Poldi Mildner (piano)
German Broadcast Recordings
rec. 1933-1961
Meloclassic MC1083 [2 CDs: 152]

I ended my review of Poldi Mildner previous Meloclassic release (Meloclassic MC1055 review) with the hope that a third volume would appear among future discs. Well the archive gods and, more to the point, Lynn Ludwig, Meloclassic founder, have answered my plea with a vengeance – a double CD of German broadcast recordings dating back to 1933 no less, just two years after she made her first commercial recordings, four titles, for Electrola. We have a chance to hear her in big romantic concert favourites from Schumann and Brahms as well as in repertoire that we don’t associate with Mildner from the small amount of music she recorded commercially, Beethoven and Haydn. With a huge helping of Liszt and a couple of rarities to boot this is an exciting issue. I will not repeat biographical writing from my previous review but will add that the booklet notes are not just a repeat of the excellent ones by Michael Waiblinger. With those notes as a starting point Dr. Jürgen Linsenmeyer has filled on even more details of Mildner’s life and repertoire along with two new photographs.

The oldest recording, dating from December 1933, is a gripping performance of Beethoven’s C minor variations. This is one of the works that Mildner played for her 1936 UK début and despite mixed reviews for her UK concerts she has a sure touch, ample virtuosity and a keen sense of rhythm and pace. She observes the accelerando that d’Albert suggested for the final volley of descending octaves but rather oddly omits the final two, quiet chords; they may have been cut off in the broadcast but it doesn’t sound like it. Fast forward five years to 1938 and two works from a broadcast on the 8^th December; two of the discs have been lost either during or in the aftermath of the second world War so the end of the Haydn Sonata and the opening of Liszt’s Mephisto waltz are missing. I am glad that Meloclassic have decided to include these regardless; the Haydn is a wonderful performance full of vivacious playing, drama and deliciously agile fingerwork. The adagio may be a little less serious than some and Mildner does approach the repeated notes with something like machine gun rapidity but she is never dismissive. The finale sparkles and it is unfortunate that it cuts off mid bar after just two minutes or so. Her Liszt Mephisto waltz is equally impressive and stunningly virtuosic; if her 1936 performance matched this it must have brought the house down in London’s Grotian Hall – though I may be underestimating British reserve in the 1930s. The odd finger slip is forgivable when presented with this kind of fiery pianism.

The set opens with a fine Carneval from 1950; she observes the quasi maestoso marking at the opening and I was going to say that she doesn’t go for virtuoso effects though she clearly has the fingers for it; Paganini is quite astonishing. Her control of dynamic shading is beautifully done and her occasional relative restraint works well in bringing some of the more lyrical portraits together, such as valse noble into Eusebius; she also finds a lovely duet at the end of Promenade. From one concert staple to another and a corker of a performance of Brahms’ Handel Variations. Mildner had the Paganini Variations in her repertoire from at least 1931 and played the F minor Sonata in 1927. She evidently feels at home in this richly textured music, tossing off its difficulties with effortless panache while at the same time enjoying the intimacy of its quieter moments. From the opening theme she finds contrast in the repeats, all of which are observed, whether that is dynamic or voicing; in the sinuous second variation she brings out the right hand triplets first then brings out the chromatic lines on the repeat without needlessly accentuating either and even in more taxing music such as the eighth variation she finds time to bring out a beautiful inner voice. Variation three is quite fast and swaggers preposterously while the octaves of variation four are swift and clean. Mildner may have something of a reputation as just fingers but her tone is silky smooth and luxurious and her phrasing perfectly natural as can be heard in variations five and six. I could go on; the arrogant strut of the largamente, ma non più, the fluency of variation 18, the drive and vigour of variations 23 and 24 leading into a terrifically animated fugue. I hope more Brahms is lurking in the archives.

