For a player who was forgotten by 1980, the reputation of
Géza Anda has certainly made an impressive comeback. His recorded edition of the complete Mozart piano concertos, the first ever made, have proven eternal and still lead the pack in terms of popularity, even as several similar editions have followed. The Hungarian
Anda's authoritative readings of the three
Bartók piano concerti with conductor
Ferenc Fricsay are still widely regarded as the best of their kind.
Anda's luck, however, with
Bartók and Mozart, has come at the expense of the repertoire he truly loved and noted for excelling in during his brief lifetime -- mainly Schumann and the second Brahms piano concerto. Deutsche Grammophon's five-disc set Géza Anda: Troubadour of the Piano sets out to right this wrong, and the result is an extremely generous and highly desirable program that nearly anyone can afford.
This set puts forth nearly all of the recordings
Anda made for Deutsche Grammophon aside from his Mozart and the
Bartók concerti. Indeed,
Anda's recording of
Bartók's early and stylistically manic-depressive Rhapsody, Op. 1, is included, but the focus is on
Anda's Schumann, his Brahms Second Concerto, and liberal doses of Liszt,
Chopin (the complete Op. 28 Preludes), the Beethoven Diabelli Variations, and others. This exposes
Anda as a great all-around pianist, a strong player with awesome technical resources and unflagging taste. Géza Anda: Troubadour of the Piano isn't just a career survey of great historic value, it is an outstanding collection of mainstream keyboard literature that would serve as an excellent gift to anyone interested in the piano.