A catalogue of 78rpm Piano Recordings of Classical Pianists
Welcome
Welcome to APR - or Appian Publications & Recordings Ltd. to quote our full title, though we are invariably more familiarly known simply as "APR".
Within the relatively short time since APR was founded in 1986 it has won an enviable reputation as a quality label devoted predominantly - though not exclusively - to historic piano recordings. In particular APR has won countless laurels for the high standard of its 78rpm restoration work - "Transfers of genius" to quote one critic - as well as the detail and content of its booklets - "Presentation is, as always with APR, immaculate" - to cite another accolade. These features have been recognised by the award of numerous international honours, not least an unprecedented 9 Grand Prix by the Liszt Society of Budapest in recent years.
In September 2004, following the retirement of its founder, Bryan Crimp, APR changed hands, though the aspirations of the label remain unchanged. APR is now based in London, England and is owned and run by Michael Spring who previously spent many years at Hyperion Records.
New Releases
ALFRED BRENDEL Busoni & Liszt - the 1950s SPA recordings
1CD (79'29)
FERRUCCIO BUSONI: Fantasia Contrappuntistica BV256 (35.32)
1. Preludio corale (8.27)
2. Fuga I (5.23)
3. Fuga II (2.55)
4. Fuga III (6.54)
5. Intermezzo, Variazioni I, II & III, Cadenza (6.55)
6. Fuga IV, Corale, Stretta (4.58)
7. J. S. BACH/ BUSONI: Ich ruf’ zu dir, her Jesu Christ BWV639 (3.41)
Recorded in Vienna 1953 (Society of Participating Artists SPA56)
FRANZ LISZT: Weinachtsbaum (Christmas Tree) S186 (39.57)
8. “Psallite” - Altes Weihnacthslied (2.50)
9. O heilige Nacht (4.48)
10. Die Hirten an der Krippe (In dulci jubilo) (3.18)
11. Adeste fideles (2.25)
12. Scherzoso (Man zündet die Kerzen des Baumes an) (1.58)
13. Carillon (1.50)
14. Schlummerlied (4.00)
15. Altes provenzalisches Weihnachtslied (1.23)
16. Abendglocken (4.28)
17. Ehemals (4.16)
18. Ungarisch (1.59)
19 Polnisch (6.35)
Recorded in Vienna 1952 (Society of Participating Artists SPA26)
Alfred Brendel’s least known recordings are the four LPs he made for the US label SPA Records in the early 1950s. Until now, none has been given a full commercial release in the digital era but among them is a recording which is surely one of the most important in Brendel’s discography – that of Busoni’s ‘Fantasia Contrappuntistica’, the composer's monumental response to Bach's 'Art of Fugue'. We are delighted to reissue it here with Mr Brendel’s blessing, along with his first solo LP, the complete recording of Liszt’s
‘Weihnachtsbaum’. Both these works were recorded premieres at the time and the pianist was not to return to them again in the studio, so this marks an important addition to his available discography.
The booklet contains a note by the pianist himself, written specially for this release, with his reflections on Busoni and the Fantasia Contrappunctistica.
