3CDs
COMPACT DISC 1 (66’43)
BRAHMS
1 - 4. Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor Op 25 recorded on 9 September 1939
with VITTORIO BRERO (violin), RUDOLF NEL (viola), THEO SCHÜRGERS (cello)
5 - 9. Piano Sonata No 3 in F minor Op 5 recorded on 30 May 1949
COMPACT DISC 2 (68’53)
BRAHMS
1. Intermezzo in B flat minor Op 117 No 2; 2. Ballade in G minor Op 118 No 3
3. Intermezzo in E flat major Op 117 No 1; 4. Rhapsody in G minor Op 79 No 2 recorded on 21 February 1947
5 - 7. SCHUMANN Fantasie in C major Op 17 recorded on 30 & 31 May 1949
8 - 13. SCHUBERT Six Moments musicaux D780 (Op 94) recorded on 18 May 1950
COMPACT DISC 3 (73’29)
SCHUBERT
1 - 4. Four Impromptus D899 (Op 90) recorded on 8 & 9 March 1938
5 - 8. Four Impromptus D935 (Op 142) recorded on 8 March 1938
9 -12. Grosse Fantasie 'Wanderer' D760 (Op 15) recorded on 22 & 24 May 1934
This release features some of Fischer’s best-known recordings and also his rarest. His pre-war Schubert recordings are classics of the gramophone and have been almost continuously available. APR’s original 1997 transfers of the Impromptus had the benefit of being taken from vinyl pressings of the 78rpm masters and this reissue has allowed us to improve them even further, presenting these gems in the best possible sound.
Fischer’s recordings of Brahms and Schumann, on the other hand are much less known and indeed his masterly performance of the 1st Brahms Piano Quartet, recorded in Germany just after the start of the war with principals from the Edwin Fischer Chamber Orchestra, and only issued there, is extremely rare. Not much better known are the very fine Brahms group from 1947, and from 1949 we have the Brahms F minor Sonata and the Schumann Fantasy, his only Schumann recording, but a work he described as “a symbol of the soul of the piano”.