Great Danish Pianist Victor Schioler Vol. 8 [CD]

Greatest ever Danish pianist in rare releases.With this eighth volume, Danacord's series The Great Danish Pianist Victor Schioler is brought to it's conclusion. The series contains the greater part of Schioler's studio recordings, supplemented by a selection of live performances and productions made for Danish Radio, and it encompasses, with a single exception, all the works he recorded in the studio. Where he recorded the same work on more than one occasion, one version has sometimes been included and in other cases two or three. Volume 8 presents Schioler in three capacities: as solo pianist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. CD 1 opens with Beethoven's Cello Sonata Op. 69 and Brahms's Cello Sonata in F major, both featuring Schioler in inspired and sympathetic partnership with the 22-year-old Erling Blo¨ndal Bengtsson, who had by 1954, when these recordings were made, already established a considerable reputation. The two cello sonatas are followed by solo piano music, again by Beethoven and Brahms. First comes the Moonlight Sonata, which Schioler recorded no fewer than three times: in 1929, 1942 and 1951. The first and last of these recordings-both outstanding performances-are interpretatively quite close to one another: a slow and dreamlike first movement, a restrained and delicately played middle movement taken at a moderate tempo, and finally a dramatic and stormy yet perfectly controlled finale. The 1942 recording presented here is no less masterly, but differs markedly from the 1929 and 1951 versions in it's more classical approach, with a considerably faster and far less inflected first movement. Fu¨r Elise, which follows immediately afterwards, is not generally counted among Beethoven's major works, popular though it is. Yet Schioler's delicate touch and poetic phrasing elevate this modest work into a little masterpiece.Victor Schioler Volume 1 DACOCD 491-492Victor Schioler Volume 2 DACOCD 782-783Victor Schioler Volume 3 DACOCD 832-833Victor Schioler Volume 4 DACOCD 867-868Victor Schioler Volume 5 DACOCD 872-873Victor Schioler Volume 6 DACOCD 962-963Victor Schioler Volume 7 DACOCD 987-988