APR5655
Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream
CÉCILE CHAMINADE and her contemporaries play Chaminade
1CD (82'37)
CÉCILE CHAMINADE
1. Air de Ballet Op 30
2. Pas des écharpes from Callirhoë Op 37
3. Courante Op 95 No 3
4. Les sylvains Op 60
5. Danse créole (2nd Havanaise) Op 94
6. Pierrette – Air de Ballet Op 41
7. La lisonjera Op 50
Recorded in London in November 1901
LILIAN BRYANT
8. Toccata Op 39
Recorded in London in 1912
UNA BOURNE
9. Valse caprice Op 33
10. Air de Ballet from Callirhoë Op 37
11. Étude romantique Op 132
12. Quatrième valse Op 91
13. Interlude Op 152
Recorded in Hayes, London in 1914–1916
WILLIAM MURDOCH
14. Danse créole (2nd Havanaise) Op 94
15. Sérénade in D major Op 29
Recorded in London in 1917
RUDOLPH GANZ
16. Pas des écharpes from Callirhoë Op 37
Recorded in New York in 1918
GERTRUDE MELLER
17. Air de Ballet Op 30
Recorded in London in 1922
MARIE NOVELLO
8. Pas des Amphores from Callirhoë Op 37
Recorded in London in 1923
MAX DAREWSKI
19. Fileuse Op 35 No 3
20. Arlequine Op 53
Recorded in Hayes, London, in 1923 & 1924
MAURICE COLE
21. Scherzo in C major Op 35 No 1
Recorded in London in 1925
UNA BOURNE
22. Aubade Op 140
23. Valse-Arabesque Op 98 No 4
24. Nocturne Op 165
25. Berceuse arabe Op 166
Recorded in Hayes, London, in 1925 & 1926
HANS BARTH
26. La lisonjera Op 50
Recorded in Camden, New Jersey, USA, in 1926
MARK HAMBOURG
27. Automne Op 35 No 2
Recorded in Small Queen’s Hall, London, in 1930
SHURA CHERKASSKY
28. Autrefois Op 87 No 4
Recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London in 1950
The recent ‘discovery’ of the music of Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) belies the fact that in the early years of the 20th century she was immensely popular, touring both Europe and the US as a pianist, exclusively in her own music. Changing fashions brought an abrupt end to this fame, but in the first thirty years of the recording industry, up to 1930, over 80 discs of her piano music alone were released. Her own discs from 1901, presented complete here, are some of the earliest by a classical pianist. Many of her most popular pieces were recorded multiple times, but this set presents chronologically at least one version of every work recorded on 78s and introduces as many different pianists as practical.
APR5647
Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to StreamTHE EARLIEST FRENCH PIANO RECORDINGS
3CDs
COMPACT DISC 1 (77’59)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—26 June 1904
1. SAINT-SAËNS Africa: Fantasie for piano and orchestra Op 89† (2.53)
2. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.33)
3. SAINT-SAËNS Valse nonchalante Op 110 (3.16)
4. SAINT-SAËNS Andante sostenuto Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 22† (3.58)
5. SAINT-SAËNS Rapsodie d’Auvergne for piano and orchestra Op 73† (1.55)
†abbreviated as piano solo
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—24 November 1919
6. SAINT-SAËNS Rêverie du Soir (à Blidah) Suite Algérienne, Op 60/3 (3.47)
7. SAINT-SAËNS Marche Militaire Française Suite Algérienne, Op 60/4 (3.42)
8. SAINT-SAËNS Première Mazurka Op 21 (3.03)
9. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.30)
10. SAINT-SAËNS Prélude from Le Déluge Op 45 (arr. for violin & piano) (3.36)
with GABRIEL WILLAUME (1873–1946) violin
11. SAINT-SAËNS Élégie Op 143 with GABRIEL WILLAUME (4.34)
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—26 November 1920
12. SAINT-SAËNS Havanaise Op 83 with GABRIEL WILLAUME (8.12)
Louis Diémer (1843–1919)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—1904
13. DIÉMER Grande Valse de Concert Op 37 (2.35)
14. DIÉMER Le Chant du Nautonier Op 12 (3.18)
15. GODARD Valse No 5 (Valse chromatique) Op 88 (3.10)
16. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.46)
17. CHOPIN Nocturne in D flat major Op 27 No 2 (3.43)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—1906
18.DIÉMER Le Chant du Nautonier Op 12 (3.08)
19.DIÉMER Grande Valse de Concert Op 37 (2.48)
Vincent d’Indy (1851–1931)
HMV, Hayes: acoustic recordings—7 June 1923
D’INDY Tableaux de voyage Op 33
20. No 4: Lac vert (3.01)
21. No 8: Halte, au soir (1.56)
22. No 6: La poste (1.00)
23. No 9: Départ matinal (3.28)
24. D’INDY Poème des Montagnes, Op 15: No 2 Danses rythmiques (3.49)
COMPACT DISC 2 (80’29)
