Eugene Istomin - The Concerto And Solo Recordings

As a 30-year old, my knowledge of Eugene Istomin was limited to the used LPs I could find, and the well-known Beethoven "Triple" often attached to the classic Szell/Fleisher collaborations. Other reviewers certainly seem to know more in terms of his comprehensive discography, but the recorded music here is both important and commanding. Ormandy's Beethoven and Brahms is nowhere more convincing than here, and this "Rach Two" is better than the one he recorded with Rubinstein years later. Bruno Walter is a warm and congenial partner in the Schumann, while the first disc features decent performances under Casals. All of the solo selections are terrific. For old-timers and old-timer wanna-bes, perhaps, but a very reasonably priced and lovingly crafted set.

In "The Concerto and Solo Recordings" Eugene Istomin finally shows us that he is as great a soloist as he was as part of the famed trio with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose. In this revelatory album Istomin proves that he was not only an extraordinary chamber artist but also a phenomenal virtuoso every bit as exciting as his more famous contemporaries. I only wish he had made more recordings as a soloist. Hearing this album, I'm sure you will agree.

Great recordings of Istomin that have finally been made available again!

(Previously posted under the vinyl issue of the Beethoven Emperor Concerto.)I'm probably biased about this recording, because I learned the Emperor Concerto from repeated listening to it. This was recorded in glorious mono before his much praised stereo recording of the Beethoven 4th concerto with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Istomin made a only a few concerto recordings before devoting his time to chamber music as part of the Istomin-Stern-Rose trio, which made many fine recordings. This is a thrilling Emperor concerto, with a superb slow movement whose hushed and finely controlled lyricism is ravishing. Ormandy and Istomin worked well together. They also recorded the Rachmaninov 2nd and Tchaikovsky 1st. The sound is full-bodied, with the piano well-focused. So far as I know this recording has not been issued on CD. Istomin died in 2003. Sony should issue a collection of his solo recordings, including the fine concerto recordings, now long out of print.Update: this recording is now available in Sony's 12-disc collection of Istomin's solo and concerto recordings, and it is in stereo. According to the box set booklet, a stereo version of the album was planned but was never released. Istomin's widely praised (e.g., Hi-FIdelity Magazine, Stereo Review) performance of the Beethoven 4th Concerto is also in the box set (coupled on a disc with the Beethoven Triple Concerto, featuring the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, also with Ormandy and the Philadelphia). Istomin trained at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his teachers included Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski.

