Rezension International Piano Winter 2024 | 1. Dezember 2024 An aristocrat of the piano
[…] During the 1960s and beyond Bolet was a frequent visitor to Germany. He attracted a substantial following in several German musical centres, especially Berlin, and every year he taped a series of broadcast recordings in the studios of RIAS. Bolet found the atmosphere to be relaxed and congenial, and he offered his radio audience an extensive panorama of repertoire that encompassed numerous works not found on his other recordings. About six years ago, thanks to the enterprise of Ludger Bôckenhoff of the audite label, a remarkable series of CDs drawn from the RIAS archives became available. The importance of these recordings to our perspective on Bolet’s artistry cannot be overestimated. We have seven CDs, divided across three separate volumes. Here Bolet can be heard in his prime, playing both Liszt concertos and Beethoven’s Concerto No 5 (the latter from a concert in Paris); the complete Op 25 Études and four Impromptus of Chopin; Schumann’s F minor Sonata; a wide selection of Chopin and Liszt solos; and the Second Sonata of the American composer Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008; one of the few then-living composers whose music interested Bolet). […]