Raoul Pugno (1852–1914)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—April 1903
1.HANDEL Gavotte & Variations from Suite in G major, HWV441 (2.45)
2.D SCARLATTI Sonata in A major K24 (L495) (2.07)
3.PUGNO Impromptu-valse (2.45)
4.CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 34 No 1 (2.50)
5.LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 S244/11 (4.17)
6.WEBER Rondo brillante in E flat major Op 62 (2.40)
7.MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Hunting Song’ Op 19b No 3 (1.54)
8.PUGNO Sérénade à la lune (2.35)
Gramophone & Typewriter Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—November 1903
9.CHOPIN Nocturne in F sharp major Op 15 No 2 (3.36)
10.MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.32)
11.MASSENET Valse folle (dedicated to Pugno) (3.01)
12.CHABRIER Scherzo-valse No 10 from Pièces pittoresques (3.36)
13.PUGNO Valse lent No 1 from Trois Airs de Ballet (3.22)
14. CHOPIN Impromptu No 1 in A flat major Op 29 (3.17)
15. CHOPIN Berceuse in D flat major Op 57 (3.39)
16. CHOPIN Marche funèbre from Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Op 35 (4.09)
17. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (2.09)
Aimée-Marie Roger-Miclos (1860–1951)
Fonotipia recordings, Paris: acoustic recordings—September 1905
18. GODARD Mazurka No 4 from Suite de danses anciennes et modernes, Op 103 (2.54)
19. CHOPIN Waltz in D flat major ‘Minute’ Op 64 No 1 (1.59)
20. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (1.56)
21. MENDELSSOHN Rondo capriccioso Op 14 (abridged) (3.41)
22. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 13 S244/13 (vivace only) (1.59)
23. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 S244/11 (andante sostenuto to the end) (2.28)
Fonotipia recordings, Milan: acoustic recordings—15 November 1906
24. CHOPIN Nocturne in F sharp major Op 15 No 2 (3.35)
25. CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2 (3.17)
26. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (2.33)
27. SCHUMANN Traumes Wirren No 7 from Fantasiestücke, Op 12 (2.36)
Gaston Régis (1879–1935)
Gramophone Company, Algiers: acoustic recordings—21 July 1921
28. CHOPIN Tarantelle in A flat major Op 43 (2.57)
COMPACT DISC 3 (80’44)
1. SAINT-SAËNS Menuet No 2 from Suite pour le piano, Op 90 (3.45)
2. SAINT-SAËNS Gavotte No 3 from Suite pour le piano, Op 90 (2.13)
3. SAINT-SAËNS Valse mignonne Op 104 (2.29)
Francis Planté (1839–1934)
French Columbia, Saint-Avit, Mont-de-Marsan: electrical recordings—4 July 1928
4. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Hunting Song’ Op 19b No 3 (2.33)
5. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spring Song’ Op 62 No 6 (2.45)
6. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spinning Song’ Op 67 No 4 (2.01)
7. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Serenade’ Op 67 No 6 (2.04)
8. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo in E minor Op 16 No 2 (3.02)
9. CHOPIN Étude in C sharp minor Op 10 No 4 (2.27)
10. CHOPIN Étude in G flat major ‘Black Keys’ Op 10 No 5 (1.57)
11. CHOPIN Étude in C major Op 10 No 7 (2.02)
12. CHOPIN Étude in A flat major ‘Aeolian Harp’ Op 25 No 1 (2.29)
13. CHOPIN Étude in F minor Op 25 No 2 (1.44)
14. CHOPIN Étude in G flat major ‘Butterfly’ Op 25 No 9 (1.16)
15. CHOPIN Étude in A minor ‘Winter Wind’ Op 25 No 11 (4.06)
16. SCHUMANN Romance in F sharp major Op 28 No 2 (2.21)
17. SCHUMANN Romance in D minor Op 32 No 3 (3.00)
18. SCHUMANN/DEBUSSY À la Fontaine (Am Springbrunnen) Op 85 No 9 (2.58)
19. BERLIOZ/REDON Sérénade de Méphistophélès Damnation of Faust (2.28)
20. BOCCHERINI/PLANTÉ Célèbre Menuet de Boccherini Quintet, Op 13/5 (2.15)
21. GLUCK/PLANTÉ Gavotte from Iphigénie en Aulide (2.49)
Lucien Wurmser (1877–1967)
Gramophone Company, Paris: acoustic recordings—April & May 1911
22. MOZART Pastorale variée K Anh. 209b (probably spurious) (3.59)
23. CHOPIN Mazurka in B minor Op 33 No 4 (4.22)
24. CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 69 No 1 (4.17)
25. CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2 (3.05)
26. WURMSER Petit aubade (2.48)
27. WURMSER Impromptu (2.39)
28. SCHUBERT/FISCHOF Rosamunde, Ballet Music D797/9 (2.35)
29. SCHUBERT/TAUSIG Marche Militaire in D flat major D733/1 (3.53)
This latest issue in APR’s ongoing French Piano School series is perhaps the most important yet.
