Iturbi on Sony Classical: Solo and Duo Piano

In Sony Classical’s sixteen-CD collection entitled From Hollywood to the World: The Rediscovered Recordings by Pianist and Conductor José Iturbi, there are three CDs of piano music following the previously discussed “Americana” CD. With the exception of one track of a performance by Amparo Iturbi (“Guadalquivir” by Manuel Infante), José is present on all other tracks, either as a soloist or in a duo performance with Amparo. Almost all of the music is from the twentieth century, with a moderate number of nineteenth-century selections. The only earlier composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose K. 448 sonata for two pianos in D major is performed by both Iturbis.

For the most part these three CDs remind me of what used to be called “samplers.” These amount to a collection of individual tracks, which may or may not be movements selected from larger compositions. Mind you, like K. 488, there are a few other three-movement compositions, which are also in the two-piano domain: the Valses romantiques set by Emanuel Chabrier, Claude Debussy’s En blanc et noir, and Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche. Multi-movement Debussy also shows up in José’s solo recordings, first with the set of two “Arabesques” and then with the Children’s Corner suite, which, for a reason I cannot fathom, excludes the concluding “Golliwogg’s Cakewalk” movement (which I always thought was the most familiar piece in the set). The final disc also includes five of the mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin; but these are sampled from Opus 7, Opus 33, and Opus 41.

Listening to these CDs left me wondering how José structured his concert recitals. A brief survey of Google search results suggests that his performances were similarly structured. On the other hand when Iturbi gave his first performance at Lincoln Center on October 2, 1962 in (what was then) Philharmonic Hall, he performed the entirely of Isaac Albéniz’ Iberia collection. (Mind you, that was over half a decade later than the final recording session for the content of the Sony Classical release.)

Those willing to venture into this collection should probably bear in mind that the concert experiences of half a century ago are quite different from those of the present day and assume that recordings were produced to reflect those experiences.