Simon Barere the Last Recording Sessions

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Odessa-born pianist Simon Barere was fully the equal of more celebrated contemporaries such as Benno Moiseiwitsch, Arthur Rubinstein, and Vladimir Horowitz. But few great pianists have ever been so underprized, not only in their lifetime, but also posthumously. When Barere entered the studios of the Remington Company in 1951 to make the recordings that appear for the first time on CD on this Cembal d'amour disc, it was his first visit to a recording studio in more than 15 years. It seemed that the 55-year-old pianist was about to achieve the recognition and respect that had eluded him. It was not to be. He collapsed at the keyboard during a performance at Carnegie Hall a few days later, a victim of a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.

Barere's difficulty in achieving the kind of career he deserved may have been partly a consequence of his spectacular technical equipment. Harold Schonberg's evaluation in his The Great Pianists is typical: "Barere was not one of the remarkable musical minds, but a playing mechanism startling for speed, accuracy, and disregard of difficulties." What is odd about such assessments is that the pianist who most resembled Barere in the succeeding generation is often regarded as the 20th century's greatest keyboard intellect: Sviatoslav Richter. Compare Barere's "Gnomenreigen" to Richter's (on a now hard-to-find Russian Revelation CD). The performances share a demonic edge, as well as a miraculous prestissimo pianissimo in the closing bars, that sets them apart from almost all others. Or compare their Liszt sonatas (Barere's on Enterprise/Piano Library and Richter's on Philips). They tear through octaves as though the gates of hell were about to slam shut. Yet, upon reaching indications like "dolcissimo con timo sentimento," they can make the music slow down so that it appears to step outside of time. Barere's extremely flexible tempos, no less than Richter's, pay strict attention to line and phrasing, thus investing his playing with a naturalness of pulse and expression that keeps it perpetually fresh. As almost all the performances on this disc, as well as those on previous reissues by APR and Pearl, demonstrate, Barere's playing requires more than that you merely listen to music; it demands that you experience it. --Stephen Wigler

Tracks:

Liszt: Faust Waltz, after Gounod
Liszt: Dance of the Gnomes
Liszt: Liebestraume
Chopin: Scherzo Op. 39, No. 3 in C-sharp minor
Liszt: Petrarch Sonnet No. 104
Liszt: Paganini Etude No. 3 La Campanella
Chopin: Ballade Op. 23, No. 1 in G minor
Liszt: Concert Etude No. 2 La Leggierezza
Liszt: Valse Oubliee No. 1
Liszt: Reminiscences de Don Juan, after Mozart

Amazon.com

Odessa-born pianist Simon Barere was fully the equal of more celebrated contemporaries such as Benno Moiseiwitsch, Arthur Rubinstein, and Vladimir Horowitz. But few great pianists have ever been so underprized, not only in their lifetime, but also posthumously. When Barere entered the studios of the Remington Company in 1951 to make the recordings that appear for the first time on CD on this Cembal d'amour disc, it was his first visit to a recording studio in more than 15 years. It seemed that the 55-year-old pianist was about to achieve the recognition and respect that had eluded him. It was not to be. He collapsed at the keyboard during a performance at Carnegie Hall a few days later, a victim of a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.

Barere's difficulty in achieving the kind of career he deserved may have been partly a consequence of his spectacular technical equipment. Harold Schonberg's evaluation in his The Great Pianists is typical: "Barere was not one of the remarkable musical minds, but a playing mechanism startling for speed, accuracy, and disregard of difficulties." What is odd about such assessments is that the pianist who most resembled Barere in the succeeding generation is often regarded as the 20th century's greatest keyboard intellect: Sviatoslav Richter. Compare Barere's "Gnomenreigen" to Richter's (on a now hard-to-find Russian Revelation CD). The performances share a demonic edge, as well as a miraculous prestissimo pianissimo in the closing bars, that sets them apart from almost all others. Or compare their Liszt sonatas (Barere's on Enterprise/Piano Library and Richter's on Philips). They tear through octaves as though the gates of hell were about to slam shut. Yet, upon reaching indications like "dolcissimo con timo sentimento," they can make the music slow down so that it appears to step outside of time. Barere's extremely flexible tempos, no less than Richter's, pay strict attention to line and phrasing, thus investing his playing with a naturalness of pulse and expression that keeps it perpetually fresh. As almost all the performances on this disc, as well as those on previous reissues by APR and Pearl, demonstrate, Barere's playing requires more than that you merely listen to music; it demands that you experience it. --Stephen Wigler

Customer Reviews:

Farewell to a never ending piano legend!.......2007-05-08

Simon Barere was one of the most formidable and amazing painsist ever existed. His astonishing technical equipment, his impressive phrasing and his winged fingering made of him a true living legend.

Thanks to the actual technology, we have been able to rediscover and admire his supreme art. Once you listen him, you will be absolutely engaged.

You' ve got my word.

By far the best sound of any Barere recording.......2003-03-13

Noted for his amazing fast technique and ability to shift gears and turn a corner on a dime (although sometimes jumbling or missing notes to my ear), Barere knocks many off their feet. I can't say he sweeps me away, perhaps because his repertoire is largely limited to virtuoso showpieces, which is not my cup of tea. However, I have listened to a number of Barere CD's trying to figure out what I'm missing, and this CD certainly has something all the others lack -- tolerable sound! These are studio recordings from shortly before his untimely death, and the sound quality is immeasurably more listenable than the awful Carnegie Hall radio waves and the scratchy studio recordings from the 1930s. So if you want to check out Barere, I would recommend starting here. Although it doesn't contain Islamey, this disk has most of his main warhorses, including the Don Giovanni fantasy and Petrarch sonnet, and the magic of his playing shines through nicely.

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