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

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MISCHA LEVITZKI The complete HMV recordings

2CDs

COMPACT DISC 1 (78.58)
1-3. CHOPIN Préludes Op 28 Nos 1, 7 & 23
4. Waltz in G flat major Op 70 No 1
5. Waltz in A flat major Op 64 No 3
6. Ballade No 3 in A flat major Op 47
7. Nocturne in C minor Op 48 No 1
8. Nocturne in F sharp major Op 15 No 2
9. Scherzo No 3 in C sharp minor Op 39
10. Polonaise in A flat major Op 53
11. D SCARLATTI Sonata in A major Kk113
12. GLUCK/BRAHMS Gavotte from Iphigénie en Aulide
13. BEETHOVEN/D’ALBERT Ecossaises WoO 83
14. SCHUBERT/TAUSIG Marche militaire D733/1
15. RUBINSTEIN Étude in C major Op 23 No 2 ‘Staccato Étude’
16. MENDELSSOHN Rondo capriccioso Op 14
17-20. SCHUMANN Piano Sonata No 2 in G minor Op 22

COMPACT DISC 2 (74.45)
1-4. LISZT Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major S124
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / LANDON RONALD
5. J S BACH/LISZT Prelude & Fugue in A minor, S462/1
6. LISZT Étude de concert in D flat major ‘Un sospiro’ S144/3
7 & 8. PAGANINI/LISZT La campanella: Grandes Études de Paganini, S141/3 (two versions)
9. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 6 in D flat major S244/6
10. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 in C sharp minor S244/12
11. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 13 in A minor S244/13
12. MOSZKOWSKI La Jongleuse Op 52 No 4
13. RACHMANINOV Prelude in G minor Op 23 No 5
14. LEVITZKI Valse in A major ‘Valse amour’ Op 2

MISCHA LEVITZKI (1898–1942) was born near Kiev to naturalized American parents who had returned to their homeland. He was a pupil of Michałowski, Stojowski and Dohnányi and quickly established himself as a major rising star in the 1920s. Indeed, had it not been for his early death he would surely have been seen as one of the major pianists of the century. The HMV recordings presented here (made between 1927 and 1933) form the most important part of his meagre recorded legacy.
This is the only transfer of Levitzki’s recordings currently available as a physical CD.

APR6043  

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

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ELLY NEY Brahms Concerto No 2 & Schubert Wanderer Fantasy

1CD (75'51)

Polydor recordings, Berlin
1-4 BRAHMS Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat major Op 83
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA / MAX FIEDLER conductor, 1940 session: uncredited conductor
Recorded on 1, 2 & 5 June 1939 & 29 April 1940

5-8 SCHUBERT: Grosse Fantasie ‘Wanderer’ D760 (Op 15)
Recorded on 21 May 1942

9. SCHUBERT ‘Aus Schubert’s Tänzen’ Suite of Dances arranged by Elly Ney
Deutsche Tänze, D783: No 1 – Deutsche Tänze, D783: No 7 – Deutsche Tänze, D783: No 10 – Grätzer Walzer, D924: No 6 – Valses sentimentales, D779: No 13 – Deutsche Tänze, D790: No 3 – Waltzes, D365: No 29 – Ländler, D734: No 14 – Waltzes, D365: No 36 – Waltzes, D365: No 33
Recorded on 21 May 1942

German pianist ELLY NEY’s posthumous reputation has, perhaps justifiably, been tarnished by her links to the Nazi regime, but 80 years on it’s easier to focus on her pianism and acknowledge she was one of the finest pianists of her generation. A previous APR release (APR7311) presented her interpreting a wide range of composers, but she came to be regarded as one of the great interpreters of the Austro-German repertoire and here she tackles two of the masterworks, including a monumental performance of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the first version recorded by a woman. Brahms specialist, Max Fiedler, ostensibly conducts, though our booklet note proposes circumstantial evidence that Alois Melichar could be the uncredited conductor who completed the project after Fiedler’s sudden death and we have recently received new information that suggests this conductor could alternately have been her ex-husband Willem van Hoogstraten.

APR5639  

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

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OLGA 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

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