The great Hungarian pianist Annie Fischer was uncomfortable in the recording studio. Without an audience, she felt the resulting performance would be ‘artificially constricting’ since no interpretation was ever ‘finished’ or definitive. Otto Klemperer was a great admirer and no doubt persuaded her into the studio for these wonderful recordings of the Schumann and Liszt piano concertos.

• Hi-Q Records Supercuts
• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Cut from the Original EMI Analog Master Tapes
• Mastered at Abbey Road Studios
• Features Original Album Artwork

"Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional 'advance' playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process. Pressed using the original EMI presses at The Vinyl Factory in Hayes, England"

The great Hungarian pianist, Annie Fischer (1914-1995), a self-critical perfectionist, was uncomfortable in the recording studio. Without an audience, she felt the resulting performance would be ‘artificially constricting’ since no interpretation was ever ‘finished’ or definitive as commercial recordings aim to be. Nevertheless, she did make several studio recordings for EMI and other labels and they remain much sought after by collectors and admirers of her artistry.

Otto Klemperer was a great admirer and no doubt persuaded her into the studio for these recordings of the Schumann and Liszt piano concertos, though, as you will note from the recording dates and the production crew involved, these must have been fairly intensive sessions, with a gap of two years between the concertos being taped. The results, however, display all Fischer’s trademarks of “a great artist imbued with a spirit of greatness and genuine profundity”, as Sviatoslav Richter said of her.

In the original review in The Gramophone of November 1963, the late Edward Greenfield enthused: “Time and again this performance of the Liszt has made me cry out at the sheer magic of the music, instead of my usual “what an old warhorse it is!” For the first time ever I begin to understand the sort of impact it must have made when it first appeared last century, so fresh-sounding and even modern do Fischer and Klemperer make it sound.” Of the Schumann “the performance is interesting... and... the recording is technically admirable.”

Musicians:

Annie Fischer, piano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer, conductor

Track Listing:

Side A
Schumann Concerto In A Minor, Op. 54
1. First Movement: Allegro affettuoso - Andante expressive - Tempo I - Cadenze - Allegro molto
2. Second Movement: Intermezzo (Andantino grazioso)
3. Third Movement: Allegro vivace

Side B
Franz Liszt Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major
1. First Movement: Allegro maestoso.
2. Second Movement: Quasi adagio
3. Third Movement: Allegretto vivace - Allegro animato
4. Fourth Movement: Allegor marziale animato

Recorded on 22-24 May 1960 (Schumann), 9-10 & 31 May and 16 August 1962 (Liszt), No.1 Studio, Abbey Road, London.
Recording Producers: Walter Jellinek (1960), Suvi Raj Grubb (1962) and Walter Legge.
Balance Engineers: Douglas Larter, Harold Davidson (1960) & Christopher Parker (1962).