomon's career was cut short by a paralyzing stroke in 1956, when he was 54.

I transferred the Mozart works on this program from a 1970s reissue. The cover images you see below are from the original LPs. Scans of the reissue and the originals are in the download.

Concertos in A major, K488, and C minor, K491

Solomon's traversals of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488, and No. 24 in C minor, K491, came on May 10-12, 1955 in Abbey Road Studio No. 1. Conducting the Philharmonia was Herbert Menges, a childhood friend of the pianist who was one of his favorite accompanists.

Solomon's biographer, Bryan Crimp, wrote, "Unlike his recent concerto collaborations in the studio with Kubelik and Cluytens, Solomon felt no sense of disappointment with any of these recordings. Much of their success can be attributed to the rapport Solomon enjoyed with Menges." He added that while Menges was not considered a top-rank conductor, "He was, however, a thorough and hard-working professional who was quite prepared to collaborate before the sessions, as is apparent in the resulting accompaniments."

The two works are contrasted - the A major being generally optimistic and the C minor powerful and dark. Solomon is fully up to the demands of the music, technically and artistically. The orchestra plays elegantly and the sound is very good, enhanced - as these all are - by ambient stereo.

Herbert Menges

The Gramophone's Robin Golding was in awe of the performances: "This is classical playing at its very best, with no suggestion of sentimentality or self-indulgence, yet with what Harold C. Schonberg (whose tribute to Solomon from his book The Great Pianists is reproduced on the sleeve) describes as 'an incomparable blend of intellect and heart', adding, 'It was an intellect which both respected the text and comprehended the architecture of the score; the heart inspired a lyrical warmth and a radiant generosity. The resultant performance was an act of genuine recreation.'"

He continued, "AP [earlier reviewer Andrew Porter] thought that Solomon’s account of K488 - one of the most familiar of all Mozart’s concertos, but one of the most difficult to bring off really convincingly - was the best he had ever heard, on records or off, and I am still inclined to agree with him. Here is a blend of delicacy and strength, of crisp articulation and a feeling for the long breathed phrase, which give to the first movement and the finale a suppleness and resilience that elude many pianists, while Solomon’s shaping of the wide curves of the melodic line in the Adagio is extraordinarily poignant."

Golding adds that the minor-key K491 is a worthy foil to K488: "strong and purposeful in the outer movements, but never melodramatic, wonderfully limpid in the Larghetto; and it is in this latter movement that the playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra ... and particularly that of its princely wind section, is to be heard at its superlative best."

Concerto in B flat major, K450, Sonata in A major, K331

The concerto in B flat, K450, is largely a sunny work, which may conceal its real difficulties for the soloist. Solomon, in his pearly perfection, does not give a hint that any of these passages are challenging.

This concerto recording, from 1953, comes from Kingsway Hall rather than Abbey Road, and has more spacious sound. The conductor here is the Romanian Otto Ackermann, then resident in Switzerland. He was another reliable leader who made a good number of records for EMI, often as accompanist.

The concerto has appeared here before, in a pressing issued in the US. This is a new transfer.

The Sonata in A major, K331, is one of the composer's most often heard pieces - at least the finale. It is the movement Mozart marked Rondo "alla Turca;" it is sometimes called the Turkish Rondo. The music echoes the distinctive sound of the Turkish Janissary bands, which was then (1784) in vogue. The style also can be heard in Mozart's 1782 opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, set in Turkey.

This Sonata and the K576 Sonata discussed below were recorded in 1952 in Abbey Road Studio No. 3. For the reissue, HMV coupled them on one 36-minute LP side, and in order to squeeze them both in, apparently sped up the tapes so that the music played quite sharp. I've adjusted the speed, hopefully accurately.

Sonata in D major, K576

The D major Sonata, K576 first came out on one side of a 10-inch LP, coupled with a Haydn sonata I don't have.

In The Gramophone Robin Golding wrote that the Sonata "with its taut, two-part contrapuntal writing, suits Solomon particularly well, and it provides an impressive tailpiece to a group of performances that are regrettably small in number though gigantic in stature. The mono recordings, like Solomon’s interpretations, do not seem to have aged at all." Nor have they 45 years later.

The sonata was Mozart's last. On the reissue LP it is identified as Sonata No. 17, but these days it is usually numbered No. 18. I've tagged the sonatas here solely by their Köchel catalogue number to avoid confusion. 

