Great pianists come and great pianists go, but their records live on. The two great pianists in these CDs had much in common, vaunted much for their Liszt as well as their Rachmaninoff. Posterity might remember Vladimir Horowitz as the greater of the two, or at least the more legendary and his coruscating performances of the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerti are, once heard, not easily forgotten. Yet on the basis of their recordings, Earl Wild was probably the more consistently musical, making musical choices that were less inclined to inflame and provoke while maintaining a technique that was no less secure, if used to less dazzling effect, than Horowitz.

Listening to the young Horowitz’s mono (1932) account of the Liszt sonata a long time ago, I was angered by his flippant musical choices, following Liszt’s markings when it suited him and discarding them when they didn’t. Returning to it has changed very little of that initial opinion. He takes a consistently fast tempo for the sonata, even in the lyrical sections, ending up in an account that takes up only twenty six and a half minutes. In this, though, he glosses over the surface of the sonata, though his technical achievements (in certain sections anyway – some find him as technically fallible as any other pianist), are undoubtably impressive. In much of what he plays, Horowitz convinces the listener of his musical choices with his sheer virtuosity, here, it becomes a barrier between him and the music and he comes across as perverse and wilful, with everything he does calling attention to itself like a spoilt brat. The Naxos notes say that Pitts Sanborn in the New York Telegram found the sonata “oscillated between ineffectual mooning and orgies of high-speed massacre, achieving a general obliteration of rhythm and destruction of design”. I couldn’t have put it better myself. The dynamic range captured by the engineers of the era is limited and compressed.

For years my touchstone for the Liszt sonata has been Sviatoslav Richter’s several live accounts – a perfect fusion of heart and head and full of the fire and brimstone, while delving right into the heart of the matter, especially in the Andante sostenuto, where his playing makes me ache in places I didn’t know existed, and still makes me weep like a babe. To these much-loved accounts now can be added Earl Wild’s live radio broadcast on the disc “Earl Wild at 30”.

My God! Rarely has that evergreen work, the Liszt Sonata, sounded so volcanic, the emotions emerging, the notes leaping off the page newly-minted - as if played by Franz Liszt himself; the virtuosity so complete. The nearest comparison is probably Martha Argerich, and impressive as that recording was, even she doesn't sound so alive, so demonic, as can be heard here,  (though reports of a truly great 'live' recording of the self-same work exist).
 
Earl Wild’s (right, a little older now) technique is if anything, much sounder than Horowitz (despite his fame as a technician, Horowitz frequently “faked” while playing). What sets Wild apart is his understanding of the use of silence and rhetoric in the sonata, something that Horowitz doesn’t even get close to acknowledging. I followed both accounts with the score (ed. Emil von Sauer); what struck me was Wild’s textural fidelity – he follows (nearly) Liszt’s every instruction. Combined with a natural feel for the Lisztian idiom, this is a recipe for something great, and great it is. His double octaves are a match for the best as is his agility, which is quite stunning. Overall his account takes 27 minutes 48 seconds – only a minute and a quarter longer than Horowitz, yet his sense of structure is much stronger. The Liszt sonata has a certain naïveté and simplicity about it despite all the notes, and Richter reaches the core of this. Wild’s account isn’t as poetic or “inner” as Richter, but his interpretation reaps its own rewards – it stands as a complete work rather than the episodic beast that it can become in some hands. The best accounts of the Liszt sonata make you feel as if a story has been told, or a journey travelled is at its end; because of Wild’s tempi, I didn’t exactly feel this, but it came very close. In terms of pyrotechnics, as said earlier, Wild doesn’t disappoint. Great piano playing, but more importantly, great musicianship! What a pity about the brittle sound, despite Ed Thompson’s efforts.

The rest of the two discs is comprised mainly of short works. Both open with Scarlatti and in this Horowitz is surprisingly pensive and focussed, turning in crystalline performances. In fact the rest of the disc, as representative of the art of Horowitz, is self-recommending. You might raise an eyebrow at his Haydn, and certainly it will not be for all tastes (nor should it be), but his Chopin and Schumann are hugely enjoyable and digitally dazzling, nothing perverse there. The Stravinsky and the Rimsky-Korsakov bon-bons are required listening.

The Earl Wild disc is a lot shorter (53:40 compared with Naxos’ 77:31) and the selection of encores is much less. His short pieces are not as commonly performed nowadays but are equally charmingly played and as technically brilliant. The Heroic Polonaise clocks in at just 5:52 – whether you like this will be up to your tastes, but there is nothing rushed about it, and I enjoyed it very much.

True pianophiles will already have the Horowitz recordings in other incarnations, these Naxos transfers by Mark Obert-Thorne are to be commended and will enhance your pleasure greatly. The disc represents great value at this price and is recommended with the above reservations about the Liszt sonata. Anyone interested in piano playing, the Liszt sonata or Earl Wild are heartily recommended to the Ivory Classics disc as essential listening.


Derek Lim is acutely aware that Earl Wild is still concertizing.

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