Edition Friedrich Gulda (The Early RIAS Recordings, Berlin 1950 - 1959) Friedrich Gulda

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14,2:
• 1 Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14,2: I. Allegro 05:45
• 2 Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14,2: II. Andante 05:12
• 3 Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14,2: III. Scherzo. Allegro Assai 03:10
• Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109 No. 30:
• 4 Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109 No. 30: I. Vivace, ma non Troppo / Adagio Espressivo 03:46
• 5 Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109 No. 30: II. Prestissimo 02:49
• 6 Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109 No. 30: III. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed Espressivo 12:47
• Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-Flat Major, Eroica Variations, Op. 35:
• 7 Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-Flat Major, Eroica Variations, Op. 35: Introduzione col Basso del Tema. Allegro Vivace 03:10
• 8 Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-Flat Major, Eroica Variations, Op. 35: Var. 1 - Var. 15 14:10
• 9 Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-Flat Major, Eroica Variations, Op. 35: Finale. Alla Fuga. Allegro con Brio. 04:50
• 32 Variations in C Minor, WoO 80:
• 10 32 Variations in C Minor, WoO 80 09:41
• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Suite: Pour Le Piano:
• 11 Suite: Pour Le Piano: I. Prélude. Assez animé et très Rythmé 04:02
• 12 Suite: Pour Le Piano: II. Sarabande. Avec une élégance grave et Lente 04:08
• 13 Suite: Pour Le Piano: III. Toccata. Vif 03:35
• Estampes:
• 14 Estampes: II. La soirée dans Grenada. Mouvement de Habanera 04:22
• Images (2ème Livre):
• 15 Images (2ème Livre): III. Poissons d'or. Animé 03:22
• Preludes (1er Livre):
• 16 Preludes (1er Livre): VI. Des pas sur la neige. Triste et Lent. 02:51
• 17 Preludes (1er Livre): IX. La sérénade interrompue. Modérément animé - Quasi Guitarra. 02:19
• Suite Bergamasque:
• 18 Suite Bergamasque: I. Prélude. Moderato 03:32
• 19 Suite Bergamasque: II. Menuet. Andantino 04:02
• 20 Suite Bergamasque: III. Clair de Lune. Andante très Expressif 04:42
• 21 Suite Bergamasque: IV. Passepied. Allegretto ma non Troppo 03:05
• Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937): Gaspard de la Nuit:
• 22 Gaspard de la Nuit: I. Ondine. Lent 05:33
• 23 Gaspard de la Nuit: II. Le Gibet. Très Lent 04:43
• 24 Gaspard de la Nuit: III. Scarbo. Modéré 08:30
• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): 24 Préludes, Op. 28:
• 25 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 1 in C Major. Agitato 00:45
• 26 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 2 in A Minor. Lento 02:13
• 27 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 3 in G Major. Vivace 01:03
• 28 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 4 in E Minor. Largo 01:54
• 29 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 5 in D Major. Allegro Molto 00:35
• 30 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 6 in B Minor. Lento Assai 01:45
• 31 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 7 in A Major. Andantino 00:46
• 32 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor. Molto Agitato 01:50
• 33 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 9 in E Major. Largo 01:26
• 34 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor. Allegro Molto 00:31
• 35 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 11 in B Major. Vivace 00:36
• 36 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor. Presto 01:10
• 37 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 13 in F-Sharp Major. Lento 04:00
• 38 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 14 in E-Flat Minor. Allegro 00:31
• 39 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 15 in D-Flat Major "Raindrop". Sostenuto 05:11
• 40 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 16 in B-Flat Minor. Presto con Fuoco 01:04
• 41 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 17 in A-Flat Major. Allegretto 02:46
• 42 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 18 in F Minor. Allegro Molto 00:55
• 43 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 19 in E-Flat Major. Vivace 01:13
• 44 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 20 in C Minor. Largo 01:45
• 45 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 21 in B-Flat Major. Cantabile 01:32
• 46 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 22 in G Minor. Molto Agitato 00:44
• 47 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 23 in F Major. Moderato 00:54
• 48 24 Préludes, Op. 28: Prélude No. 24 in D Minor. Allegro Appassionato 02:25
• Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48 No. 1:
• 49 Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48 No. 1 05:56
• Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60:
• 50 Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60 09:04
• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83:
• 51 Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: I. Allegro inquieto - Andantino 08:10
• 52 Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: II. Andante Caloroso 06:03
• 53 Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: III. Precipitato 03:08
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) & Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 - 1837): Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K. 491:
• 54 Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K. 491: I. Allegro (Cadenza by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) (Cadenza by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) 13:33
• 55 Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K. 491: II. Larghetto (Eingang by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) (Eingang by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) 07:31
• 56 Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K. 491: III. Allegretto (Eingang by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) (Eingang by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) 08:27
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101:
• 57 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101: I. Etwas lebhaft und mit der innigsten Empfindung. Allegretto ma non Troppo 04:00
• 58 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101: II. Lebhaft, marschmäßig. Vivace alla Marcia 06:04
• 59 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101: III. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. Adagio ma non troppo con Affetto 02:37
• 60 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101: IV. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit. Allegro 07:26
• Total Runtime 04:03:39