Solomon Plays Tchaikovsky and Chopin

The pianist Solomon made many great records - a number of which have appeared on this blog recently. But none, to my ears, are quite as dazzling as his 1949 version of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, made with Issay Dobrowen and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Today's post combines that performance with most of Solomon's Chopin recordings from the 1940s.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

Issay Dobrowen was an exceptional accompanist and was often used in that role by HMV. He and Solomon had a rare rapport, never so much as in this recording of the Tchaikovsky.

Issay Dobrowen

I will admit that I had my fill of this particular concerto about 40 years ago, but the work of Solomon and Dobrowen made me rethink my prejudice against it. Solomon handles the insane difficulties of the piece with such aplomb - always in perfect concert with Dobrowen - that one's only reactions can be fascination and admiration. The entire work proceeds in such a manner.

This 1949 edition was the pianist's second go at the concerto in the recording studio, although he had been performing it regularly since he was 12. In 1929 he traveled to Manchester for a Tchaikovsky session with Hamilton Harty and the Hallé Orchestra. This was Solomon's first concerto recording, following a few Liszt pieces made a week or so beforehand. He was to record no more concertos until the Bliss in 1943, followed by the Beethoven third in 1944, both with Boult. The Brahms Concerto No. 2 with Dobrowen came in 1947, the Liszt Hungarian Fantasia with Walter Susskind in 1948, and the Scriabin and Tchaikovsky concertos in 1949.

Solomon's biographer Bryan Crimp noted, "[Producer Walter] Legge was particularly keen to have a brand new recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto for HMV's entry into the LP market while the release of a recording of the Scriabin concerto would in all probability, have resulted in a premiere recording. The Tchaikovsky recording did indeed become the first HMV ‘plum label' LP record."

The Scriabin concerto remained unissued until 1991. Solomon undertook it as a favor to Legge, although neither he nor the conductor had played it before. According to Crimp, "the reservations of both pianist and conductor are, regrettably, plain for all to hear." My own view is that it is well worth a listen, although the transfer that has been issued is below pitch and screechingly bright, not flattering either to the Philharmonia strings or the pianist. Rebalanced, it sounds fine. (Anyone interested in my redo of a lossy copy of the concerto can leave a note in the comments.)

The Tchaikovsky was set down May 26-28, 1949 in Abbey Road Studio No. 1. The sound is very good, with this transfer coming from the HMV LP issue of the 1950s (cover above), from my collection. I also have a later LP reissue with marginally cleaner sound, but the engineer had added unnecessary reverb to that disc, so I went with the earlier edition. The concerto and the Chopin pieces discussed below have been mastered in ambient stereo.

Nine Pieces by Chopin

"Those familiar only with Solomon’s work in the post-World War Il years, an era in which he was recognised as the pre-eminent Beethoven interpreter, might find this earlier reputation as an incomparable Chopin player something of a surprise," wrote Bryan Crimp, "though proof, if needed, can be readily found in his recordings for Columbia made during the first half of the 1930s and for HMV during the early- and mid-1940s."

Solomon began his Chopin recordings with two Polonaises, a Fantasie and an Ėtude in 1932, none of which are repeated in this set from the 1940s. In late 1934, he took up two F major Ėtudes, Op. 10, No. 8 and Op. 25, No. 3, the latter of which he remade in 1942, and which is included in this collection.

The earliest Chopin recording here also dates from 1942, the Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2. Later in September, he began recording three Ėtudes - the F major Ėtude mentioned above, along with two Ėtudes in F minor - Op. 10, No. 9, and Op. 25, No. 2, completing them in October.

Solomon's final Ėtude disc was the Op. 10, No. 3 in E major, made in June and July 1945. He concluded the recordings in this set in early April 1946 - the Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, the Waltz No. 14 in E minor, Op. Posth., and the Mazurka No. 48 in A minor, Op. 78, No. 2.

Abbey Road Studio 3

All these recordings come from Abbey Road Studio No. 3 and have good sound. These transfers were cleaned up from 78 needle-drops found on Internet Archive.

Solomon recorded no additional Chopin works after 1946, and for the final decade of the pianist's career, he and HMV focused on the works of Beethoven and Mozart. Crimp observed, "By the late-40s Solomon’s repertoire became more concentrated. There was less Schumann and certainly less Chopin. Beethoven began to dominate."

