Alfred Cortot plays Schumann's Kreisleriana (unpublished 1950s German radio recording)

An unpublished Bayerischer Rundfunk recording from the 1950s featuring the great French pianist Alfred Cortot playing Schumann's Kreisleriana.
While Cortot's radio broadcasts of the Chopin Preludes, Second Sonata, and various other shorter works from this period have been released at various times, his Schumann broadcast recordings (including this Kreisleriana and a wonderful Kinderszenen which I uploaded in December) have not. It is to be hoped that a proper reissue from the master tapes will be made, as despite the occasional slip of the finger (something that is always present in Cortot's later performances as well as many earlier ones), his playing is very fine and the excellent-sounding recording captures his singing sonority, magical pedal effects, evocative voicing, and soaring phrasing with great fidelity (you can even hear his nails on the keys at times).
I do not have dates for these performances - Cortot's Chopin recordings for Bavarian radio were made in 1954, 1955, and 1957.
If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: / thepianofiles

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

Great! Paul Badura-Skoda: "... And the time when Cortot came to Vienna in 1947 remains one of my greatest pianistic memories. He came there to play for the first time after the War, and we all knew what the war had been for him, what his ideological engagement had been. Cortot played two programs. The first part of the first recital, how shall I say this... it was an absolute disaster. Cortot played Chopin's Fantasy, which is not very difficult from a technical point of view, but he didn't manage to play even one octave correctly. Jörg Demus was seated next to me, and he was seething: "My goodness, how is this possible? He's an amateur, I'm leaving at intermission!" After the intermission, however, Cortot came back on stage like a changed man. It was a different man, a different pianist. He had gotten ahold of himself. I couldn't believe how well he played the Sonata Op. 35 No. 2, which is such a perilous piece by comparison. At the end of the concert, with Gulda, we found Demus and tried to convince him that he had missed a major event: "That's impossible! I don't believe you - and I already sold my ticket for the second recital!" [laughs] In the end, we weren't able to convince him. A week later, in front of a sold-out house, with all three of us in attendance, Cortot played the 24 Preludes and the Kreisleriana. I can tell you that he went far beyond, in terms of depth, poetry, and spontaneity, all the recordings he had ever made of these pieces, which we knew so well. It was a revelation! It was so moving! All the pianists who were there agreed. When Cortot and Fischer were on the right foot, it was perfect, in terms of the cleanness of their playing, and not just from an emotional or spiritual point of view..."

[@ThePianoFiles]

Thank you VERY much for this amazing testimonial which was new to me, Ozan - wonderful to read!

[@ThePianoFiles]

Noshirm - I consider myself a great Cortot admirer but even for me the excerpts released of those late Beethoven Sonatas are difficult to listen to - he is not holding things together nearly as well as he does here. I agree that it is of great interest to hear him as much as possible, but i think the complete set would do him a disservice and we can get enough of an idea from the better of the performances that have been released, which are already a bit sad... But indeed, what a musical mind and tremendous artist!

[@ThePianoFiles]

I've subscribed too :-)

[@thomasrigutto2564]

He was already 70 years old in 1947!!

[@VladVexler]

I have tears in my eyes reading this account from Paul.

[@MXDelfos]

It's very funny how different the approaches about Cortot can be. Still today he wakes controversy. From the Parisian public who attended Cortot's concertos only to bear witness of his finger and memory slips, to many great pianists who considered him the last of the great romantics. This performance is a time travel, it's easy to imagine Schumann himself. So spontaneous, so delicate and involved. Thank you for posting this. It's revelatory.

[@pianomaly9859]

Thanks again for posting this. Cortot in better form in his pot-war years. The chorale-like conclusion to the penultimate piece has always sounded like Handel's "All we like sheep have gone astray" from Messiah to me.

[@johndeclefpineiro7372]

Thank you for this historical find. While probably not at the height of his powers, one can still get a sense that his performance and interpretative prowess must have been awesome at an earlier time. This was a worthwhile flashback to a different time for the world.

[@hostlangr]

*Mein 'Vorschlag' einer* EQUALIZER-Einstellung -10dB (60Hz) -10dB (230Hz) -10dB (910Hz) - 8dB (4kHz) +15dB (14kHz) Hören "in *erster Reihe"!* Die Intonation der Instrumente wird *nicht* verändert; da jedoch vor allem die mAn. *eigentlich kaum hörbaren* Obertöne zunehmend verstärkt sind, gewinnt die Wiedergabe merklich an Brillianz. (An der Tonquelle sind zunächst die Obertöne maßgeblich und stark mit-verantwortlich für die "Tonfärbung" des Klanges. Je *weiter entfernt* ein Hörer, umso deutlicher lässt die sehr hochfrequente Signalintensität nach; *schneller* als die tiefere! Für ältere Aufnahmen bereits relevant beim Input in die unterschiedlich im Raum postierten Mikrofone. Dem wird mit neuester Aufnahmetechnik natürlich Rechnung getragen. Bei *früheren* Produktionen wirkt hier mMn. eine moderate Verstärkung der in einer Aufnahme geschwächt vorhandenen obersten Frequenzen diesem Hochtondefizit etwas entgegen; hören Sie selbst! - Erstaunlich - )

[@dasglasperlenspiel10]

This is so great, as I always expect from Cortot. Thank you very much for posting!

[@pianomaly9859]

I read you nearly fifty years ago back in college. Cortot fan too!

[@horiaganescu3948]

Outstanding rendition! Thank you very much, dear Mark!

[@chrisczajasager]

at his least impressive...! compare the earlier when he was in form!

[@Marsmallos]

Wow, where did you find these? I'm working on a project to document Alfred Cortot's legacy and would love to know any sources of old radio recordings like these!

[@ThePianoFiles]

This came through a private collection - they didn't circulate very widely at all. Please message me via my website at ThePianoFiles and I'd be happy to discuss with you. I'm delighted to have everything of Cortot's art be well documented!

[@Marsmallos]

Cool! Great website you have. I'm in the same mind - I'm a great admirer of his art and through the years I have accumulated so much nerdy knowledge that I'd like to gather it all in one place. I will get back to you as I have a master's thesis to write at the moment haha.

[@jackusful]

It exists also a video made by the Canadian tv in his house, an about 15-20 mn interview. Who knows that ?

[@Marsmallos]

@@jackusful where can I find that?

[@jackusful]

@@Marsmallos I suppose in contacting the Canadian TV at Montreal. somebody told me it is not very difficult to contact them.

[@jamesbrennan6022]

I once knew a brass-player who'd played in Harty's Halle in the late 1920s and 30s. Rachmaninoff was rehearsing with them in Beethoven's C minor concerto. At one point he apologised to the orchestra - "I'm not a Beethoven specialist. That means I have to play all the notes". Of course he could. But Cortot was four years younger than he was, so it isn't just a question of changing notions of what pianism might be. Could it be that Cortot, playing the music rather than the notes, simply accepted (nerves?) that he was going to risk error rather more readily than most? Some of his most ham-handed bits of recorded playing (for example in the scherzo of the Archduke trio) come in chords every other recorded pianist manages. In this he does more than a few things with more accuracy than in his pre-war 78s.