Original Columbia Cover Art

Cover Art - Danté Reissue

Columbia Records (EMI Pathé Marconi) 2YLA-1822/1823 (2 disks) Reissue - Danté Records, HPC060 - Vol 5
Special thanks to pianist Gusztáv Fenyo for this music.

Music/MP3
Mazurka, Op. 50, No.1 in Sol Majeur
    01_chopin_mazurka_op_50_no_1.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 50, No.2 in la Bémol Majeur
    02_chopin_mazurka_op_50_no_2.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 50, No.3 in Do Dièse Mineur
    03_chopin_mazurka_op_50_no_3.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 56, No.1 in Si Majeur
    04_chopin_mazurka_op_56_no_1.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 56, No.2 in Do Majeur
    05_chopin_mazurka_op_56_no_2.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 56, No.3 in Do Mineur
    06_chopin_mazurka_op_56_no_3.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 59, No.1 in La Mineur
    07_chopin_mazurka_op_59_no_1.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 59, No.2 in La Bémol Majeur
    08_chopin_mazurka_op_59_no_2.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 59, No.3 in Fa Dièse Mineur
    09_chopin_mazurka_op_59_no_3.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 63, No.1 in Si Majeur
    10_chopin_mazurka_op_63_no_1.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 63, No.2 in Fa Mineur
    11_chopin_mazurka_op_63_no_2.mp3
Mazurka, Op. 63, No.3 in Do Dièse Mineur
    12_chopin_mazurka_op_63_no_3.mp3
Mazurka, No. 43 in G minor, Op. 67/2
    13_chopin_mazurka_op_67_no_2.mp3
Mazurka, No. 49 in F minor, Op. 68/4
    14_chopin_mazurka_op_68_no_4.mp3
Mazurka, in A minor ("à Émile Gaillard")
    15_chopin_mazurka_gaillard.mp3

Recording Date(s)
January 18, May 18 & 22, 1967

Recording Location
Salle Wagram, Paris, France

Release Date
1967

Known Details
The following is an online review of this CD by Neils Einstein:

In the 1960s, André Tchaikowsky made several recordings for Pathé Marconi in Paris - including a sensational Goldberg Variations which won a Grand Prix du Disque.

This Mazurka record was part of a project for André to record the complete Mazurkas. He would terminate a recording session of, say, Mozart or Schubert by playing whatever Mazurkas he felt inspired to play at that moment.

André never finished the project, but what we have here on this CD are some of the Mazurkas he recorded in that period. They are performances full of poetry, spontaneity and the kind of insight that only a composer can have into the mind of another. This is great music making.

Everyone I have played the CD to has been enchanted by it. This is a record that no lover of Chopin or of great piano playing should be without.

Between these recording dates of January and May, 1967, André was selected as the first pianist to play in the new Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on March 3rd, 1967. From the book, The Other Tchaikowsky:

Although the year 1966 provided few concerts in England and Europe, there was a large South American tour that went very well. The year 1966 ended with only 12 concerts from October through December, and 1967 started much the same. André was now enormously busy composing a piano concerto, a string quartet, and a song cycle. There was one important concert date on March 3,1967, marking the opening of the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. André had been selected to be the very first pianist to play in the new hall. He played a single work, Piano Sonata in B-flat (D.960) by Schubert. Minutes before he was to appear on stage, he inadvertently locked himself in the bathroom. No amount of fiddling could open the door from either side. Expert help was required. Workmen were called and the entire door, hinges and all, had to be removed so André could take the stage. Of André's performance, the music critic Max Loppert of the Financial Times wrote:

If future concerts in the new Queen Elizabeth Hall are able to provide the same degree of freshness, both in choices of works and in the manner of their performances, as did last night's, it will be an incalculable addition to London's musical life. Of course the outstanding soloist, André Tchaikowsky, was largely responsible for this impression.

One wonders how many excellent performances on stage conceal near disasters that transpire out of sight of audiences.

André and Eve Harrison (1967)

André was getting along well with Terry Harrison, his manager at Ibbs and Tillett. Terry worked with André as best he could. André would give him blocks of time and asked for concerts only during these blocks, not the easiest arrangement for a manager. Terry felt close enough to André to ask a favor. He had separated from his wife Eve and asked André if he would occasionally give her a ring on the telephone. Terry Harrison:

"In 1967 my wife Eve and I separated, but André only knew her a little bit. As he had become my close friend by 1967, I asked him if he would occasionally give her a ring. He said, 'Yes, although she is not particularly my type of person.' Eve was rather English, rather quiet, and at that time not so interested in music. André rang her and took her out to dinner. About the 2nd or 3rd time he saw her, he thought she was rather nice. They slowly became very good friends. André had no romantic interest in it, but it was a friendship that gradually grew. At that time, André lived in London and Eve saw André maybe two or three times a month. André used to like to go to the theater, for instance, so he'd invite Eve. Eve was also quite interested in theater and drama."

As the summer of 1967 approached, André decided once again to attend Dartington Summer School. As in past summers, he met interesting musicians. On this occasion, he met the members of the very fine Lindsay String Quartet and promised to write something for them. Members Peter Cropper and Bernard Gregor-Smith recall their meeting:

"As a young quartet, we were playing at Dartington Summer School in Devon. It was our last year of being students, which would have been 1967. The Amadeus Quartet was supposed to be playing, but one of them was ill, so we were asked to provide some music. We played the Bart6k String Quartet No.3. André was going to play just before us. As he was due to go on stage, André couldn't be found. No one could find him. The audience was waiting. They found him in the 100 [bathroom] and he shot straight out of the 100, onto the stage and started playing before they even had time to applaud his appearance. That was our first meeting. André did not show the greatest respect for his audiences in some ways.

"We played with André quite a few times. We did a broadcast on the BBC of the Faure G minor piano quintet at St. John Smith Square in London. We all think that somehow it is different playing with a composer. We've never experienced anything quite like it since. It was almost like he was making it up, searching for a fresh approach to playing, almost delighting in every single nuance. It was like he was composing it himself, as if extemporizing.

"He had a tremendous intellect. Genius. Reading Russian literature in Russian. In my house once [Bernard Gregor-Smith speaking at this point], he immediately sat down with the biography of Bertrand Russell and started to read it and sat there for two days, reading non-stop.

"He had this great bag of pills. He took strong sleeping pills to put him asleep, then pills in the morning to wake him up. He was rattling around and a definite hypochondriac, a classic case.

"In Portsmouth we were rehearsing a Brahms piano quintet. André said he was sorry that he had little time to practice it, but to run through it anyway. The performance was the next day. We played through the first movement and at the end, I realized that he hadn't turned a page. We then took a break and he asked what was on the rest of the program? We said the Beethoven Opus 95 quartet. André then sat down at the piano and played the first movement of the string quartet, playing all four string parts from memory. His memory was fantastic. When we played bridge, he was as incredible as a master bridge player, remembering all the cards, giving you the impression that he knew what was in your hand."

André eventually wrote two string quartets that were given world premieres by the Lindsay Quartet, with the second dedicated to the Quartet.