1879

Mark Hambourg was born in Russia, was taught by his father, studied in Vienna under Leschetizky and made most of his career in England. In the first couple of decades of the 20th century he was very highly regarded worldwide and concerted extensively. His playing shows a moving away from the older generation of 19th century pianists: in this way he shares some characteristics with fellow Leschetizky-pupils such as Schnabel and Friedmann. The Hungarian Rhapsodies by Hambourg are the first complete survey committed to a recording. In them he displays a very free approach, where accuracy is very much not the main consideration. They are vivid and, I suppose, exciting. Definitely distinctive. I personally generally hate them all! Hambourg seems set on an all-out smash-and-grab approach to the music, with any kind of beauty, subtlety or refinement completly ignored. In particular I find his tone quality in many passages unbearably "bangy", and his attitude towards phrase-endings, rests, musical breathing and shape exasperatingly perverse. Well, I don't want to prejudice you to these recordings further... perhaps just in these examples I fail to sympathise with the performance practice which was clearly valued in the early 20th century, by pianists who studied under the 19th century greats. This recording of the fourteenth Rhapsody was made in 1929 (for reference, this is not the fourteenth Rhapsody finally included the "complete set" from 1933, but was an earlier recording by <b>...</b>