- Bach:---- Brandenburg Concerto 5, BWV 1050 (Szigeti violin, Wummer flute) / Pablo Casals, Prades Festival - 1950 mono---- Keyboard Concerto BWV 1052 in D Minor / Adolf Busch, Busch Chamber Players - 1945 mono---- Toccata & Fugue BWV 914 in E Minor - 1950 mono- Beethoven---- Piano Concerto 4 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1966 stereo---- Piano Concerto 5 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1958 mono---- Concerto for Piano, Violin & Cello (Stern violin, Rose cello) / Ormandy, Philadelphia - 1964 stereo---- Sonata 14, Op.27,No.2 "Moonlight": first movement - 1960 stereo, previously unreleased---- Sonata 21, Op.53 "Waldstein" - 1959 stereo, previously unreleased---- Sonata 24, Op.78 - 1960 stereo, previously unreleased- Brahms:---- Piano Concerto 2 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1965 stereo---- Intermezzi (3) Op. 117 - 1957 electronic stereo?---- Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Handel - 1951 mono- Chopin:---- Piano Concerto 2 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1959 stereo---- Nocturnes (19) complete - 1955 mono---- Nocturne Op.15,No.2 in F-Sharp Minor - 1966 stereo, previously unreleased---- Polonaise Op.53 in A-Flat Major - 1967 stereo, previously unreleased- Debussy:---- Prelude Book 1,No.8 "La Fille aux cheveux de lin" - 1968 stereo, previously unreleased---- Suite bergamesque: Clair de lune" - 1968 stereo, previously unreleased- Mendelssohn: Song Without Words Op.62,No.1 "May Breeze" - 1967 stereo, previously unreleased- Mozart: Piano Concerto 14, K449 / Casals, Perpignon Festival - 1951 mono- Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto 2 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1956 mono- Schubert:---- Sonata D.850 in C Major - 1969 stereo---- Impromptus D.899, No.2 & 3 - 1967 stereo, previously unreleased- Schumann Piano Concerto / Walter, Columbia Symphony - 1960 stereo- Stravinsky: Piano Sonata - 1967 stereo, previously unreleased- Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto 1 / Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - 1959 stereo-------------------------------------------------------------In 1950's America, the classical music business was dominated by two rival companies - Columbia Records and RCA - who divided the available pianistic talent between them.RCA had exclusive rights to the most glamorous personalities of the older generation - Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz (lots of Chopin and Liszt).Columbia couldn't compete in the glamour department, so they countered with the more "intellectual" Rudolf Serkin and Robert Casadesus (Mozart and Beethoven).This is of course an exaggeration (Casadesus also played Chopin, Rubinstein's favorite composer was Brahms), but that was how these pianists were marketed to the public.This pattern continued with the younger generation of American pianists born between the Wars.RCA signed the high-personality William Kapell, and after his death, Van Cliburn.Ironically Cliburn was an almost pathological introvert, but RCA's advertising department skillfully marketed him as a popular culture hero.(RCA also signed Byron Janis, but he was a protege of Horowitz, and wasn't comfortable in the shadow of his mentor - he soon found a new home at Mercury Records).Columbia signed young classicists like Leon Fleischer, Glenn Gould and Charles Rosen (not much Chopin, Liszt or Rachmaninov in their repertoire).Plus Gary Grafmann (who had a foot in both camps - starting out at RCA before moving to Columbia).Plus Eugene Istomin, a wonderful pianist who mostly pursued a career outside the limelight.In terms of records sold, Columbia's roster of pianists invariably finished a distant second to RCA's Horowitz, Rubinstein and Cliburn.(record sales picked up in 1962 when Horowitz switched to Columbia).The teenage Eugene Istomin was a protege of Rudolf Serkin, and followed in his teacher's footsteps.Serkin was son-in-law of violinist Adolf Busch, and he began his career as Busch's accompanist and as pianist in the Busch Trio.Istomin's early Columbia LPs were of chamber music - recorded with Busch, and at the Casals festivals in Prades and Perpignon(represented by some Bach and Mozart on CD 1).Istomin's recording career as a solo performer was modest - ten LPs recorded over a fifteen year period.Part of the problem can be inferred from the title of the essay by Jed Distler: "Eugene Istomin: A Legacy of Humility and Dedication".A great pianist, but difficult to promote.See the cover photo on the 1958 LP of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto -No matter how hard Columbia tried to make him look debonair, Istomin still looked like Ralph Kramden in a tuxedo.Istomin's greatest recorded legacy was as pianist in the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio with Isaac Stern violin, and Leonard Rose cello.Recordings made during the 1960s and 1970s.Overdue for a nice new box from Sony (the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Ormandy is in this box).Eleven CDs (six mono, five stereo) in "original jacket" format with miniature program notes plus 64 page booklet in a cardboard box.One-and-a-half CDs of previously unreleased recordings.Newly remastered in 24-bit/96kHz.Columbia Records (not Sony) was somewhat lackadaisical in their treatment of the original tapes.The Beethoven Emperor Concerto was recorded in stereo on January 26, 1958, but the stereo tape was either damaged or lost:"Note: The stereo release MS6021 scheduled for November 3, 1958 was cancelled." - no further explanation.The Brahms Op.117 Intermezzi should have been recorded in stereo (September 1957), but I can't hear much directionality over headphones.---------------------------------------------------------American Pianists, born between 1922 and 1934, who recorded for RCA or Columbia Records.Comprehensive mega-boxes on Sony:William Kappell:  Complete Recordings 1944 - 1953  - RCA Van Cliburn - Complete Album Collection  - RCA Byron Janis: The Complete RCA Collection  - RCAEugene Istomin - reviewed on this page - Columbia Leon Fleisher Complete Album Collection [Box Set, Limited Edition ] - Columbia Glenn Gould Remastered - The Complete Columbia Album Collection  - Columbia * Charles Rosen - The Complete Columbia And Epic Album Collection  - Columbia ** Gary Graffman - The Complete Album Collection [Box Set ] - RCA and Columbia **** Yes, I know Glenn Gould was Canadian. Close enough.** Charles Rosen's recording of Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra was issued twice by Sony before anyone noticed that it had been incorrectly edited and was missing some music (I confess that I didn't notice).The incorrect version is in the box devoted to Charles Rosen.The correctly edited version is only available in the 57 disc  Igor Stravinsky - The Complete Columbia Album Collection *** The first edition of Gary Graffman's box had four major editing errors spread over two discs,BUT Sony has corrected the problem.If you think you may have the faulty CDs, check my original review ("PROBLEM DISCOVERED") of the Graffman box dated August 11, 2013.It includes information on who to contact for replacement CDs.For a checklist of the older generation of pianists who recorded for Columbia and RCA, see my Comment dated December 28, 2015.

