Jorge Bolet
The life story of the great Cuban pianist is utterly unique. This committed artist, a specialist in the music of Franz Liszt, started his career as a concert performer and teacher very early, when he finished his studies in Philadelphia and Europe (Vienna and Paris) where he was a student of Josef Hofmann, Leopold Godowski and Moriz Rosenthal. Between 1939 and 1942 he was assistant to the great Rudolf Serkin at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute. During the war he also took up a diplomatic career as an attaché to the Cuban ambassador to the USA. After obtaining US citizenship he taught at prestigious universities: Indiana, Bloomington and then Serkin in 1977. It was around this time that Europe discovered him thanks to his many recordings of Franz Liszt for DECCA. A strange fate for someone who had been recording for 25 years but was above all dedicated to his academic work.
Inseparable from Baldwin or Bechstein pianos, which he demanded for every concert or recording, Jorge Bolet started a new career when he was well into his sixties. With a moustache that harked back to other times, his impeccable elegance, and his exquisite, rather old-school manners, he burst suddenly upon a world where the great pianists of legend like Wilhelm Kempff, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau or Emil Gilels were gradually disappearing.
Thanks to his contract with DECCA, Jorge Bolet was able to record many works by Liszt, his favourite composer. He had caught the Liszt bug in his youth, at a concert with one of his teachers, Emil von Sauer, himself a student of the Hungarian composer. It is to him that we owe the remarkable Years of Pilgrimage which showcase his temperament - at once virtuoso and poetic - and a great fluidity of sound. In his recording of the Transcendental Etudes, it is not the speed which is of interest, a peculiarity which he never fell for, but rather an exceptional panache, allied to an extremely varied touch, and great subtlety. He adored Liszt's numerous transcriptions and paraphrases of opera which he played greedily and with a puckish delight.
His recital of 25 February 1974 at Carnegie Hall, available on QOBUZ, remains legendary. It was on that night that Jorge Bolet resurfaced, presaging a second career which would last 16 years. From Bach-Busoni to the Tannhäuser overture reworked by Liszt, by way of Chopin's complete Préludes and several encores, the mood was electric.
But his catalogue doesn't stop with Liszt. We owe this great pianist one of the finest recordings of Concert en ré by Ernest Chausson, with Itzhak Perlman and the Juilliard Quartet. With Charles Dutoit in Montréal he recorded concertos by Rachmaninov and Tchaïkovsky; with Riccardo Chailly in Berlin, he recorded Grieg and Schumann, at a comfortable tempo with a splendid sound. We also owe him recordings of the works of Schubert, Chopin, Grieg, Schumann, Debussy. The re-releases which are now available allow us to play Jorge Bolet against himself, comparing the records of his youth with those of his later years. Thrilling!
© François Hudry/QOBUZ/November 2017
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Jorge Bolet: The RIAS Recordings, Vol. I (1962-1973)
Piano solo - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 3 nov. 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet at Carnegie Hall, New York City, February 25, 1974 (Remastered)
Klassiek - Released by Sony Classical on 1 jan. 1974
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt. : The RIAS recordings, Vol. II (Berlin, 1971-1982)
Jorge Bolet, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lawrence Foster & Edo de Waart
Klassiek - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 19 jan. 2018
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet: The Berlin Radio Recordings, Vol. III (Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Schumann, Franck, Grieg, Godowsky, Liszt & Dello Joio)
Klassiek - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 11 jan. 2019
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet: A Chopin Piano Recital (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
Klassiek - Released by Everest on 2 aug. 1961
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet: Live at Carnegie Hall
Klassiek - Released by RCA Red Seal on 1 jan. 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3
Jorge Bolet, London Symphony Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 aug. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos
Jorge Bolet, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Riccardo Chailly
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 okt. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Liebestraum - Virtuose Klaviermusik
Klassiek - Released by Decca on 1 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky Piano Trio
Jorge Bolet, Victor Martin, Marco Scano
Klassiek - Released by DiscMedi S.A. on 8 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Liebestraum - Favourite Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1995
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Liszt : Piano works (9CD)
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Liszt: Piano Works Vol. 1 - La Campanella; Mephisto Waltz No. 1 etc
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 dec. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Ballades; Barcarolle; Fantaisie
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 mei 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Encores (Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert...)
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet - The Romantic Virtuoso
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Works Vol. 2 - Schubert Song Transcriptions
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 10 feb. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Encores
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Solo Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jorge Bolet Plays Liszt
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 20 feb. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Works Vol. 7 - Etudes d'exécution transcendante
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 28 jul. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo