Zadel Skolovsky plays Milhaud's Saudades do Brasil (1951)

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Saudades do Brasil (1920-21), Opus 67
Recollections of Brazil - Evocation of Brazilian rhythms
Suite of twelve dances, each named after a quarter or landmark in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
1. Sorocaba 0:00
2. Botafogo 1:40
3. Leme 3:39
4. Copacabana 6:07
5. Ipanema 8:53
6. Gávea 10:36
7. Corcovado 11:59
8. Tijuca 13:52
9. Sumaré 15:39
10. Paineiras 17:34
11. Laranjeiras 18:46
12. Paysandu 19:54
Zadel Skolovsky (1916-2009), piano
Recorded in 1951
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Abram Chasins wrote in his book "Speaking of Pianists...":
'I once heard Zadel Skolovsky play both books of Milhaud's Saudades do Brasil. He represented them so faithfully that the composer, who was present, turned in his seat to express his appreciation to Ross Parmenter, who was reviewing for the NY Times.'
In that review of 1952, we can read that Milhaud told the reviewer that "This is the first time I've heard them played exactly as I want them to be done."
Skolovsky unfortunately made very few recordings. Born in Vancouver in 1916, he moved to Los Angeles at a young age. He studied at the Curtis Institute with Isabelle Vengerova, later working as her assistant, and also took lessons from Leopold Godowsky. He won the Naumburg Competition in 1939, which launched an active concert career. Later, he became a professor at Indiana University. He died in Bethesda, Maryland in 2009.

All credits and many thanks to the owner of this blog for digitizing and sharing this material:

[tobiolopainto]

I studied with Zadel for seven years or so up until about 1966. He taught me Vengerova's method. This has served me well in a lifetime of not practicing. At Zadel's last Carnegie Hall recital, he used a Steinway B, for some reason. I asked him about it after and he said that the 4 Brahms pieces sounded wonderful. This was true, I said, but what about the other pieces? He had no response for that. He played a Levitski Waltz for me ("This is for Toby.") as an encore. He commissioned a 4th piano concerto from Milhaud. The composer wrote Zadel a telegram that said, "Your check arrived today. I was the green light of creativity." He recorded this, too. I seem to recall that he recorded a Scriabine Sonata number 3 or 4- - a lovely performance. At parties at my parents' house, he always ate kosher. My Godfather, Sam Jaffe was a vegetarian, and Zadel was kosher. This drove my mother crazy. She'd bang around yelling that she wasn't going to give "special treatment" anymore to "crazies" and their diets. They would have been lucky to have her not cook. She was terrible at it and made no claims for her culinary ability. At one of these parties, I asked Zadel if he could improvise. He said, "Sure." And launched into an improv with lots of arpeggios and chords. He said, "They used to teach everybody to improvise at Curtis."

((The worst "late" recitals by a famous pianist that I attended were by Moiseiwitch. He, like all the other great pianists of the time, played a full program of the concert at the auditorium of the Washington Irving High School near 14th st., in Manhattan.
The tickets were free. At one concert, he played Pictures at an Exhibition. I was expecting plenty. But he was awful. He couldn't make the piece hold together and there were lots of finger slips. At the other concert, he played Schumann's C Major Fantasy. Once again, he didn't have the concentration to bring off these pieces. I was about 12. I asked the lady sitting next to me what he thought he was doing. She said, "You should have heard him when he was young. He was wonderful." That I've heard in records. I've seen those performances on utub. They are not representative of his playing.

[remomazzetti]

Skolovsky's live 1948 performance of Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Charles Munch has recently been posted on YouTube. It was the first performance of the Concerto by the NYPhil.

[pautabrasileira]

Thank you very much for the opportunity to listen to this recording! Really great playing, each texture is clear. Pedal is very well applied.

[bvbwv]

What a musical being! Thanks for the posting.

[OzanFabienGuvener]

I didn't know that, nice gem, thanks!

[andreasneumann]

I love that bitonality already in the first dance.

[paulprocopolis]

It's good to hear these in their original piano version - I only knew the slightly later orchestral arrangement. Elegant playing here by Skolovsky.

[stefanocerato]

💗🥳I didn't know that, nice gems, thanks!

[JamesVaughan]

I heard him live in Madison, NJ in 1967. He played the Milhaud on a demanding programme that also included Schumann’s Bunte Blaetter, Scriabin’s Fourth Sonata, a Brahms Intermezzo (Op. 118, No. 2), Ravel’s Jeu d’eau, and closing with Chopin’s mammoth and difficult Sonata in B Minor, Op. 58 (I remember that he ran out of steam near the end of the Chopin, having a bit of a train wreck at the close of the fourth movement - he then played Liszt's arrangement of a Chopin song, "My Joys" as an encore). I was just a kid (of course), and all the music in the recital was new to me…I was there with my elementary school piano teacher Miss Pihlman, who basically liked his playing but looked down her nose at the Milhaud, calling it “old hat”…some time later Skolovsky repeated this programme in Carnegie Hall in New York to lukewarm reviews. I guess he was attempting to revitalise his performing career after it had seemingly stalled since his big win in (continued below)

[bobgold]

Love these works, and the violin transcriptions of them. (Heifetz) These are beautiful and idiomatic. Such a dull piano doesn't help. Especially with music that has all kinds of dissonant and bitonal subtleties.

[carmaraden]

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LIEBE 🎵༺✿ LIEBE ❤️ D A N K E SCHÖN ༻♡