GUIOMAR NOVAES PLAYS CONCERTI

Here Guiomar Novaes plays concerti by a number of different composers.  Both of Chopin's piano concerti, the Schumann and Grieg concerti and Manuel de Falla's wonderful Nights in the Gardens of Spain are offered in complete recordings, beautifully conceived and played.  Regrettably, conductor George Szell felt the need to "improve" on Chopin's original orchestration, and the delicacy of the accompaniment, so often and so incorrectly thought to be flawed due to the composer's inability to orchestrate but more often due to the inability of the conductor to understand Chopin's intent, is blurred.  We are lucky to have a second performance of this concerto, also beautfully played by Guiomar Novaes, though I'm afraid the slower pace taken by Klemperer is a tad less satisfying.

But to begin with, Guiomar Novaes plays concerti by Beethoven.  There are several recordings of the master's 4th concerto, and one of the 5th conducted by the great and unsung Jonel Perlea.  This herculean concerto is played with such expressive delicacy and is something to behold.   Just listen to the last runs of the piano before the end of the first movement.  The shaping is extraordinary.  By this point most pianists are racing for the barn, desperately hoping to just to get there. Viva Novaes!

Beethoven  Piano Concerto 4 in G major, Op 58
i Allegro moderato
16:30 ➢ ii Andante con moto
21:18 ➢ iii Rondo (Vivace)
George Szell conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

recorded live in 1952