Although pianists who studied with Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) were active well into the post-Second World War era, the eminent teacher himself was very much a man of the 1850s and 1860s, at least insofar as his role as a composer was concerned. After all, he had been a pupil of Czerny. One should, perhaps, think of Mendelssohn's Songs without words as being the model for these miniatures.

This is the first recording devoted to Leschetizky the composer and it is played with evident sympathy by Peter Ritzen. To some extent, however, I was surprised at his choice of pieces, since a number-such as Les deux alouettes, the Canzonetta alla toscana, Tarantelle, Op. 39 No. 5 and Arabesque, op. 45 No. 1, which were among the most popular-are omitted, and yet the CD plays for five minutes under the hour.

The music strikes one as a bit patchy. The Lucia Paraphrase (Andante finale, Op. 13) for left hand, which opens the programme, is pretty routine and fails to capture the atmosphere of Donizetti's original. The "Romance" from Op. 40, on the other hand, is a real gem. A surprise too is the "Danse russe" from the same Suite, which has plenty of that impish humour one associates with the teacher's personality. It is attractively fresh and contains a Grainger-like enthusiasm with its buoyant rhythms. In this light one is not surprised by the stories of the venerable man eagerly reading through the piano rags of Scott Joplin, which were then the rage of many of his young American lady students.

As a composer, then, Leschetizky principally was Out to charm. His was a salon style that reached its apogee in the works of Moszkowski. The release will certainly give considerable pleasure to those who like this sort of repertoire and the piano sound, if a little thick in the bass, is perfectly acceptable.

-- Gramophone [7/1994]