Ivan Moravec

Hot after the heels of Steinberg's Rach 2 and Kaufman's Milhaud cum Poulenc cum Hindemith (the closest Germany came to Les Six, come to think of it!) here comes a glorious twofer: Ivan Moravec in two CDs with the full contents of three Connoisseur Society LPs. Here is the blurb I prepared for the backside of the jewel-box:

IVAN MORAVEC AND THE CELEBRATED CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY RECORDINGS

There are the piano-buffs pianists and there are the pianists' pianists. The second very select category includes most certainly Arturo Benedetti - Michelangeli and Ivan Moravec. They are the pianists to whom their colleagues listen to in awe and get object lessons of the great art. Moravec is very little represented in today's CD catalog and even less so are his legendary recordings for the extinct Connoisseur Society, a short-lived enterprise which graced the catalogs with audiophile recordings of great caliber artists. Moravec recorded for CS (whose founder E. Alan Silver was a personal friend of his) a number of unforgettable discs some of which have surfaced transferred to CD on various labels. Collectors owning or remembering the originals never found these reincarnations up to the standard set by the Connoisseur Society vinyls. We have in the past tried to restore some of the rarest of this series (BRC-2846 with Debussy works). Today we offer a double CD set compiled from three separate LPs and comprising the unforgettable Chopin Preludes Op.28. Moravec recorded again the Preludes for Supraphon in 1976, a glorious recording -- but this one, from 1966 and probably recorded in New York is very special - if nothing else for the remarkable piano sound. Also there is a collection of 5 Mazurkas, the First Scherzo and the beautiful Barcarole. Beethoven is represented by two sonatas recorded in 1967: the terrific Appassionata and the delectable Op.90, together with the set of 32 variations composed at the time the Appassionata was.

Moravec displays a very high intellect and an unparalleled musicality as well as a phenomenal technique (his use of the pedals is legendary among pianists who know that such mastery shows the greatness of a keyboardist more than anything else). His touch, by times ethereal, unreal, reminiscent of a stringed instrument, and then crashing torrentially with immense power, sends the listener to heaven (or hell) and back. He usually recorded on a Boesendorfer Imperial Grand (with its full 8 octaves, suggested to the makers by Busoni) in preference to Steinways. This is an essential part of the magic in Moravec sound. Also part of the magic of these discs was the recording equipment (custom made) used by Connoisseur Society's engineers.

Printed on high quality virgin vinyl the LPs were a treasure-chest of sound finesse and dynamics. Listeners will get very quickly used to slight tape hiss which was left intact in order to transcribe onto CD the full spectrum from deepest bass (impressive Imperial Grand here) to ethereal and transparent highs - exactly the main defect of all commercial transfers till now in the catalog.

The source material of this compilation are three original Connoisseur Society LPs: The 24 Preludes come from CS 1366 [Matrix Nos 1366A & 1366B] recorded in New York City 1966; the remaining Chopin works come from CS 2019 [Matrix Nos 2019A & 2019B] also recorded in New York City 1969; and the Beethoven comes from CS 2000 [Matrix Nos 2000 A-4 & 2000 B-4] and were recorded in New York City 1967 except the 32 Variations which were recorded in Prague by the Connoisseur Society team and machinery. The instrument used in all recordings was a Boesendorfer Imperial Grand.

For the restoration at bearac_reissues Click Repair and Cool Edit programs were used.

I just finished listening the my "test pressings" and I must say I am bowled over by the result. What composers! What a pianist! What a piano! What a set!

Here is a sample for you. A higher quality flac file of the Beethoven 32 Variations on an original theme, in C minor from CD1 of the set. You can download it and know what you are about to receive in the complete set. Enjoy!
YOUR LINK FOR THE DOWNLOAD (copy-paste on browser) IS:
http://rapidshare.com/files/315320041/-_Beethoven_32_Variations_in_C_minor.zip