One of the unusual things about the Minneapolis Symphony's Young People's Concerts back then was that sometimes they included solo or chamber music performances by the soloists the Symphony brought in to appear on their Friday evening subscriptions concerts. In this case, it was Claudio Arrau performing four solo piano selections for school kids on Thursday afternoon, and then the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 for adults on the following Friday evening. That March 20, 1949 Friday night subscription concert was, indeed, Mitropoulos's very last Northrop Auditorium subscription concert with the Minneapolis Symphony. The Chopin Piano Concerto on the program was preceded by Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" Overture and followed by Mahler's Symphony No. 1. But the March 20, 1949, concert at Northrop wasn't Mitropoulos's VERY last appearance with the Minneapolis Symphony, however: the next day he and the orchestra's musicians set off for their annual spring tour, a grueling marathon of 38 concerts in South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota (again), and finally Wisconsin, before returning home to Minnesota on April 24, 1949. Musicians were worked hard in those days!
Unfortunately the quality isn't great - and I'm not fully sure what the piece is. The box says Mozart Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, but what's recorded does not sound like that. Here's an unlisted link - check it out and tell me what you think (should I post?) and what piece he is playing?
@@MarchantTapeArchive ok, you had win the heaven....there is no recording of this ever, this is the first time, so now i have to find the proper words to thank you, and i guess i will not be able, it's so great that i have no words. many many thanks
It’s interesting to me that his Baldwin piano sounds somewhat dark and mellow compared to the bigger brighter Steinway sound I’m used to. I’m sure that was an intentional creative choice. Any Arrau fans out there have thoughts on that?
i can reply to you that. before 60s Arrau use to play in Baldwin just like you says, by the quality of the sound. The thing is that after 60s Maestro turns to the Germanic school of composers more than any other (Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms mainly) and to the Liszt repertoire. and because of that choice, particularly in Liszt works, steinway was the best option, and is the best option. about the recording, please try to do your best in find the rest. this rondo has studio and live recordings by arrau, so is excellent but not new. the introduction mentions Mendelssohn's Rondo capriccioso and Chopin Etude op 10 no 4, both studio and live recorded too, but the Pavane pour une Infante Defunte by Ravel would be the most exciting finding in the last decade about Arrau, including my own findings of Humoreske by Schumann an others in live performances. that piece by Ravel has no record, studio or live, available in Arrau hands, so will be unique and spectacularif you get it
@@MarchantTapeArchive I have been told by people who know about such things that it might have been an early Ampex machine that Marchant used back then and that they recorded at a speed 1/2 step higher than later equipment like the Pioneer deck you appear to be using for playback. Someone with perfect pitch also mentioned your complete Beethoven Eroica from 1948 also needed similar adjustment down a 1/2 step. Even so, many thanks for preserving and sharing these valuable audio documents. Luckily (?), I don't have perfect pitch ...