Info for Edition Friedrich Gulda (The Early RIAS Recordings, Berlin 1950 - 1959)

Friedrich Gulda’s hitherto unreleased recordings for the RIAS Berlin, made between 1950 and 1959, reveal the pianist as a “complete musician” whose interpretations of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and Prokofiev are on the highest pianistic level and display an unmistakable pathos of objectivity.

The public image of Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) is divided: for some, he is one of the most important Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century, whereas others perceive him as an enfant terrible whose battle against the cultural establishment and the constraints of the music business, which limited his multifaceted artistic interests and talents, became legendary. As ever, such generalisations are both true and false.

This compilation of hitherto unreleased recordings made by Gulda for the RIAS Berlin between 1950 and 1959 enables us to experience the pianist and musician Gulda in a more differentiated and unprejudiced manner. For even here, the “complete musician” – as Gulda saw himself throughout his career – comes into view. The spectrum of recordings which, given the almost frightening concert and recording activities Gulda tackled during this decade, only represents the tip of the iceberg, speaks for itself: it stretches from Mozart to Prokofiev and shows Gulda to be a universal artist who, from the beginning, sought to combine the highest possible degree of objectivity and authenticity with the greatest intensity of music-making. Gulda’s musical and pianistic foundations had been laid in Vienna by his teacher Bruno Seidlhofer, who had formed nearly all the important pianists of the “Viennese School”; the quality of Gulda’s training was confirmed by his being awarded the first prize at the Geneva Piano Competition in 1946 which Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli had won before him. Gulda looked for role models who displayed a spontaneous and at the same time controlled intensity in their playing, and he found them in American Jazz, whose inexorable rise in post-war Europe was to fascinate him throughout his career. Thus, an inimitable synthesis of a “pathos of objectivity” came into being, which can be heard in these recordings.

This is true not only of the early Mozart and Beethoven recordings, made in 1950, which demonstrate Gulda’s phenomenal analytical understanding of compositional structures and his unerring sense of rhythm and touch. His Chopin and Ravel recordings are sensational: on the highest pianistic level, Chopin’s Prélude op. 28 and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit are presented in a rare, incisive manner on both a musical and dramatic level. With his interpretation of two important early works by Debussy, the Suite pour le Piano and the Suite bergamasque, as well as a selection of the Préludes, Gulda also proves to be one of the few non-French pianists who found a decidedly modern and yet authentic access to these masterworks. The programme closes with single pieces by Chopin (Nocturne in C minor, op. 48 No. 1 and Berceuse op. 60), demonstrating Gulda’s intensive exploration of romantic works, as well as a spectacular recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 op. 83, made in 1950. Prokofiev’s music, whose wildness in the end proved incompatible with Gulda, did not remain in his repertoire for long; he did, however, pass on important impulses to his most famous pupil, Martha Argerich.

RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester
Igor Markevitch, Dirigent

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