Product Description
C0881. WILLEM MENGELBERG Cond. Radio-Paris Orch.: Le Carnaval romain – Overture (Berlioz); Pathétique Symphony #6 in b (Tchaikovsky); w.Alfred Cortot: Piano Concerto #2 in f (Chopin). (France) 2-Malibran 189, Live Performance, 20 Jan., 1944, Théâtre des Champs Élysées.
CRITIC REVIEW: “The concert of 20 January is in general better recorded and the rapport between Alfred Cortot and Mengelberg in Chopin’s Second Concerto is if anything even more remarkable, Cortot varying his tone from a thunderous roar to the utmost delicacy….what incandescent phrasing, and that rich, bell-like tone, better captured here than on many of his commercial discs. Generally speaking, I find it a more probing, reflective performance than the 78s with Barbirolli….This is Mengelberg’s broadest Pathétique, a truly tragic performance which for all its period eccentricities (including distinctly ‘Old World’ string slides) has genuine charisma….You’re also given the original radio announcements.”
- Rob Cowan, GRAMOPHONE, Awards Issue, 2009
CRITIC REVIEW: “The concert of 20 January is in general better recorded and the rapport between Alfred Cortot and Mengelberg in Chopin’s Second Concerto is if anything even more remarkable, Cortot varying his tone from a thunderous roar to the utmost delicacy….what incandescent phrasing, and that rich, bell-like tone, better captured here than on many of his commercial discs. Generally speaking, I find it a more probing, reflective performance than the 78s with Barbirolli….This is Mengelberg’s broadest Pathétique, a truly tragic performance which for all its period eccentricities (including distinctly ‘Old World’ string slides) has genuine charisma….You’re also given the original radio announcements.”
- Rob Cowan, GRAMOPHONE, Awards Issue, 2009