Doremi's Legendary Treasures series brings us what appears to be the maiden voyage on CD for
Monique de la Bruchollerie, a respected French pianist whose few LPs and 78s are coveted by collectors of past pianists. Among them,
Monique de la Bruchollerie's rather unique 22-letters-long name is often abbreviated as "MdelaB," and her appearance on compact disc will be a most welcome event. But this Doremi package should be approached with caution, as the quality of the transfer work is not very professionally done.
Bruchollerie's recordings of Mozart's Concerti No. 20 and No. 23 with
Bernhard Paumgartner and the Camerata Academica were made in Salzburg in 1963 for Eurodisc and first appeared on these shores on a Nonesuch LP. Likewise, the 1956 recordings of
Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody and Franck's Symphonic Variations with
Jonel Perlea and the Concerts Colonne were made for, and issued on LPs by Vox. The remainder, save the live performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, is taken from 78s. The sound throughout is very bad, save the Beethoven, which is less than bad, but still not great. This is not due to the source recordings, which were fine, but to the digital transfer, which has strangled any sense of vibrancy, sparkle, or resonance out of these recordings through the ruthless application of noise reduction, to the extent that there is no high end left. There is a booklet note by someone likely related to the pianist, Diane de la Bruchollerie, which is useful in that it provides some information on this obscure, but significant, pianist. But given that these recordings are transferred with such disinterest, and there is a clear-cut conflict in terms of legacy for this package that is not addressed anywhere in its content (Eurodisc belongs to BMG; Nonesuch and Vox are still both very much in the running as active companies) that this sub-standard issue is best avoided. It is better to wait until an authorized collection of "MdelaB" is made available that at least meets the basic criteria in terms of sound quality than to take a chance on this rather suspicious, and spurious, reissue.