SCHUMANN: Carnaval; CHOPIN: Prelude in B-flat Minor; Berceuse; Etude in F Minor; Barcarolle in F# Major – Edward Kilenyi, piano – Forgotten Records FR 2304 (40:43, detailed listing below) [www.forgottenrecords.com] ****:
Alain Deguernel of Forgotten Records has revived the legacy of Philadelphia-born pianist Edward Kilenyi (1910-2000), whose Hungarian heritage he celebrated in music with historic performances of repertory by Liszt and Kilenyi’s own teacher Dohnányi. The recitals and collaborations so far restored derive from the Remington label, created by fellow Hungarian Don Gabor, for whom Kilenyi served as piano music consultant. In 1921 Kilenyi had auditioned for Dohnányi, who then encouraged the eleven-year-old to study at Budapest’s Liszt Royal Academy, supervised by the elder musician himself, a symbiotic relationship that would last until Dohnányi’s death in 1960. Kilenyi took part in defending Dohnányi’s reputation against allegations of Nazi collaboration, eventually helping the composer secure in 1949 a Professorship in the School of Music at The Florida State University, Tallahassee, with Kilenyi’s later joining that staff as Professor of Piano in 1953.
The Remington label Schumann/Chopin recital offered here from August 1953 complements a number of esteemed Chopin interpretations from Kilenyi, the foremost, possibly, his 1942 reading of the E Minor Concerto with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony, recorded the same day for Columbia (as RL 3028 on vinyl) as the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. But the Chopin work on records had begun earlier, in 1937, with the Pathé readings – issued on CD, 1995, with historic interpretations of Liszt, on APR 7037– of 12 Études, Op. 10, the A Minor Mazurka, Op. 17/4, and the “Funeral March” Sonata in B-flat Minor. Kilenyi’s towering, fleet rendition of the 1839 Prelude in B-flat Minor swallows the cascading runs and relentless demand for precision with what his American critics of 1940 termed “prodigious technique” and “magnificent ardor.” The F Minor Étude, from the Trois Nouvelles Études, after Fétis, projects a haunted sensibility in the course of competing meters. The song-pieces, the 1843 Berceuse and the late 1846 Barcarolle, emerge as elastic exercises in ostinato and flowing melodic lines, at once. The clarity of harmonic-rhythm and steadiness of pulse in each of the renditions, respectively, bear comparison with the classic readings by Solomon, Rubinstein, and Bachauer.
The Kilenyi Schumann Carnaval stands as one of two instances – the other a ferociously fast Symphonic Etudes – that I can discover of the intersection of these musicians, the 1835 suite’s drawing a host of volatile color from this pianist. Despite some early finger slips, the performance achieves dynamism and poetry, with moments, as in “Florestan,” of commanding, manic power. The sense of alternating, if reconciled, personalities advancing in masked guises proceeds with an air spontaneity, a combination of introspection and youthful exuberance. For sheer speed of execution, the commedia dell’arte group of characters fly by in daring arabesques and curlicues. The bold hauteur of “Chiarina” yields to the intimate luxury of the “Chopin” episode, rife with dramatic ritards and suave dynamic shadings. The sense of joyful, mischievous allusion to the composer’s own love-life and literary indulgences, especially in the way of Jean-Paul Richter, pass by in an array of touches and often sweeping gestures. The poignant, almost diaphanous “Aveu” proceeds to the assertive “Promenade” and to the final juxtaposition of the ironic whirlwind “Pause” and the final “March of the Davids-League Against the Philistines,” Schumann’s constant battle against the forces of complacent mediocrity. Only the relative brevity of this Remington transfer prevents my awarding it 5 stars, given the thrilling musicianship it offers.
—Gary Lemco
Edward Kilenyi In Recital:
SCHUMANN:
Carnaval, Op. 9;
CHOPIN:
Prelude in B-flat Minor, Op. 28/16;
Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57;
Etude in F Minor, Op. posth.;
Barcarolle in F# Major, Op. 60
