William Kapell Rediscovered

Kapell Rediscovered. RCA Red Seal 82876-68560-2 (2 CDs). During pianist Kapell's ill-fated Australian tour of 1953 (on the return from which he perished in a plane crash), a number of his performances were broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the years following his death, an intensive search for airchecks of those performances yielded very little, partly because the ABC did not bother to retain archival copies. However, three items from amateur off-the-air transcriptions did emerge around 1970: Chopin's B-Flat Minor Sonata and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (both appearing on a semi-private Opus LP), and a nearly-complete Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3 that has remained unissued until now. The Chopin Sonata is currently available as part of the 9-CD William Kapell Edition that was released by RCA/BMG in 1998. That package contains all of Kapell's studio recordings for RCA Victor, made between 1944 and 1953, plus selected live performances. (Additional live Kapell, almost all of broadcast origin, can be found on CDs from VAI, Music & Arts, Pearl, and Arbiter.) Hope persisted that further Kapell material from Australia would come to light, but despite some tantalizing rumors, nothing happened until 2003, when it became known that a Melbourne music-lover named Roy Preston had recorded an enormous quantity of ABC broadcasts on his home disc-cutting machine during the early 1950s. Preston's collection was inherited by one Maurice Austin, who discovered quite by accident some items bearing the name of Kapell. Mr. Austin contacted the Kapell family to see whether they would be interested. The Preston lacquers then made their way by courier to New York, and efforts were begun to evaluate the material and to pursue an official release. The discovery was widely publicized at the time, generating much interest and anticipation, but more than four years would elapse before the performances could be issued. There were various legal matters to be resolved, not to mention the complications resulting from the BMG-Sony merger during that period. Finally, on 6 May 2008, William Kapell Rediscovered became available, its two discs containing nearly all of the pianist's performances from Preston's collection. The Rachmaninoff Concerto and Mussorgsky's Pictures are included, along with the Mozart Sonata K.570, the Bach Suite in A minor BWV 818, Chopin's Nocturne Op.55 No.2, Barcarolle, and Scherzo No.1, Debussy's Suite bergamasque, and the Prokofiev Sonata No.7. The last four works are new to Kapell's recorded repertoire. (Also among the lacquers was the Prokofiev Concerto No.3.) Everything here derives from concerts at Melbourne Town Hall in Victoria from July to October of 1953. Owing to small gaps in the Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and Bach as recorded, some patching from his earlier performances of those works was needed. At this late date, little can be added to earlier assessments of Kapell's stature among 20th century pianists. In a career that lasted barely ten years, Kapell earned well-deserved acclaim for his virtuosity, sensitivity, and the unflinching integrity of his musicianship. Kapell drove himself relentlessly to achieve the highest artistic standards, and his performances reflected constant growth and ever-deeper insights. Therefore, the significance of these newly-unearthed live performances from the last months of his life cannot be overestimated. Of particular note is the fierce intensity and drama that Kapell brings to the Rachmaninoff Concerto, despite orchestral support (from the Victoria Symphony Orchestra under Sir Bernard Heinze) that is not quite in the same league. This version surpasses in every dimension Kapell's otherwise admirable earlier performance from 1948 with the Toronto Symphony. The Chopin Barcarolle is in a class alongside the near-definitive Moiseiwitsch, Lipatti and Rubinstein versions for its singing line and its uncanny capturing of mood and atmosphere. …

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