Alongside the Mephisto Waltz there is even more Liszt recorded between 1951 and 1961. Two recitals provide five of the transcendental études; from 1958  comes a sweeping paysage, a little faster than normally heard but lovely playing, a dazzling feux follets and an edge-of-the-seat F minor. Two more appeared in a recital from three years later; Wilde Jagd, furious if occasionally splashy and chasse-neige which really cooks up a storm. The chromatic runs and tremolandi in this are ferocious, the piano swelling with the build up of sound, a wonderfully terrifying tempest. As if this wasn’t enough Mildner continued with two fiery Liszt transcriptions, the seldom heard Tarantella di Bravura d’après “La muette de Portici”, Auber’s 1828 opera and the considerably more familiar Danse Macabre. The tarantella was one of George Cziffra’s warhorses but Mildner is every bit as thrilling. It also appeared in a 1959 recital on MC1055 and those two years have made a difference; it is just as stunning technically but she no longer seems to be pushing it for all its worth which is why I said Cziffra had the edge over that performance. She seems to have settled into it better now. It is paired with a danse macabre that is stupendous by any account, octaves and trills to die for and feather-light pianissimo playing. She also plays Liszt’s slightly extended coda. She ended this radio recital with a real rarity and what must be one of the earliest recordings of a work by Sergei Bortkiewicz – I only otherwise have of Moriz Rosenthal’s piano roll of the étude op.15 no.8 and Siegfried Rapp’s 1952 performance of the second piano concerto from the age before modern recordings. She plays the impromptu Eros, the third of the three pieces op.24. It has two themes, a repeated chord theme that reminds me of Blumenfeld’s étude de concert, co-incidentally also op.24, and a more lyrical section. Both repeat transformed; the first becomes a double note étude and the lyrical passage that bursts forth in cinematic style bringing the piece to a passionate close, all aided and abetted by Mildner’s flamboyant playing. A decade earlier she set down a B minor Ballade by Liszt that is good but her occasional habit of rushing through phrases or cutting rhythms short makes it come across as perfunctory in places despite her fine pianism. A case in point is the final grandioso section where the big tune lacks grandeur because of her poor choice of rhythmic momentum. There are many fine moments however. There is some Chopin in the mix; a fine Barcarolle where the drama is bang on target and coupled with delicate figuration and silky legato playing. This is from the April 1^st, 1958 recital that included the first bunch of transcendental études and where we also find a couple of mazurkas, a restrained and touching A minor that is relief from all the virtuoso high jinks and the C sharp minor, beautifully buoyant. Finally there is la Campanella, a piece that also features amongst her small commercial catalogue, recorded in 1955 for Telefunken. That disc is impressive but this performance, from November 1953 is even more so; clarity of playing, sheer velocity, character and finesse and a long trill that I would give my right arm for. The contents do not mention it but this is a hybrid version, mostly the Busoni edition but with a couple of Liszt’s original passages

Playing like this makes one wonder why she wasn’t asked to record more; she did record her Berlin début piece, Richard Strauss’ Burleske for piano and orchestra and Weber’s Koncertstück alongside the first concertos of Liszt and Mendelssohn but we read that she also played both Rachmaninov second and third concerti, Tchaikowsky’s B flat minor, the Grieg and Schumann A minor concertos as well as another relative rarity, Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Meloclassic’s three volumes thankfully grant us a wider picture of her big repertoire for solo piano and give us a wonderful opportunity to learn more about this rather forgotten pianist. Production, restoration and presentation are all first class and pretty much everything here makes me hungry for more  – though I’d better not push my luck with the archive gods.

Rob Challinor

Contents
CD1
rec.30 November, 1950 Funkhaus Studio 5, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Carneval Op.9

rec. 20 November, 1955 Funkhaus Studio 5, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Variations and Fugue in a theme by Handel Op.24

rec. 1 April, 1958 Seidlhaus, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Barcarolle Op.60

rec. 8 December, 1933 KWS Senderaum, RRG, Berlin (radio studio recording)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
32 Variations in C Minor WoO.80

rec. 8 December, 1938 KWS Senderaum, RRG, Berlin (radio studio recording)
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Sonata in E Flat Major Hob XVI:52 (second half of finale missing)

CD2
rec. 1 April, 1958  Seidlhaus, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Frédéric Chopin
Mazurka in A Minor Op.17 No.4
Mazurka in C Sharp Minor Op.30 No.4
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Transcendental étude No.3 S.139 No.3 Paysage
Transcendental étude No.5 S.139 No.5 Feux Follets
Transcendental étude No.10 S.139 No.10 Appassionata

rec. 11 November, 1961 Lothstrasse, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Franz Liszt
Transcendental étude No.8 S.139 No.8 Wilde Jagd
Transcendental étude No.12 S.139 No.12 Chasse-neige
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) arr. Franz Liszt
Taranella di Bravura d’après “La muette de Portici” S.386
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) arr. Franz Liszt
Danse Macabre S.555
Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952)
Impromptu in E Flat Major Op.24 No.3 Eros

rec.9 November, 1951 Seidlhaus, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Franz Liszt
Ballade No.2 in B Minor S.171

rec. 22 November, 1953 Funkhaus Studio 1, BR, Munich (radio studio recording)
Grande Étude de Paganini No.3 S.140 No.3 la Campanella

rec. 8 December, 1938 KWS Senderaum, RRG, Berlin (radio studio recording)
Mephisto waltz No.1 S.514 (starts at bar 132)