Icon - Witold Malcuzynski

This 8-CD set offers an excellent introduction and overview of a sadly neglected pianist, Witold Małcužński.Małcužński had an aristocratic approach to the piano, especially in the works of Chopin, where his plummy left hand does wonders in adding shape and sonority to the music. His Angel recording of the Waltzes (CD 1) was one of the earliest piano recordings in my collection back in high school, and it holds up extremely well in this transfer, which sounds heads above my old Angel blue label LP. This set treats us to four very-full CDs of Chopin, as well as concerti by Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Brahms. Every one of the CDs in this set should inspire repeat hearings.Recommended.

I am very pleased with my purchase. I think I underestimated the beauty of the instrument as I had not been listening to much of it for some time. But the piano is still a beautiful instrument and Malcuzynski has reinforced that. I bought this collection especially for the Mazurkas But I was also fascinated by the waltzes.This is a fabulous collection for anyone who revels in the peaceful beauty of soft piano music. If of course one wants to get symphonic the collection also caters for you. It is a perfect collection for those of us who are a little older and who are accustomed to the piano providing its own source of entertainment

Fascinating artist. His "timing" in particular is fascinating and makes his work unique. His Chopin is superb and is a favorite of mine, along with Rubinstein's and Ashkenazy's fine work. Highly recommended.

Not an all-time great, but an extremely good pianist.

Before I write a rewiev, I would like to say few words about Witold Malcuzynski because he is virtually unknown to the younger generation of Amazon.COM customers.Witold Malcuzynski (1914-1977) was a distinguished Polish pianist who specialized in the works of Frederic Chopin(1810-1849).His playing was marked by passion and poetry. He began playing piano at the age of 5, starting regular lessons four years later.He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory under the guidance of Profesor Jozef Turczynski . In 1936 he received an invitation to study underMargaurite Long and Isidor Phillipin France. He won the third prize at the Third Chopin Piano Competition in 1937 . He was also introduced by Turczynski to Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who spoke very highly about his talent and gave him valuable instruction. The present anthology in the Icon Series was recorded by EMI between 1949-1963 . Despite half of it beeing recorded in mono, the whole Collection is in excellent Sound. The Chopin Sonatas, Polonaises, Mazurkas and Ballades are among the Best recordings available in their Genre. They are equall in artisticValue and Sound To the Best recordings of Rubinstein, Horowitz, Arrau and of any other great Pianist you can Name.His Recording of Brahms Piano Concerto is very dramatic, while his Liszt and Tchaikovsky performances shown him as a great romantic pianist. He is also very successful In the performance of the Third Piano Concerto ofRachmaninov conducted by Paul Kletzki. It is impossible to believe that he was neglected and forgotten for such a long time, but that happened also to other once famous pianists like Brailowsky and Uninsky. We should be thankful to EMI that they finally decided to restore the excellent recordings of Witold Malcuzynski to American musical public,and Amazon.COM customers.Very Highly. Recommended..,

Malcuzynski had the misfortune of playing Chopin the way his admiring public would have played, if they could: with natural rubato, rounded tone of fine gradations, a revealing but not grandstanding left hand, and masculine poetry. He was not interesting. He was not idiosyncratic. He was “old fashioned”. Therefore critics dismissed him as trite — a step up, perhaps, from Jose Iturbi of the movies or Liberace.Add to this the fact that Malcuzynski shared the personal magnetism of his mentor Paderewski and the poor man was doomed. (Let’s not even mention that he was not poor, that he married a beautiful French pianist, that they had lovely children - oh, Malcuzynski was quite insupportable.)Enough. Forget the critics and listen for yourself, here or on YouTube. Start with the Mazurkas and Waltzes . Next try the stirring Polonaises and Ballades. Like his fellow Poles and fans from America to Australia I find Malcuzynski superb. Enjoy and then search for more “searching” pianists.

W.M. belongs to that missing and reduced tradition of great pianists of the past (who always were much worried about the process of sculpting the sound through the search of the meaning of the work).His sound was extremely clear, with a superb articulation, noble introspection, fluid lyricism and absolute domain of the rubato.As curious personal anecdote: Witold Malcuzynski was the first classical pianist I had the chance to watch: three times between 1973 and 1975. It's useless to say he captured the audience with his aristocratic pianism.This album contains the memorable Brahms' Handel Variations, a transcendental set of Polonaises, Mazurkas, Sonatas and Waltzes of Chopin, a very personal approach in Rach's Third as well as a definitive program of the romantic repertoire.During years and years, a countless number of pianophiles had awaited for this release. That's why I recommend from the bottom of my heart.Don't miss it.