Search - Claude Debussy, Fryderyk Chopin, Johannes Brahms :: Moiseiwitsch: The Complete Acoustic Recordings

Unlike those of his contemporaries, the performances of Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) rarely, if ever, sound dated. Pearl's two-disc release of the pianist's complete acoustic recordings, made between 1916 and 1925, shows that he shared with the greatest pianists of his era a singing tone, plasticity of line, colorful palette, and, yes, even an occasional tendency to make "improvements" in the composer's text. But Moiseiwitsch's rich sense of fantasy, his discovery of inner lines, and his subtle phrasing always yield insights into the music he played. In Chopin's F-sharp Impromptu, his mastery of glints and shading makes other pianists sound stiff. The rippling scale passages and elaborate ornamentation of the same composer's "Berceuse" have never been more elegant or hypnotic. And his performances of Ravel's "Jeux d'eau" and Debussy's "Jardins dans la pluie," with their rapid tempos and incisive accentuations, are far removed from the ethereal, perfumed approach as common in our age as in his. These 80-year-old recordings demonstrate that Moiseiwitsch's performances sound as fresh and beautiful as ever. --Stephen Wigler