Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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Biography: Virtuoso pianist Jorge Bolet began his keyboard studies at the age of nine. His progress excited his local teachers and he received a scholarship at the age of 12 to study in the United States, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. There his piano teacher was David Saperton. Beginning in 1932 he studied with Leopold Godowsky and Moritz Rosenthal, and, briefly, with Rudolf Serkin. He won the Naumburg Prize in 1937 and the Josef Hofmann Award in 1938. He became Rudolf Serkin's teaching assistant at the Curtis Institute in 1939. In 1942 he joined the United States armed forces. After the end of the war he was a part of the U.S. cccupying forces in Japan. There, he conducted the first performance in that country of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. He resumed his piano career after taking private lessons with Abram Chasins. Over a period of a few years he developed a reputation as a virtuoso player of astonishing power, able to play the most difficult works by Liszt with an impression of natural ease that left the feeling that there was no limit to his pianistic range. He became the head of the piano faculty at Curtis, and also was on the piano faculty of Indiana University at Bloomington. While in the United States he preferred the pronunciation "George" for his first name. Until nearly the end of his life he maintained a major performing and recording career. His recordings were primarily for the Decca (London) company. He produced many estimable performances, notably those of the major piano works by Franz Liszt, as well as concertos and other works. As exciting as some of these recordings were, he was an artist whose full range of brilliance was not caught by the microphone. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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* Born: November 15, 1914 in Havana, Cuba
* Died: October 16, 1990 in Mountain View, CA

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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Review: An encore is obviously to be a show piece to let the listener leave happy, an extra dessert before heading out the door. Most of these pieces are familiar piano tunes, but perhaps less filling than one might expect for encores (although they are all indeed short). A few war-horses are included like the Minute Waltz, and a number of the pieces (not the performances) appear on other Bolet albums (with a few interesting exceptions). If one listens to some of the recordings done late in Bolet's life,it seemed apparent that his illness was dulling his considerable talents, especially his speed and dynamics. Many of these recordings in his last years sound stiff. The album is softer in volume and lacks some of the blazing speed of his earlier years [there is another version of the Mendelsohn - Rondo Capriccioso recorded at Lincoln Center in 1972 which is 50% faster]. Yet it clearly reflects the soul of his best recordings. It is not stiff sounding, and Bolet seems to have his heart in his playing. Looking over my recordings (not sure there is a published discography for Bolet) it appears that the pieces by R.Strauss, Bizet (transcribed by Godowsky), Moskowski and de Scholzer are only available on this recording. It is a shame that this fine recording is now out of print, particularly when other Bolet recordings stay in print that do not show him at his best. LP versions of this are rare but can be bought for reasonable prices. The used CDs, equally scarce, seem to be offered at staggeringly high prices.

Of the recordings Bolet made in the late 1980's, I think this is one of the best. ~ Amazon Customer

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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Jorge Bolet - Encores - 1987

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