When one overlooks the norm of current performances to seek Bartók himself performing his own works, contact with his unique approach will alter your judgment of all … Continue reading
Author: arbiterrecords
Grieg up close
In 1993 a celebration of Edvard Grieg’s 150th birthday was being organized at a conservatory where I was teaching. Young … Continue reading
Hooked on Fried
Fried was everywhere, at the crucial moments of music’s inner life. Dining with Ravel, Stravinsky, Nijinsky in Paris the … Continue reading
Publish or Perish?
As a great deal of unknown recordings keep emerging by William Kapell, one work risks being presented out of context and without the … Continue reading
Russian dreams lead to Debussy.
Whenever we try to snare Debussy his seductive oneiric sounds allow him to keep safely away. How subtle of him to … Continue reading
Fragments: a chain of threads
Fragments lead everywhere, usually to the unanticipated. Even our naming as Arbiter was the inevitable result of being irresistibly drawn into the arbiter Petronius’s Satyricon, … Continue reading
Russian Poets of the Piano
After completing a decade long Balinese project to retrieve and publish the lost 1928 recordings, I headed over to Paris to spend time with … Continue reading
Nicholas Milroy (Etelka Freund’s son) in action
A fascinating, erudite polyglot, Nicholas Milroy (1911-2000) saved the recorded and written legacy of his mother Etelka Freund (1879-1977), a pianist … Continue reading
Sound Unchained from Time
Speed breaks the sound barrier but sound breaks the time barrier. Chronology, this heap of names, dates, all pulled together … Continue reading
James Gurley’s unchained guitar
Janis Joplin abandoned Port Arthur, Texas and first emerged in San Francisco. Her singing came as a shock but also one feared … Continue reading