WALTER GIESEKING The Complete Homocord Recordings and other Rarities

APR6013

2CDs

COMPACT DISC 1 (80.01) Homocord Recordings 1923 - 1927
1-4 BACH Partita No 1 BWV825 (abridged) (4.53)
5 SCHUBERT Impromptu Op 142/3 (7.17)
6 CHOPIN Nocturne Op 9/3 (4.44)
7 CHOPIN Nocturne Op 15/2 (3.08)
8-9 CHOPIN Etudes Op 25/1 & 2 (3.49)
10 CHOPIN Polonaise Op 53 (5.41)
11 LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 in C sharp minor S244/12 (7.44)
12 BRAHMS Rhapsody in G minor Op 79/2 (3.32)
13 GRIEG Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Op 65/6 (4.49)
14 GRIEG To the Spring Op 43/6 (2.27)
15 GRIEG Butterfly Op 43/1 (1.28)
16-17 DEBUSSY Deux arabesques (5.47) (1923)
18 DEBUSSY Refects dans l’eau (3.57)
19 DEBUSSY Golliwog’s Cakewalk (2.29)
20 DEBUSSY Minstrels (2.29) (1923-5)
21 RAVEL Jeux d’eau (3.56) (1923)
22-24 POULENC Mouvements perpétuels (3.54)
25-26 DEBUSSY Deux arabesques (6.16) (1927)

COMPACT DISC 2 (79.18) Homocord, Brunswick & Columbia Recordings 1925 - 1956
1 GRIEG Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Op 65/6 (4.33) Homocord 1927
2 GRIEG To the Spring Op 43/6 (2.22) Homocord 1927
3 GRIEG Butterfly Op 43/1 (1.23) (1927) Homocord 1927
4 STRAUSS/GIESEKING Ständchen Op 17/2 (2.38) Homocord 1927
5 STRAUSS/GIESEKING Freundliche Vision Op 48/1 (2.50) Homocord 1927
6-7 BACH Prelude & Fugue in C sharp major WTC book 1 BWV848 (3.09) Homocord 1925 unissued
8 SCARLATTI Sonata in D minor Kk9 (2.11) Homocord 1925 unissued
9 SCARLATTI Sonata in E major Kk380 (2.33) Homocord 1925 unissued
10 NIEMANN The Silver Cascade Op 92/6 (4.17) Brunswick 1928
11 DEBUSSY La plus que lent (3.37) Brunswick 1928
12-19 GIESEKING Variations on a theme by Grieg for Flute and Piano (with L. Callimahos)(17.21) US Columbia 1937 unissued
20-22 GIESEKING Sonatine for flute and piano (with G. Scheck)(13.06) German Columbia 1937
23-24 ROUSSEL Aria (1.56); M de la Péjaudie (6.56) (both with G Scheck - flute) German Columbia 1937
25-27 MOZART Sonata in D major K576 (13.20) German Columbia ca.1940-42 unissued
28 TANSMAN Blues (2.18) English Columbia 1956 unissued

Walter Gieseking is known as one of the greatest 20th-century pianists, and his playing of Debussy and Ravel in particular is often regarded as definitive. For most of his recording career he recorded for Columbia, and many of these recordings have been frequently reissued, but his earliest recordings were made in the 1920s for the German label Homocord and these are hardly known. This set brings together all of them in their first complete CD transfer, and sheds new light on Gieseking's playing. We hear him in composers such as Chopin and Liszt who he did not feature much in his later years, as well as his earliest takes on the repertoire for which he was to become best known.
The set is completed with other rarities: his single Brunswick disc and various previously unissued recordings from a variety of labels. Of particular interest are two major works for flute and piano where we find Gieseking in his much less well known role of composer.

APR6013 Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream