Pianophiles whose collecting days post-date Westminster LPs by the Hungarian pianist Edith Farnadi are in for a thrilling surprise with Scribendum’s 21-CD collection, in excellent transfers, of mostly Westminster Farnadi recordings, the majority dating from the early 1950s. Liszt is in the forefront repertory-wise, including works with orchestra (the concertos, Totentanz, etc), the complete Hungarian Rhapsodies for solo piano (try No 12, ‘Carnival in Pest’, for grandeur or No 15, ‘Rákóczy March’, for excitement), the Sonata (a wholly excellent performance), the complete Années de pèlerinage (including Venezia e Napoli), books 1 and 2 being the most impressive performance-wise, though various other solo piano works by Liszt that Farnadi recorded are omitted. Still, you’d need to be extremely resistant to pass on her impassioned way with ‘Vallée d’Obermann’ or the Second Ballade. As to Bartók, who Farnadi studied with from time to time, characterful complete recordings of the educational cycles Mikrokosmos and For Children are among the set’s highlights, as are numerous virtuoso Romantic showpieces played with acute musical awareness. To think that I once thought of the 153 ‘progressive’ piano pieces that make up the former as ‘progressive’ literally rather than gradually gaining in technical difficulty. Nothing prepared me for the pleasing, folk-like simplicity of those first three books.

Works for violin and piano said to be performed with Furtwängler’s one-time concertmaster Gerhard Taschner (who Farnadi did perform with) pose something of a problem, especially as sonata recordings that Farnadi made with the Hungarian violinists André Gertler (Grieg, Franck, Bartók) and Tibor Varga (Bartók) are not included. Judging by a YouTube transfer of the slow movement of Grieg’s Third Sonata with Gertler (Westminster), the version with Taschner presented here sounds virtually identical. The online ‘Edith Farnadi Performance Chronology’ (at classical-pianists.net), which relies on discographical work undertaken by Mike Spring and Michael Gray, makes no mention of a Grieg Second Sonata, either with Gertler or with Taschner, though to these ears the fiddle-playing in this set sounds much more like Gertler. Nor do they reference recordings of Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Sonatas (mono and stereo versions) with Taschner included here, nicely played though they are. This is confusing to say the least, especially as we’re dealing with violinists located somewhere beneath the threshold of greatness. But the piano-playing is way above average throughout.

So too is the playing of American-born Aline van Barentzen (1897-1981), who was of Anglo-Danish heritage, a significantly gifted pianist cast in the unmannered mould of, say, Robert Casadesus, and previously celebrated by APR, which has reissued, among other of her early recordings, her distinctive world-premiere set of Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain under Piero Coppola. Meloclassic’s handsome and extremely well-annotated ‘Radio Archives Edition’ brings together numerous concerto recordings including an outgoing Emperor under Louis Frémaux, impassioned but unfussy accounts of Tchaikovsky’s First, Rachmaninov’s Second and the Scriabin Concerto, some superb Schumann (including the Symphonic Studies, Faschingsschwank aus Wien, the Op 12 Fantasiestücke and Op 23 Nachtstücke), not to forget sensitively voiced Debussy and Ravel and much more. Van Barentzen was a remarkably assured player, intelligent and fully in tune with her chosen repertoire. If Meloclassic could locate more of her broadcasts we would be very much in its debt. Lynn Ludwig’s audio restorations are beyond reproach.

Another collection of archive CDs celebrates the considerable artistry and beautiful tone of the American cellist Christine Walevska, best known for her Philips recordings (a box, please, Eloquence?), especially of works by Saint-Saëns. The First Concerto also turns up in Rhine Classics’ Walevska collection ‘The Beauty & the Bow’, as does the Dvo∑ák Concerto (two versions, one where we also hear Walevska interviewed by conductor André Vandernoot, the other under Carlos Païta), the Beethoven Triple with Henryk Szeryng and pianist Monique Duphil, Hindemith’s Third Concerto under Dean Dixon, William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus with the distinguished violinist and quartet leader Henri Temianka conducting and a deeply moving account of Bloch’s Schelomo where Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt is on the rostrum. We also hear three Bach Cello Suites (Nos 1‑3), as well as duo pieces by Haydn, Brahms, Prokofiev (his Cello Sonata) and Chopin (his Introduction and Polonaise brillante). In her prime Walevska was one of those players who virtually became her instrument and I’m happy to report that in addition to some exceptional music-making, Rhine Classics’ collection is very well annotated (by Gary Lemco) and richly illustrated.

Unlike the three sets quoted above, Brilliant Classics’ (Max) Reger Collection treats us to various recordings that have already been reissued on CD numerous times, most notably orchestral works such as the Hiller Variations (Franz Konwitschny, possibly the work’s finest recording, in stereo), the Mozart Variations, Four Symphonic Poems after Böcklin, Symphonic Prologue to a Tragedy (shorter version) and A Romantic Suite (all under Heinz Rögner), the Concerto in the Olden Style, Ballet Suite and Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven (Otmar Suitner, particularly life-affirming), the Violin Concerto (Manfred Scherzer under Herbert Blomstedt) and the Piano Concerto (Amadeus Webersinke under Günther Herbig), fine performances all of them, as are less familiar, more recent recordings of important chamber pieces such as, for example, the solo viola and solo cello sonatas (Luca Sanzò and Martina Biondi). This set would be a great idea for a Reger starter pack.

The recordings

The Art of Edith Farnadi (Scribendum (21 CDs) SC840)

Radio Archives Edition Aline van Barentzen (Meloclassic MC1080)

The Beauty & the Bow Christine Walevska (Rhine Classics RH034)

Reger Collection Various artists (Brilliant Classics 97579)