Walter Gieseking (1895-1956) was born in the same year as Wilhelm Kempff and although he left a very substantial amount of studio recordings, it is sad he did not survive into the 1960s, when improvements in recording piano sound could have done justice to him as one of the supreme colour- ists of the instrument. This new CD presents a number of performances from broadcasts, although it must be said that all of the pieces, excepting the Bach and Scarlatti (to my knowledge), were also recorded commercially and have been reissued at one time or another, but not in this format.
The sound isn't very good in the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. The piano has a rather unnatural, boxed-in tone. However, the performance is very broad and wonderfully assured. In this, perhaps the most theatrical of all Bach's clavier works, Gieseking's approach is very much that of the pianist making the most of the instrument's sonority, although the fugue is played delicately with a predominant use of non legato touch. It is again his concern with varying the sound, additionally with the application of dynamic shading, that makes his Mozart, too, sound so intelligent. The sense of scale is impeccable. For instance, the Alla turca finale of the A major Sonata is not used as a showpiece—one notices, instead, a gentle humility.
Beethoven's penultimate sonata receives a considered reading. The opening phrases will be too overtly expressive for some, but I defy anyone not to find the almost mystical stillness of the arioso between the two fugues deeply affecting.
Of the interpretations deriving from Swiss Radio—that is the Scarlatti, Debussy, Ravel and the last Mozart sonata—the level of tape hiss is very noticeable. Although I thought ''Ondine'' a little too virtuosically played, the ''Reflets dans l'eau'' was, to my mind, perfect. Imagination and technical control are married to an extraordinary degree. The finale of the Mozart D major Sonata also is remarkable. This CD will appeal, I think, chiefly to those interested in historical recordings, since the overall sound-quality will, understandably, be a disappointment to listeners used to more modern sound.
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