It has become common place to categorise Mischa Levitzki as a victim of his time, a pianist caught between the free-wheeling ‘exhibitionism' purveyed by many of his older colleagues, and the severe "orthodox" approach which has become prevalent in recent decades. Invariably, the conclusion of this thesis is that had he lived longer than his tragically short 42 years, Levitzki would have extricated himself from this "predicament" and emerged as one of the century's greatest pianists. The argument is given "credence" by questioning the artistic integrity of Levitzki's playing, in particular his HMV recordings which, it is claimed, are unduly concemed with mechanical perfection, are emotionally uninvolved and overly concerned with "salon" pieces. Quite how these extraordinary claims can be reconciled with the evidence of this anthology, which presents all Levitzki's surviving electrical recordings for HMV is beyond comprehension. For a start, many of these recordings contain a Cortot-esque quantity (and quality !) of finger-slips : it is patently obvious that the pianist's overriding concern is with musical substance rather than the glacial beauty of technical perfection. And what of the emotional involvement of such items as the Chopin Ballade in A-Flat and Nocturne in C minor, the Schumann sonata or Liszt's Un sospiro ? Granted some of Levitzki's Liszt recordings sound "reserved" when heard alongside the maulings of some of his contemporaries but they nevertheless possess very special qualities. Have, for instance, the three Hungarian Rhapsodies presented here ever sounded quite so contained, so elegant and so undemonstrably exhilarating ? The charge that he recorded only ear-tickling morceawc is, of course, nonsensical as the contents of these two discs immediately reveal. In fact the repertoire here is all the more remarkable given the fact that when Levitzki A began to record for HMV in 1927 the systematic recording of large-scale works had only just begun. Even so, within three years, by which time he was just into his thirties, Levitzki had recorded a concerto and major works by Chopin and Liszt. Compare this with the studio achievements of some of Levitzki's friendly rivals : Godowsky was 59 before he had the opportunity to make his first complete recording of a work of any substance; Horowitz did not make his first concerto recording until 1932 while neither Hofmann nor Lhevinne recorded any full-scale work! There is no escaping the conclusion that a balanced re-evaluation of Mischa Levitzki's art and his position in the pianistic firmament is long overdue. For the most part, the recordings in this anthology are a more than eloquent testament of his true artistry and stature. They reveal a man who was very much his own master both with regard to his approach to the piano as well as the score, an artist pursuing his own stylistic and artistic path quite unfettered by any so called "dilemmas". In short, they confirm him to be an instrumentalist of arresting originality and deep musical integrity. Quite how elevated his stature might have been had he lived longer is, of course, total conjecture though it is surely not an overstatement to declare that even on the evidence of these recordings, made midway through a professional career which was to last little more than twenty years — and this in competition with such figures as Rachmaninov and Lhevinne, Hofmann and Godowsky, Horowitz and Friedman - Mischa Levitzki can most definitely be considered one of this century's master pianists...
Bryan Crimp, 1992 (from the booklet)
Mischa Levitzki
The Complete HMV Recordings
(1927-1933)
Tracks
Cd. 1
Frédéric Chopin
(1810-1849)
Three Preludes, Op. 28
1 N° 1 in C Major 0:54
2 N° 7 in a Major 0:55
3 N° 23 in F Major 1:27
4 Waltz n° 11 in G-Flat Major, Op. 70, n° 1 2:26
5 Waltz n° 8 in A-Flat Major, Op. 64, n° 3 3:00
6 Ballade n° 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47 6:16
7 Nocturne n° 13 in C Minor, Op. 48, n° 1 5:00
8 Nocturne n° 5 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 15, n° 2 3:51
9 Scherzo n° 3 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 39 5:59
10 Polonaise n° 6 in A-Flat Major, Op. 53, 'Heroic' 6:55
Domenico Scarlatti
(1685-1757)
11 Sonata in A major K113 3:18
Christoph Willibald von Gluck
(1714-1787)
12 Gavotte (Iphigénie en Aulide, Wq. 40) 3:16
(arr. Brahms)
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
13 Ecossaise in E-Flat major, WoO 86 2:27
Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
14 Marche Militaire in D major, D. 733 n° 1 (Op. 51 n° 1) 4:42
Anton Rubinstein
(1829-1894)
15 Etude in C Major, Op. 23, n° 2, 'Staccato Etude' 4:19
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847)
16 Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14 6:15
Robert Schumann
(1810-1856)
Piano Sonata n° 2 in G minor, Op. 22
17 I. So rasch wie möglich 4:45
18 II. Andantino. Getragen 4:42
19 III. Scherzo. Sehr rasch und markiert 1:44
20 IV. Rondo. Presto 5:39
*
Cd. 2
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)
Piano Concerto n° 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124
1 I. Allegro maestoso 4:55
2 II. Quasi adagio 4:31
3 III. Allegro vivace 4:09
4 IV. Allegro marziale animato 4:26
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
Prelude & Fugue in A minor (after Bach BWV 543), S. 462
(arr. Liszt)
5 Prelude & Fugue 9:14
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)
6 Un sospiro (from 3 Études de concert, n° 3 in D-Flat major), S. 144 4:42
7 La Campanella, etude for piano in B minor (Transcendental Paganini Etude n° 3), S. 140 n° 3 4:55
8 La Campanella, etude for piano in B minor (Transcendental Paganini Etude n° 3), S. 140 n° 3 5:02
[2nd version]
9 Hungarian Rhapsody n° 6 in D-Flat major, S. 244 n° 6 7:17
10 Hungarian Rhapsody n° 12 in C-Sharp minor (aka 'N° 2'), S. 244 n° 12 9:02
11 Hungarian Rhapsody n° 13 in A Minor, S. 244 n° 13 9:05
Moritz Moszkowski
(1854-1925)
12 La Jongleuse, Etude, Op. 52 n° 4 1:39
Serguei Rachmaninov
(1873-1943)
13 Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23, n° 5 3:23
Mischa Levitzki
(1898-1941)
14 Waltz in A Major, Op. 2 'Valse d'amour' 1:35
*
Mischa Levitzki - p
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Landon Ronald [Cd. 2, # 1-4]
Recorded between 1927 & 1933
See the complete artwork