Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven :: Serkin: The Legendary Concerto Recordings, 1950-1956

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Mr. Philippe Weber | Paris, France | 03/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To be frank, I have never heard this CD-set (yet).
But I heard and enjoyed immensely the separate LP records some years ago. Rudolf Serkin was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, and was especially brilliant in... Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven (and Schubert). And this particular interpretation of Strauss's Burleske is great fun!Please, Sony Classical, more Serkin masterworks! (Beethoven's Diabelli? Brahms's Haendel variations?)"

Serkin at his most propulsive and exciting

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rudolf Serkin was between 47 and 53 when these mono recordings were made, a prime period for a pianist's technique and interpretation. In the later stereo era, when I first became aware of him, his attack was considerably less fierce and the technique not quite so secure. But in 1950, when he recorded this Beethoven Emperor concerto, through 1956, when he recorded the Brahms Second and the Schumann A minor, Serkin was a riveting, propulsive pianist, not at all the "legend," a term that implies a certain ossification.



In fact, I blinked twice at the Brahms, whose first movement brings out impetuous, even curt and acerbic phrasing rarely heard in this work. Serkin's headlong performance is miles away from the stodgy, respectable Gilels with Jochum on DG--and all the better for that. Judging by the lack of response her at Amazon, no one seems to be paying much attention to this great 3-CD set sold at bargain price. Sony offers quite decent, totally clean mono sonics (but no remastering, so far as the documentation shows), and every reading displays Serkin at his best, particularly a scintillating Struass Burlske that out-Richters Richter in its dazzling exuberance.



I'm only sorry that I arrived late, having heard pirates of Serkin in ocncert from this period. Those are riveting, too, but in much worse sound. Ormandy proves himself an able accompanist and cannot be accused of dragging his feet. The other conductors, Alexander Schneider from the Budapest Qt. and George Szell, are to be heard in the two Mozart concertos only.

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