The third and final volume of the Berlin radio recordings by Cuban-born American pianist Jorge Bolet on audite presents repertoire novelties. With the exception of...

The third and final volume of the Berlin radio recordings by Cuban-born American pianist Jorge Bolet on audite presents repertoire novelties. With the exception of the Fledermaus paraphrase, all recordings are released for the first time. Once again, Bolet's performances document his universality and unceasing inquisitiveness, as well as his phenomenal musicianship and ability to adapt his virtuosity to diverse works. These recordings are therefore invaluable documents of a musician who today is justly considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. This selection comprises works of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Dello Joio, Franck, Godowsky, Grieg, Liszt and Schumann. Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto did not form part of Bolet's regular repertoire: it is the only live recording on this edition. Further highlights include Schumann's Third Piano Sonata as well as major works by Chopin, such as the complete Op. 25 Études, in Bolet's masterful, lyrical interpretations. As an "encore", Bolet plays Godowsky's Concert Paraphrase of Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

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REVIEW:

As with its predecessors, Audite’s third and apparently final release surveying Jorge Bolet’s Berlin Radio recordings largely captures the great pianist in more congenial and communicative estate than revealed in his often diffident Decca releases from his last decade. It also contains works new to Bolet’s commercial discography, including a splendidly stylish and virile 1974 account of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Moshe Atzmon. The pianist especially shines in the finale, where his runs and scale passages have both angular tension and poetic nuance.

Tonal and technical finesse thoroughly distinguish Bolet’s 1968 broadcast of Chopin’s complete Op. 25 Etudes; you’ll rarely hear No. 6’s double thirds so limpid and evenly dispatched (sound clip), nor such pearly legato articulation of No. 10’s octaves. In Chopin’s two Op. 40 Polonaises and the “Heroic” Op. 53, Bolet lets the music’s surface swagger take care of itself as he focuses on subtle variations of voicing.

A 1971 Chopin Op. 22 starts promisingly with an animated and gorgeously spun-out Andante spianato, yet the sectionalized and stiffly phrased Grande Polonaise that follows never gets off the ground. Neither does a 1961 Debussy Masques, but the Images Book II from the same broadcast taps into the allure and suggestion of this composer’s sound world. Bolet’s masterful performance of Norman Dello Joio’s Second piano sonata ought to make this inventive and cannily crafted work better known than it is. Another “new” Bolet work is Schumann’s Sonata No. 3, captured in a scintillating red-hot 1964 broadcast of the four-movement version. At the risk of offending purists, I welcome Bolet’s rather large cut in the admittedly rambling finale!

By and large, Bolet’s early-’60s versions of the Grieg Ballade, Franck Prelude, Aria et Final, and the Godowsky/Strauss Fledermaus transcription generally seem more incisive and spontaneous than in his later recordings. Throughout these archival recordings you get a realistic picture of Bolet’s luminous sonority and his sense of projection. This is the real Jorge Bolet.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)