The Beethoven concerto cycle has been posted here (1 and 3, coupled with Grieg and Schumann) and here (2, 4 and 5). Mozart's Concerto No. 15 was packaged with the second set of Beethoven concertos. A post with more Mozart concertos and sonatas is forthcoming.

Solomon in the Brahms Concertos

The great pianist Solomon has appeared here a number of times recently. This latest apparition brings two of my favorites - the Brahms piano concertos, both done with the Philharmonia Orchestra - the second in 1947 and the first in 1952, both for HMV.

Let's discuss them in the order of their recording.

Piano Concerto No. 2

Brahms' Concerto No. 2 is an extraordinary work, quite long due to its encompassing four movements rather than the usual three, and demanding for the soloist.

As was his pattern, Solomon surmounts all the challenges seemingly without difficulty, and without ever drawing attention to his own virtuosity. He is of one mind with the conductor, the Russian-born Issay Dobrowen (1891-1953). The interplay in the fourth movement is something to hear.

Issay Dobrowen

As the critic Richard Freed wrote, "Pianistically, Solomon is dazzling; musically, he and Dobrowen make sublime good sense, balancing the lyrical and the heroic, the grand and the intimate elements of the work in a clean, classical reading that has plenty of thrust but no heaving and churning in the name of Romantic expressiveness, no gestures toward monumentalism."

I enjoyed Dobrowen's work here and will be transferring some of his recordings of Russian music for a future post.

This recording comes from Abbey Road, April 29-May 1, 1947.

Piano Concerto No. 1

For the first piano concerto, HMV, the orchestra, conductor Rafael Kubelík and Solomon moved to the more resonant acoustic of Kingsway Hall, with sessions on September 3-5, 1952. For whatever reason, HMV didn't get around to releasing the recording in the UK until 1955, although it seems to have come out in the US somewhat earlier.

As was often the case with Solomon's concerto recordings, the critics were split in their verdicts. The Gramophone: "It seems to me that the combination of Solomon and Kubelík could have produced a superlative recording, but there must have been a lack of watchfulness in the making of the disc, for there are many flaws in balance and interpretation." Stereo Review: "The performance is certainly among the most outstanding on disc and will be the very first choice of many listeners. Solomon virtually owned this music: it held no problems for him technically. and he was obviously completely at one with its musical message."

Rafael Kubelík

The performance is not showy, to be sure, and the pianist was the opposite of flashy. As with Solomon's other recordings, there are times when more fire might be warranted, but that was not his way.

At the time of the recording, Kubelík (1914-96) was about to embark on his final season as the music director of the Chicago Symphony, an unhappy tenure that lasted just three years. As for this recording, Harris Goldsmith wrote in High Fidelity, "Rafael Kubelík conducts sympathetically, although I don't sense the extraordinary meeting of minds evident in the B flat concerto with Dobrowen." I think that's a fair comment.

I believe I have presented most of Solomon's concerto discs here in the relatively recent past. He also recorded the Tchaikovsky first concerto (twice), Mozart concertos and the Scriabin concerto. I have have the Tchaikovsky and Mozart recordings and plan to transfer them. The Scriabin work is not in my collection.

As was the case with a few of my recent posts, I've presented the Brahms concertos in ambient stereo, which adds some air around the mono signal and brings it forward. These transfers came from a very clean HMV reissue from the 1970s, as found in my collection (literally - I forgot I had it). The sound is remarkably good.

The download includes several reviews and a 1949 article on Solomon from The Gramophone.

Ad in The Gramophone, September 1955 (click to enlarge)

More Beethoven Concertos from Solomon

I recently posted the Beethoven first and third piano concertos in the 1956 stereo recordings from the great instrumentalist Solomon. Today we have his discs of the other three concertos, which date from 1952-55.

These all possess the remarkable control and gorgeous tone that Solomon always displayed. Like the later concertos, many still consider them reference recordings.

In addition to the Beethoven, this set includes the pianist's traversal of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15.

Beethoven Concerto No. 4

Sessions in early November 1952 produced both the Concerto No. 4 and No. 2, the latter of which is discussed below.

