…with Liza Fuchsova we are…in a Smetana rarity…Marie-Thérèse Fourneau is both impassioned and insinuating…

Vol 5 is absorbing and includes performances of great documentary interest. As with the previous issue, many of these are by pianists whose names long ago slipped into oblivion and the newer volume displays a cornucopia of talents. © 2012 Gramophone Read complete review on Gramophone

The first pianist on the disc is a name that’s new to me. Constance Keene was born in New York and this early recording of hers is an extremely good one of Beethoven’s Variations on an original theme in C minor. It sounds great even after 60 years. Another discovery for me followed with Reine Gianoli in a 1947 recording of Brahms’ Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79, No.2. Another Rhapsody followed, this time one of Liszt’s played by Greek-born Gina Bachauer, considered by many as the greatest woman pianist of the 20th century. Of her biographer Graham Wade said “The scope of her personality, the expanse of her transcendent musical expressiveness, the sheer magic of her presence, could never be adequately communicated by words on the page.” Listening to this recording one can’t fail to agree. Rosa Tamarkina was only a name to me as I’d never heard anything played by her. This recording of her Chopin, dating from around 1947, shows clearly what a tragedy it was that she died of cancer at the early age of 30. It is a particularly poignant recording as it was to mark Chopin’s birth centenary and at the same time was her last public appearance. Liza Fuchsova the Czech pianist comes next in the first recording ever made of Smetana’s Fantasy on Czech Folk Songs. It’s a thrillingly bravura performance of this rarely heard work.

Lilly Dymont, another name new to me plays Albeniz’s Sevilla from Suite española in a recording from 1930, not that you’d be aware of that from this expertly restored version. Ed Thompson deserves high praise for the restorative work he’s done on all these recordings. We stay in Spain for another discovery in the shape of Marcelle Meyer whose recording of De Falla’s Miller’s Dance from his Three Cornered Hat takes us even further back to 1925. Again Thompson’s sterling work belies that fact. Still in Spain we have French pianist Maria Tagliaferro’s interpretation of a Mompou piece. This displays her ability to contrast great passion with a light and gentle touch. A Fauré piano work comes next played in 1944 by French pianist Marie-Thérèse Fourneau who also exhibits a feather-like treatment of his Barcarolle No. 3 in G flat major, Op.42 (1885). Yet another new name for me is that of the Swiss pianist Lottie Morel. Here she plays a charming little piece by a composer I hadn’t come across either, André-François Marescotti, whose piano concerto she also recorded. Scottish-born Winifred Christie’s account of Moritz Rosenthal’s Papillons imore....

Review By Pianist,July 2012

Naxos has reached volume 4 in is its series of historic reissues of women pianists…here are some powerful pianists who can knock the male contender aside, For instance, there’s Constance Keene playing Beethoven’s 32 Variations with great conviction, a hard-driven Liszt tossed off by Gina Bachauer and rarities such as the Rosenthal Papillons seductively performed by Winifred Christie. It’s worth seeking out the first three volumes to supplement this feast of pianistic fireworks! © 2012 Pianist