Arthur Loesser In Recital
For Arthur Loesser (1894-1969), who taught the piano, played the piano, wrote about the piano and used it as the anchor of his Cleveland home, this was no ordinary instrument and Loesser was no ordinary pianist. Loesser may be best known for his classic 1954 book Men, Women and Pianos: A Social History. Yet Arthur Loesser studied at the Institute of Musical Arts in New York, which was later to become the Juilliard School. He made his piano debut in Berlin in 1913, his New York debut in 1916 and then toured the United States. His unique approach to the keyboard will delight the discriminating listener. This two CD set includes his 1967 Town Hall concert which Loesser titled "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," and excerpts from Cleveland Institute recitals.
Track Listing
| | | |
| CD 1 (78:59) | |||
Town Hall, New York, Sunday, 29 October 1967 | |||
"Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" | |||
| 1. | Introductory remarks by Arthur Loesser | 1:14 | |
| 2. | Dussek: "La Chasse" | 4:33 | |
| 3. | Hummel: "La Galante", Introduction and Rondo Brillant, op. 107 | 7:07 | |
| 4. | Field: Nocturne No. 9, in E Minor | 3:10 | |
| Clementi: Sonata in B-flat, op. 47, no. 2 | |||
| 5. | Allegro con brio | 3:22 | |
| 6. | Andante quasi allegretto | 2:51 | |
| 7. | Allegro assai | 3:37 | |
| 8. | Jensen: "Eros" from Erotikon, op. 44 | 3:19 | |
| Rubinstein: Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, op. 53, no. 2 | |||
| 9. | Prelude | 2:18 | |
| 10. | Fugue | 4:16 | |
| 11. | Raff: "Rigaudon", op. 204, no. 3 | 3:03 | |
| 12. | Paderewski: "Légende", op. 16, no. 1 | 5:11 | |
| 13. | Chabrier: Bourrée Fantasque | 5:54 | |
| 14. | Godowsky: "The Gardens of Buitenzorg" from Java Suite | 3:33 | |
| Reger: "From My Diary", op. 82 | |||
| 15. | Adagio in E Minor, op. 82/I, no. 2 | 2:34 | |
| 16. | Vivace in D Minor, op. 82/I, no. 4 | 2:05 | |
| Casella: Two Contrasts | |||
| 17. | Grazioso | :52 | |
| 18. | Anti-grazioso | 1:22 | |
| 19. | Busoni: Sonatina No. 2 | 7:23 | |
| 20. | Moszkowski: Valse in E, op. 34 | 6:41 | |
| Encores: | |||
| 21. | MacDowell: To a Wild Rose, op. 51, no. 1 | 1:54 | |
| 22. | Ravina: Etude de Style, op. 14, no. 1 | 2:28 | |
| CD 2 (78:41) | |||
Cleveland Institute of Music, 22 June 1967 | |||
| 1. | Bach: Toccata in D, BWV 912 | 10:23 | |
| Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, No. 13) | |||
| 2. | Prelude | 1:25 | |
| 3. | Fugue | 2:01 | |
| Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, No. 22) | |||
| 4. | Prelude | 2:01 | |
| 5. | Fugue | 2:52 | |
Cleveland Institute of Music, 29 June 1967 | |||
| Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F (Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, No. 11) | |||
| 6. | Prelude | 3:20 | |
| 7. | Fugue | 1:54 | |
The 4-H Club, Chevy Chase, Maryland, 26 September 1964 | |||
| Mendelssohn: Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, op. 35, no. 1 | |||
| 8. | Prelude | 2:12 | |
| 9. | Fugue | 6:40 | |
Cleveland Institute of Music, 11 January 1967 | |||
| Haydn: Sonata No. 42 in D, Hob. XVI/42 (Landon 56) | |||
| 10. | Andante con espressione | 5:14 | |
| 11. | Vivace assai | 1:40 | |
| 12. | Beethoven: Variations on "Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen" | 9:34 | |
| Prokofiev: Sonata No. 5, op. 38/135 | |||
| 13. | Allegro tranquillo | 5:06 | |
| 14. | Andantino | 3:24 | |
| 15. | Un poco allegretto | 5:19 | |
| 16. | Chopin: Nocturne in B, op. 9, no. 3 | 6:43 | |
| 17. | Chopin: Variations Brillantes, op. 12 | 7:21 | |
| Encore: | |||
| 18. | Mozart: Gigue in G, K. 574 | 1:12 | |
CD 1:
(The listener will notice that Tracks 18, 19, 23 are afflicted with some distortion. This distortion is present on the original source recording. WM)
All Tracks were recorded in mono
Tracks 1-2, 4, 8-22 first issued on International Piano Library IPL 102, 1969
Tracks 2-7 are performed on a John Challis replica of an early 19th century piano.
Tracks 3, 5-7 are previously unpublished
CD2:
(There is a small defect at the beginning of Track 10 that I should mention. One can hear a faint trace of someone singing on the right channel. This is on the original source tape and cannot be eliminated. Also, the original source recording of the 11 January 1967 Cleveland Institute of Music concert (Tracks 10-18) contains an intermittent 120 Hz "hum" which I have attempted to attenuate without affecting the piano tone. WM)
All Tracks were recorded in stereo
Tracks 1-9 are previously unpublished
Tracks 10-18 first issued on International Piano Library IPL 5004, 1972
Producer: Donald Manildi
Audio Conservation: Ward Marston
Photographs: Anne Hollander and The
International Piano Archives at Maryland
Booklet Design: Takeshi Takahashi
Marston would like to thank The Cleveland Institute of Music for its help in the production of this CD release.