54.00 PLN

CD:

Nr kat.: SBT1334
Label  : Testament (UK)

"W młodoścci podziwiany za olśniewającą technikę i nie stroniący od repertuaru wirtuozowskiego, Backhaus jest dziśœ uważany wraz z Arturem Schnablem i Wilhelmem Kempffem za czołowego przedstawiciela klasycznej niemieckiej szkoły fortepianowej w XX wieku." - Wojciech Bońkowski, luty 2007, nifc.pl Backhaus - niemiecki pianista, wirtuoz był jednym z artystów, którzy najwcześniej docenili możliwości gramofonu. Backhaus dokonał pierwszych rejestracji już w 1908 roku. W 1925 roku na płytach znalazł się komplet Etiud Chopina. ŒŚmierć przeszkodziła pianiœście w dokończeniu nagrań utworów Beethovena, a dokładniej sonaty Hammerklavier. Według Stephena Kovacevicha - Wilhelm Backhaus był jednym z niewielu panistów, którzy naprawdę rozumieli Beethovena. Wilhelm Backhaus' 1952 recording of Beethoven's Second Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic falls short of his stereo remake six years later. The main problem lies within the outer movements, which are sluggish and square, hinting little at the music's playful spirit and rhythmic zest. Are the pianist's aloofness and detachment that Bryce Morrison cites in his booklet notes supposed to be virtues? Not that the Vienna Philharmonic's rough-hewn support with Clemens Krauss is anything to write home about either. In any event, you can find more vital and imaginative mono-only Beethoven Seconds from Schnabel, Kapell, Kempff, and Gould, not to mention a terrific Rudolf Serkin version with Ormandy worthy of CD reissue. "someone so well versed in the music, so utterly familiar with even the tiniest twist or turn in line or harmony, [Backhaus] playing sounds like an extension of natural speaking." - Rob Cowan, GRAMOPHONE, June, 2006 "Wilhelm Backhaus was one of the greatest German pianists of the 20th Century.His slow movements, though not unfeeling, lack the poetic qualities of Schnabels, but the compensation is that he was a far better pianist technically." - John P. McKelvey, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, Sept./Oct., 2004 The Third Concerto, recorded two years earlier, benefits from markedly superior orchestra playing and from Karl Böhm's firmer podium leadership. Here Backhaus' usual solidity gains expressive dimension through the long lines he spins out in the slow movement and from the power of his runs and trills elsewhere. He opts for a garish, late-Romantic cadenza in the first movement and plays it with impressive élan. As in his stereo remake, Backhaus makes a gradual accelerando in the Rondo theme's opening bars, an old Romantic habit that he couldn't quite shake. I direct this reissue to specialists, who now can dispose of their half-century-old LP pressings in favor of Testament's full-bodied digital transfers. (Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com)