Walter Gieseking plays Scarlatti Sonatas

Sonata in E Major, L. 23
Sonata in E Minor, L. 275
Sonata in D Minor, L. 413
Sonata in D Major, L. 424

Recorded some time during the 1940s


As not infrequently with Gieseking, these are played sans repeats. Still, his Scarlatti playing was remarkable enough to inspire the following masterpiece from America's arguably greatest 20th century poet:




The mind is an enchanting thing

is an enchanted thing like the glaze on a
katydid-wing subdivided by sun till the nettings are legion.
Like Gieseking playing Scarlatti;


like the apteryx-awl as a beak, or the
kiwi's rain-shawl of haired feathers, the mind feeling its way as though blind,
walks with its eyes on the ground.


It has memory's ear that can hear without
having to hear. Like the gyroscope's fall, truly unequivocal
because trued by regnant certainty,


it is a power of strong enchantment. It
is like the dove- neck animated by sun; it is memory's eye;
it's conscientious inconsistency.


It tears off the veil; tears the temptation, the
mist the heart wears, from its eyes -- if the heart has a face; it takes apart
dejection. It's fire in the dove-neck's


iridescence; in the inconsistencies
of Scarlatti. Unconfusion submits its confusion to proof; it's
not a Herod's oath that cannot change.



Marianne Moore (1887-1972)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Walter
• Gieseking
• Domenico
• Scarlatti
• Sonatas
• Marianne
• Moore

[bonsema1]

the aboce remarks on the EMI Mozart cycle are a bit snotty. So what if somebody turned the pages and so what if he was reading from the score. I thought that those recordings exposed all of gieseking , very excellent and ice cold

[punkpoetry]

@bonsema1

we seem to hold different views as to what constitutes "all of gieseking", which is fine

[pianopera]

Thanks a lot! I didn't even know that he recorded Scarlatti...

[punkpoetry]

@pianopera

re Gieseking's Mozart recordings - these are not all up to his stratospheric standard... some of the sonatas and variations on EMI sound as though he was sight reading them, do they not? and every movement is done with in 3 minutes, as he ommits the repeats. OTOH, the concertos (9, 23, 24 in particular) are absolutely incomparable

[nnwahler]

@punkpoetry Yes, in fact many of these Mozart works were first-time readthroughs.....I spoke with the late Ronald Booth, one of Gieseking's last pupils and acquaintances at the Hanover Conservatory. Gieseking had an assistant silently flipping the pages at the sessions.

[punkpoetry]

@nnwahler

Thanks for this bit of information! Do you happen to know what impelled a pianist of Gieseking's level to such questionable practice? Contractual obligations? financial difficulties?

I remember my dissapointment with Gieseking's Mozart sonatas cycle after hearing so many recordings of pure genius from him...

[tuberobotto]

Does anyone have a Glenn Gould recording of the Sonata in E major L23? I would love to hear it. Nothing better than hearing it from someone who has passion for the music of that era. I heard his playing of English Baroque masters and it was like a shower of light on a darkened room, amazing. I'm sure his Scarlattis would be so much more palatable than this icy cold version by Gieseking, no disrespect intended.

[gieseking56]

I am writing to you since I am looking for a cover photo of a deleted CD of Walter Gieseking, in which Gieseking is sitting in a stool by his piano wearing his typical hat. In this cover photo, he has his legs crossed and he is smiling. The cover photo shows him in full body.

I would be grateful if you could tell me about the label and catalogue number of the deleted CD.

[alcaig31]

What a wonderful find. I had the 78 rpm recordings many years ago and have never been able to find them on more modern formats.

It was inspiring to hear them once again

[nnwahler]

@punkpoetry Well, the likeliest hint is that EMI planned to record & release the complete Mozart set for the composer's bicentennial (1956). It first release was a deluxe 13-record gift box.

[classicvinylbiz]

Maria Tipo, 1955 Recording - Sonata in E major, L 23 -

watch?v=W36TLZtEizI

thanks and regards to all