The Russian Piano Tradition - GRIGORY GINZBURG II

APR5672
GRIGORY GINZBURG - His Early Recordings - Volume 2
BACH/BUSONI
Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV565, recorded in Moscow c1953
WEBER
Rondo brillante in E flat major J252 ‘La gaité’, Recorded in Moscow in 1951
SCHUMANN
Paganini Études Op 3: No 2 in E major; No 4 in B flat major, recorded in Moscow c1948
Theme and variations on the name ‘Abegg’ Op 1, recorded in Moscow in 1952
CHOPIN
Impromptu No 1 in A flat major Op 29; Impromptu No 2 in F sharp major Op 36;
Impromptu No 3 in G flat major Op 51; Fantasy Impromptu in C sharp minor Op 66
recorded in Moscow c1948/9
Polonaise in B flat major Op 71 No 2, recorded in Moscow c1950
Polonaise in A flat major Op 53 ‘Heroic’, recorded in Moscow in 1950
STRAUSS–SCHULZ-EVLER
Concert Arabesques on ‘The Blue Danube’, recorded in Moscow in 1950
STRAUSS–GRÜNFELD
Frühlingsstimmen Op 410, recorded in Moscow c1948

Grigory Ginzburg (1904-1961) was perhaps the most astounding virtuoso to emerge in Soviet Russia and it is a tragedy that he was never allowed to travel to the west after the mid 1930’s. He focussed his repertoire very much on the 19th century Romantic period and, above all, in Liszt, and his prolific recordings include many of Liszt’s virtuosic opera paraphrases that had fallen into neglect. This CD is the second of two devoted to his earliest 78rpm recordings mainly dating from around 1950. These discs are extremely rare and many of the performances included will be unknown to even the most ardent collectors. Of particular interest to pianophiles will be his supremely elegant Strauss transcriptions and the Schumann arrangements of Paganini Caprices.

APR5672 Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream