Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)
Transcriptions
Emanuele Delucchi (piano)
rec. 2024, Marco Barletta Studio (GE), Chiavari, Italy
Piano Classics PCL10329 [56]
The time appears to have passed when Leopold Godowsky was only spoken of as the composer of 53 fantastically difficult arrangements of the Chopin études and then quite often disparagingly. Konstantin Scherbakov’s complete survey on Marco Polo as well as truly wonderful recordings by Marc-André Hamelin and a handful of others have shown what an original thinker he was in terms of the piano as well as showcasing just how much he wrote beyond those fearsome love-them-or-loathe-them studies. This is Emanuele Delucchi’s fourth CD following on from recordings of the complete studies, the startling Passacaglia and assorted transcriptions of works by Schubert, Albéniz and Strauss, Johann and Richard amongst others (Piano Classics PCL096 review, PCL10122, PCL10182).
Godowsky transcribed three of Bach’s solo cello sonatas and three of the solo violin sonatas; freely transcribed and adapted for the pianoforte were Godowsky’s own words on the scores. Certainly they are free and considerably more wide ranging than Joachim Raff’s which endeavour to keep some of the flavour of the violin. Godowsky sticks to the harmonies suggested by Bach’s lines but the writing is complex and completely pianistic, even going above and beyond to emphasise the change of instrument and its full potential in the hands of a skilled musician. Delucchi is certainly that and necessarily so; this is not flamboyant writing in the style of say Carl Tausig’s transcription of the familiar D minor toccata and fugue but it is supremely virtuosic and large sections of the fugue or the final presto make huge demands on the pianist without necessarily conveying the intensity of those demands to the listener. I think this sonata and its companions are wonders of the piano repertoire and deserve to be heard more often. As if to prove that point Delucchi closes his recital with an utter gem, the irresistible transcription of the aria from the A minor violin Sonata.
The other transcriptions here have the potential to be virtuoso crowd pleasers but in all of them Godowsky is far more concerned with the contrapuntal and pianistic opportunities that the works provide than the effect they would have on an audience. Both Carl Tausig or Adolf von Henselt’s transcription of the Weber Invitation to the dance have a more immediate visceral impression as do Moritz Rosenthal’s versions of Chopin’s D flat waltz or Strauss waltzes. Of course Godowsky brought the house down when he played the Weber transcription as a final encore at his Berlin début but then he had just played seven of his Chopin studies after performances of Brahms’ D minor concerto AND Tchaikowsky’s B flat minor concerto; the cumulative effect must have been thrilling…and exhausting. Counterpoint is as much at the heart of all these as it is in the Bach and whilst a friend once joked to me that he didn’t play the Godowsky Strauss waltzes because he thought that the combined themes just produced dominant 29ths or some such Godowsky is a master at interweaving these familiar melodies. The central theme of the Chopin waltz is suddenly joined by the sinuous main theme in a wonderful embrace, the running quavers of the Weber are changed to parallel sixths and form a cascading decoration over the main waltz theme and at one point in Strauss’ Artist’s life Godowsky weaves two themes…and then adds a third. This is quite subtly done and is in a section that is pianissimo and marked sweetly and sustained, tucked away between pages of grand virtuosity. As in the Bach Delucchi has no trouble navigating the interlocking threads and supreme difficulties whilst playing with elegance and élan.
Amongst all these phantasmagoric recreations Delucchi includes an original work, the Prelude and Fugue on the theme B-A-C-H, one of the series of works that he created for the left hand alone. The prelude is a moto perpetuo with the motif appearing just four bars from the end, played pianissimo, the notes B flat, A, C and B natural highlighted by Godowsky in the score. The fugue then takes up this theme and treats it, in three voices, to inversions, contractions, pedal points and all kinds of devices on B-A-C-H for one hand! as Godowsky proudly wrote to Arthur Loesser. It is no mean feat but once again Delucchi delivers with precision and real clarity within the parts.
This is a wonderful addition to Delucchi and Godowsky’s discography and the sound of Delucchi’s 1879 Steinway, with its warmth and very pleasant treble, is captured very well.
Rob Challinor
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Contents
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata No.1 in G Minor BWV.1001 (arr. Leopold Godowsky)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor BWV.1003 – andante
Leopold Godowsky
Prelude and Fugue in the theme B-A-C-H for left hand alone
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Waltz Op.64 No.1 (arr. Leopold Godowsky)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Invitation to the dance (arr. Leopold Godowsky)
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) Symphonic Metamorphoses on theme by Johann Strauss:No.1 Künstlerleben (arr. Leopold Godowsky)
