Jorge Bolet Vol. 2: Ambassador From the Golden Age: A Connoisseur's Selection for the Bolet Centennial

Miraculous. Phenomenal. Be sure to purchase this OP set if there are copies for sale.

Obviously this selection was compiled with great care and love. It is attractively packaged with a thoughtful consideration of Bolet's career from Ira Levin.

An outstanding set, strongly recommended.

Exellent standard and a very important addition to the previous discography.The deliverance of the boxes was unexpextedly fast and I did receive the boxes only within four Days.Kind regardsMats Fridell

Disclaimer: This is not a review of the whole package, which is undoubtedly well produced and the result of painstaking work. I am only describing some first impressions, which led me to decide not to add this set to my CD collection. It is my habit to compare any new additions to others I have in my collection. I started with Brahms's Intermezzi, Op. 117, on CD1. Bolet's performance was very good but no better than a live one by Imogen Cooper I had recorded from the BBC. Moreover, Bolet's is literally ruined by excessive coughing from an extremely bronchial Dutch audience. (It was recorded in December, but I was amazed that Dutch audiences could be so rude.) These quiet and introverted Brahms pieces cannot take such disturbances. Then I compared Bolet's performance of Haydn's last Sonata, also on CD1, to a recent recording by Anne-Marie McDermott on the Bridge label. Here Bolet was no match for McDermott's crisp and witty playing. He sounded stodgy by comparison, taking an unusually slow tempo in the first movement. (No problem with coughing here.) I just started listening to a Vořišek Impromptu on another CD but found the sound quality poor. That did it for me. I may be doing an injustice to this fine set, most of which I have not listened to, but my general impression from Bolet recordings, even granting that these live performances may be more engaging that his studio recordings, is that he is not a very interesting artist—just a pianist with solid musicality and a great technique. Not in the same class as Richter, Horowitz, Brendel, or Katchen, to name just a few.

This review from the esteemed Fogel says it all. I agree with all below - a mandatory collection for all admirers of great pianism:"This six-disc set is a compilation [comprising virtually all live performances] of huge importance for all lovers of the piano...[and] might help to bring Bolet more respect and admiration. Put simply, this represents one of the most important piano releases of recent years.Bolet (1914-1990) was a throwback to an earlier era. The pianists he admired most were Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, and Cortot. At his best, Bolet displayed an improvisatory freedom that sounded as if the music was being made up on the spot, but that never distorted the music beyond its structural boundaries. That is the Bolet we hear throughout this wisely chosen set. Most of the performances are from the 1970s and 1980s, and are documented by Marston in the superb booklet....This might also be the place to praise Ward Marston for the transfers; he has managed a remarkable consistency of piano sound from dozens of sources ranging over many years. The sound on this set (some stereo, most monaural) is natural and warm throughout. Many of these recordings exist only because Bolet encouraged fans to record his concerts, so much of the material was recorded in house. That makes the basically good sound quality even more surprising. Most, however, of what makes this set remarkable is the playing itself. It is hard to think of anyone before the public today who plays like this. Bolet combines many qualities: beauty of tone, wonderful cantabile, brilliance of technique (there are very few missed or wrong notes throughout the almost eight hours of live playing here), an appreciation of structure but along with it a sense of fantasy and imagination that is truly rare. He will surprise you with a sudden shift in dynamics or tempo, the application of rubato in a way you weren't expecting, but it always works, it always fits. You never feel jerked around, nor do you feel that any of these interpretive gestures are there for the purpose of calling attention to the pianist. No--this is the way he feels the music, the way he believes the piece should be shaped. While you are listening, you also believe that the music must go this way, even if it is contrary to what you thought you believed before you heard it this way. Perhaps the most impressive thing throughout this set is the astonishing range of dynamics, which retain full color at both extremes. Fortissimi are thunderous, but never harsh; Bolet always manages to keep the sonority rich. The most delicate of pianissimi also retain a full body of sound, never get thin or tinkly. Another aspect worth noting is the phenomenal accuracy of the playing. In some of the most difficult of virtuoso showpieces, not only are all the notes there, but they are there with remarkable evenness of touch and tone. In the most frenetic passagework, every note is articulated with precision and just the right touch. And then there is the sense of sheer pleasure in playing, of fun, of improvisatory freedom, that makes you know that each performance you are hearing is unique. You just know that the next time he plays the same piece it is likely to be different, even significantly so. Two...performances must be noted. One is the Liszt 'Don Juan Réminiscences' from a 1975 New York recital. This stands with the famous Simon Barere live recording at the peak of what is possible in combining flamboyant virtuosity with genuine musicianship. On one level this music is about the physical thrill of superhuman accomplishment at the keyboard. But it is also one very serious musician's take on the music of an earlier genius--Liszt channeling Mozart. Bolet demonstrates here, as he did in the Verdi and Donizetti transcriptions elsewhere in this set, that he understood singing and the fact that a vocal line lies at the base of this music. The sonority is rich, the flair and accuracy remarkable. This is the performance of a master. The other performance that cannot be ignored is the Liszt TANNHÄUSER transcription from a Carnegie Hall performance on 16 April, 1989.Francis Crociata's notes quote Donal Henahan's New York Times review of this recital as follows: `It has always been a special pleasure to hear Jorge Bolet play the piano. The tall, ambassadorial-looking virtuoso's technique is so brilliant and his control over it so complete that one could always attend his recitals in full confidence of being thrilled by a genuine master of the art of pianism'."- Henry Fogel, FANFARE[Mr. Fogel is a professor at Roosevelt University's College of Performing Arts in Chicago. He was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 18 years from 1985 and then President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras from 2003]

This is so unbelievably superior to his studio recordings (nice as they are) it sounds like a different pianist. In his studio recordings, he often seemed emotionally restrained; in these recordings the voltage level is much higher - just listen to the third movement of Beethoven Op 31 No 2 on the first CD. At times ruminative, at times playful, he illuminates everything he plays. He is of course remembered as a virtuoso pianist associated with Liszt, but his Haydn and Beethoven are to be treasured.The recordings have great sound - Ward Marston has somehow managed to give all the performances from different spaces, different times, a consistent, warm sound. No lover of the piano should ignore this issue.

I won't go on at length. Only to say that this is one of the great piano releases in the history of recorded sound, and it's live playing in concert. If you own no other Bolet recordings this is the one to have. There is no Liszt Sonata on it unfortunately, so the Everest Liszt recording is a good supplement to this collection. We're talking about the highest level of pianism here; think Lhevinne, Hofmann, Rachmaninoff; that level.