イストミンは、スターンやローズとのトリオで名前を知っていましたが、ソリストとしてこれだけ録音が残されているとは知りませんでした。タッチは軽く、硬質で、同じアメリカのピアニストであるカッチェンに少し似ているように感じました。いいピアニストです。

Eugène Istomin (1925-2003) est bien évidemment célèbre dans le coeur des mélomanes pour avoir été pilier du fameux trio fondé par Isaac Stern. Ce trio constitué Stern-Istomin-Rose fut certainement l'un des plus talentueux et des plus enregistrés de la seconde partie du XXeme siècle (de pair avec le Beaux Art Trio et, peut être, le Trio de Trieste).Le nom d'Istomin est devenu indissociable de cette activité en trio, relèguant dans l'ombre sa carrière de musicien en solo ou en concerto.Et pourtant, quel pianiste !Sony réédite pour la première fois l'ensemble de ses enregistrements confiés aux micros de CBS entre 1950 (les Bach avec Casals) et 1969 (4eme concerto de Beethoven et Sonate D850 de Schubert).Aucune de ses gravures n'a vraiment accédé à la notoriété, à part peut-être le concerto de Schumann avec Bruno Walter (1960) si l'on met de côté le célèbrissime et multi-réédité triple concerto de Beethoven avec le trio Stern et Ormandy de 1964.Dans les gravures solos (Intégrale des Nocturnes de Chopin, op 117 et Variations Handel de Brahms, sonates Waldstein et Thérèse de Beethoven, sonate D850 de Schubert), Istomin déploie un jeu à nul autre pareil : très intériorisé, très attaché à la ligne mélodique, sans éclats virtuoses intempestifs (mais les doigts sont bien là : voir le premier mouvement de la D850 ou le finale de la Waldstein).Sa sonorité, plus compacte et moins volontariste que dans ses enregistrements en trio, est d'une grande délicatesse avec une amplitude dynamique assez ramassée.Istomin pratique un art pudique et semble se confier à des amis qui l'entourent et non au public d'une grande salle de concert.A ce titre, il faut absolument avoir entendu ce qui me semble être le chef d'oeuvre de ce coffret : les Variations Handel de Brahms (1951 !), résolument épatantes et pas du tout assimilées à du pré-Rachmaninov comme le font de nombreux broyeurs d'ivoire.Jed Distler dans son intéressant texte de présentation fait remarquer à quel point cette oeuvre de Brahms a fait l'objet d'une attention particulière de toute une génération de pianistes américains (Fleisher, Graffman, Katchen, Rosen, Van Cliburn l'ont tous enregistrée). Le moins que l'on puisse dire, c'est que l'on peut raisonnablement préférer l'approche très musicale d'Istomin à celle de ses plus célèbres collègues...Malheureusement Columbia a surtout insisté pour enregistrer Istomin en concerto (Empereur et 4eme de Beethoven, 2ème de Rachmaninov, 2ème de Brahms, 2ème de Chopin et 1er de Tchaikovsky tous avec Ormandy et Philadelphie, en sus des Schumann et Triple Concerto de Beethoven déjà cités). Sans être négligeables, ces gravures n'ont pas le même caractère si précieux que les enregistrements en solo.Les caractéristiques du pianisme d'Istomin, son absence d'extraversion le mettent un peu à la limite du hors sujet dans Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky et même dans l'Empereur. En revanche, cela fonctionne bien dans les concertos plus poétiques que sont le 4eme de Beethoven ou le Schumann.On rêverait que Columbia ait offert à Istomin d'enregistrer d'autres Schubert (il semblait taillé pour la D960 !) ou Brahms (l'op 118) plutôt que ces chevaux de bataille concertants...regrets éternels !A connaître pour découvrir l'autre face d'un grand musicien.

Unas grabaciones históricas muchas de ellas (como la que tiene con Pablo Casals a la Dirección en el Festival de Prades) y con una calidad soberbia en cuanto a la tonalidad y calidez de las mismas (puros años 50 reprocesados finamente escapando de la era digital/MP3). Los 2 discos dedicados a los nocturnos de Chopin alcanzan un virtuosismo técnico y melódico muy altos. Su segundo concierto de Brahms a la altura del mítico de la misma casa, Sony, grabado por Richter en 1.960 en el Orchestra Hall de Chicago. Al precio de derribo al que se vende este tipo de "cofres" (en comparación a sus equivalentes en el pop o rock actual) merece la pena para completar la discoteca. Además desde un punto de vista "editorial" ocupa poco espacio, cada CD viene en su réplica de la caja del LP original (obligatoria lupa si se quiere leer con tranquilidad la contraportada) y trae un interesante libreto con notas muy interesantes sobre el intérprete (curiosidades como su encuentro con Rachmaninov, el cual le felicitó por su interpretación, en la casa de este en NY cuando Eugene tenía solamente 10 años).Altamente recomendable,

Solito grande cofanetto da Sony, dedicato ad un grande pianista forse sottovalutato. Grandi rimasterizzazioni e perfetta riproduzione delle copertine degli lp originali. Ho cominciato ad apprezzare Istomin ascoltando le sue esecuzioni in trio con Stern e Rose. Qua ho avuto modo di ascoltarlo come solista e sono rimasto favorevolmente impressionato dalle sue esecuzioni.

Des interprétations très peu romantiques mais qui montrent des aspects nouveaux d'oeuvres connues, p.ex. la complexité polyphonique de la plupart des nocturnes de Chopin.