Audition: Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 - William Kapell/PSONY/Mitropoulous
Live performance: 12 April 1953, Carnegie Hall, New York
William Kapell had a tragically short life but left substantial evidence of his genius in recordings and air checks (this recording is an air check but the sound is good).
Kapell and Mitropoulous are well matched - both are fabulous musicians alert to the intricacies of the score and the potential for dramatic. Both, were capable of igniting incendiary moments in life performance if this recording is anything to go by. The opening quickly delivers the conductors intent - a booming and intense fort fortissimo which rocks the building and a swift and exacting orchestral introduction where the bass notes are muscular and terrifying. A Beethovenian trick which quells the audience though not for long in the April coughing season. The PSONY winds are tested too - an exacting reminder that Brahms - a mere strip of a lad in many ways - was not averse to loading up the winds to press the case for contrast. Kapell is clean cut at the piano entry and beyond. As the temperature goes up Kapell stays cool with a beautiful touch and no panic despite Mitropoulous pressing the woodwind again. The conductor doesn’t always give the soloist elbow room - the sonics favour the orchestra but by the time of the Development Kapell is dazzling the audience with his tone and virtuosity. It all goes on equal footing until the explosion which smashes down the door with repeated triple blasts into the recapitulation. Something goes awry here and Kapell struggles to maintain his line of ff chords. It’s a live performance after all.
Note: Karajan and other conductors have steered clear of this work and I think this passage may have been too risky for them.
Nonetheless Kapell is not phased and the rest of the movement is monumental, with fantastic colour, drama and tone from the soloist.
Mitropoulos shows acute sensitivity in his hushed and slow approach to those low string passages which bring mystery and stability to the Adagio which has an ABA’ coda structure. In the solo passages Kapell has a rapt tone and the conductor adds a weighted backbone than many in the forte erupts especially towards the end of the A’. The conductor and soloist perhaps delineate this structure in tone as well as mood. The music to the end of the movement is some of the most beautiful you’ll hear from any source.
The Adagio is gone and all is at rest, but only for a moment, Kapell tears into the first dozen or so bars like a man pocessed but is scarcely any slower for the rest of the movement. Mitropoulous sticks with him. So many of the solo passages are so clear that one wonders if this is some sort of recording trick - but no the pianism on display is a degree of sophistication and beauty higher than many in this survey (so far). All the nods to Beethoven’s Third piano concerto (the obvious model for this work and especially this finale) don’t factor in the sophistication of the young Brahms composition and how it has moved to the very highest peaks of the realisation of such a complex score. As I listened to the last half of this movement I couldn’t find much to worry about - Mitropoulous and his orchestra are key components here - the NYPO of 1953 was developing a fabulous virtuosity and Mitropoulos let his soloist sing to the close.
And we should be grateful for their efforts.
On the 29th of October that same year Kapell was killed when his flight from Australia crashed in the morning on Kings Mountain, just south of San Francisco Airport
In these surveys I often give scores for Interpretation, Performance and Recording. The coughing of the Carnegie Hall audience don’t count against the musicians or the engineers. It wasn’t perfectly formed, but it does give us a sense of what can be achieved: 30 out of 30
This live performance needs to be heard but it hard to get so the YouTube link is below.
William Kapell had a tragically short life but left substantial evidence of his genius in recordings and air checks (this recording is an air check but the sound is good).
Kapell and Mitropoulous are well matched - both are fabulous musicians alert to the intricacies of the score and the potential for dramatic. Both, were capable of igniting incendiary moments in life performance if this recording is anything to go by. The opening quickly delivers the conductors intent - a booming and intense fort fortissimo which rocks the building and a swift and exacting orchestral introduction where the bass notes are muscular and terrifying. A Beethovenian trick which quells the audience though not for long in the April coughing season. The PSONY winds are tested too - an exacting reminder that Brahms - a mere strip of a lad in many ways - was not averse to loading up the winds to press the case for contrast. Kapell is clean cut at the piano entry and beyond. As the temperature goes up Kapell stays cool with a beautiful touch and no panic despite Mitropoulous pressing the woodwind again. The conductor doesn’t always give the soloist elbow room - the sonics favour the orchestra but by the time of the Development Kapell is dazzling the audience with his tone and virtuosity. It all goes on equal footing until the explosion which smashes down the door with repeated triple blasts into the recapitulation. Something goes awry here and Kapell struggles to maintain his line of ff chords. It’s a live performance after all.
Note: Karajan and other conductors have steered clear of this work and I think this passage may have been too risky for them.
Nonetheless Kapell is not phased and the rest of the movement is monumental, with fantastic colour, drama and tone from the soloist.
Mitropoulos shows acute sensitivity in his hushed and slow approach to those low string passages which bring mystery and stability to the Adagio which has an ABA’ coda structure. In the solo passages Kapell has a rapt tone and the conductor adds a weighted backbone than many in the forte erupts especially towards the end of the A’. The conductor and soloist perhaps delineate this structure in tone as well as mood. The music to the end of the movement is some of the most beautiful you’ll hear from any source.
The Adagio is gone and all is at rest, but only for a moment, Kapell tears into the first dozen or so bars like a man pocessed but is scarcely any slower for the rest of the movement. Mitropoulous sticks with him. So many of the solo passages are so clear that one wonders if this is some sort of recording trick - but no the pianism on display is a degree of sophistication and beauty higher than many in this survey (so far). All the nods to Beethoven’s Third piano concerto (the obvious model for this work and especially this finale) don’t factor in the sophistication of the young Brahms composition and how it has moved to the very highest peaks of the realisation of such a complex score. As I listened to the last half of this movement I couldn’t find much to worry about - Mitropoulous and his orchestra are key components here - the NYPO of 1953 was developing a fabulous virtuosity and Mitropoulos let his soloist sing to the close.
And we should be grateful for there efforts.
On the 29th of October that same year Kapell was killed when his flight from Australia crashed in the morning on Kings Mountain, just south of San Francisco Airport
In these surveys I often give scores for Interpretation, Performance and Recording. The coughing of the Carnegie Hall audience don’t count against the musicians or the engineers. It wasn’t perfectly formed, but it does give us a sense of what can be achieved: 30 out of 30
This live performance needs to be heard but it hard to get so the YouTube link is below.
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