CD1 Recital from Locarno (Switzerland)

1 Brahms - Intermezzo Op. 118/6
2 Rhapsody Op. 79/2

Chopin
3 Ballade No. 3 op. 47
4 Mazurka C op.24/2		play
5 Mazurka b op.24/4
6 Etiude E Major Op.10 no.3
7 Mazurka op.68/4
8 Valse op. 70/1			play

Locarno, 13.03.1963

CD2
Johannes Brahms
1 Piano concerto d-minor op.15 – Maestoso
2 Piano concerto d-minor op.15 – Adagio
3 Piano concerto d-minor op.15 – Rondo. Allegro non troppo

Witold Malcuzynski - piano
Warsaw National Symhony Orchestra
Stanislaw Wislocki - conductor
Recorded 26, 29, 30.11 and 1.12.1960.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year. Brahms worked on the composition for some years, as was the case with many of his works. After a prolonged gestation period, it was first performed on January 22, 1859, in Hanover, Germany, when Brahms was just 25 years old. Five days later, at Leipzig, an unenthusiastic audience hissed at the concerto, while critics savaged it, labelling it "perfectly unorthodox, banal and horrid". In a letter to his close personal friend, the renowned violinist Joseph Joachim, Brahms stated, "I am only experimenting and feeling my way", adding sadly, "all the same, the hissing was rather too much."

Brahms originally conceived the work as his first major work for orchestra, what would have been his first symphony. After that proved unsatisfactory, he began molding it into a sonata for two pianos. He sought much advice from his friend Julius Otto Grimm. However, he also found that unsatisfactory. Brahms ultimately decided that he had not sufficiently mastered the nuances of orchestral color to sustain a symphony, and instead relied on his skills as a pianist and composer for the piano to complete the work as a concerto. Brahms only retained the original material from the work's first movement; the remaining movements were discarded and two new ones were composed, yielding a work in the more usual three-movement concerto structure.

Although a work of Brahms' youth, this concerto is a mature work that points forward to his later concertos and his First Symphony. Most notable are its scale and grandeur, as well as the thrilling technical difficulties it presents. As time passed, the work grew in popularity until it was recognized as a masterpiece.

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A1 	No. 1 In E Flat Major, Op. 18 	
A2 	No. 2 In A Flat Major, Op. 34 No. 1 	
A3 	No. 3 In A Minor, Op. 34 No. 2 	
A4 	No. 4 In F Major, Op. 34 No. 3 	
A5 	No. 5 In A Flat Major, Op. 42 	
A6 	No. 6 In D Flat Major, Op. 64 No. 1 	
A7 	No. 7 In C Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2 	
B1 	No. 8 In A Flat Major, Op. 64 No. 3 	
B2 	No. 9 In A Flat Major, Op. 69 No. 1 	
B3 	No. 10 In B Minor, Op. 69 No. 2 	
B4 	No. 11 In G Flat Major, Op. 70 No. 1 	
B5 	No. 12 In F Minor, Op. 70 No. 2 	
B6 	No. 13 In D Flat Major, Op. 70 No. 3 	
B7 	No. 14 In E Minor (Posthumous)

Witold Malcuzynski – piano

I have this vinyl - I have converted mine to CD, but my conversion software doesn't enable to remove the "noise floor" of the vinyl.

This guy is the best I've heard playing the Waltzes (unfortunately not Chopin's complete Waltzes, as that would probably take a 4-record set.)

Malcuzynski was a pupil of the great Ignace Paderewski (concert pianist & Prime Minister of Poland between the Wars - whom my father saw perform in Melbourne Town Hall in 1920.)

I have Vladimir Ashkenazy playing the complete Chopin Waltzes on CD, BUT his performances just don't measure up to Malcuzynski's, which are so more relaxed, 'chilled-out', but with so much warmth & passion, and perfect head-spinning rubarto. Highly recommended. --- Mr. Carl G. Tuckwell, amazon.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

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1 Johann Sebastian Bach/Ferrucio Busoni
Chaconne from Partita No.2 in D minor
2 Johannes Brahms
Variations and Fugue on a theme by Handel op.24
3 Johannes Brahms
Rhapsody in G minor op.79 No.2
4 Cesar Franck
Prelude, Choral and Fugue

Recorded: 1970 (1-2), 1971 (3-4)

Witold Małcużyński – piano

The great Polish pianist Witold Malcuzynski (1914-1977) was one of the most outstanding musicians of his time. He At the pianounderstood the romantic piano like few and gave us the gift of the truest and probably most passionate interpretations ever to exist. This is a tribute to the artist who once amazed the world with a style and a conception that should not remain unknown to music lovers nowadays.

Pianista, urodzony 10 sierpnia 1914 w Koziczynie (Wileńszczyzna), zmarł 17 lipca 1977 w Palma de Mallorca. Studiował grę na fortepianie pod kierunkiem Jerzego Lefelda (1929-32) i Józefa Turczyńskiego (1932-36), a przedmioty teoretyczne u Piotra Rytla i Kazimierza Sikorskiego w Konserwatorium Warszawskim, które ukończył dyplomem z odznaczeniem. W latach 1932-34 odbył równocześnie studia z zakresu prawa i filozofii na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim. W 1936 zajął V miejsce na Międzynarodowym Konkursie Pianistycznym w Wiedniu. Na przełomie 1936 i 1937 pracował pod kierunkiem Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego w willi w Riond Booson, przygotowując program na Konkurs Chopinowski. W 1937 zdobył III nagrodę na 3. Międzynarodowym Konkursie Pianistycznym im. Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie. Swoje umiejętności pianistyczne doskonalił w latach 1937-38 u Marguerite Long i Isidore'a Philippa w Paryżu. Od 1945 koncertował niemal na całym świecie. W 1949 odbył światowe tournée z programem chopinowskim z okazji 100. rocznicy śmierci Fryderyka Chopina, które zainaugurował recitalem w Carnegie Hall, a zakończył 17 października w paryskiej sali Palais Chaillot. W 1958, po raz pierwszy po wojnie, zagrał w Polsce (Warszawa, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań). W 1960 odbył również światowe tournée w 150. rocznicę urodzin Chopina, dając prawie 150 koncertów.

Repertuar Witolda Małcużyńskiego obejmował przede wszystkim utwory Fryderyka Chopina, ale także Ferenca Liszta, Johannesa Brahmsa, Karola Szymanowskiego, Aleksandra Skriabina, Claude'a Debussy’ego, Béli Bartóka i Sergiusza Prokofiewa. Był niezrównanym interpretatorem "Koncertu fortepianowego A-dur" Liszta, "Koncertu fortepianowego b-moll" Piotra Czajkowskiego, "Koncertu fortepianowego d-moll" Sergiusza Rachmaninowa, "Koncertu fortepianowego d-moll" Brahmsa.

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