As with the recordings in the previous post, the orchestra was the Philharmonia, but the recording location and conductor were different. EMI's Walter Legge had wanted to match Solomon with conductor Herbert von Karajan, but the pianist refused to work with Karajan, per Solomon's biographer Bryan Crimp. Otto Klemperer was not available, so the Belgian-born French conductor André Cluytens (1905-67) was engaged. Unfortunately this arrangement was not ideal, not so much because of soloist-conductor incompatibility, but because Cluytens did not get along with the orchestra, Crimp tells us.

André Cluytens

However, there is little evidence of this in the final product. As with Solomon's later concerto recordings, this is notable more for refinement than temperament. The Gramophone reported, "Solomon and the Philharmonia play exquisitely... A beautifully clear, limpid style on the part of the soloist is matched by a perfect orchestral partnership..." However, the Saturday Review disagreed, complaining that the first movement was "unduly slow and lacking in animation," a point echoed in other reviews.

There were complaints, too, about the sound, particularly the piano tone. The notes to the RCA Victor pressing report that EMI used two microphones for the orchestra and an additional spot for the piano. This all took place in the Kingsway Hall, famed for its acoustics, and it's true that there is a bit of empty-hall sound to the proceedings, particularly on the piano. But in general, things are well balanced and pleasing.

Beethoven Concerto No. 2; Mozart Concerto No. 15

Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 was actually his first essay in the form, although published second. It is the most Mozartian of the five; accordingly, EMI coupled it with the older master's Concerto No. 15 for this release.

The Beethoven reading has the familiar Solomon hallmarks - clarity, elegance and insight. The reviews I have included in the download generally approve of the recorded sound, and most praise the Philharmonia's orchestral backing, led again by Cluytens.

Otto Ackermann

Mozart's Concerto No. 15 had not been recorded many times in the 1950s, although that is not true today. It is a rewarding work that Solomon handles splendidly. This recording comes from September 1953, with the Kingsway Hall as the location. The Philharmonia again is the orchestra, although this time the conductor is the Romanian Otto Ackermann (1909-60), who is remembered primarily for his operetta recordings.

Beethoven Concerto No. 5

The final recording in today's group is also Beethoven's final essay in the form - the Concerto No. 5, dubbed the "Emperor," although not by the composer. While the work has nothing to do with empire, it is indeed a majestic work, done full justice by the soloist.

Harold Schonberg in The New York Times contrasted Solomon in the work with a contemporary LP from Emil Gilels: "If you want a muscular, exciting reading... Gilels is your man. If your taste in "Emperors" runs to the elegant, intimate style, Solomon will fill the bill. Both of these are excellent performances of their kind."

Herbert Menges

For this recording, HMV again paired Solomon with the Philharmonia, this time not in the Kingsway Hall but in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, with sessions in May 1955. For this date, the label engaged Herbert Menges, a longtime friend of the pianist and perhaps his favorite accompanist.

Unlike the recordings in the previous Solomon post devoted to Beethoven, all these were recorded in mono. The Concerto No. 5 may be the best of them, with the orchestral colors more vivid and the piano tone well caught. The slow movement is exceptionally fine, both as a recording and performance. [Note: these are newly (July 2023) available in ambient stereo versions with much more vivid sound.]

Just a reminder that the earlier post of Beethoven concertos from Solomon also includes the Grieg and Schumann concertos, and there is another with the Bliss concerto and Liszt's Hungarian Fantasia.

Solomon's Final Recordings

A debilitating stroke ended the career of the great English pianist Solomon (1902-88) in late 1956, a few months after he had made several concerto recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Herbert Menges.

Today's post gathers those four works together - Beethoven's first and third, and the Grieg and Schumann concertos. These are all mainstays of the repertoire, just as Solomon's recordings have been standards by which others have been judged for nearly 70 years.

This is a follow-up to my recent post of Solomon in works by Bliss and Liszt, which was well received. Some personal sentiment enters into it as well, for I have owned all these recordings for several decades, and remain fond of them.

The artist who recorded these four concertos was different from the phenomenon who had dispatched the difficulties of the Bliss concerto seemingly effortlessly. These final sessions were afflicted with technical problems that left the pianist almost in despair. Solomon's biographer, Bryan Crimp, wrote that the Grieg concerto sessions "proved to be a desolate and wholly demoralizing experience, with Solomon's incapacity at its worrisome height, possibly exacerbated by the intensive work of the previous days." Even so, none of these travails are evident on the final product. The success of the recording, Crimp noted, "is a reflection of the skill and patience of all concerned: producers and editors, orchestra and conductor, but above all to the supreme effort of the soloist." The slow movement is a particular delight, with lovely horn playing, presumably by Dennis Brain.