The set brings together some of the earliest and rarest piano recordings ever made, not just in France, but worldwide, and includes the complete solo recordings of all the pianists featured except Wurmser. Many are reissued for the first time.
The French office of the Gramophone Company was a pioneer in bringing serious artists into the studio and the results are a legacy of the utmost historical importance. So too are the early Fonotipia recordings of the only Herz pupil to record, Roger-Miclos, and the later Columbia electric recordings of Planté, made in his 90th year. With Saint-Saëns, Diémer and Planté we can hear pianists who were born in the first half of the 19th century – a unique window into the past.
The latest digital technology has been applied throughout and, amongst other improvements, we are now able to hear Pugno’s wonderful recordings, hitherto flawed by a notorious vibrato caused by the unstable recording turntable used in 1903, with their pitch stabilized.
APR7318
Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to StreamOLGA SAMAROFF & FRANK LA FORGE Complete solo recordings
2CDs
COMPACT DISC 1 (69.17)
OLGA SAMAROFF Victor Company, USA: acoustic recordings, 1921–1924
1. BEETHOVEN/RUBINSTEIN Turkish March from ‘Ruins of Athens’
2. CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major Op 9/2
3. CHOPIN Ballade No 3 in A flat major Op 47
4. CHOPIN Finale: Presto non tanto from Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor, Op 58
5. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words ‘Spring Song’ Op 62/6
6. SCHUMANN Aufschwung from Fantasiestücke, Op 12
7. SCHUMANN Romance in F sharp major Op 28/2
8. BRAHMS Intermezzo in E flat major Op 117/1
9. PAGANINI/LISZT La Campanella S141/3
10. LISZT Liebesträume No 3 S541/3
11. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody in C sharp minor S244/12
12. WAGNER/ERNEST HUTCHESON Ride of the Valkyries
13. GRIEG Nocturne Op 54/4
14. MOSZKOWSKI Étincelles Op 36/6
15. DEBUSSY Clair de lune, Suite bergamasque, No 3
16. JUON Najaden im Quell Op 18/1
COMPACT DISC 2 (78.54)
OLGA SAMAROFF Victor Company, USA: electric recordings, 1930
1. J S BACH/SAMAROFF Fugue in G minor BWV578
2. DEBUSSY La cathédrale engloutie, Préludes Book 1, No 10
3. GRIFFES The White Peacock Op 7/1
4. ERNESTO LECUONA Malagueña from Andalucía
FRANK LA FORGE Victor Company, USA: acoustic recordings, 1907-1913; electrical recordings 1925 (tracks 21 & 22)
5. MACDOWELL Étude de concert in F minor Op 36
6. BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No 5 ‘Emperor’ Op 73; II. Adagio un poco moto
Victor Orchestra, conductor unknown
7. CHOPIN Nocturne in D flat major Op 27/2
8. Berceuse in D flat major Op 57
9. GRIEG Butterfly Op 43/1
10. Piano Concerto in A minor Op 16; II. Adagio (slightly abridged)
Victor Orchestra, Walter Rogers conductor
11. LISZT Liebesträume No 3 S541/3
12. LISZT Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes S123 (vivace only)
Victor Orchestra, conductor unknown
13. GOTTSCHALK Pasquinade ‘Caprice’ Op 59 RO189
14. CHAMINADE La Lisonjera Op 50
15. CHAMINADE Les Sylvains Op 60
16. CHAMINADE Pas des Écharpes
17. CHAMINADE Danse créole Op 94
18. CALIXA LAVALLÉE Le Papillon ‘Étude de Concert’ Op 18
19. LA FORGE Gavotte
20. LA FORGE Souvenir de Vienne
21. LA FORGE Romance
22. LA FORGE Valse de concert
OLGA SAMAROFF (1880–1948) and FRANK LA FORGE (1879–1953) were amongst the earliest pianists to record for the US Victor label, both making most of their discs in the acoustic era before 1925. Though American, both went to Europe to study – Samaroff to the Paris Conservatoire and La Forge to Leschetizky in Vienna.
Samaroff was the greater virtuoso, as can be heard in her famous recording of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, but after a fall, in 1926 she retired to an equally successful teaching career at the Juilliard School, her pupils including William Kapell, Raymond Lewenthal and Rosalyn Tureck amongst many others.
La Forge gravitated towards accompanying and went on to record hundreds of discs for Victor in that capacity. His discs as soloist include some of the earliest attempts to record concerted works.
APR6044
Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream