Tall Poppies TP135
The wealth of talent in Australia is mind boggling, and many of their best composers and musicians are unknown over here.
This interesting, but unquestionably controversial, disc makes a strong case for Godowsky, and puts to rest misunderstandings about his Chopin studies arrangements. Stanhope also plays Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Symphony No 8, for which a conductor "is rarely able to give more than a routine performance" because of the vicissitudes of rehearsal time. The pianist "has much greater control" - - "one loses orchestral colour but gains subtlety". Whatever that situation away from the great metropoli (the plural is metropoli, metropoleis or metropolises!) do try to hear Stanhope and decide for yourself.
Peter Grahame Woolf
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