Frederic Chopin(1810-1849)
        Preludes, Op.28

Guiomar Novaes
Music & Arts 1029
Recorded 1949

Summary: Glorious performances in pathetic sound

Listening to Guiomar Novaes' Chopin Preludes given at a Town Hall recital
in New York City on November 26, 1949 has been a maddening experience
similar to seeing an extremely valuable commodity at the bottom of a
well which you can't quite reach.  Wretched sound is the culprit.

The Town Hall Concert was recorded on 78-rpm acetate discs which have
deteriorated over time due to changes in temperature, mold, peeling of
surfaces, and leaking from acid-based paper sleeves.  The liner notes
go on to say that Preludes 4 and 13 thru 17 are particularly noisy.  It
is good to see a record company 'coming clean' about sound quality, but
this wretched sound is quite hard to take.  In the 15th Prelude, most
of the notes are not even audible as the aural debris is like a tidal
wave gobbling up the piano.

With such poor sound, a performance of the Preludes would have to be
quite exceptional to be worth investing any time, and Novaes is certainly
exceptional.  Take the 14th Prelude for example.  Even with poor sound,
I can hear the volcanic eruption that Novaes creates which is quite
similar to the powerful Argerich reading.  And so it goes with the rest
of the Novaes readings.  She's as bleak as they come in preludes such
as the 2nd and 4th, the powerful preludes are very rugged and loaded
with hormonal eruptions, and the sparkling preludes actually have some
sparkle through the horrible sound quality.

More than likely, decent sound would have me placing the Novaes performances
in the same company with Argerich, Bolet, and Freire.  Unfortunately,
the best I can say is that Novaes is worth hearing regardless of sound
debris.

This Music & Arts recording is a 2-cd set with the last two tracks of
the 1st disc and all tracks on the 2nd disc coming from the Town Hall
concert.  The first ten tracks on the 1st disc are from unissued commerical
recordings make from 1940 to 1947; these tracks have much better sound
than the rest of the set and include both Chopin's 2nd and 3rd piano
sonatas.

I do have a humorous note to relate.  A short passage in the 3rd Piano
Sonata was not played by Novaes; these missing bars have been reinstated
into the recording from another pianist's performance.  There is no
mention of who this other pianist might be or where the missing bars
exist.  All in all, this could be a great party game challenge for big
bucks(if anyone knows the answers to the questions).

Don's Conclusions: Guiomar Novaes is no shrinking violet; she is a
powerfully gripping and rugged force who also offers great poignancy and
tenderness when called for.  Unfortunately, the sound is no shrinking
violet either; the aural debris is also a powerfully gripping force which
vies with Novaes for top billing.  I can't strongly recommend that you
purchase this 2-cd set, but such magnificent playing does demand to be
heard.

Don Satz
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