Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Landowska Plays Haydn

In the most recent issue of Classical Recordings Quarterly, there's an article by Donald Manildi entitled "Why Don't the Record Companies..." in which he expounds on deserving historical recordings that have not yet made it to compact disc.  One of his choices is this Haydn set by the great Wanda Landowska, whose legacy has been well served on CD with the curious exception of this album, one of her last (and issued posthumously in 1960):

Haydn: Sonatas, Hob.XVI Nos. 34*, 35, 37, 40 and 49* and
Andante with Variations in F minor, Hob.XVII No. 6*
Wanda Landowska, piano* and harpsichord
Recorded 1957-58
RCA Victor LM-6073, two mono LP records
Link (FLAC files, 250.73 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 117.56 MB)

For those who like to burn CDs from these downloads, this program is about six or seven minutes too long to fit on one CD (which may be a factor in its non-appearance on CD thus far).  What I did for myself was to make one CD for all the harpsichord tracks, and another for the piano tracks.

Haydn's birthday this year happens to be on Easter Sunday.  It's hard for me to believe that in only 19 years we will be celebrating his tercentenary - it seems only yesterday that we were celebrating Bach's!

Happy Easter, everyone!

7 comments:

  1. Wow! Thank you so much for this fantastic post, including scans of the booklet, labels, and cover. What a wonderful Easter gift. Hope you realize how much your efforts are appreciated.

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  2. Bryan! Thousands upon thousands of thanks! You have a knack, it seems, for the
    most excellent seasonal gifts:- the Faure' Dolly for Christmas, Haydn/Landowska for
    Easter. Been hoping for this on CD for decades. Booklet especially welcome!

    Gut yontev,

    Mike in Plovdiv

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  3. Even very far away, Wanda was a member of my family.....
    HAPPY Easter to you too !!!

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  4. Yay!!! At last!!! I heard some of this in the Toronto University library listening booths about 10 years ago. Needless to say, the library did not allow the records to circulate. I recall that the performances were very warm and flexible, dare I say romantic. Since then, I have often wondered why on earth RCA would never ever re-release them, but now you have done so informally. Such is the immense value of your blog.

    Herb

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  5. A fabulous offering, thank you so much! I'm currently on a Bach organ chorale prelude binge, but as soon as I'm sated with those I shall fall on these no less avidly! A belated Happy Easter and best wishes, Nick

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    1. This set turned out to be as fine and enjoyable as I hoped. Thank you again! Nick

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