Elly Ney (piano)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Concerto No.2 Op.83 (1878-1881)
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
‘Wanderer’ Fantasy D.760 (1822)
Aus Schubert’s Tänzen (arr. Elly Ney)
Berin Philharmonic Orchestra/Max Fiedler, Alois Melichar
Tibor de Machula (cello in Brahms 3rd movt)
rec. 1939-1942
APR 5639 [76]
APR has already released Elly Ney’s complete Brunswick and Electrola recordings (APR7311 review) and to the three concertante recordings included on those discs they now add her 1939 Brahms second piano concerto; I say 1939 but evidence based on Max Fiedler’s death, notes from archive diaries of the Berlin Philharmonic and matrix numbers, all outlined in the booklet, would suggest that at least part of the concerto was re-recorded in April 1940 with conductor Alois Melichar. The case presented entirely reasonable; five sides needed to be re-recorded and as Fiedler has died in December 1930 Melichor, who was recording with the orchestra at the time seems an obvious choice. He hadn’t the profile of Max Fiedler who was something of a Brahms specialist so keeping Fiedler’s name on the label would have made good marketing sense. Whatever the case the engineers seem to have done an excellent job balancing sound quality; my ears cannot detect the breaks or any difference in tone or ambience.
Ney’s is only the third recording of the work, after Rubinstein (1929) and Schnabel (1935) though Backhaus joined that roster in 1939; she is the first female pianist to have recorded it and the only one up until at least the late 1940s. She provides something of a foil to Rubinstein’s impetuous account and the whole has more of a chamber feel to it for all its symphonic grandeur. Her touch is lighter and though she is absolutely in command of the demanding writing she doesn’t emphasise its heavier elements – no ringing basses and heavy pedalling and the staccato writing is more evident. She is happy to hold the tempo back in more lyrical passages, dramatically so on occasion and overall her tempos are fairly broad; at nearly 50 minutes she adds ten minutes to Rubinstein’s brisk version and is even four minutes slower than Schnabel. Some of this is taking a shade off the tempo of the second and final movements but much of it is in the third movement where Rubinstein is over four minutes faster. His is perhaps more of an andante but I prefer Ney here; she is almost hypnotic at the più adagio. I have to say that I am taken with the cello solo of Tibor de Machula (1912-1982) with a rich, intense singing line.
In 1942 Ney recorded Schubert’s Wanderer fantasy for the Siemans Spezial label, the classical side of Siemans and Halske’s releases which only became Deutsche Grammophon some time later. The booklet provides a potted history of the company that began and ended up as Deutsche Grammophon but went through various incarnations, including Telefunken and Polydor, during the turmoil of the interwar years. Ney is clear and sturdy in her playing, virtuosic and mostly fluid though I found a little stiffness in the left hand of the presto. What impresses most is her lyrical playing and especially the adagio though as the tempo increases she can occasionally be a little flippant with the staccato chords. In other places some may find her penchant for slowing down for lyrical passages too much; in the presto she almost comes to a stand still at one point though it is undeniably attractive playing.
A bonus is the suite of Schubert dances that Ney arranged and played as the final side of the Schubert Wanderer though it was only included on the original Siemans set, the later Deutsche Grammophon issues leaving a blank side. It shows Ney at her most relaxed and is quite engaging though she doesn’t indulge in the kind of adornment that Liszt or her almost exact contemporary Wilhelm Backhaus employed in their transcriptions of Schubert. This is an enjoyable release and whilst I don’t think either of the major works would be my first choice there are plenty of felicitous moments and the presentation and transfers are excellent.
Rob Challinor
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