MYRA HESS Historic Broadcast Recordings

APR5646

SCHUMANN Carnaval Op.9
BBC Studio Recital, Broadcasting House, London, 13th October 1950
BRAHMS Piano Quintet in f minor Op.34
(with the Griller String Quartet)
National Gallery Concert, London 25th August 1942

Although Myra Hess made many commercial recordings over her life-time, resulting in some magnificent interpretations, she was not fond of the recording studio and much preferred the spontaneity of live performance. We are therefore delighted to present her here in two recordings which originated in radio broadcasts for the BBC. The Schumann Carnaval was a studio recording made without an audience, but at the time it was made, almost certainly recorded in one take without editing - a true performance as opposed to her earlier HMV set of 78rpm discs, and an interpretation which certainly improves on that slightly disappointing set.
Of even greater importance is the previously unissued Brahms Piano Quintet. During World War II, when conventional evening concerts had been stopped, Myra Hess established, and ran, a series of lunch-time concerts at London’s National Gallery which became legendary and stretched to a total of 1,698! This is thought to be the only concert of which there is a surviving recording and what better to represent that magnificent series than Myra Hess herself alongside the foremost English string quartet of the time - the Griller - in one of the greatest works of the chamber repertoire. As an added bonus this work is completely new to the Hess discography.

APR5646 Available as a Digital Download or to Stream only