Here is a special and rather unique find performed by a truly gifted artist. Simon Barere was coming into his own when fate struck him down at age 54. Born and raised in Russia, a pupil of Glazunov and Blumenfeld, Barere's career was in part hampered by developments in Soviet Russia and the tumult of the war years. As the 1950's dawned, a promising future held forth for this somewhat reserved, serious, and modest artist.
Barere was quite a coup for the new Remington label and its ambitious founder Don Gabor. The latter had snagged the talented Edward Kilyeni and the pianist Kilyeni had a friendship with Barere which lead to a recording contract with Remington. A number of discs were made, both live and in the studio, and this one from Carmegie Hall (199-141) was billed as the "Farewell Recital." The disc features brilliant performances of music by Schumann, Balakirev, Liszt, Blumenfeld, and Rachmaninoff. I will point out that the highlight of this disc is the stunning, quite idiomatic, traversal of Liszt's Rhapsodie Espagnole.
As my friend Buster at Big Ten Inch has pointed out, the Remington pressings are quite a challenge to deal with. However, this particular record was very clean and the results are good. I have another Remington with Alexander Jenner playing a wonderful Moonlight Sonata but there are defects that mar the first movement terribly. Oh well...
Enjoy the artistry of Simon Barere, a man of incomparable stature at the keyboard.
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