Michael Zadora: The Complete Recordings, 1922-1938

$21.99
Label
APR
Release Date
November 1, 2009
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      CHOPIN LISZT BUSONI
    • PERFORMER
      Michael Zadora
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      November 01, 2009
    • UPC
      5024709160082
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      APR6008
    • LABEL
      APR
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      2
    • GENRE
      Chamber Music & Recitals
    Works ⌄

    1. Waltz No. 9 in A-Flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1, "L'adieu"

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    2. Waltz No. 10 in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    3. Waltz No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    4. Nocturne No. 9 in B Major, Op. 32, No. 1

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    5. No. 14 in F Minor, Op. 25, No. 2

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    6. No. 21 in G-Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 9, "Butterfly's Wings"

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    7. No. 13 in A-Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1, "Harp Study"

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    8. Waltz No. 6 in D-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, "Minute"

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    9. No. 1. Andante con moto

      Composer: Franz Liszt

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    10. No. 2. Un poco più mosso

      Composer: Franz Liszt

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    11. No. 3 in D-Flat Major: Lento placido

      Composer: Franz Liszt

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    12. No. 5. Andantino

      Composer: Franz Liszt

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    13. 2 Pieces, Op. 157: No. 2. La fileuse

      Composer: Joachim Raff

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    14. Prelude and Fugue, Op. 6: Prelude

      Composer: Giovanni Sgambati

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    15. Scarlatti: Pastorale in E Minor - Capriccio in E Major (arr. of K.9/L.413/P.65 and K.20/L.375/P.76)

      Composer: Carl Tausig

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    16. Se tu m'ami (arr. M. von, Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    17. Ecossaise in E-Flat Major, WoO 86 (arr. F. Busoni for piano)

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    18. No. 6 in B Minor

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    19. No. 7 in A Major

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    20. No. 13 in F-Sharp Major

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    21. No. 23 in F Major

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    22. Mazurka No. 45 in A Minor, Op. 67, No. 4

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    23. Soirees a Saint-Petersbourg, Op. 44: No. 1. Romance in E-Flat Major

      Composer: Anton Rubinstein

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    24. 3 Intermezzos, Op. 117: No. 2 in B-Flat Minor

      Composer: Johannes Brahms

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    25. Nocturne No. 5 in B-Flat Major, H. 37A

      Composer: John Field

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    26. The Prima Ballerina

      Composer: Michael Zadora

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    27. Vienna Waltz

      Composer: Michael Zadora

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    28. Waltz No. 6 in D-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, "Minute"

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    29. Waltz No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    30. 10 Pieces, Op. 12: No. 7. Prelude

      Composer: Sergei Prokofiev

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    31. La Passion

      Composer: Lamare

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    32. Sylvia: Valse lente (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Léo Delibes

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    33. 7 Songs from Spanischen Liederbuch, Op. 21: No. 4. Murmuring Zephyrs (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Adolf Jensen

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    34. Sarabande con Partite in C Major, BWV 990

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    35. I. Prelude

      Composer: Claude Debussy

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    36. III. Toccata

      Composer: Claude Debussy

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    37. Piano Sonatina No. 6 super Carmen, "Kammerfantasie"

      Composer: Ferruccio Busoni

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    38. Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann): Barcarolle (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Jacques Offenbach

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    39. Meine Puppe Tanzt

      Composer: Michael Zadora

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    40. Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 16: II. Larghetto (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Adolf von Henselt

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    41. Rondo in E-Flat Major, Op. 11, "Rondo favori"

      Composer: Johann Nepomuk Hummel

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    42. Coppelia: Valse lente (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Léo Delibes

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    43. Sylvia, Act III: Pizzicati (arr. M. von Zadora for piano)

      Composer: Léo Delibes

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    44. Piano Sonatina No. 3, "ad usum infantis"

      Composer: Ferruccio Busoni

      Performer: Michael Zadora

    45. Piano Sonatina No. 5, "Sonatina brevis in signo Joannis Sebastiani Magni"

      Composer: Ferruccio Busoni

      Performer: Michael Zadora


Back in the 1970s the International Piano Library issued an LP with Ferruccio Busoni's complete disc recordings on one side, and the other side featuring Busoni pupils playing Busoni, including the Sonatina No. 6 (the Carmen Fantasy) played by the New York-born pianist Michael Zadora (1882-1946). Many years later Pearl brought out a superior transfer of this riveting performance, along with further Zadora sides. APR now has gathered all of Zadora's recordings in a two-CD set, evenly divided between acoustic and electric 78s. Most of this material appears for the first time in a long-playing format.

For whatever reason, Zadora's 78s were unusually well engineered for their time, especially the 1929 Polydor sides with their resonant bloom. Aside from certain items that reflect a tendency to rush--the electrical Chopin Op. 64 No. 1 that ought to be retitled the "half-minute" waltz!, and a rather slapdash Debussy Toccata--Zadora's musical intelligence and keen ear for nuance and tone color impress, even in the numerous light works such as Hummel's Rondo, Lemare's La Passione, and Zadora's own transcriptions of the Barcarolle from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, selections from Delibes ballets, and the schmaltzy Vienna Waltz he penned under the pseudonym Pietro Amadis.

The pianist's superb textural layering in Liszt's D-flat and E major Consolations substantiates his unusually fast yet never hectic-sounding tempos. By contrast, Raff's La Fileuse unfolds in delicate, deliberately paced arcs. The Busoni Second and Fifth sonatinas recorded in 1938 for the independent Friends of New Music label suffer from cramped, dynamically constricted sound that probably makes the music sound drier and more austere than it is, although Zadora's affinity for and commitment to this repertoire certainly cuts through the sonic grime. With so many reissues of reissues of reissues on the market, it's heartening that APR continues to lavish considerable time and effort on "virgin territory", so to speak. Jonathan Summers' excellent, informative notes and Mark Obert-Thorn's fine transfers add further value to this release.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com