Alexander Brailowsky (piano)
Live Concert Performances in Europe
rec. 1951-1962
Meloclassic MC1078 [2 CDs: 142]
Theodor Leschetizky had one of the largest roster of piano pupils who went on to have successful careers and what a varied lot it was: Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Ignacy Friedman, Benno Moiseiwitsch and Paul Wittgenstein are just a handful of the most familiar. Alexander Brailowsky must surely be counted amongst this number. He was Kyiv born and took his first lessons from his father then continued at the Imperial Conservatory with Volodymyr Pukhalsky who also taught Vladimir Horowitz. The family moved to Vienna so that Alexander and his sister Zena (Sina) could study under the renowned Leschetizky though it appears that his tuition was mostly with Florence Trumbull, Leschetizky’s assistant and a gifted tutor who later continued teaching in Chicago. “Leschetizky student” sounds so much better than “Turnbull student” and as Sakuraphon’s excellent Pupils of Leschetizky series shows some students possibly had only one or two lessons with the master himself (details of releases at Sakuraphon.net).
His name is perhaps mostly mentioned in connection with his recitals featuring the complete piano music of Chopin, a feat he performed first in Paris in 1924 and periodically repeated up until around 1960 at which time critics pointed out that the delightful verve and clarity were overshadowed by a cloud of partially missed notes. The same review mentions his over-emphasis and that is part of the impression I get from live Chopin E minor Concerto presented here. Technically it is strong with fast tempi throughout but he doesn’t balance that with charm or indeed much lyricism in melodic sections. It is all rather brusque and occasionally something of a technical exercise, especially so in the finale where the aforementioned over-emphasis makes much of the rhythmic impetus rather stiff. I was looking forward to hearing it but ultimately this brash and bold approach it is not the Chopin for me. He played this on the 4th April 1962 with a lively Radio-Luxembourg orchestra under Louis de Froment who do well to keep the ensemble together. The following evening the same forces played the A minor concerto of Robert Schumann and while virtuosity, fast tempi and bold playing are all present the whole is more successful. There is more rhythmic buoyancy, especially in the intermezzo which has a lot of grace. In the Chopin he was sometimes too wayward with the melodic lines, with a rubato that was too inconsistent to be convincing but Schumann’s shorter melodic motifs hold together better. While he is clearly in his element in the rhapsodic cadenza and the athletic virtuosity of the finale, in which he sets off at a terrific lick, it is his engagement with the orchestra contribution that perhaps makes this a more satisfying performance.
The sets opens with a Tschaikowsky B flat minor concerto from 1951 that is actually staggering. The concerto is the very model of a romantic piano concerto, packed to the gills with drama, big tunes and exhilarating pianism and all are present here in abundance. Carl Garaguly and his Swedish players absolutely do their bit but Brailowsky is very much centre stage with pin-point fingerwork, utterly dazzling virtuosity and an overwhelming presence. Horowitz’s is the closest comparison I can imagine, Brailowsky sharing his rifle shot octaves and precision. The orchestra seems awfully fast as they end their excellent mid first movement tutti alla breve but Brailowsky’s octaves still manage to outpace them while he still produces the utmost delicacy in the ensuing bars. There is plenty of delicacy too in the andantino semplice and we find the charm here that was lacking in his Chopin as well as a fabulously mercurial prestissimo. The piano’s first entry in the finale doesn’t leave the orchestra behind as Horowitz was said to have done in his début with Beecham but one has to consider that a less able conductor than Caraguly might have been eating Brailowsky’s dust. All of the hallmarks of his playing are here in a performance that we can be grateful to Meloclassic for making available to us.
In 1958 Brailowsky joined Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia orchestra in Munich for a performance of Rachmaninov’s C minor concerto, a concerto that Ormandy and the orchestra would have been old hands at. They produce a beautiful sound and are attuned to Brailowsky’s style and the performance in general has all the hallmarks of as marvellous a performance as the Tschaikowsky though it loses out in the detail. The characteristic pushed tempi are there but I am not convinced that Brailowsky’s left hand plays everything that is written. It may be that the recording isn’t quite good enough to pick it up but to me it sounds like Brailowsky was determined to play at the speed he was accustomed to and maybe, just maybe had to skim a little bit. If so he was still careful to bring in all the detail when it was needed and at points where the hands play a duet or the left hand has detail he is very adept and accurate. I am more bothered by the lack of subtlety and disregard for Rachmaninov’s carefully graduated drama. Accelerandi are mostly just an immediate faster speed and while that has an element of visceral excitement it loses some of the impact of the ending where Rachmaninov’s poco a poco accelerando and gradual crescendo over the spread of many bars are simply ignored for the immediate thrill. All very exciting for the audience but it bit overkill on repeated hearings.
An unusual item here is Liszt’s Totentanz, still something of a rarity in the concert hall, though Brailowsky appreciated it enough to record it twice, with Fritz Reiner in 1951 and with Ormandy in 1961. It is a work that forcibly demonstrates the disparate sides of Liszt’s nature, Liszt the abbé and the Liszt the diabolic, fascinated with Mephistopheles. Brailowsky finds Liszt’s struggle in the counterpoint of variation four and the vision of heaven in the subsequent variation while investing the rest with suitable diablerie. There is the occasional scrappy playing but on the whole he is very impressive, making no allowances for Liszt’s demanding writing and he is admirably partnered by Clutyens and the RTF orchestra. Again, this is a live recording and there are moments where the ensemble doesn’t quite meld, notably the opening where Brailowsky catches the timpani player unawares and after the cadenza where brass and strings try to go their own way but when it’s good it’s very good and Brailowsky seems to get better as he goes along.
The excellent booklet by Ulrich Karla gives a balanced view of his career and whilst he details the highlights and triumphs he acknowledges that Brailowsky wasn’t a pianist for everyone. As an example Pierre Monteux liked him as a person and worked with him several times but did once ask if he could please have another soloist as I’m absolutely sick of his way of playing the piano and his somewhat dry technique, which is even no technique. That is quite consistent with what one hears on this CD and whilst I by no means disagree with his playing to anything like the degree that Monteux did his Chopin does suggest what some took issue with. As the Tchaikowsky and Liszt demonstrate though he could be a giant of the keyboard, fearless, bold and ferocious and that is the kind of pianist I love to hear.
On a side note I would like to know more about Brailowsky’s sister Sina. They studied together and the booklet remarks that in the eyes of both Leschetizky and Brailowsky’s parents Zena appeared to be the more gifted child. It goes on to say that Leschetizky predicted a promising career for her while offering only criticism and discouragement to Alexander. Did that career become reality? Did she record? The booklet and from what I can find, the internet is silent on the matter.
Rob Challinor
Availability: Meloclassic
Contents
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor Op.23
rec 19 September, 1951 at Konserthus, Sveriges Radio, Stockholm
Stockholms Konsertföreningens Orkester/Carl Garaguly
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor Op.11
rec. 4 April, 1962 at Auditorium Villa Louvigny, RTL, Luxembourg
Orchestre de Radio-Luxembourg/Louis de Froment
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor Op.18
rec.30 June, 1958 at Kongress-saal Deutsches Museum, Munich
Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Concerto in A minor Op.54
rec. 5 April, 1962 at Auditorium Villa Louvigny, RTL, Luxembourg
Orchestre de Radio-Luxembourg/Louis de Froment
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Totentanz S.216
rec. 16 October, 1958 at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, RTF, Paris
Orchestre National de la RTF/André Cluytens
