bachauer and brahms

The Greek pianist Gina Bachauer (1913-76) seems to have recorded the Brahms Second Piano Concerto twice in the 1960s, both times with the London Symphony Orchestra.  The first of these recordings, with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, was issued on the Mercury label in 1962, in its "Living Presence" series.  Five years later, the conductor was Antal Dorati (who also recorded a lot for Mercury), and it is the Dorati recording that I picked up (for $3.00!!) on a Chesky CD at my local independent record store, Horizon Records, in Greenville, SC.   Chesky Records has, since 1978, undertaken high-definition recording by complicated processes that I don't understand, like "dummy head recording," but it has also produced a limited number of reissues of older recordings in improved sound. Whether these improvements amount to "remastering," I don't know, and I haven't done comparisons with the original recordings, but these improved issues have been well received.  In particular, it seems to be agreed that Earl Wild's recordings of the Rachmaninov Piano Concertos and Rene Leibowitz's Beethoven Symphony set have been benefited by the Chesky treatment.  Like Wild's Rachmaninov and Leibowitz's Beethoven, Bachauer's 1967 Brahms Second was recorded originally for the Reader's Digest Association as a special issue.

 In its Chesky manifestation on CD, it's a very attractive recording. Both the orchestral sound and the piano sound are very present, to a degree that doesn't realistically approximate a concert-hall experience, but since no recording really does that anyway, it doesn't bother me. The main thing is that the orchestral textures and the piano quality are both very vividly realized. Dorati conducts with great energy, and Bachauer's playing is robust to match. I don't know if there is such a thing, among women pianists, as a "feminine" touch, but there's nothing delicate or retiring about Bachauer's playing here. Like Martha Argerich's playing, it's vigorous and engaging, and since Argerich never recorded the Brahms concertos, maybe Bachauer's recording can be a kind of compensation for that gap in the catalogue. I have more recordings of the Brahms Second than I need, but at the prices of used CDs today, it's hard to resist. As a "filler" on this recording, Strauss's music for the Dance of the Seven Veils, from Salome is given a colorful performance, again with great presence and energy. This was recorded in 1962, five years before the Brahms but with the same recording team.

 Another reason that I'm glad to have this is that it's my only Bachauer recording. She doesn't seem to have recorded nearly as much as Serkin, Ashkenazy, Arrau and other giants of her time, but her recording of the Brahms, at least, is as engaging as any of theirs. In 1981, the Greek government issued a postage stamp in her honor, and I have used it as the image for this post.