Throughout her long career, Guiomar Novaes was considered by her peers, her critics, and her public to have been one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century. At the age of 14, her playing amazed Debussy who, along with the other judges including Faure and Moskowski, awarded her first place out of almost 400 applicants to the Paris Conservatory in 1909.
Early in her career, the New York Times called her "a musician by the grace of God," and the Boston Globe declared her "the young genius of the piano." At her prime, in the 1950s, Harold Schonberg compared her playing to that of Josef Hofmann. And she was dubbed "the Paderewski of the Pampas." Though she was from Brazil and not from the Argentine, this made for good copy.
Guiomar Novaes recorded quite extensively from the 1920s to the 1960s. And yet recordings of this magnificent pianist are scarce today with only a handful currently in print. Had she been a man, her name would be keeping company with the likes of Rubinstein and Horowitz. But even the greatest of the women pianists seem to have a short shelf life once they have left the concert stage, and the world of the living. This is a disgrace.
Novaes was most highly esteemed for her performances of Chopin and Schumann, and to a lesser degree Debussy. Unfortunately I have found no examples of her playing of either Schumann or Debussy, but as you will hear from the selection of music offered here, she was a consummate artist and her genius did not discriminate. The last part of the Finale of the Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto, the Brahms Intermezzo, and the Siloti transcription of the Bach Organ Prelude will attest to that. In the Bach, she achieves textures and changes in sonorities strongly reminiscent of the organ. This is a stunningly beautiful rendition of this work.
Novaes plays Chopin
wonderfully and it is our good fortune that a Brazilian pianist who goes by the name of bernardocarmopiano on YouTube has made available numerous examples of Guiomar Novaes playing the works of Chopin. Thank you Bernardo! I would also like to thank two other YouTubers who go by the names of Beckmesser2 and Pabeet who have made a number of the Novaes recordings available to us.
Albeniz/Godowsky Tango in D Recorded in 1927
Bach/Siloti Prelude in G minor
Brahms Intermezzo in Bb minor Op 117 n°2
Gluck/Sgambati Melody Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo followed by a performance by Neslon Freire
Gottschalk Grande Fantasia Triunfal sobre o Hino Nacional Brasileiro Op.69
Liszt "Gnomenreigen" n°2 from Zwei Koncert-Etuden Recorded in 1923
Paderewsky Nocturne Op 16 n°4 Recorded in 1920
Isidor Philipp "Feux Follets" Recorded in 1919 Philipp taught Novaes at the Paris Conservatory
Richard Strauss/Godowsky "Standchen" Recorded in 1927
Villa Lobos "O Polichinelo"
Finally, we have Guiomar Novaes playing an excerpt from the Beethoven Piano Concerto n° 5 in Eb Major Op 73, the last part of the finale, Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo, with Jonel Perlea conducting the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Where, oh where is the rest of this recording? What we do have is too tantalizing. A complete performance of this herculean concerto played with such expressive delicacy is something I want to hear. Just listen to the last runs of the piano before the end. The shaping is extraordinary. By this point most pianists are racing for the barn, desperately hoping to just to get there.