Herbert Menges

The conductor Herbert Menges had been Solomon's friend since they were fellow piano students of Mathilde Verne. Menges had been associated with the Old Vic and was the conductor of the Brighton Philharmonic and its successors. EMI engaged him fairly frequently as a concerto accompanist, and these performances are successful in that regard.

Contemporary reviews of these recordings generally fall into two camps - those who were satisfied with the pianist's refinement and poetic playing, others who longed for more passion, which Solomon may no longer have been able to summon. Reviewing the Beethoven first concerto in the American Record Guide, C.J. Luten writes, "He has a pearly, singing tone, a genuine legato, and a fine mechanism. Moreover, his general culture and musical manners are as refined as anyone could wish for. His work invariably gives the pleasure of order and beauty of sound. Solomon's playing would be unforgettable if only he had temperament."

The wonder is that these performances have seldom been out of the catalogue since they were issued, a few years after they were made. Despite what Luten wrote above, I find the Beethoven concertos to be entirely successful, as is the Grieg. But to me, the Schumann finale would benefit from the some of the fire Solomon brought to the Bliss concerto, but may have no longer been able to ignite.

On the LP, Beethoven's first concerto is paired with his Sonata No. 27, which Solomon also handles well. (Note that the Sonata also appears on the transfer of the Beethoven third concerto that I used.) The sonata comes from an August 1956 session, also in stereo.

The recordings were all made in Abbey Road Studio No. 1 and are in true stereo, which is one of the delights of the set. Later reviewers would complain that there was little "stereo spread," having become accustomed to the use of multiple microphones in orchestral recordings. But these simply-miked performances have a convincing coherence that is unobtrusively right. My only cavil is that there is little bloom on the strings, possibly an artifact of the studio, which is not all that large. 

The HMV covers

I did not transfer my well-used records for this post, relying instead on good copies I found on Internet Archive and refurbished for the purpose. The Beethoven Concerto No. 1 is from a US Angel pressing, the Concerto No. 3 is from a EMI reissue from the 1960s, and the Grieg and Schumann are from a Classics for Pleasure 1976 reissue. The downloads include complete scans along with the original HMV covers. The latter were designed in a simple, elegant form by Atelier Cassandre, which did quite a few such covers for EMI at the time, probably through its French associate, La Voix de son maître. The download also has many reviews of the three LPs.

 

Solomon Plays Bliss and Liszt

My recent post of Arthur Bliss' Checkmate ballet score elicited a request for more music by that composer. So here is the first recording of his fascinating piano concerto, with the distinguished British pianist Solomon, who is making his blog debut.

The concerto was written for the 1939 New York World's Fair, and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic on a program that also included Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus (which can be heard here) and Bax's Seventh Symphony. Solomon was the pianist for that program, which was led by Sir Adrian Boult, who also is the conductor here.

Arthur Bliss in 1937

This particular recording comes from a 1943 session with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. It is in good sound, and the orchestra, while hardly glossy sounding, provides a sturdy backing. [Note (July 2023): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo and sounds even better.]

The concerto's first movement is in the knock-'em-dead virtuoso style that was even then out of fashion. It is all very impressive in its own way, not the least because of Solomon's sovereign command of the proceedings. The Adagietto second movement could not be more of a contrast. It is introspective and quite ravishing. The third movement is motoric, as was common in concertos of the time. Its conclusion is impressive.

My transfer comes from a World Records LP release, with a cover (at right) that gives Solomon's skin an unearthly glow. The album coupled the Bliss concerto with Solomon's fine 1948 recording of Liszt's Hungarian Fantasia, perhaps because the latter's romantic style is a predecessor of the Bliss concerto.

The Liszt was made with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Abbey Road Studio 1, and has quite good sound, displaying Solomon's beautiful tone and remarkable technical control. Conducting was Walter Susskind, then a 35-year-old Czech expatriate who had become the music director of the Scottish Orchestra in 1946. He later led the orchestras of Melbourne, Toronto and St. Louis.

Solomon's career was cut short by a 1956 stroke that paralyzed his right arm. He was 54.

1952 Steinway ad